of
strong capacity, and of much better general education than might have
been expected from the manner of life which he had led, but that he was
of a very hot and violent temper, and that he was very brutal in his
language and demeanor when he was in a passion. The bishop expressed
himself quite strongly on this point, saying that he could not but
adore the depth of the providence of God that had raised such a furious
man to so absolute an authority over so great a part of the world.

It was seen in the end how wise was the arrangement of Providence in
the selection of this instrument for the accomplishment of its
designs--for the reforms which, notwithstanding the violence of his
personal character, and the unjust and cruel deeds which he sometimes
performed, Peter was the means of introducing, and those to which the
changes that he made afterward led, have advanced, and are still
advancing more and more every year, the whole moral, political, and
social condition of all the populations of Northern Europe and Asia,
and have instituted a course of progress and improvement which will,
perhaps, go on, without being again arrested, to the end of time.

The bishop says that he found Peter somewhat curious to learn what the
political and religious institutions of England were, but that he did
not manifest any intention or desire to introduce them into his own
country. The chief topic which interested him, even in talking with
the bishop, was that of his purposes and plans in respect to ships and
shipping. He gave the bishop an account of what he had done, and of
what he intended to do, for the elevation and improvement of his
people; but all his plans of this kind were confined to such
improvements as would tend to the extension and aggrandizement of his
own power. In other words, the ultimate object of the reforms which he
was desirous of introducing was not the comfort and happiness of the
people themselves, but his own exaltation and glory among the
potentates of the earth as their hereditary and despotic sovereign.

After remaining some time in the residence which the king had provided
for him at the court end of the town, Peter contrived to have a house
set apart for him "below bridge," as the phrase was--that is, among the
shipping. There was but one bridge across the Thames in those days,
and the position of that one, of course, determined the limit of that
part of the river and town that could be devoted to