red upon that subject with the person I have mentioned, who
answered me thus: "Consider, first, sir," said he, "the place where we
are; and, secondly, the condition we are in; especially the generality of
the people who are banished thither. We are surrounded with stronger
things than bars or bolts; on the north side, an unnavigable ocean, where
ship never sailed, and boat never swam; every other way we have above a
thousand miles to pass through the Czar's own dominion, and by ways
utterly impassable, except by the roads made by the government, and
through the towns garrisoned by his troops; in short, we could neither
pass undiscovered by the road, nor subsist any other way, so that it is
in vain to attempt it."

I was silenced at once, and found that they were in a prison every jot as
secure as if they had been locked up in the castle at Moscow: however, it
came into my thoughts that I might certainly be made an instrument to
procure the escape of this excellent person; and that, whatever hazard I
ran, I would certainly try if I could carry him off. Upon this, I took
an occasion one evening to tell him my thoughts. I represented to him
that it was very easy for me to carry him away, there being no guard over
him in the country; and as I was not going to Moscow, but to Archangel,
and that I went in the retinue of a caravan, by which I was not obliged
to lie in the stationary towns in the desert, but could encamp every
night where I would, we might easily pass uninterrupted to Archangel,
where I would immediately secure him on board an English ship, and carry
him safe along with me; and as to his subsistence and other particulars,
it should be my care till he could better supply himself.

He heard me very attentively, and looked earnestly on me all the while I
spoke; nay, I could see in his very face that what I said put his spirits
into an exceeding ferment; his colour frequently changed, his eyes looked
red, and his heart fluttered, till it might be even perceived in his
countenance; nor could he immediately answer me when I had done, and, as
it were, hesitated what he would say to it; but after he had paused a
little, he embraced me, and said, "How unhappy are we, unguarded
creatures as we are, that even our greatest acts of friendship are made
snares unto us, and we are made tempters of one another!" He then
heartily thanked me for my offers of service, but withstood resolutely
the arguments I used to urge him t