no body knew what to make of this dis-order Nestrof himself was amazed and could not imagine the reason unless it was that the Tzar was a-sleep and no body durst wake him At length about half an hour before night the Messengers arrived with orders for our departure when we were in despair of making our Entry The Ambassador was much surprised at it and could not imagine what their designe should be to receive him in the night in so much that he represented to Nestrof that it was not the Custome to receive Ambassadors in that Manner However orders being come and we tyred with an extream impatience all day of removing from those Wisbies he prepared to depart and expose all his pomp and splendor to the darkness of the night Of the solemne Entry of the Ambassador into Mosco THe Glory of Princes is in some proportion like the glory of the Sun and suffers its Eclipses the disorders and irregularities of their Officers many times intercepting the rays of their glory Of this we have an instance in the condition we were in all that day contrary to the Tzars designe who stayd near four houres with the Empress or great Dutchesse at one of the gates of the Town to see the splendor of this Embassy which was to be more particularly illustrious at this Entry But those who were the contrivers of this so great miscarriage were the cause also of that which happened after our setting forth and which his Excellence resented with great indignation which was the deferring of our Entry till the next day after we had advanced a good part of our way and arrived within sight of the Town For it being very late and the night overtaking us when as of five Versts we had past but two his Tzarskoy Majesty thought good his Excellence should retire and send orders to Nestrof to conduct him into a little Village on the Left hand to the end the Ambassador might from thence make his Entry the next morning in good time We had already in some manner presaged this disorder when we took notice how we were lead thorough by ways and that they had by designe drawn us out of the high way For which cause the Ambassador reflecting upon the ill treatment he had received that day and imagining this delay would become every where a matter of laughter and contempt he was so farr transported that he resolved and protested not to make his Entry till he had lawfull reparation thereupon And to testify the resentment he had of this affront he commanded his Trumpets should be silent Thus this day which should have been a day of Pomp and Magnificence proved a day of fasting of trouble and discontent this day in which his Excellence ought to have received the extraordinarie Markes of the greatest Amity that ever was betwixt two Crownes was a day in which he received but the tokens of indignity and contempt True it is the Ambassador was no sooner arrived at the Village we were retired to by order from the great Duke but a Diack whose name was Loukian Golozof arrived from him to excuse this disorder and accordingly he alledged that the Messengers that were sent with the orders for our departure had imprudently lost their way and that his Majesty judging it inconvenient his Excellence should make his Entry so late he thought good to defer him till the next morning that he might give him a Reception suitable to his Character But the Ambassador being assured that this wandring of the Messengers was but a pretence for he was otherwise informed that all this happened because they were not ready to receive him he was so farr from being satisfied with his apology that he was disgusted at the very person of the Diack and told him that without any reflexion upon him it had been more becomming to have sent a person of greater quality than he was of to excuse such proceedings In the mean time our Cooks were sent back who brought us some provision along with them to recover those Spirits we had lost that day for want of victuals The next day in the morning his Excellency apprehending Golozof might have either disguized or concealed his answer he commanded his Secretarie to draw up a letter in writing to the Tzar in which he should inform him of the principal circumstances of this disorder and intimate his resolution not to stirr from thence till some correction were given to the Authors and Instruments of it The Letter was in these Termes Illustrissime atque Excellentissime Imperator NOvum hoc inusitatum ad Imperatoriam Vestram Majestatem scribendi antequam optatissimo ejus conspectu frui liceret consilium expressit hesternae diei infortunium dicam an opprobrium Quippe post tot in itinere à Vologda moras tertiae diei quatuor tantùm ab aulâ vestrâ Imperatoriâ milliaribus expectionem quum multò manè surrexissem Offonarii Evan Vizy Nestrof monitu ante horam diei * * Tertia diei hora apud Moscovitas tum erat nobiscum circiter nonam Primam enim ut prius affirmavi numerant horam ab Oriente sole tertiam ad iter me comparassem ultra decimam tamen inter famosi gurgustii sordes angustias sine cibo aut potu detentus marcebam macerabar Quae quidem omnia quamvis Serenissimi Regis mei Majestate Imperatorio Vestro Fastigio nostrà Dignitate indignissima utcunque Metropolin Vestram intrandi ad Majestatem vestram Imperatoriam appropinquandi justissimas querelas nostras exponendi spe tolerabam Tandem quum jam advesperasceret signum proficiscendi datum Tunc verò postquam quod ignes fatui solent per camporum noctis errores me circumduxissent pronuntiatur in ignobili hoc Pago ubi cum omnibus incommodis honor sit auribus cum vilissimis insectis conflictor pernoctandum Accepi quidem ab Imperatoriâ vestrâ Majestate per quendam Procancellarium nuntium humanissimum qui rem excusaret in Angarorum Veredariorum negligentiam culpam derivaret Cui ego tunc quidem respondi idem jam ne optimo homini per viam aliquid interciderit ad Majestatem vestram Imperatoriam perscribo me Imperatoriae vestrae Majestati quà m maximas gratias persolvere nullo modo de humanitate vestrâ dubitare sed neque hanc rem tam parvi momenti esse ut tam facilè dilui possit deleri Neque ab Angaris aut Veridariis proculdubio hoc crimen profectum sed ab aliis qui majori in ministerio eodem tamen in numero haberi mereantur Neque tam impune serenissimi Regis mei honori Imperatoriae Vestrae Majestati aut nostrae Dignitati posse illudi Serenissimum Regem meum qui summus praecipuus est Imperatoriae Vestrae Majestatis Amicus nequidem Inimicorum multò minùs Amicorum Legatos ità accipere Et si modò aliquid hujusmodi in suo
shoot in and which as a Relique of that renowned Prince he thought could not be better dedicated than to the hands of Your Imperial Majestie Next to the Gun came a paire of Pistolets whereupon my Lord spoke again That pair of Pistolets saith he his Majestie delivered me also with his own hand commanding me to excuse their oldness which he thought would not make them less acceptable when You knew they where those with which after so long adversity He rid in His triumphant Entry into His Metropolitan City of London The Plate came next to those Pistolets and in the first place a great silver-guilt Basin supported upon two mens armes so all the rest passed by without stopping next to the Tzars the presents allowed for the two Princes then the Queenes present to the Dutchess and at last my Lord Ambassadors Thus ended the Audience and my Lord being brought home was treated as it is usual in that Court at audience-Audience-daies with the Tzars own meat and it was therefore sent presently from the Palace There was about an hundred dishes brought publickly in order with good store of wine brandy and meade His Majestie sent also one private Boyar to take a care of all the Ceremonies that were to be observed but the greatest Ceremonie being to drink many healths he made sure to have every health written in a bill in the same order as the Tzar had appointed him His Excellency sate at the middle of the table upon his chair of State at his right hand was my Lord of Morpeth and at his left Sir John Hebdon both at each end of the table so that they were prettie distant from my Lord Ambassador the Moscovites sate together at the other side of the table which was square and crosswise set My Lord having furnished his own plates took occasion to make use himself alone of a dozain of silver-guilt plates he had but the Boyars not liking that Ceremonie seemed to look upon it with a jealous eye yet his Excellency kept them as cheerful as he could both by his graceful presence of spirit and the sweetness of his Musick The Boyar who directed the feast did also play his part with his healths holding the paper in his hand and presently begun his great Lords good health Though indeed I think he liked farr better the King of Englands for my Lord Ambassador presented him with the cup wherein he drunk it being of silver-guilt wherewith he was so much taken that he scarce minded any thing else and so went away with it The 13. of February my Lord had again Audience of the Tzar and also his first Conference with the Commissioners appointed by his Tzarskoy Majestie We went in the same order and manner as we did the first time but my Lord Ambassador was led into another hall much handsomer than the first the inner-roof being fairely guilt with very good pictures there were also fair windows and very rich tapestrie The Tzar was upon a little Throne not above two steps over the ground yet having still the Crown upon his head and the Scepter in his hand and at his right hand there was the Imperial Globe This Audience being a little private and therefore not so copious of Boyars the Tzar inquired of the Ambassadors health and told him besides that having caused the Kings Letter to be translated he knew thereby his Majesties desire and that consequently he had appointed six Commissioners amongst his near Boyars and Counsellors to treat with him about his affaires So my Lord did not stay with the Tzar above a quarter of an hour then he stood very near to him but still with his hat off While he was going to the room appointed for the Conference he was met twice by some of their Boyars wearing great gold chaines about them which I thought to be something like those Aethiopian slaves whose chaines were also of gold My Lord being come to the room he and his Commissioners sate together and he delivered them one paper about the Reparation promised in his Tzarskoy Majesties name before he made his Entrance and another concerning the Restitution of the Privileges enjoyed formerly by the English Company Thus was the first paper written FOr as much as the second day after my arrivall at the Yaws but five versts from this Citie notice having been given me by Offonassie Evanovich Nestrof my Pristaff that his Imperial Majestie expected me the next day being the fifth of February in Mosco and that about nine a Clock I should be ready to set forward I was thereupon before the said houre ready accordingly with all my train and equipage to make my solemn Entry into His said Imperial Citie of Mosco but was nevertheless detained in a noisome wisby the whole day without meat or drink for my self or attendants And when at the last order came to my Pristaff I was after having been for an houres time or more led up and down the Fields out of the way to the Citie instead of entring into the Imperial Citie according to appointment lodged in a mean village three miles distant Which indeed was the same evening in the name of his Imperial Majestie excused to me upon the mistake of the Posts and Messengers sent out for direction Whereupon I thought necessarie to write thence to his Imperial Majestie to inform His said Imperial Majestie of what had passed and of my resolution not to stirr out of that place until satisfaction were given me for so great an indignity as it to me appeared And forasmuch as before the answer to the said Letter there was upon the sixth of February sent from his Imperial Majestie to me the Diack of the imperial Cabinet to desire me by any means to make my Entrance the same day and the said Diack promising that all satisfaction should be given me concerning the said indignitie I did therefore accordingly make my Entry into this Citie the said sixth day of February but have not yet received any sufficient account concerning the occasion the manner and the punishment of the said miscarriage as in so weighty a business appertaines And forasmuch as by reason of the said miscarriage I was which I account a damage irreparable detained one whole day longer from the honor and felicity of seeing His Imperial Majestie and am so much the longer withheld from proposing what I have from the King my Master for the good of both Estates And forasmuch as in the eye and discourse of the whole World the honour of the King my Master has thereby exceedingly suffered and will daily more without a satisfaction as publick and notorious as the miscarriage And forasmuch as otherwise I can give no good account to the King my Master to whom I am responsible with my head should I digest any such indignities I therefore desire that his Imperial Majestie will be pleased to command that a perfect narrative in the most authentick manner of the reason of that disorder
