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THE NEW YORK JELIC LIBRARY

AS OR. LUNCX

TILD N FOU DATIONS

PETER THE GREAT

BY

JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY

JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY

1814-1877

Born at Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1814, John Lothrop Motley graduated from Harvard College in 1831, and, like Bancroft, travelled abroad to complete his education. After several years of study in the principal German universities, where he won the warm friendship of Bismarck, at that time a student at Göttingen, Motley returned to Boston and began the study of law. After practising a short time, he retired from the profession and turned his attention to literature. Two novels from his pen proved to be failures, and the young writer concluded that history rather than fiction was the true field for his enterprising genius. He had long been deeply interested in the eventful history of the Netherlands during their long struggle with Spain, and now selected this period as the subject of his investigation. In 1851 he went abroad a second time to study at first hand the wealth of materia! lying dormant in the libraries of Europe, and especially in the archives of Holland, Belgium, and Spain. Fortunately he was possessed of sufficient means to enable him to carry on this work thoroughly and deliberately. In 1856 the first of the three great divisions, into which the work had gradually shaped itself in his mind, was completed and published under the title "The Rise of the Dutch Republic." The work was at once recognized as one of the most notable historical productions of the day, and translations of it immediately appeared in Germany, France, and Holland.

In 1857 Motley returned to the United States, and assisted in establishing the "Atlantic Monthly." He soon found it necessary, however, to return to Europe, where alone could be found the books and manuscripts necessary for the continuation of his work. His researches carried him through the state papers at Brussels, the Spanish archives at Simancas, and he had occasion to visit the great libraries at London, Paris, Venice, and other European capitals. In 1860 appeared the first part of "The United Netherlands," and in 1868 the second part. In the mean time, in 1861, Motley had been appointed Minister to Austria. He was recalled in 1867, and in 1869 was appointed Minister to Great Britain. A year later he was abruptly called home on account, as is now known, of his friendship for Charles Sumner, at that moment in great disfavor with the administration. Although his recall under these circumstances was no disgrace, Motley looked upon it as such, and felt it keenly. In 1874 he published "The Life and Death of John of Barneveld.' It was the historian's intention to make a history of the Thirty Years' War the third division of his historical labors, but death, in 1877, prevented the execution of this plan.

Motley is, perhaps, the most able and successful of American historians. In his skill in delineating character, and in presenting to the reader a comprehensive view of intricate events, he has not many equals, and few superiors. His style is masterly. He is one of the classical historians of the century. Throughout, his pages abound in brilliant description, in vivid, swift-moving narrative; they sparkle with a keen, and sometimes sarcastic humor, and often thrills us with passages of dramatic power.

O

PETER THE GREAT

NE day, in the year 1697, the great Duke of Marlborough happened to be in the village of Saardam. He visited the dockyard of one Mynheer Calf, a rich shipbuilder, and was struck with the appearance of a journeyman at work there. He was a large, powerful man, dressed in a red woollen shirt and duck trousers, with a sailor's hat, and seated, with an adze in his hand, upon a rough log of timber which lay on the ground. The man's features were bold and regular, his dark brown hair fell in natural curls about his neck, his complexion was strong and ruddy, with veins somewhat distended, indicating an ardent temperament and more luxurious habits than comported with his station; and his dark, keen eye glanced from one object to another with remarkable restlessness. He was engaged in earnest conversation with some strangers, whose remarks he occasionally interrupted, while he rapidly addressed them in a guttural but not unmusical voice. As he became occasionally excited in conversation, his features twitched convulsively, the blood rushed to his forehead, his arms were tossed about with extreme violence of gesticulation, and he seemed constantly upon the point of giving way to some explosion of passion, or else of falling into a fit of catalepsy. His companions, however, did not appear alarmed by his vehemence, although they seemed to treat him with remarkable deference; and, after a short time, his distorted features would resume their symmetry and agreeable expression, his momentary frenzy would subside, and a bright smile would light up his whole countenance.

The duke inquired the name of this workman, and was told it was one Pieter Baas, a foreign journeyman of remarkable mechanical abilities and great industry. Approaching, he entered into some slight conversation with him upon matters pertaining to his craft. While they were conversing a stranger

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