m sixty dollars to two
hundred dollars). The merchants, being at once the richest and most
conservative class, paid the highest tax. Every one who paid the tax was
given a bronze token, which had to be worn about the neck and renewed
every year.

The czar would allow no one to be about him who did not shave, and many
submitted through "terror of having their beards (in a merry humor)
pulled out by the roots, or taken so rough off that some of the skin
went with them." Many of those who shaved continued to do reverence to
their beards by carrying them within their bosoms as sacred objects, to
be buried in their graves, in order that a just account might be
rendered to St. Nicholas when they should come to the next world.

The ukase against the beard was soon followed by one against the caftan,
or long cloak, the old Russian dress. The czar and the leading officers
of his embassy set the example of wearing the German dress, and he cut
off, with his own hands, the long sleeves of some of his officers.
"Those things are in your way," he would say. "You are safe nowhere with
them. At one moment you upset a glass, then you forgetfully dip them in
the sauce. Get gaiters made of them."

On January 14, 1700, a decree was issued commanding all courtiers and
officials throughout the empire to wear the foreign dress. This decree
had to be frequently repeated, and models of the clothing exposed. It is
said that patterns of the garments and copies of the decrees were hung
up together at the gates of the towns, while all who disobeyed the order
were compelled to pay a fine. Those who yielded were obliged "to kneel
down at the gates of the city and have their coats cut off just even
with the ground," the part that lay on the ground as they kneeled being
condemned to suffer by the shears. "Being done with a good humor, it
occasioned mirth among the people, and soon broke the custom of their
wearing long coats, especially in places near Moscow and those towns
wherever the czar came."

This demand did not apply to the peasantry, and was therefore more
easily executed. Even the women were required to change their Russian
robes for foreign fashions. Peter's sisters set the example, which was
quickly followed, the women showing themselves much less conservative
than the men in the adoption of new styles of dress.

The reform did not end here. Decrees were issued against the high
Russian boots, against the use of the Russian saddle, and