first coming to the Ambassador said to him that His Tzarskoy Majesty had ordered them and the Ambassador to come to Mosco naming themselves before the Ambassador Likewise the said Stolnick refused absolutely to furnish the Gentlemen with sledds convenient and would only allow them such bare sledds as are used by the common Mousicks so that the Ambassador was forced to buy those sledds for the Gentlemen with his own money Also the said Stolnick was so strict in matters of provision that the Ambassador was refused one single egg for his use the Chalavalnicks or Purveyors alledging that they durst not do it without the said Stolnicks order and that they durst not wake him Besides at Yeroslaf Troitza and other places upon the way the Ambassador was unnecessarily detained several daies from proceeding on his journey to his Tzarskoy Majesty And at last the Ambassador being arrived at the Yaws some four English miles from Mosco and having staid there two days was overnight upon the fourth of February told by the said Stolnick that he had orders for his entring into Mosco the next day and therefore desired him to be ready by nine a clock in the morning which he was Nevertheless he and his whole retinue were staid all the next day at the Yaws till four in the evening without any meat or drink or the least refreshment whatsoever and at that unseasonable hour orders came for their going on to Mosco And being more than half way thither then came new orders that the Ambassador should not make his Entry that night but turn into a village yet worse than the Yaws There came that night to the Ambassador the Diack Lookian Timopheovich Golozof from the Tzar laying the fault upon the messengers sent with orders from Mosco who he said mist their way to the Yaws The Ambassador spoke neither then nor at any time else of all or any of the former indignities but this being so notorious he demanded reparation and that till then he would not stir hence toward Mosco And yet Demente Bashmacof Diack of the Taynich Deal coming to him the next morning promising in his Tzarskoy Majesties name he should have satisfaction in less than a quarter of an hours space he condescended to make his Entry and did not spend half an hour in setting forward But whereas his Tzarskoy Majesty Commissioners formerly as now His Embassadors say that the Earle of Carlisle spun out that day also until the evening it was not so But all the time that was spun out was partly by Doomnoy Duoranin Evan Offanassevich Pronchissof who though he were sent forth to the Embassador to be his Pristaf into Mosco sat in his Sledd formalizing a long time that the Embassador should first come out of his Sledd to him and after a tedious capitulation and agreement before so many spectators whereby they were to come out together yet the said Doomnoy Duoranin making a feint of stepping forward hung in the air among the arms of his attendants to cheat the Embassador And the other stay which was very long was by reason of those troops of Gentlemen and others that were present who to make the guard continue and hold out to the eye were forced ever and anon to make a stand while those that had met the Embassador before should under the blind of those next to him gallop away behind to fill up a new station forward And so it was night again before the Ambassador could enter which might have been prevented by expecting one day longer as the Ambassador moved the Diack of the Taynich Deale But those great Wax-tapers which the Ambassadors speak of in their paper were in so good order that it is evident it was resolved upon a night Entry in good time before hand As to the Ambassadors first Audience it was indeed agreed upon that it should be upon the ninth of February and the Doomnoy Duoranin told the Ambassador that was a great sign of his Tzarskoy Majesties favour yet it was afterwards put off that it must not be till the eleventh of February for what contrary reason the Ambassador knows not Also although at his first Audience he told his Tzarskoy Majesty that he had particular commands from his Royal Majesty concerning Sir John Hebdon yet the Ambassador was refused to deliver that recommendatory Letter concerning him to his Tzarskoy Majesties own hand but obliged to tender it to his Commissioners Also at coming to Conference the Lords Commissioners stood up alwaies within the Room without moving to meet the Ambassador and also at all Conferences they took the high end of the Table The Ambassador delivered at the first Conference a very treatable and courtly demand of reparation for the miscarriage of his Entry And though he then signified that he could not proceed to other matters of State till that were rectified yet upon the Commissioners earnest motion and ingaging their honours towards his Reparation he at the same time delivered in another Proposition concerning the restitution of the Priviledges And the Restitution of the Priviledges is a matter of State joyntly concerning the true brotherly love of both great Princes and certainly the foundation thereof was laid in the Priviledges To these first Propositions of the Ambassador the Commissioners gave in their answer Wherein they assume all their own Titles and name themselves before the Ambassador Extraordinary but him they call only plain Knez Charles Howard Also speaking of his Royal Majesties Father they call him only Slauopamite of glorious memory but his Tzarskoy Majesties Father Blagenniopamite of ever blessed memory Concerning the Ambassadors Entry they now add another pretence the long time of arraying the Courtiers and military Troops for his Reception They say the Ambassador ought not before he came into Mosco to have demanded reason and reparation of his being staid the first day They accuse the Ambassador for staying the second day And they say the Messengers by whom the delay was caused had been punished which was not so and if ever the least thing had been done in order thereto the Ambassador had desisted and he signified frequently to the Commissioners that he himself would have interceded for their pardon Then as to the matter of Priviledges for answer they raise an high accusation against the whole Russia Company word for word as it was delivered to Prideaux Cromwel's Agent of which nothing was then or ever since proved in particular But whereas his Tzarskoy Majesty had given to understand to his Royal Majesty as if the Priviledges had been taken away in detestation of the late Rebellion in England that is only mentioned for numbers sake But they lay great stress upon a Letter sent they say by his late Majesty to his Tzarskoy Majesty by Luke Nightingale desiring the abrogating of the Priviledges And in this their first answer they conclude positively against the granting any Priviledg not so much as blanching it in hansom words as his Tzarskoy
Majesty did to Cromwel upon the same occasion wherein he saith thus And now we the Great Lord by reason of these times of War cannot enter upon a review of these businesses but for the future Our Tzarskoy Majesties order will be to the English Merchants such as may stand with the quiet advantage friendship and amity of both great Nations Indeed in some Papers afterwards the Commissioners as now the Ambassadors do lay the excuse upon the wars seeming to promise something when they should be at an end but in loose words and to be expounded according to time and occasions as the Doomnoy Duoranin Evan Offanassevich Pronchissof did not disown when the Ambassador not in order to treat or close which he could not upon any such conditions but for better information discoursed with him concerning the words wherein they expressed that overture And in this the Commissioners first paper aforesaid they conclude with an exception against the Title most Illustrious given by the Embassador at his first audience to his Tzarskoy Majesty according to the Title used in his Royal Majesties Letter and by his Predecessors to the Predecessors of his Tzarskoy Majesty Whereas that first Speech of the Embassadors was all thorough composed of the greatest honour and courtship to his Tzarskoy Majesty that any thing could be imagined Nevertheless the Posolkoy Diack Almaze Evanof one of the Ambassadors Commissioners did also in open Precas say that the Title most Illustrious used by the Ambassador was an unmannerly expression The Ambassador being still further off any reparation of the former affront but rather finding it fixed upon him by the Commissioners first answer and considering the abrupt striking off the Priviledges was not in case to propound any further matter of State and therefore replyed only according to the occasions naturally given him by the Commissioners paper That as to the excuse of the Messengers missing their way within four miles of Mosco it was scarce possible and not probable because the same first day early in the morning men that came to Sir John Hebdon at the Yaws from his Tzarskoy Majesty upon a dishonourable occasion found the way very easiy And whereas this first pretence was now inched out with another the long arraying of the troops that they could not be in readiness the first day whereas to the contrary the Embassadors themselves say now in their Paper that those troops waited for the Earle of Carlisle that first day from morning till night he saith That it is hard for him to conceive whereas his Tzarskoy Majesty is able at so great distances by the good orders of his Generals in his absence to embattle so numerous and victorious Armies upon the sudden opportunities of fighting an Enemy that after his so slow advancing from Vologda and lying three days almost under the Gates of his Tzarskoy City the continual attendants upon his own person where they can learn nothing but the most exquisite order should not in a whole day be in a posture to receive the Ambassador of a Friend Which is so honourable as nothing can be said more and yet these are the words which the Commissioners and now the Ambassadors complain against as reproachful to his Tzarskoy Majesties Armies And afterwards upon his saying they herein perverted his meaning the Commissioners then and now the Ambassadors quarrel yet further And so wherein the Ambassador saith they are ill founded in their exception against Illustrissimus as though it were not lawful for a Stranger in Moscovy to speak truth and an Ambassador must discourse under tuition He also required in his Majesties name the sight of that Letter of Nightingales and that being so false and reflecting so highly upon his late Majesties memory it might be delivered into his hands Which the Commissioners would never produce though kept it up still as a pretence and at the last being urged to it said that it was lost but assoon as they could find it which they never would he should have it He also alledged his Tzarskoy Majesties promise by letter to his Royal Majesty to restore the Priviledges at the coming of His Embassador He answered the accusation against the Merchants replyed to their exception against Illustrissimus and admonished the Commissioners of their omitting his Royal Majesties Title Defender of the Faith of which the Embassadors also may do well to take notice After this the Embassador was invited to dine with his Tzarskoy Majesty Shellimetof near Stolnick to his Tzarskoy Majesty when he came to tell the Embassador dinner was ready said The Tzar commanded him to come to dinner The Doomnoy Duoranin Evan Offonassevich Pronchissof propounded to the Embassador from his Tzarskoy Majesty that the Cafemouskoy and Sibierskoy Tzarwicks should sit at a table superiour to the Embassadors table His Tzarskoy Majesty though he had only his cap on that day yet did not stir it to the Ambassador when he came in to dinner as neither was he pleased to stir His cap at the private Audience hereafter mentioned His Tzarskoy Majesty caused not the Embassador to sit down with him at his own table but at a table below in the Hall with a Doomnoy Duoranin and a Stolnick The Boyars dined at a table at the upper end of the Hall and their ceremonies during dinner time were still performed to them before the Embassador The Ambassador had not a napkin allowed him at dinner Upon the receit and return of other papers betwixt the Embassador and the Commissioners who satisfied him in nothing but still affected to make the breaches wider he desired to have a private Audience of His Tzarskoy Majesty which though he moved the twenty second of March he could not procure ere the twenty second of April And the Commissioners tell the Embassador that in case of such Audience he must not speak of business In the mean time His Tzarskoy Majesty upon Palm-sunday inviting the Embassador to see the Ceremonies the Stolnick that was sent to conduct him stept first into the coach and would have the upper hand The Embassador would not go upon that condition so that he was fain to expect till contrary orders came from his Tzarskoy Majesty The Embassador in that private Audience acquainted his Tzarskoy Majesty how the affaires stood betwixt him and his Commissioners answered the reasons against the Priviledges revealed the secret of his Royal Majesties affection toward his Tzarskoy Majesty desired reparation concerning his Entry and complained of the Doomnoy Duoranin Evan Offonassevich Pronchissof For he knew that the said Doomnoy Duoranin strove upon all occasions to make his person odious and to obstruct his affaires For the said Doomnoy Duorarin the Embassador desiring that the English Women might have leave to visit his Lady there being a restraint to the contrary spake of it to his Tzarskoy Majesty in so licentious a sense as made the demand appear ridiculous Also the Embassador desiring that Beuchlin a Dutchman who dwelt in his house
