middle, the most glorious show in its kind that ever I saw. There are rails and guards set musquet shot from them, beyond which no man may pass without order; for the Czar will have none of the vulgar people to be eye-witnesses of his pastimes. Indeed, the too near approaches of the common rabble make discoveries of princes' infirmities, not to say vanities; majesty is jealous of gazers. This made Montezume, King of Mexico, keep his subjects at such a distance, that they durst not behold him; familiarity breeds contempt; when princes expose themselves too much unto public view, they grow cheap, and are little regarded. Therefore, in a theatre, the stage is railed in, that the spectators may not crowd upon the scenes, which shew best at a distance. And so it fares with princes, -the more they are reserved, the more they are observed; the more implored, the more adored; otherwise, they run a great hazard of being contemned, and reckoned no better than their subjects, seeing, an equal mortality and frailty of flesh attends all men. When the Czar goes into the country or fields, to take his pleasure, he gives strict charge that none should interrupt him with petitions. A captain of White Russia, and native of that country, being three years without pay, and finding no redress from Peter Solticove, lord of that province, came and pressed too near the Czar's coach; the Czar, perceiving no petition in his hand, suspected he might be an assassinate, and with his staff (once Czar Juan's), not unlike a dart, intending to push the fellow away, he struck him to the heart, and he died. The nobility rode up to the coach, and searching what arms the man had, found nothing but a wooden spoon, and a petition for three years' arrears, whereupon the Czar smote his breast, saying, I have killed an innocent person; but Peter Solticove is guilty of his blood, whom God forgive; and immediately sending for him, after a severe check, he turned him out of his place, banished him from the court, and appointed Nashockin, that great minister of state, to take his office, and examine, and find out, the misdemeanours thereof. This happened in June last; and this action was but whispered, and that, too, with much peril of a man's tongue."

Chapter XXVI. speaks of the trade of Russia, more especially with reference to England. The summer before the book was written, there appears to have prevailed a 'panic' in Moscow, accompanied by a very considerable "fluctuation of the currency."

"The trade, last summer, was very low in Moscow, by reason of their late war; which had drained them of two-fifths, besides the raising of their customs, and taking their goods by force for copper money, which fell from an hundred to one, till at last it was called in, to the undoing of many men. Divers hanged themselves, others drank away the residue of their states, and died with drinking."

In the times of Charles II., the Dutch were our rivals in trade, and seem, in Russia, to have been much more venturous negotiators. The complaint of the author, that the Dutch succeeded in making the Russ believe that we were very poor and contemptible, as well as the Doctor's suggestion of a remedy, are equally amusing at this time of day.

"As I have nothing to say against the magnificence, splendour, clemency, and virtue of the Czar's own person, so I have no reason to recommend the Russes' integrity, for the generality of them are false, trucé-breakers, subtile foxes, and ravenous wolves, much altered, since their traffic with the Hollander; by whom, they have much improved themselves in villainy and deceit.

"The Dutch, like locusts, swarm in Mosco, and eat bread out of the Englishmen's mouths; they are more in number, and richer, and spare no gifts to attain their ends; whereas, the English, depending on their old privileges, think it is enough to say with the Jews, We have Abraham to our father, we are Englishmen, do us right, or we will complain :' but the Russians are of Solomon's opinion, that money answers all things.

"If we would outdo the Dutch trade, it must not be driven on by such as take up goods upon trust and time, as it has been these twenty years last past. At present, they come like locusts out of the bottomless pit, and so they do all the world over, where there is a sunshine of gain. In Russia, they are better accepted than the English, because they gratify the nobility with gifts, which they have if they lend any assistance.

"The Hollanders have another advantage, by rendering the English cheap and ridiculous by their lying pictures, and libelling pamphlets; this makes the Russians think us a ruined nation. They represent us by a lion, painted with three crowns reversed, and without a tail, and by many mastive dogs, whose ears are cropt, and tails cut off; with many such scandalous prints, being more ingenious in the use of their pencils than pens. These stories take much with barbarous people, when nobody is present to contradict them.

