tivals, and the court were eager to
exhibit to him every thing worthy of notice in the city of London. He
was conducted to the cathedral of St. Paul, to Westminster Abbey, to
the Tower and to all the parks and palaces. The queen received Nepeia
with the most marked consideration. At one of the most gorgeous
festivals he was seated by her side, the observed of all observers.

The embassador could only regret that the rich presents of furs and
Russian fabrics which the tzar had sent by his hand to Mary, were all
engulfed upon the coast of Scotland. The queen sent to the tzar the
most beautiful fabrics of the English looms, the most exquisitely
constructed weapons of war, such as sabers, guns and pistols, and a
living lion and lioness, animals which never before had been seen
within the bounds of the Russian empire. In September, 1557, Nepeia
embarked for Russia, taking with him several English artisans, miners
and physicians. Ivan was anxious to lose no opportunity to gain from
foreign lands every thing which could contribute to Russian
civilization. The letter which Mary and Philip returned to Moscow was
flatteringly addressed to the august emperor, Ivan IV. When the tzar
learned all the honors and the testimonials of affection with which
his embassador had been greeted in London, he considered the English
as the most precious of all the friends of Russia. He ordered mansions
to be prepared for the accommodation of their merchants in all the
commercial cities of the empire, and he treated them in other respects
with such marked tokens of regard, that all the letters which they
wrote to London were filled with expressions of gratitude towards the
Russian sovereign.

In the year 1557 an English commercial fleet entered the Baltic Sea
and proceeded to the mouth of the Dwina to establish there an entrepot
of English merchandise. The commander-in-chief of the squadron visited
Moscow, where he was received with the greatest cordiality, and thence
passed down the Volga to Astrachan, that he might there establish
commercial relations with Persia. The tzar, reposing entire confidence
in the London merchants, entered into their views and promised to
grant them every facility for the transportation of English
merchandise, even to the remotest sections of the empire. This
commercial alliance with Great Britain, founded upon reciprocal
advantages, without any commingling of political jealousies, was
impressed with a certain charact