Damask surrounded with a gold and silver Fringe and having on the back in a large circle the Arms of the King of England richly embroidered with silver together with a very rich Chair of State having its Footstool For other things it is the custome of the Tzar to defray the charges of all foreign Ambassadors from their Entrance into his Dominions till the time they are out of them In short all things being thus provided we prepared to depart in the month of July 1663. but before we come to the particular relation of our Voiage it will not be incongruous to give some general notions of its extent The whole Voiage contained at least eighteen hundred leagues that is to say upon the Northern Seas betwixt London and Archangel seven hundred and fifty from Archangel to Vologda by water up the Rivers Duina and Sucagna in Moscovy two hundred and fifty leagues after that an hundred leagues at least from Vologda to Mosco by Land So that the way the Ambassador went his Voiage from London to Mosco which is the Metropolitan in Moscovy made up eleven hundred leagues From Mosco to Riga the principal City in Livonia we travelled two hundred and fifty leagues the most part by Land which said Town is under the Dominion of the King of Sweden From Riga we passed an hundred leagues upon the Baltick Sea to Stockholm the capital City in Swedeland From Stockholm by Sea also an hundred leagues more to Copenhagen in Denmark where his Excellence concluded his Embassies And from thence returning to London he made a Tour at the least of two hundred and fifty leagues more Of our Voiage from London to Archangel THere were two Vessels appointed for this Voiage One a Man of war of 50. pieces of Ordnance The other a Merchants ship which last set sayle before the other with twenty two of his Lordships Domesticks of which number I was one A great part of his baggage and of the Presents his Majesty sent to the great Duke were disposed in this Vessel also besides eight Coach horses In this manner we embarked from London for Gravesend where our ship lay at anchor in the Thames with the Man of war in which the Ambassador was to come after us very shortly But after we were embarked there was an unlucky accident befel one of our Company who fell down upon the hatches and hurt himself in several places of his body so that we thought fit to get him carried immediately ashore into Gravesend where he found himself so ill that we concluded his journey would be at an end before it was well begun This person was of the number of them to whom the generosity of the Ambassador had given leave to transport themselves for Moscovie and to cross those Countries with his Train His Excellence being arrived at Gravesend in order to his embarkment received him into his Vessel where in a short time he recovered so well that he made a match with one of the Maid-servants and so gave us afterwards the entertainment of a Marriage at Mosco However this fall proved to be but a happy fall forasmuch as by that means he leapt out of a Merchants ship into one of the King's Men of war well provided and much happier in this Voiage than ours There they were entertained all the way with the sound of Trumpets and the melody of Musick whilst we Strangers to all these divertisements had no other harmony than what is ordinarily concomitant with the sickness of the Sea in which the most of us bore our parts On the 15 th of July we set sayle from Gravesend with a favourable gale to fall down the River But shortly after the wind turned so cross and violent that for the space of seven or eight days we were all in a very sad and dismal consternation and those chiefly who were but strangers to these confusions as yet It is true we had now and then a little calm weather and chiefly the 21. which gave us the opportunity of entertaining our selves with the sight of a Porpoise of an exceeding bigness for a full quarter of an hour She gave us great diversion with her constant plungings and leapings in the water on each side of our Ship as if she had come on purpose to make us that Recreation But as if all that had been but so many presages of a grievous Storm and a Prognostication of crosses impending us presently after the wind was at North-East which was directly contrary and continued there four days with a very great violence And so that Sea which in the calm appeared like an azure field wherein the fishes sported themselves with the wanton expressions of their joy on a sudden became a place of horror of mountains and abysses combating one another by the violence of the winds the foaming waves tossing up our Vessel to the clouds and in an instant re-plunging it in the bottom of the Sea and the Ocean after so pleasant a calm bellowing and roaring with incredible fury so long a time together At last we came in sight of Norway and here we sollicited the Master to go to an harbour which was in sight of us and stay there till the wind served But he refused it alledging in his excuse that he came out very late from England to make so long a Voiage that it was unseasonable to divert our selves with recreations ashore that he was obliged to keep himself at Sea as much as was possible so that he might be ready to make his advantage of the first favourable wind By all which we quickly discerned that we had not to do with an Acessaeus who was alwaies coyning of pretences to delay his voiage and quarrelling the Moon that she was no more propitious to his Navigation Our Master on the contrary would anticipate his oppotunities and resolved however to manage his Vessel in spight of the inclemency of the Heavens He was an old Sea-man so accustomed to the air of the Sea that he scarce subsisted but on Shipboord and never lived but by compulsion on shore Which made one say That he feared lest the Master being become by custom an Amphibium already should at last degenerate into some Sea-monster and that if he had lived in the time of the antient Pagans when the Gods transformed Men and Women into Stones Trees and Birds it would have been no hard matter to have Metamorphised him at least into a Man-fish his disposition contributing so much thereunto The 26. the wind increased with such fury that it blew down and brake in pieces the scuttle of our main Mast tore our main Sayle and sprung one of our masts so that it hung loose among the Tackling At first this disaster was very dreadful but we turned it presently into an occasion of joy intermingling with the common apprehension of extraordinary danger a secret hope of being for some time delivered from the importunity of the Sea And indeed the Master
About noon we had a gentle gale that gave us a sight of the Embassadors Frigat by which we understood his Excellence was long since arrived at Archangel that he was perswaded we were cast away and resolved if he had no news of â—s before to begin his journey for Vologda the 8. of September As this news which we received but by the â—y as the Frigat was returning into England gave us no small joy on the one side so on the other it was a great trouble to find our selves sixty leagues from our Port exposed to the fury of a wind that was already rallying its forces to beat us back and did effectually repel us so as The next day we were obliged to cast anchor towards the point of Orlogones for the more certain evasion of the Rocks and Sand-banks that encompast us In the mean time five or six of our men and as many Seamen made a a party to go on shore and see how that country was inhabited and expecting to meet store of wild beasts amongst other weapons they took their fire Arms also They stayed on shore about five or six hours but so incommoded with the coldness of the wind that they were constrained to cut down a wooden cross they found newly erected near the sea side to make a fire therewith to warm themselves the remainder of which they brought along with them aboard to do as much for us for we had already consumed almost all our seacoals They brought us also a Bottle of fresh water as sweet as liquorice which they had from a Rock near the sea side which the Master lik'd so well he resolved the next day to fill two or three Tun with it for that most of our water was corrupted The 4. the wind turned but we escapt very narrowly being wreckt For a little after midnight as we were weighing anchor in the midst of the tempest and rain we found our selves violently forced among the Rocks by the fury of the Sea and the Tide driving us inevitably on ground insomuch as the Master dispairing to get the ship off with a most lamentable voice cryed out All is lost His rocky heart at last melted at the sight of those Rocks that environed us and he whom the most outragious surges of the Sea could not terrifie trembled then at the sight of a Rock insomuch as to have seen him then one would have thought no body had been in danger but he so strangely was he surprised with amazement and despair And now it was every one put his affairs into order and he being in expectation every moment of dashing in pieces and giveing us the alarm most of us prepared our selves to swim if we could to Land which was not far from us For my part I took up Vlysses Resolution who being almost in the same condition thought it best to keep in his ship till it was broke in pieces then said he when the Waves have destroyed my Vessel will be the best time for me to swim for then a man has nothing else to mind But God Almighty delivered us from this desperate extremity so that having with much labour weighed Anchor we cleered our selves beyond all expectation doubling the point of Orlogones we made forty leagues that day upon the white sea and that evening we came up as high as Catsnose which we left to the lee-ward The 5. of Septemb. was the day whereon we arrived happily at Archangel but before we got in we ran a great hazard at the Bar of Archangel where the Duina dis-imbogues it self and where we saw a Holland Merchant man that was newly wreckt there The reason was the sea was so shallow that we had not above a foot or two water to spare so that when we entred into the River we were brought to that extremity that our ship ran on ground where we were constrained to continue till evening when the Tide came in During which time the master with another Gentleman went on shore to Archangel to give his Excellence notice of our arrivall The tide coming in the ship that lay but lightly upon the ground was dis-ingaged in that manner that we all arrived at Archangel in three hours where we were recived by our companions with all imaginable joy so that it was no easie matter to determine which side thought it self most happy we who were arrived or they that we were so Of the Ambassadors Voyage and of his Entry into the Town of Archangel IF our Voyage was full of troubles and disasters I dare on the other side affirm there was scarce ever any so happy as the Ambassadors For without mentioning the advantage and convenience of his ship I shall only relate that whereas we spent seven compleat weeks betwixt London and Archangel his Excellencie made the whole Voyage of seven hundred and fifty leagues in less than a moneth for having set saile from Gravesend the 22. of July which was eight daies after us he arrived the 19. of August at the Barr of Archangel which was seventeen daies before us And there it was his Frigat came first to an anchor in expectation of Orders for his Entry for which reason he sent Mr. Marvel his Secretary into the Town Of whose landing the Governour having notice ordered him to be conducted by six Gentlemen to the Castle through a Regiment of six hundred men and the next day he sent sixteen boats guarded by several hundreds of men under the command of a Collonel to receive his Excellence and bring him ashore The Ambassadors Entry into Archangel was made the 23. in a remarkable manner For besides the sixteen boats which were sent to attend upon the Ambassador there was a Barque particularly trim'd for his Excellence besides â—â—veral others drest up with Tapestry that came to meet him and accompany him to the Town above halfe a league whilst several ships men of War and Merchant-men both of England and Holland forbore not to congratulate his Entry with the noise of their Canon which is not much in use amongst the Muscovites unless in their wars And just as his Excellence was landing upon a wooden bridg he was prevented by a certain Collonel called Bogdan who came to complement him according to their mode and to declare himself deputed to attend him as Pristaffe which is the Title they give such as are appointed to receive foreign Ambassadors and to take care of their passage and provisions The Ambassador having replied to him very handsomely began to advance towards the lodging which was prepared for him but as he was setting the first step the Pristaff took the upper hand of him And this was an instance of the great rudeness and insolence of the Muscovites of which we shall have future occasion to speak more largely which is the ordinary method they use to those Ambassadors upon whom they design any advantage so as they beleeve they do their Prince a manifest injurie if they do