"It would not be impertinent, in my opinion, if some intelligent person in Moscua should represent the state of his Majesty of Great Britain's kingdoms, forces, and territories to the best advantage, and also his colonies in the West Indies, with all their revenues; and drawing a map of the aforesaid places, present it to Afanasy Nashockin, to breed in him an opinion of his British Majesty's real greatness, which the Dutch have so much extenuated. Bogdan Matfoidg, the chamber favourite, should not be neglected neither. He fancies rarities, and therefore should be presented with some. For, as Nashockin maintains reason of state, so Bogdan must be the man to procure the Czar's personal affection towards his Majesty of Great Britain."

The two last chapters contain some scraps of natural history, chiefly relating to the Beluga, from the roe of which Caviare is made. - We shall conclude our extracts with an account of this fish.

"Having elsewhere mentioned Caviare, I shall now give you a full account thereof. It is made at Astracan, of the roes of sturgeon

Narrative of the Concealment of Charles II. at Boscobel. 47

Of

and belluga. The belluga is a large fish, about twelve or fifteen feet long, without scales, not unlike a sturgeon, but more luscious and large; his flesh is whiter than veal, and more delicious than marrow. these two fishes, they take great numbers, only for their roes' sake, which they salt and press, and put up into casks; some they send unpressed, and a little corned with salt, being accounted a great dainty. Caviare is of two sorts; the first made of the sturgeon's spawn; this is black, and small grained, somewhat waxy, like potargo, and is called eekra by the Russians: the Turks make this. The second sort is made of the belluga's row, in whose belly is found an hundred and fifty, and two hundred weight of spawn; it is a grain as large as a small pepper corn, of a darkish grey. The belluga lies in the bottom of the river, and swallows many large pebbles, of an incredible weight, to ballast himself against the stream of Volga, augmented by the snow's melting; when the waters are assuaged, he disgorges himself. His spawn is called arminska eckra, perhaps the Armenians were the first makers of caviare. This they cleanse from its strings, salt it, and lay it upon shelving boards to drain away the more oily part, and the more unctuous fatty substance; this being done, they put it into casks, and press it very hard, till it becomes indurate."

"Thus, reader," to use the language of the closing sentence of the book, "thou hast had a brief and pleasant narrative of Russia."

This little book is one of those which is seldom met with, but which is not highly prized by the bibliographer, because its merits have still preserved too many copies to entitle it to the character of 'very rare'. At present, it does not much matter how soon the moths and the worms precipitate into dust such exemplars as remain of the Present State of Russia: for we believe that we have transferred to our pages all that is valuable of the labours of Dr. Collins.

1

ART. III.-1. The Whitgreaves Manuscript, (never before printed,) of the concealment of Charles II. at Moseley and Boscobel House, September, 1651.

2. Boscobel: or, The History of His Sacred Majesties most miraculous preservation after the battle of Worcester, 3 Sept. 1651. London. Printed for Henry Seile, Stationer to the King's most excellent Majesty, 1660. 12mo. pp. 55.

3. Boscobel: or the compleat History of his Sacred Majesties most miraculous preservation after the battle of Worcester, 3 Sept. 1651, introduced by an exact relation of that battle; and illustrated with a map of the city. London. Printed for A. Seile, over against St. Dunstan's Church, in Fleet street, 1662. 12mo. pp.71.

4. Boscobel: or the History of his Sacred Majesties most miraculous preservation after the battle of Worcester, 3 Sept. 1651. The second part. London. Printed for A. Seile, &c. 1662. 12mo. pp. 38.

5. Boscobel: or the compleat History, &c. The third edition with addition. London. Printed by M. Clark, and to be sold by H. Brome and C. Harper, at their shops in St. Pauls Church Yard and Fleet Street, 1680. 12mo. pp. 81.

