generous clemency by a magnificent banquet, at
which he exhibited to his admiral every testimony of renewed confidence
and affection. This banquet is the subject of the following lines, in
which all the allusions are probably familiar to our readers, not
excepting the mention made of the imposing ceremony spoken of in the
third stanza; that is to say, the grand review of the infant Russian
fleet, at which the Emperor assisted in person, and in the rank of
Vice-Admiral. The whole squadron--recently created by the genius and
wisdom of the Prince, and freshly covered with naval glory, till then
unknown in Russia--was anchored in the Neva, and along its line slowly
passed, under a general salute of cannon, and accompanied by the
acclamations of the crews of the men-of-war, the old pleasure-boat, the
"baubling shallop," which had first suggested to Peter's mind the idea
and the possibility of giving Russia a navy. This small vessel, still
most religiously preserved in the fortress, and affectionately called by
the Russians the "Grandfather" of their navy, had been constructed for
the amusement of the Tsar Alexei, by Brandt, a Dutch shipbuilder, who
had visited Moscow during the reign of that prince--the father of the
great regenerator of Russia. The vessel, a small sloop rigged in the
Dutch manner, had remained neglected on the lake of Pereslav-Zalevskii
(in the province of Vladimir) till it was remarked by Peter, who, from
seeing it, not only conceived the idea of creating a navy, but made it
the means of acquiring for himself the first rudiments of practical
seamanship. As _a ship_ in the Russian language is a _masculine_
substantive, the familiar title given to this immortal little vessel is
"grandfather," or "grandsire," a word of which we have thought it
necessary to transpose the gender, in obedience to that poetical and
striking idiom in our tongue, by which a ship always rigorously
appertains to the gentler and lovelier sex. In our version, therefore,
the "grandsire" becomes--we trust without any loss of dignity or
interest--the "grandame" of the Russian navy:--

THE FEAST OF PETER THE FIRST.

O'er the Neva gaily dancing,
Flag and pennant flutter fair;
From the boats, in line advancing,
Oars-men's chorus fills the air.
Loud and joyous guests assembling,
Throng the palace of the Tsar;
And to cannon-crash is trembling
All the Neva from afar.

Wherefore feasts our Tsar of Wonders?
Why is Pe