not in his name treat them uncivilly But his Excellence being resolved to teach them the dignity of his Character stopt himself immediately and turning to the Pristaff remonstrated to him the incivility of his carriage telling him in these words That he had received great civilities till then but that he could by no means give him that advantage which was due to himself That he was sent from his Majestie of Great Britain to the Emperour to do him all possible honour but it was without derogating from himself and much less from the King his Master Thereupon Bogdan in some perplexitie excused himself by alledging the Orders he had received from the Governour to that purpose and entreated his Excellence to make a little stay In the mean time he dispatched away a Messenger to the Governour to give him notice how unluckily his Design had succeeded and continued bare-headed all the while till the messenger returned though his Excellence was covered At length the difference was decided to the advantage of the Ambassador who was immediately conducted to his Lodging where the Pristaff with great Apology made him a liberal offer of all things necessary for his family And this is all I have to say concerning the manner of our Entry However before I describe the Circumstances of our abode at Archangel and the success of our journey cross the Country to Mosco I think it not impertinent to give a Relation of the Country it self and the Inhabitants to the end that the Readers being pre-instructed in these two points the manner of our Voyage may be more easily comprehended The description of Moscovie Moscovie is properly but the name of a Province so called of which Mosco is the chief City But as France communicates its name to all the Provinces under that Dominion so by Moscovie are ordinarily understood all the Provinces united under the Obedience of the Czar This Country is a part of the Europaean Sarmatia whereof the Antients make mention which is otherwise called Russia or Roxolania and from thence comes the name of Russians which is given to the Moscovites This Empire which is doubtless the greatest of all Europe extends it self Northward to the frozen Sea beyond the Artique Circle Eastward it is terminated by the River Oby Southwards by the Crim Tartars and Precopia And on the West by Livonia Poland and Swedland So that in its whole extent as well in Asia as Europe it comprehends thirty degrees which is near six hundred leagues and in its Latitude sixteen which is above three hundred This Country is generally flat in which Nature has taken delight as it were to put the Trees in aray and to beautifie it with several Lakes and Rivers And in truth Moscovie from one end to the other is in a manner nothing but a continual Forest irrigated by several Lakes and Rivers which render it incomparably pleasant and beautiful Amongst others there is Volga sometimes called Rha and which the Tartars at present call Edel without exception the finest River in Europe It takes its source in the Province of Roscovie from a Lake called Fronow and passing some few leagues beyond into another called Volgo it takes its name from that Lake and disimbogues near Astracan into the Caspian Sea Where it divides Europe and Asia So as from its head to the place where it falls into the Caspian is a tract of a thousand leagues at least receiving most of the Rivers in Moscovie as it goes along which inlarge it so that as Olearius mentions in his Relation it is not far from Nice four thousand six hundred Geometrical feet broad The Boristhenes also which parts Lituania and Moscovie is very considerable which riseth in Roscovie also and dischargeth it self into the Euxin Sea Besides these there is Duina which receiveth the Conslans Jagel and Sucagna and casts it self into the White Sea some six or seaven leagues from Archangel There is another Duina also which riseth some leagues off of the Nieper or Boristhenes in a Lake that gives it its name and falls into the Baltique about four leagues from Riga The Oby which discharges it self into the Frozen Sea and takes its source from the Lake Cataisco is so broad at the mouth they must have a very good wind that cross it in a day I could speak also of Mosca and Occa considerable Rivers and of several others this Country is well provided with but it shall be sufficient at present to say that for the most part they lose themselves in the Rivers above-named Besides these there is so great a number of Brooks Pools and Lakes one can scarce pass four or five leagues without seeing some great collection of Water Moscovie being scituat in so cold a Climat no wonder if the Winters be very long there and the Frosts exceeding violent especially in the most Northerly Provinces About Mosco where the weather is more temperate the Winter takes not up above six or seven moneths in the year but on the Eastern and Northern sides of the Country particularly in the Province of Petzora that runs along by the Frozen Sea their Winters are so long that their Rivers which begin to thaw but in May freez again before August is past And although those Provinces towards the South should seem in reason to be more mild they are notwithstanding so subject to violent Cold that one shall meet with men upon the Road benum'd ordinarily who though their whole body perhaps be not stupified yet there is nothing more common if they have not extraordinary care than to have their Eares their Lips their Hands or their Noses frozen In short the Colds there are great to that degree that they many times become insuperable by any exercise of the body and cleave the very Earth as much as a Drought The Rivers the Lakes the Sea it felt is frozen and as at that time they seem to have changed their Natures they change also their Customes One may see there a River so frozen in four and twenty hours that one may pass over dry foot and without doubt the abundance of Water that contributes to the Frost must needs make the Aire more bitter and the Winter more fierce From thence it comes to pass that Moscovie is exempt from Epidemical diseases their bodies being more robust and more vigorous than in the hot Countries where they are more subject to distempers True it is the Heats in the Summer are so excessive that as it is commonly reported in that Country even the Fir-trees are sometimes set on fire by the Sun Nevertheless the Nights are so fresh and coole that in the moneth of July we had Frosts though the Days had been sweltry and insupportable But that which is much more troublesome than the Heat is the Clouds of Insects of Wasps and other Flies ingendred by the Sun in the Pooles and Marshes which give a perpetual persecution to them that travel For Aliment necessary for the
Town one of them fell in as close as he could to the Ambassadors person who was then attended with sixteen sledges the other who was but then preparing to depart being come up to him fell foul upon the former with design to quarrel with him and nothing could serve his turn but he must stop his sledg that he himself might go before him according to his place The other not at all pleased with so strange a dealing refused him and gave him withall ill language Upon this they both betook themselves to their swords and leaping on shore they fell presently to fight But the Ambassador having the alarm came presently in and seeing how deficient they had bin in their respect to his person he used them both severely However every one lamented the ill fortune of the assailant who appeared to have ingaged in this busines upon a publique accompt and made use of this only as an occasion the other being an imperious person and one that by reason of his long relation to his Excellence with had gained him some favours seemed to despise the whole family And indeed nothing but his long standing in that family could be the ground of all his presumption for of his other qualities there was no body believed he had any reason to boast In the 18. of December we saw that strange representation that is annually made by the Moscovites of the fiery furnace in which Shadrech Mesec and Abednego were cast by the King of Babilon The Persons that act in it are disguised their beards rubbed over with honey their hats of wood with which they run up and down the streets and with wild fire in their hand burn the hair or beard of any body they meet with great insolence During this Extravagance the Moscovites look upon them as so many Pagans and profane persons but on the feast of Kings they baptize them again because that day they believe was the first calling of the Gentils and for that reason they return them into the bosome of the Church Our devotions at Christmas being over my Lord Ambassador made all necessary preparations for our Voiage from Vologda to Mosco In order to which he sent to Nestrof to desire that he might have good sledges chiefly for his Gentlemen and that the same might attend them quite through his journey to spare the trouble of changing them by the way But this demand was presently rejected by Nestrof who had been will pleased if all his Excellencies Retinue would have marched on foot His answer was he could not furnish him with any but the Ordinary sledges which are commonly very thin and split in their sides Upon this answer my Lord Ambassador dispatched his Secretary to him who told him freely it was most undecent to have persons of quality worse accommodated for their confidence in the Care of the Tzar so great a Monarch than if they had been at their own charges He replied they might do as they pleased no body hindered them from takeing their own course And thereupon he declared that his Excellence had no reason to complain that his Tzarskoy Majesty had done him extraordinary honor in sending a person of his quality so far to conduct him to Mosco To which the Secretary replied that my Lord Ambassador acknowlegded his quality but that he never thought it so great that he and his associate ought to preferr themselves before him as they had done at their first visit But after all this expostulation his Excellence was constrained to provide himself of sledges at his own charges In the mean time to secure themselves from the wind and the snow every one took care to make himself a kind of a tilt of cloth stretched upon two or three hoops as the people of quality of those parts are used to do And the weather being exceeding cold the greatest part lined their sledges with a course kind of felt that is sold on purpose for that use as they did likewise their Coverlets with good furs to wrap themselves up in The rest provided as well as they could to cover themselves so that our Samojedes Vests were not with out imployment nor were our Buck and Sheeps skin unusefull in this Voiage everyone endeavouring above all things to be furnished with furrs against the cold Of his Excellencies Journey from Vologda to Mosco MY Lord Ambassador foreseeing what the inconvenience would be if he marched with his whole train along with him especially from Vologda to Yeroslaf upon which road there was nothing but Villages thought good to send before his Horses and all things belonging to his Stables with sixty sledges in which there was also a good part of his bagage and some nine or ten Servants who had all their quarters assigned that they might have the better care of the Goods The 7. of January 1664. they set forward and on the 15. of the same moneth his Excellence with a Train of about an hundred and forty Sledges On the 19. he arrived at Yeroslaf having crossed the Volga at the Towns-end which was Frozen over and covered with Snow The 22. we parted from Yeroslaf all together and passing by Rostof we came the 24. to Peroslaf The next day his Excellence departed from Peroslaf and arrived on the 27. at Troitza where we stayed five days At length we came to the Yawes on the third of February which is a little Village some five Versts from Mosco and there it was my Lord Ambassador prepared himself for his Entry which began the fifth and was not finished till the sixth at Night The Weather was so sharp and the Frost so violent when Mr. Godbolt the Master of the Horse departed with my Lord's Coach and Horses from Vologda that notwithstanding our provision of Furs we thought we should never have been able to overcome it But this extremity continued not above five or six days the Heavens had reserved more mild and propitious weather for his Excellencies departure so that it thawed till the very day we arrived at Yeroslaf but it began then to reassume its former fierceness as by very sensible Convictions we found afterwards We marched as well night as day every one in his sledge at his full length And because the upper parts of us were more exposed to the injuries of the Aire we took a particular care of covering our selves and to stop all the chinks the cold might possibly come in at We had every one of us besides our Furs his bottle of strong water which we drunk off now and then as an excellent preservative of Heat The Kitchin went still before with the Russ Harbingers which the Pristafs sent away to take up our Lodgings in good time and to get such meat dressed as they had along with them and having dispatched these away they advanced to the next place some three or four hours before the Ambassador The Pristafs Equipage made the whole journey on horse-back true it is they were well