6. Boscobel: &c. the second part. London. Printed by M. Clark, &c. 1681. 12mo. pp. 42.

7. Claustrum Regale Reseratum, or the King's Concealment at Trent. Published by A. W. In umbra alarum tuarum sperabo donec transeut iniquitas. London. Printed by M. Clark, for H. Brome in St. Pauls Churchyard, and C. Harper, in Fleet Street, 1681. 12mo. (from p. 45 above to p. 90.)

8. Boscobel; or the compleat History of the most miraculous preservation of King Charles II. after the Battle of Worcester, September the 3d, 1651; to which is added, Claustrum Regale Reseratum; or the King's Concealment at Trent. Publish'd by Mrs. Anne Wyndham. The Fourth Edition, adorn'd with cuts. With a supplement to the whole. London. Printed for J. Wilford, at the Three Golden Flower-de-Luces, in Little Britain. M.DCC.XXV. 12mo. pp. 189.

9. An Account of the Preservation of King Charles II. after the Battle of Worcester, drawn up by himself. To which are added, his letters to several persons. Glasgow. Printed by Robert and Andrew Foulis, and sold by John Balfour, Bookseller, in Edinburgh. M.DCC.LXVI. Small octavo, pp. 190.

10. Same sheets with a new title. Imprint "Edinburgh; Printed for Archibald Constable, by J. Moir. Royal Bank Close, 1801." With plates of Charles II., Richard Pendrell, Boscobel House, Mrs. Jane Lane, and Lieftenant General Thomas Dalyell.

In the excellent and witty "Historical and Political Discourse of the Laws and Government of England, collected from the manuscript notes of John Selden, by Nathaniel Bacon of

Gray's Inn," a work zealously prosecuted and destroyed during the times of the Stuarts, it is written, "that amongst those people in Germany, that had kings, their kings had a defined power, and were not supra libertatem: nor was this a dead word, for the people had formerly a trick of deposing their kings, when they saw them peep above the ordinary reach; and this was an easy work for them to do, whenever neighbouring princes of their nation watched for the windfalls of crowns: this made the monarchical crown in this land (England,) to walk circuit into all parts of the country, to find heads fit to wear it."

The remarkable events of the last half century have familiarised Europe with the adventures of fugitive monarchs: their sudden banishment from rebellious or conquered countries, and their equally sudden return to penitent subjects, has been contemplated with scarcely more attention than the migration and advent of birds of passage. No stories of fiction, in this " line of life," can equal the tales "founded on fact." The histories of the Cromwells, and the Bonapartes, present memorable examples of reverse of fortune and popular inconsistency. It is well said, in the "Merchant of Venice," -" A substitute shines brightly as a king, until a king be by." The restoration of deposed monarchs is a common occurrence: the elements of revolution once in agitation, no one can direct the whirlwind, or predict from what point of the compass the political storm will ultimately rage. However great the grievances which may have caused the suspension of the royal power, the great mass of the people have been hitherto so little enlightened, as to prevent anticipated benefits being realized. In civil contentions, all the existing relations of society are dislocated; commercial embarrassments invariably accompany change of government; a reaction of public opinion speedily takes place; apathy succeeds a state of high political and national excitement; the fallen party rally, and the banished sovereign returns in triumph to his welcoming subjects: promises are easily made, and past sufferings as readily forgotten.

The adventures and history of a royal exile are always singularly interesting and romantic. The sudden and trying reverse of fortune; the fortitude in adversity; the loyal devotion and generosity of Cavalier adherents; the whirlwind of revolution; the return of the deposed monarch, and his final restoration to "the throne of his ancestors;" constitute the rich materials of the historical novel writer: "revolution lowering does become the opposite of itself."

The most remarkable of European royal migrations and adventures are those of the Stuarts, particularly to English readers; and among the interesting circumstances of the Com

VOL. XIV. PART 1.