for a full half hour. Eventful
indeed and varied had his life been since there, a young man of
twenty-five, he had daily sought divine guidance.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION OF ALEXIS AND DEATH
OF THE TZAR.

From 1718 to 1725.

The Tzar's Second Visit to Holland.--Reception in France.--Description
of Catharine.--Domestic Grief.--Conduct of Alexis.--Letters from His
Father.--Flight To Germany.--Thence to Naples.--Envoys Sent to Bring
Him Back.--Alexis Excluded from the Succession.--His Trial for
Treason.--Condemnation and Unexpected Death.--New Efforts of the Tzar
for the Welfare of Russia.--Sickness of Peter.--His Death.--Succession
of the Empress Catharine.--Epitaph to the Emperor.

From Holland the tzar went to Paris. Great preparations were made
there for his reception, and apartments in the Louvre were gorgeously
fitted up for the accommodation of him and his suite. But Peter,
annoyed by parade, declined the sumptuous palace, and, the very
evening of his arrival, took lodgings at the Hotel de Lesdiguieres. To
those who urged his acceptance of the saloons of the Louvre he
replied,

"I am a soldier. A little bread and beer satisfy me. I prefer small
apartments to large ones. I have no desire to be attended with pomp
and ceremony, nor to give trouble to so many people."

Every hour of his stay in Paris was employed in studying the
institutions of the realm, and the progress made in the arts and
sciences. Standing by the tomb of Richelieu, which is one of the
finest pieces of sculpture in Europe, he exclaimed,

"Thou great man! I would have given thee one half of my dominions to
learn of thee how to govern the other half."

All the trades and manufactures of the capital he examined with the
greatest care, and took back with him to St. Petersburg a large number
of the most skillful artists and mechanics. Leaving France he returned
to Amsterdam, where he rejoined Catharine, and proceeded with her to
Berlin. A haughty German lady, piqued, perhaps, that a woman not of
noble birth should be an empress, thus describes the appearance of
Catharine at that time:

"The tzarina is short and lusty, remarkably coarse, without grace and
animation. One need only see her to be satisfied of her low birth. At
the first blush one would take her for a German actress. Her clothes
looked as if bought at a doll shop; every thing was so old fashioned
and so bedecked with silver and tinsel. She was decorated w