Regno evenire potuisset serenissimum Regem meum quod sine Procancellarii ignominia dicitur nobilissimum e Magnatibus aliquem missurum fuisse qui rem excusaret neque antea destiturum priusquam reorum sanguine quantacunque gratiâ aut nobilitate pollentium tam barbarum inhumanum facinus expurgasset Rem hanc fabulae ludibrio toti mundo futuram Ne igitur quamvis Imperatoriae Vestrae Majestatis conspectu fruendi cupientissimum in hoc loco pessimè habitum nullo tamen modo hinc exiturum donec de eorum corio mihi satisfieret quicunque quantum in se erat Serenissimi Regis mei Majestatem Imperatoriam Vestram Majestatem Sanctissimam Legatorum dignitatem violassent proculcassent profanassent Haec utì facta dicta erant Imperatoriae Vestrae Majestati exposui ut in gravissimo hoc negotio quod Imperatoriâ Vestrâ magnitudine prudentiâ dignum est constituere possit Interpreti meo mandavi ut responsum Vestrum Imperatorium in hâc re expectaret De caetero Imperatoriae Vestrae Majestati summam faelicitatem voveo exopto 6. Februarii Anno D ni 1664. CARLISLE The Superscription was thus Magno Domino Imperatori Magno Duci Alexio Michailovicio totius magnae minoris albae Russiae Autocratori multarum aliarum Ditionum Regionum Orientalium Occidentalium Septentrionalium Haeredi earum à Patre Avis Domino Monarchae Most Illustrious and most Renowned Prince and Emperour THis new and unaccustomed resolution of writing to your Imperial Majestie before I have the most desired Honour of being admitted to Your Majesties presence is occasioned by a misfortune if not an indignity which hapned to me Yesterday After a tedious Journey from Vologda and three Days waiting at the distance only of four miles from Your Imperial Court when I had risen very early and according to the advertisement of Offonarius Evanovitsius Nestrof had fitted my self for my Journey nevertheless I was constrained to languish till after Ten without any manner of refreshment in the confinement and dirt of a smoaky Cottage All which things though most unworthy the Majestie of the King my Master Your Imperial Grandeur and my particular Character I patiently sustained with the hope however of Entring Your Imperial City and approaching the presence of Your Imperial Majestie and declaring my just complaints At length when Night was now at hand notice was given for our setting forwards And after the Guides had like Ignes fatui mislead me up and down the Fields in the Night it was signified to me that I must quarter in this pitiful Village amidst all kind of inconveniences and swarms of troublesome Insects I confess I received from Your Imperial Majestie by a certain Vice-chancellor a very courteous Message excusing the matter and charging the fault upon the negligence of the Guides and Posts I then answered him and write the same now to Your Imperial Majestie lest the good man may have forgotten something by the way That I give Your Imperial Majestie very great thanks and no wise doubt of your Generosity but that the thing is not of so small importance as to be blown off so easily That the fault proceeded not from the Posts or Messengers but from others of greater Quality perhaps though but of equal merit That affronts done to the Honour of the King my Master Your Imperial Majestie or my self ought not to go unpunished That the King my Master who is Your Imperial Majesties highest and chiefest Friend gives not such Reception to the Ambassadors of Enemies much less to those of Friends And that in case any such thing should happen in his Kingdom the King my Master would have sent some person of the highest Nobility to excuse it which I speak without reproach to the Vice-chancellor and not desisted till he had expiated so barbarous and inhumane an action with the blood of the Criminals of whatever quality or consideration That this proceeding would give cause of talk and laughter to the whole World That therefore however desirous I was of approaching of Your Imperial Majestie and ill accommodated in this place yet I should not stir from it till satisfaction were given me upon the Persons of those who as much as in them lay had violated and affronted the King my Master Your Imperial Majestie and the sacred Character of Ambassadors I have related these things to Your Imperial Majestie as they were done and spoken to the end that You may make such determination in this most weighty business as shall be suteable to your Imperial Grandure and Prudence I have commanded my Interpreter to wait for your Majesties answer in this matter And I wish and imprecate to your Imperial Majestie all Happiness Carlisle This Letter was scarce gone when Demente Bashmacof Diack of the great Dukes Cabinet arrived at the Ambassadors Wisby from the Tzar he acquitted himself of his Message to his Excellence so well that having promised him all manner of satisfaction he prevailed with him upon those termes to make his Entry immediately And as Bashmacof was returning very well pleased the Interpreter who departed with the Letter at the same time Bashmacof came to his Excellence arrived with this answer that Almaze the Diacke of the Embassy office into whose hands he had given the Letter told him that Bashmacof was gone towards the Ambassador to give him satisfaction in the behalf of his Tzarskoy Majesty This being past we departed immediately to make our Entry in which we received indeed very evident tokens of the Grandeur of that Prince there being all the splendor and glory that precious stones rich furrs cloth of gold and silver velvets and other rich stuffs goodly horses and a noble Equipage could make besides the noise of an incredible number of Trumpets Kettle-drums and other Instruments of military Musique so that it was reported every where in the court that the City of Mosco never saw the Entry of any Ambassador so glorious as this which was made on saturday the sixth of February in a very faire day with the same Order and Circumstances that follow The Ambassadors Trumpeters sounding their silver Trumpets as they went marcht on horsback in the Van. They were followed by the Gentlemen one after another every one in his sledge the inferior formost so that he whose place and quality was immediately before the other followed him immediatly in this procession to the end that thereby he might have the advantage of being so much nearer the person of the Ambassador Each of them had his sledge adorned with Bearskins so disposed that half of them hung down behind The Pristafs domestiques followed two and two all very well clad and they made five ranks on horsback After them came the Pristafs each of them in his sledge And my Lord Ambassador followed Nestrof in his sledge drawn by two white horses which is the most esteemed colour for horses in Moscovie The Tilt or
covering of his sledge was of scarlet whose edges hanging down very low were guarded round about with crowns made of little peices of sky coloured velvet edged with silver lace and the back of his sledge was drest up with the skin of a white Bear On the right side of his sledge upon a plank layd cross sate his chief interpreter with his head uncovered behind there was another board layd at the bottom of the sledge on which there stood two Pages the twelve footmen in the mean time marching six of a side with Partisons trim'd according to their Liveries one behind another and all bare Behind his Excellence followed my Lord Vicomte Morpeth the Ambassadors only Son then of about seventeen years of age who bare his Father company in all his Embassies He sate in a very faire glass coach drawn by six black horses with rich housses of Scarlet very well laced and fringed with silver which upon black shew very handsom and behind his Coach he had two Pages also After my Lord Morpeth came my Lady Ambassadress in her Caftnaz covered on the out side all over with Crimson velvet with very broad laces of gold and silver and lined within with blew damaske according to the Liveries which were red lined with blew On each side there were great windows which served as doors to go in at besides which there were little windows also which her Ladiship might looke thorow without being seen her selfe she had one of her Gentle-women in the Caftnaz with her two Pages standing upon a plank behinde and three footmen running by After my Ladies Caftnaz came my Lord of Morpeths sledg but without any body in it after which there followed two Caftnazes more and so in order all the rest of the train and baggage which made up about two hundred sledges A while after we had left this Village which was about two a clock we entred into a very faire champaigne in which the Moscovian horse were drawne up and had been two days there putting into Order Amongst the rest they had a great Number of Archers with their Quivers full of arrows and for their Musique there were so many Trumpets Kettle-drums Howboys and other such instruments of war which they had disperst in parties thorow all their Troops that for two miles we were in no want of Musique But they having battered our ears with one continued aire above two hours together all the way as we marcht the noise of those Instruments which at first had delighted us with their melody became now obstreperous and troublesome In the mean time there were a great number of Boyars of Stolnicks and other persons of the Court which came to meet the Ambassador richly clad in Vests or Tuniques of cloth of gold and silver or velvets lined with Sables with great caps on their heads of black Fox made in the fashion of a Muff which they use commonly in their Ceremonies They were most of them very well mounted upon good horses with rich trappings and bridles of silver made like chains with the linkes very broad and thin so that whilst their horses were in motion they made a noise altogether Majestique There were severall also who had their housses covered with pretious stones whose lustre seemed to adde a richer light to the light of the day and behinde them they had their servants carrying covers for their sadles of Leopard skins cloth of gold velvet and scarlet All the Gentlemen of the Tzars chamber were there ready to accompany the Ambassador to his very house At length the Master of the great Dukes horse came to present to the Ambassador from the Tzar a sledg another for my Lord Morpeth with several white horses for the Gentlemen A while after came Pronchissof one of the Tzars Counsel and Gregory Cosmevitz along with him who were both deputed to serve his Excellence as Pristafs or Masters of the Ceremonies during his residence in Mosco And in this occasion it was we had another ridiculous example of the pride and rusticity of the Moscovites who are so quick and precise in anticipating the Prerogative of Ambassadors Pronchissof being arrived within some small distance of the Ambassadors sledg gave him to understand that he was sent to receive him from the grand Duke his Lord and that he expected the Ambassador should first come out of his sledg But his Excellence signified to him by his Interpreter that his expectations were very ill grounded that he represented the person of the King his Master and that in that case all such Kind of respect was due to himself Pronchissof however continued unmoveable in his sledg as a Master of Ceremonies and sent back to the Ambassador that he also was sent from the Tzar his Master to represent his person so that to have seen him one would have thought he had taken upon him the forme of a statue to represent the Majesty of his Prince This answer how absurd soever it was caused several smart replies both on one side and the other till at last the Ambassador to prevent any further delay in his Entrance condescended to this That they should both of them come out of their sledges together But in this Pronchissof tooke occasion to deceive his Excellence and falsify his word hanging in the aire betwixt the armes of his servants and but touching the earth with his tiptoes whilst the Ambassador came out freely At their meeting they saluted one another and Pronchissof first delivered his complement which consisted in declaring his Employment and acquainting his Excellence that the Tzar had sent him and his associate Gregory Cofmovitz who was there present also to take care that all things necessary should be provided during his continuance at Mosco But the greatest part of his complement was the recitation of his Masters Titles which he enumerated from the first to the last in a most troublesome and ridiculous maner as will appeare hereafter His complement being made and the Ambassador having answered him with a very good grace they retired both of them into their sledges Pronchissof returning in the same posture he came his servants holding him up by his armes as if they were afraid he should sinke under the burthen of the emploiment which his Master had given him At this time Nestrof and Davidof giving place to Pronchissof and Gregory Cosmovitz the new Pristafs took their leaves of the Ambassador After which Ceremonies we disposed our selves to enter into the Town the Ambassador having Pronchissof on his right hand and Cosmovitz on his left my Lord Morpeth had two Lords of the Court to accompany him so that in every ranke there were three sledges a breast The Gentlemen were all on horseback betwixt Sinboyars or Gentlemen of the Court The Chaplaine Physitian and Musique-Master with several English Merchants and two Vallets de Chambre were joyned with them so that they made up about five and twenty ranks on horse-back marching three a breast All
revenged of the former Reparation required by his Excellencie to complain also on theiâ— side most vehemently of the Title most Illustrious that he had given his Tzarskoy Majestie This was the occasion and manner oâ— their complaint Pronchissof one of the sâ— Commissioners had of my Lord upon hiâ— desire a Latin Copy of the Speech said aâ— the first Audience where indeed he gives the Tzar the Title of Illustrissimus That was the thing that they stickt to but as to the expression said publickly by word of mouth before the Great Duke himself which should be thought more offensive they had the goodness to interpret it in good part because they gave it a good sense according to their own will But a writing that was only given â—o satisfie a mans curiositie who desired to see it is now become a very great matter of State every word of it is examined strictly â—s if the whole business were only to pick quarrels Such was the occasion of the great â—nvective they gave here in writing against â—llustrissimus which they take to be much â—nferiour to the dignity and grandeur of their Monarch Therefore they require of my Lord Ambassador that instead thereof he make use â—f Serenissimus that he would also acquaint â—is Royal Majestie with it whom they desire â—ogether to leave off most Illustrious and to â—rite most Serene when it shall be his pleaâ—ure to write to their Great Lord. To that â—urpose they say that all other Princes of Euâ—ope do it according to his Princely worth â—nd amongst others the Caesar for a proof â—hereof they had already shewed my Lord â—mbassador one of his Letters being at Conâ—erence with them His Excellencie took then â—otice how the Emperour called Him only Tzar according to His own Language and therefore he resolved ever since to do so and never name him Emperour as he had done hitherto after the custome of English Monarchs and their Subjects The 29. my Lord Ambassador had another Conference where he did so reply in writing first concerning the Reparation promised the sixth of February I reply saith he that it is hard for me to conceive whereas his Tzarskoy Majestie is able at so great distances in his absence by the good order of his Generals to embattle so numerous and victorious Armies upon the sudden opportunities of fighting aâ— Enemy that after my so slow advancing from Vologda and three days lodging almost undeâ— the Gates of his Tzarskoy City the continuaâ— Attendants upon his own Person where theâ— can learn and see nothing but the most perfecâ— and exquisite Order should not in a wholâ— day be in a posture to receive the Ambassadoâ— of a Friend And again that it is almost aâ— strange to me that his Tzarskoy Posts whâ— run daily at his Command through so spacious Dominions which may ever be inlarged that they who would not miss a foot at midnight thorough the very desarts of Tartary yet should lose their way in broad day-light within three or four miles of Mosco Anâ— yet I am most assured that his Tzarskoy Majestie did really intend to reflect upon me that day all the Honour which according to the custome of his Court is due to the Character I bring from my Royal Master So that there seemes to be much more in it than an accident especially seeing that Persons sent that same day to the same place upon an incivility to Sir John Hebdon a Gentleman of his Majesties privy Chamber and of my Train could finde the way early in the morning but those that were sent about my Reception did miss it till night And therefore because so many Strangers of several Nations which dwell in his Tzarskoy City were winesses that day of such miscarriage contrary to the good pleasure of his Tzarskoy Majestie as no age nor no Nation can paralel and that they have and do and will discourse of it according to their own apprehensions both here and in their several Countries neither to the advantage of the King my Master nor yet of his Tzarskoy Majestie unless His prudence may appear in his Justice Therefore I say I demanded what is in my first paper mentioned But instead thereof I am told in this paper delivered to me the 26. of February that the next day after many Messengers being sent unto me I also stayed late To which I reply that it is very possible that many Messengers were sent to me that day and that they lost their way then as the others the day before And indeed in the place where I was it was yet difficulter to finde me especially seeing it appeares the nearer one comes to Mosco men are more ignorant of the Roads But the first message that I received that day was by a very considerable Person the Diack of the Imperial Cabinet and assoon as we had spoken together and he promised me satisfaction which if I ought not to have asked he ought not to have promised but being promised ought to be effected I was ready in a quarter of an hour though it was then not two a clock after the English account and I but at two Versts distance which indeed according to the proportions of the former day made me suspect as also it proved that by how much I was yet nearer I should come in so much later to Mosco However though I could have wished to have entered by day as indeed it was fitting and might perhaps the third day have succeeded yet out of complacency to his Tzarskoy Majesties good pleasure I took my chance of the night And what I discerned before it was dark of the the Honour his Tzarskoy Majesty intended and did me joyned with those most friendly and cordial Sentiments which I brought along to Him from my Royal Master made me interpret that very obscurity for splendour and that most Serene night which brought me so near his Tzarskoy Majesty was by me preferred before the most Illustrious day that had detained me from Him But whereas it is said that I ought not in that place to have demanded an answer of my being hindered the former day After having first protested that whatsoever I have said above in reference to my self upon the second day hath not been upon any account or obligation that I have or ought of answering any charge accusation or recrimination against me but only out of the desire that I have by all honourable means to retain the good opinion of his Tzarskoy Majesty as being so great a Prince and Friend of the King my Master and which I have neither forfeited yet and may possibly deserve further before my going away unless upon some unhappy interruption from other persons I add next that none but the King my Master knowes what I ought to have done and therefore I desire that all expressions to the contrary may be omitted for the future But if upon promise from so considerable a person as the Diack of the Tzarkoy Cabinet I did
those other accommodations which their Tzarskoy Majesty have received upon several emergencies of State from the Crown of England his Majesty being disposed rather to continue and increase all such Obligations than to call them in and diminish them by any exprobration or demand upon His side But to tell you the upright truth as it is fit for us to do with one another his Majesty considers that these Privileges were the ancient and continued foundations of Amity and transmitted so long from Father to Son on both sides so that as men prize a token and memorial of a friend though otherwise of small value above pearls and diamonds he counts it a kind of unlucky thing to lose them Also He himself and all his Subjects upon his Tzarskoy Majesties Letter of July 28. 1661. where He saith Whereas Your Majesty writt in Your said Letter concerning other affairs in prosecution of which Your Majesty would send to Vs our Tzarskoy Majesty Your Subjects the Merchants together with Your Majesties Ambassador who shall further expresse the affection of friendship which Your Majesty Our loving Brother hath towards Our Tzarskoy Majesty we answer that when to Our Imperial Majesty Your Majesties said Ambassador shall arrive and shall declare to Vs the Commission he hath from Your Majesty Our Brother we Our Tzarskoy Majesty will be ready so farr as in Our power is and for the affection we beare to You Our Brother give assent thereto and command the same to be obeyed and again upon his Tzarskoy Majesties Letter of July 21. 1662. were he saies We the great Lord our Tzarskoy Greatness taking into our Princely consideration the flourishing State of our Empire and that intire Brotherly love and amity and frequent correspondencie which inviolably was held and continued from the beginning of the Reign of our Tzarskoy Father of famous memory the great Lord Emperour and great Duke Michaelo Phedorovich of all Russia self-upholder to and with Your Majesties Royal Father of famous memory Charles the first and the happiness peace and tranquillity accruing thereby to both Dominions wishing the like happiness had been and were still enjoyed by and between all other Christian Princes and Potentates do most earnestly and heartily desire not only the continuation thereof but a more nearer and dearer and firmer affectionate blessed Brotherly love and amity and frequent correspondency with your Royal Majesty our deare and loving Brother than formerly with all readiness and freeness on all occasions to the utmost of our power to answer the desires of Your Royal Majesty our dear and loving Brother did not â—n the least wise doubt but at the first word 〈◊〉 had spoken the Privileges would have been â—ranted For else what signifies When to our Tzarskoy Majesty Your Majesties Ambassador shall arrive and shall declare to us the Commission he hath from Your Majesty our Brother we our Tzarskoy Majesty will be ready so farâ— as in our power is to give assent thereto Anâ— again We our Tzarskoy Majesty do mosâ— earnestly and heartily desire not only the continuation thereof but a more nearer and deareâ— and firmer affectionate blessed Brotherly lovâ— and amity with Your Royal Majesty our deaâ— and loving Brother than formerly with all readyness and freeness on all occasions to the utmost of our power to answer the desires of Youâ— Royal Majesty our dear and loving Brother And how can there be a continuation and encreas of amity and the same amity unless thâ— same Privileges to continue as formerly Therefore his Majesty thought it the most honorable way for his Tzarskoy Majesty to reneâ— them at first frankly without all little capitulations as for other reasons so because hâ— would be in debt to his Tzarskoy Majesty that he might embrace all occasions to repâ— it with usury And that the near Boyars anâ— Counsellors may not be terrifyed with thâ— vastness or irrationality of the grant and feâ— to be accounted evil Counsellors should the advise indeed so small a thing and in whicâ— the Subjects of his Tzarskoy Majesty reap moâ— advantage than the English before they haâ— driven the market with me for some furthâ— interest of his Tzarskoy Majesty I desire they may be informed that some hundred years ago even England though always most potent at sea in men of warre yet for some part of their traffique were beholding to the Hans Towns who in Merchant ships brought all kind of their merchandise home to the English Whereupon the Kings of England granted several great Immunities to the Hans Towns with dwelling and all accommodations Which Immunities though so many hundred years ago granted and though the tide of â—rade be long since wholy turned the English â—ow carrying all that trade to their doors and much more than ever received from them nevertheless Their former Majesties have alâ—aies religiously continued the same Priviâ—edges as also his present Majesty hath reâ—ewed them since his happy Restauration at â—he ratification of which I my self was present â—n his Majesties Councel For it is for Merâ—hants to calculate and subdivide the present â—ccount but it becomes Princes to make eâ—erlasting obligations Princes are richer by â—iving than others by receiving and gratiâ—ude laid up in the breast of another Prince is â—pon any necessity better than ready money in is own Treasure But doubtless his Majesty â—nder whose most auspicious Government His â—wn Subjects have also every where else alâ—eady recovered and encreased all their former Priviledges cannot but take it ill should they only fail of them with his Tzarskoy Majesty the antientest and most constant of his Friends and Allies and the more must He lay it to heart seeing in the mean time those of other Nations do enjoy Priviledges and thereby drive a trade not much inferiour to that of all the English And this I must say that the English Nation and especially their Princes as They are generally the most frank and faithful in returning of Courtesies so are they by the same right most tender and sensible of any Unkindness and most when it seemes to touch upon Their Reputation I shall only add this for conclusion that if His Majesties desires be no better understood the near Boyars and Counsellors needed not to have given a NO of such a circumference or if it be yet intended to grant them it is too much like the second day of my Entrance Therefore I desire a definitive answer with the soonest that so I may obey His Royal Majesties Orders and accordingly provide for my departure But as to that new matter which the Lords Commissioners were pleased to advance over and above what there was occasion given for his Excellency did so explain it I reply saith he that I sent no such papeâ— into the Embassy-office but upon the desire of his Tzarskoy Majesties Councellor Evaâ— Offonassy Pronchissof I delivered it to him not being a paper of State nor written in the English Language wherein I treat nor put into the hands of
of his Antagonist and challenged him thereupon into the field And some few days after this quarrel was disputed by the sword and had the preeminence of these Princes depended upon the success of that combat his Majesty of great Brittaine had had the advantage For in a short time our Champion disarmed the Lieutenant and came triumphing amongst us that he had vindicated his King The sixteenth of June which was four days after my Lord had taken his Leave the Tzar sent the Ambassador a present of Sables for himself and his whole family His Excellencies portion was worth two thousand Crownes that of the Countess was worth fourteen hundred and my Lord Morpeth's a thousand the rest were to be distributed according to every mans rank and imploiment in the house But the Ambassador considering he had been neglected in all his affaires would by no meanes admit of this obligation but from a generous principle returned the Present as having been otherwise so much disobliged Nevertheless that his refusal might not pass for an affront in the judgment of the Tzar my Lord designed to have prevented the sending of it but he had not time enough for that For Golozof of whom we had occasion to speak in the Description of our Entry into Mosco imagining without doubt he should receive great kindnesses from the Ambassador dispatched away one of his Clerks to advertise him that he was coming to him with a Present from his Tzarskoy Majesty wherewith he intended to honour him before his departure And presently after without acquainting any of the Pristafs in which he did ill he arrived himself with four and thirty men bearing the Present in their hands The Ambassador took Golozof aside and let him know that he could not accept of this Honour for the reasons which he alledged Golozof extreamly amazed ran â—ut immediately swelled up with rage as he had been with vain hope of reward at his coming in he leapt down the stairs by half douzains as if he had been mad and clapping his breast cried out with a loud voice That such a thing had not been heard of nor ever happened before in the whole Empire of Russia In short he was in such a rage that one would have sworn he would have caused us all to be banished into Siberia as they sometimes did an Ambassador of France and that having refused the Great Dukes present they would make us hunt Sables in that Country which is the penalty of their greatest malefactors But that which most afflicted the Ambassador's Domesticks was the disadvantage they received by his refusal in being so deprived of the Honour of receiving so profitable testimonies of the generosity of so great a Prince However we comforted our selves in the Prudence of the Ambassador and although each of us was deceived in the hopes he had conceived yet we could not for all that forbear praising the generosity of his Conduct Whereas on the other side Golozof in very great passion mounted his horse his footmen following him two and two whereupon his Excellence took great pleasure to behold them marching in that Order and the indignation which they carried in their faces Every one looked after them with a profound silence imagining this refusal so Extraordinary that it affronted the Grandeur and Dignity of the Tzar and that his Tzarskoy Majesty would not fail to take exemplary vengeance upon an action so presumptuously bold others not knowing the cause suspended their judgments The Tzar being informed of this affair and exceedingly surprised with it called his Councel of State immediately and was present there himself the result of which was that Volinskoy one of the new Commissioners was deputed to repair to his Excellence to know the reason of this refusal which he performed with more mildness and discretion than we had occasion to hope for The Ambassador answered him that he was so far from doing it out of any contempt that on the contrary he looked upon his Tzarskoy Majesties Present as an effect of his great Generosity but that the acceptance thereof would oblige him too far He acquainted him how his affairs stood that his Embassy had had no success and that in this case it was not proper for him to receive any favour from his Tzarskoy Majesty till he had first received the Justice he demanded That otherwise he should have taken the least favour from his hands as a perpetual Ornament to himself and his family and that still he was ready provided any good order might be taken with his affaires to receive any testimony whatever of the Tzars affection This gave Volinskoy satisfaction in some measure especially when he understood after what manner Golosof had brought the Presents that is without the knowledge of his Excellencies Pristafs who ought first to have given him notice of the design and thereby prevented the dishonour of so publick a refusal So that Golozof had no recompence for all his pains but a grave reprehension for having wanted discretion in the discharge of this affair On the other side the Tzar returned the Present which he had received at his first Audience from the Ambassador to him again it was a Basin and Ewer of Silver parcel gilt two wrought Silver Dishes and another Dish of Silver parcel gilt also His Excellence received it with this Complement I give his Tzarskoy Majesty thanks for this and I receive it with as great kindness as if it had been a greater Present I shall keep it alwaies by me because it hath had the honour to be in the Possession of his Tzarskoy Majesty Of his Excellencies Journey from Mosco to Riga THis Embassy being finished and that which was to have been into Poland layd a side the Ambassador prepared for his departure towards Sweden choosing the way by Riga in Livonia to pass to Stockholm by Sea And being to Cross Livonia which is 〈◊〉 desart Country he dispacht an Express with 〈◊〉 Letter to Count Oxenstern Governour Generaâ— of Livonia to desire that being upon an Embassy towards his Majesty of Sweden he would please to give orders that at his arrival upon the frontiers he might be accommodated at his own cost with fresh horses and wagons for his train and baggage to pass that Country with all In the mean time my Lord Ambassador attended by a Regiment of horse departed from Mosco the 24. of June about the Evening with intention to retreat seaven Versts that night from the Town The 29. we arrived at T were the cheif City of Twersco The 3. of July we came to Tarsock and from thence to Budeva The 4. to Wisny Volsock the 7. to Zimnogoray and Volday the 8. we past by Rakina and Vena two Townes the 9. we lodged at Brunitze a little Borough The 10. in the afternoon we made 27. Versts by water in twenty boats they had provided against our coming so as passing a small Arm of the Lake Ilmin into which the River that passes by
T were in so ill an humor he no sooner heard the noise of our approach but he shut up his gates immediately as if the plague had been in the Country so that we had nothing to trust to but the fields and the suburbs of the Town near which in a plain we pitcht our Tents The Town is built on the side of a hill the Volga running by it besides another little River called T were which denominates the place We staied there only two whole days least we should disturb the Governour too long who with out doubt was impatient till he saw us departing At Tarsock we had the divertisement of seeing a very large Bear dance it was so tame one might without any danger get upon his back and ride up and down upon him in that posture At the same place our Chyrurgeon cut off with a Raisor a finger of one of the Pages which had gangren'd at Mosco by occasion of a nayle wherewith he had unhappily hurt it At Budeva we had the news of the great fire which happened on the 29. of June at Mosco which was five days after we came away consuming a third part of the Town I imagined immediately there was something fatal still in our departure when I remembred the fire had happened at Archangel also some few days after we had left that Town In like manner it was that Lot was preserved and all his family at the burning of Sodom The 10 of July Master Watson who had been recalled by General Monke in our first Voiage came again to us at Brunitze where we were arrived the day before He came from England to Riga by Sea with some Equipage for the Ambassador and past the rest of the way to us by land We were surprised at his arrival and very much delighted to see him again in Moscovie whose absence had given us some regret The occasion of his return amongst us was chiefly that he might have the satisfaction to travail with his Excellence the rest of our Voiage thorough Moscovy Sweden and Denmark At Novogorod which signifies New-town my Lord Ambassador was received very solemnly But his Excellence having just entred the Town there was an unhappy accident befel an antient person of quality that gave some interruption to the formality He was very richly apparelled and well mounted but being weak and his horse unruly he was fairly thrown down in the sight of the whole Town and received much hurt by his fall At this Novogorod our Pristaf from Mosco left us and committed us to the care of Simon Offonassevitz with direction to send back the Tzars Coaches and Tents assoon as the Ambassador was arrived at the Frontiers Which much troubled the Ambassador to whom Volinskey one of his Commissioners had promised at Mosco that the Tents should attend him as far as Riga in confidence of which promise his Excellence did not trouble himself to provide any at his own charges Being disappointed in this manner and in no condition to accommodate himself otherwise in that place no wonder if he expressed his dissatisfaction seeing himself lest by this trick in a very ill posture to travel from the Frontiers to Riga This Novogorod hath been formerly one of the greatest and best fortified Townes in all Moscovie of which there are still some marks remaining round about the Town But at present it is reduced and of no great circumference however by reason of the Commerce it injoies it is well peopled The Lake Ilmin is within a League of the Town out of which comes the Volka or Volgda a very fair River that runs by the Town But if we were well received at Novogorod I must needs acknowledg the reception we had afterwards at Plesco was not inferiour as if the Governours of these two Towns had been emulous which should give hiâ— Excellence the best entertainment Nevertheless by the favour of two accidents the Governour of Plesco had the advantage The first was by the unadvisedness of a Gentleman of Plesco who had seised the night before our Entry upon two horses belonging to the Ambassador's Train having found them in the night in his possessions The Governour was no sooner informed of this action but he apprehended the Gentleman and senâ— him bound to the Ambassador to beg his life which his Excellence easily granted upoâ— acknowledgment of the indiscretion of thâ— fact The other was by the report of a Regiment of Thieves Polanders that lay in waâ— on purpose for us which was so common there was scarce any other discourse in Plescâ— and as the news went they were about five hundred under the Command of an one-eyed Serjeant This tidings alarmed us a little especially when we were told they had done much mischief in that Province and plundered several Villages But the Governour of the Town in this case also manifested his Generosity and the particular care he had to oblige his Excellence for he gave us a Convoy of five hundred foot well armed to secure our bagage and defend our persons against the attempts of this terrible Cyclops In this place the Ambassador stayed in expectation of an answer from the Governour General of Livonia by the return of the Messenger he had sent on purpose to him from Mosco the 14. of June and who had Order to meet him again at Plesco On the 19. of July three days after we arrived there the Messenger came to us with this Answer from Count Oxenstern the Governour General that he had already deputed two Officers to receive his Excellence on the Frontiers and that he had Orders from the Crown of Sweden to defray the charges of his Carriages and Entertainment from thence to Riga The Ambassador being surprised with the Civility of the offer and with the particular care that Crown had taken to facilitate his passage thorough Livonia prepared himself â—mmediately to depart but with design if possible to evade so great an Obligation But before he came away observing Calthof was not returned he sent another Letter to Mosco making mention of the Extraordinary entertainment he had received from the Governours of Novogorod and Plesco as also of the designe on foot for the Carrying back his Tents and these were the very words of the Letter which had the same superscription with the former Domine Cancellarie QVamvis ea sit nostra esse debeat de aquitate prudentia Serenissimae Czariae suae Majestatis opinio ut si non ante saltem post literas meas 30. Junij Twerae datas Calthofium dimissum esse speremus quum tamen Plescuam pervenerim nihil adhuc de eo compertum habeam Veredarium hunc hâc solâ de causà Moscuam remitto Omnino enim si non vobis quod sane oporteret at mihi tanti est ne Serenissimi Regis mei mandata hujusce subditi sui libertatem negligere viderer Iniquissimum enim esset a mutuâ inter Regiam suam Majestatem
done his Excellence was conducted towards the Queen whose Character is very well exprest in the Complement the Ambassador made her with his head uncovered which was interpreted in French Madam THe King my Master hath commanded me to wait upon Your Majesty and in His Majesties Name to make to You all the most entire professions of Friendship Affection and Esteem which are due to so Great a Queen so near a Kinswoman and so admirably accomplished a Princess But seeing it is impossible to execute those commands worthily and to the full unless His Majesty could not only imprint His Character upon me but inspire me too with his great Soul and Royal Understanding I must beg Your Majesties pardon if I fall short where His Majesties sense is so far above expression and Your own Perfections are so ineffable Therefore I shall only in my ordinary and safer way assure Your Majesty that no Prince in Christendom doth interess Himself more in your Majesties health and prosperity than the King my Master And no less the Queen who as She makes His affections the rule and model of Hers hath yet moreover a singular affection and admiration of Her own for your Majesty hath commanded me to express how much She regards and loves you considering your Heroical Person as the Example of Queens and Glory of Women After which whatsoever of thoughts or words can remain to my self wherein to testifie mine own great Veneration and Service to your Majesty I shall consecrate to your Fame upon all occasions but present them to your Self involved rather in a most devout and respectful silence To which in the name of the Queen received an answer with expressions of her acknowledgment and affection From thence the Ambassador was conducted towards his Royal Highness the Prince Christian who was at that time about eighteen years of age To whom his Excellence made this Harangue with his hat on Sir THe King my Master hath commanded me particularly to wait upon your Royal Highness And as He professes a signal obligation to His Majesty your Father that according to the old familiarity and kindness betwixt the two Kings of England and Denmark He was pleased so lately to intrust so great a Pledge as your Royal Highness with Him so He desires you to believe That in that your too short stay with Him He nevertheless took such true Impressions of your Royal Highnesses most Hopeful Vertuous and Princely Disposition that were there not all those other Obligations of Friendship Kindred and Confederacy betwixt Him and the King your Father He should for your own sake have a most Sincere and Personal Friendship Kindness and Esteem for your Royal Highness and accordingly wishes you all the happiness and health as to Himself and offers Himself upon all occasions to manifest His Royal inclinations and hearty affection towards your Royal Highness For mine own part I shall from this present as I was from the first minute I had the honour to see you desire to be entred into the list of your Highnesses servants To which his Highness returned his Answer himself in two or three words After which his Excellence Complemented Prince George in his own appartement he is a handsom young Prince of great hopes and who is now much about fifteen or sixteen years of age This was the Complement his Excellence made him by Command from the King his Master Sir THe King my Master hath given me particular order to wait upon your Highness from Him as well out of Affection as Curiosity For whereas your Highness being the second Son of Denmark hath thereby a very just title to His Majesties Affection so he having heard so much of you as of a most accomplished Prince in so tender an age was very curious to know the truth of it I am most happy in this occasion to be able to certifie His Majesty with how much reason Fame hath said what she hath of you and I assure your Highness that his Majesty will take great interest and pleasure in it and desire nothing more than to be a witness thereof Himself by seeing you one day in his Court as you are already in His heart For mine own particular I am perfectly your Highnesses most humble servant The answer that was returned in the name of the Prince contained Expressions of his Acknowledgments and Respect for the King of England and towards the latter end the Prince gave his Excellence particular thanks and an assurance of his favour And now as to those things that concern my Lord's transactions in that Court during the small time we continued there after the first Audience I shall speak first as I did in my description of the second Embassy of the Ambassadors Negotiation next of his Entertainment and last of all of the most considerable passages that hapned besides during the seven weeks time his Excellence remained in that Court About this time it was that preparations were making on all sides for that unhappy War which so long afflicted both England and Holland and filled all Europe with the noise of it In order whereunto the Estates of Holland and the rest of the United Provinces inclining to the interest of France did at the same time endeavour to have joyned the Forces of the Crown of Denmark with their own The King of England on the other side laboured as much to get the Crowns of S d en and Denmark over to himself The management of which affair was the province of Mr. Coventry in Sweeden and of â—r Gilbert Talbot in Denmark who before â—he Ambassadors arrival had made some proâ—ress in the business Whence likewise it â—as his Excellencies principal Emploiment â—uring his residence there to bring the propoâ—ed League to a happy conclusion to conâ—ribute every thing that might conduce thereâ—nto True it is that according to the geâ—eral opinion it would have been a great â—ngratitude in the Dane who had received â—o great assistances from the Hollander in his â—te troubles with Sweeden to have not only â—bandoned his Alliance with the Estates but â—pposed them in this occasion by a conjunâ—tion with England But considering all the â—anner in which the Estates comported â—hemselves at that time even the Danes â—hemselves thought they had reasons enow â—o have justified such a desertion But to pass â—y this gloss I shall here only insert some â—ew Informations which the King of Denâ—arks Commissioners delivered to the Amâ—assador upon certain points which he desiâ—ed might be explained before his departure â—or the greater facilitation of the treaty which â—r Gilbert Talbot had begun For though â—he business succeeded not and all things â—ent contrary by reason the Dane not being â—ble to come to any agreement with the â—weed sided at last with the Dutch yet it will not be superfluous to give some small prospect of the proceedings of Denmark in this Conjuncture And first of all the King of Denmarkâ— Commissioners declared that his Majesty
during this time a power that came for mediating betwixt His Tzarskoy Majesty and the King of Poland which he imparted to his Tzarskoy Majesty and He kindly accepted but not being pleased to effect any thing in the Privileges it fell to the ground And therefore the Embassador having even from the 29. of February intimated his desire to depart and having been held up from time to time several moneths to no end so that he lost the Winter way to Riga to the prejudice of his Royal Majesties occasions pressed importunately for a dispatch which it was long before he could obtain and when near obtaining in one and the same day had three times contrary orders sent him about his departure At the Embassadors taking leave of his Tzarskoy Majesty recredentials were given him wherein his Royal Majesties Title of Defender of the Faith was omitted and contrary to the mutual trust due to an Embassador the Copy was although he demanded it flatly refused him After he had taken his leave of his Tzarskoy Majesty it seems his Tzarskoy Majesty was desirous to have placed some marks of his generosity upon the Embassador and his retinue and the not receiving of them is used by the Embassadors of his Tzarskoy Majesty in aggravation against him whereas that business past in this manner The Embassador it is true had for several reasons hereafter expressed resolved that it became him not to receive the Presents unless those things were rectified And therefore to avoid the ill aspect of refusing them after they should be sent he resolved also first to send for the Ockolnichoy Vasilia Semonovich Volinskoy and for Larivon Mitrevich Lopookin Posolkoy Diack to communicate his reasons For which he thought he had time enough his Pristafs whose office it is not having yet advertised him But contrariwise Lookian Timopheovich Golozof the Diack the Embassador being at dinner sends him word by a servant that he was coming with the Presents The Embassador rising from Dinner and about to send to the Ockolnichoy and Posolkoy Diack aforesaid desired the Servant to stay a little when on a sudden Lookian comes in with the Sables The Embassador began to discourse soberly with him of his unexpected coming and the reasons why he deliberated upon refusing the Present Which Lookian would not endure to hearken to but interrupting the Ambassador continually without any patience and with great clamour flung rudely away from him and departed Vasilius Semonovitch Volinskoy came the next day to the Embassador desiring from his Tzarskoy Majesty to be informed of the reasons why he had refused the Presents The Embassador it seems had in order to his departure demanded several things of Common right or courtesie As Satisfaction to the English Merchants for their old debts and houses For this the Commissioners reduced the debts within twenty six Rubles according to their account and for houses nothing That all English Merchants desiring to repair home may have their Passes to go over Sea with their Wives and Families without molestation This had a satisfactory answer But to the third That justice might be done the English Merchants for their debts there was no care at all of it but to the contrary great severity toward them so that this frustrated the former answer which was satisfactory That all his Majesties Subjects of whatsoever other condition may upon their desire have full liberty to return To which there would no answer be given in writing But the verbal answer was that they who have once taken service under his Tzarskoy Majesty though not expressed for life yet if not expressed for term of Years are thereby Servants as long as his Tzarskoy Majesty pleases As it seemed they intended to practise it in the case of General Dyel and Lieutenant General Drummond who were forced so long to march about Mosco with his Royal Majesties Letter and could get none to receive it That Collonel Baily accused of Treason by Cherillo Clopoue might be brought to a speedy trial Which though his accuser was in Town and promised yet would not be done That Collonel James Mein exiled with his Wife and Family into Siberia might if guilty have mercy if guiltless justice See the Civility of the answer Collonel Jacob Mein is sent into Siberia for a great fault and it is not fit to recal him out of Siberia That Collonel Cuningham accused of Treason might be brought to a speedy trial Which would not be granted That Mrs. Francis Rose according to his Royal Majesties desires by Letter may have liberty to return into England her Husband also desiring it Which was not granted but her being of the Russian Religion alledged as extinguishing her allegeance The Embassador upon a general review of these and all other passages in his Negotiation gave for answer and reason of his Refusal Defender of the Faith omitted in the Kings Title The late Kings Title and Lord Culpeppers not amended No satisfaction about his Entrance Nor concerning Pronchissof His Tzarskoy Majesty holding himself for affronted c. The Priviledges as good as refused Nightingales Letter pretended to be lost No justice to English Merchants No liberty for his Majesties Subjects upon expiring of their obligations to depart Affirmed in writing that the Moscovy Company killed the King Mrs. Rose Collonel Mein Collonel Baily c. Concluding that all the effect of this Embassy had been only the release of three English common Soldiers taken prisoners from the Pole after long sollicitation and upon condition that two of them should serve his Tzarskoy Majesty Adding moreover That for all these reasons he knew that not having done his Majesties business and lying still under Pronchissofs aspersion of receiving the Merchants money and accused by his Tzarskoy Majesty of doing an affront to Him it befitted him not to receive any Present at his hand Although otherwise he should account the least favour from his Tzarskoy Majesties hand a perpetual ornament honor and obligation to himself and Family and would receive though it were but a Cap cloth from Him as a Coronet and was prepared at any time when these things were rectified to receive any testimony of His Tzarskoy Majesties remembrance and affection After this the 24. of June the Embassador departed from Mosco Calthof riding publickly and openly in his Train The Embassador being about half a mile out of Town a Writer of the Posolskoy Precaz comes in His Tzarskoy Majesties name to demand him The Ambassador at last let him got hinking it not prudent to adventure his own journey on Calthofs and hoping to gain his dismission which he tried by two Letters writ back in his journey to the Posolskoy Diack These are the Letters the Embassadors complain of in two places as if the Earle of Carlisle told them therein that they did not rightly understand themselves Wheras the words are only Quorsum haec vergant nescio neque vos ipsi scitis qui facitis What these things tend to I know