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Peter, agreed, that St Linus was his successor. The following is the portraiture that Nicephorus gives us of St Peter, which he has probably taken from the ancient pictures that were preserved of this apostle. He was not fat, but pretty tall and upright, having a fair and palish countenance. The hair of his head and beard was thick, frizzled, and not long. His eyes were black, and blood-shot; his eyebrows protuberant and lofty; his nose something long, and rather flat than sharp.

Black

cred Clas sics defended.

The two epistles of St Peter are addressed to those Jewish converts who were scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, &c. not only upon the persecution raised at Jerusalem, but upon former dispersions of the Jews into those places on several other occasions. The first epistle is principally designed to comfort and confirm them under those fiery trials and manifold temptations they were then subject to, and to direct and instruct them how to behave in the several states and relations both of the civil and the Christian life, that they might not be engaged in those rebellions against Cæsar and his officers, then fomented among the Jews; and that they might stop the months of those who spoke against them as evil doers. In the second epistle, he prosecutes the same subject, to prevent their apostasy from the faith, on account of any persecutions they were liable to. He likewise guards them against the corrupt principles of the Gnostics, and those who scoffed at the promise of Christ's coming, as if it would never be verified.

St Peter's style, says a modern author, expresses the well's Sa. noble vehemence and fervour of his spirit, the full knowledge he had of Christianity, and the strong assurance he had of the truth and certainty of his doctrine; and he writes with the authority of the first man in the college of the apostles. He writes with that quickness and rapidity of style, with that noble neglect of some of the formal consequences and niceties of grammar, still preserving its true reason and natural analogy (which are always marks of a sublime genius), that you can scarce perceive the pauses of his discourse and distinction of his periods. The great Joseph Scaliger calls St Peter's first epistle majestic; and we hope he was more judicious than to exclude the second, though he did not name it.

A noble majesty, and becoming freedom, is what distinguishes St Peter; a devout and judicious person cannot read him without solemn attention and awful concern The conflagration of this lower world, and future judgment of angels and men, in the third chapter of the second, is described in such strong and terrible terms, such awful circumstances, that in the description we see the planetary heavens and this our earth wrapped up with devouring flames, hear the groans of an expiring world, and the crashes of nature tumbling into universal ruin.

The authority of the second epistle of St Peter was for some time doubted of, as Origen, Eusebius, St Jerome and others have observed. What made the ancients call it in question, is the difference of its style from the first. The third chapter, which describes the catastrophe of the visible world, made Grotius think this epistle was wrote after the taking of Jerusalem; because that was not to happen till after the destruction of that city; upon which he conjectures, that Simeon bi

shop of Jerusalem is the author of this epistle, and that the inscription which carries St Peter's name is corrupted. But the best critics admit this epistle to be the genuine work of St Peter, who discovers himself, where he says, that he was present at our Lord's transfiguration; and where he tell the Jews, this was the second letter he had written to them. The reader may see this question fully discussed, and the authority of this epistle established beyond all doubt, by the learned Dr Sherlock, in his Dissertation on the authority of the Second Epistle of St Peter.

St Peter has been made the author of several books; such were, his Acts, his Gospel, his Revelation, his work about preaching, and another acout judgment. There is extant a large history of St Peter, called the Recognitions, ascribed to St Clement.

PETER of Blois, a learned man of the 12th century, was born about the year 1120, at the city of Blois in France, from whence he derived his name. His parents, being opulent, gave him a learned education. In his youth, when he studied in the university of Paris, he was excessively fond of poetry; and when he was a little further advanced in life, he became no less fond of rhetoric, to the study of which he applied with the greatest ardour. From Paris he removed to Bononia in Italy, to acquire the civil and canon law; in the knowledge of both which he very much excelled. He ap pears from his writings to have cultivated medicine, and several branches of the mathematics, with no little care and success. The study of theology was the chief delight and business of his life, in which he spent the greatest part of his time, and made the greatest progress. But unfortunately it was that scholastic theology, which consisted in vain attempts to prove and explain the many absurd opinions which then prevailed in the church, by the subtleties of Aristotelian logic. In attempting to explain in this manner the most absurd of all opinions that ever existed amongst mankind, he was the very first person who employed the famous word transubstantiation, which was soon after adopted by the church of Rome, and hath ever since made so great a noise. Being appointed preceptor to William II. king of Sicily in 1167, he obtained the custody of the privy seal; and, next to the archbishop of Palermo, the prime minister, had the greatest influence in all affairs. But his power was not of long duration; for the archbishop being banished in 1168, our author soon after left the court of

Sicily, and returned into France. He was not long, however, without a royal patron, being invited into England by Henry II. who employed him as his private secretary, made him archdeacon of Bath, and gave him some other benefices. When he had spent a few years at court, he conceived a disgust at that way of life (of which he hath drawn a very unpleasing picture in one of his letters), and retired into the family of Richard archbishop of Canterbury, who had made him his chancellor about the year 1176. In this station he continued to the death of the archbishop in 1183, enjoying the highest degree of favour with that prelate, though he used much freedom in reproving him for his remissness in the government of the church. Our author remained in the same station in the family of Archbishop Baldwin, who succeeded Richard, acting both as his secretary and chancellor. He was also sent by that prelate on an embassy to Rome in 1187, to plead his cause be

fore

Peter.

Peter.

fore Pope Urban III. in the famous controversy between him and the monks of Canterbury about the church of Hackington. After the departure of his friend and patron Baldwin for the Holy Land in 1190, our author was involved in various troubles in his old age, the causes of which are not distinctly known; and died about the end of the 12th century. He appears from his works, which may be justly reckoned among the most valuable monuments of the age in which he flourished, to have been a man of great integrity and sincere piety, as well as of a lively inventive genius and uncommon eradition. His printed works consist of 134 letters, which he collected together at the desire of Henry II.; of 65 sermons, delivered on various occasions; and of 17 tracts on different subjects.

PETER the Hermit. See CROISADE and HERMIT. PETER I. justly styled Peter the Great, czar, and afterwards emperor, of Russia, founder of the Russian empire; for though the country was well known, and of great antiquity, yet it had no extent of power, of political influence, or of general commerce, in Europe, till his time. He was born in 1672; and was proclaimed czar when but ten years of age, in exclusion of John his eldest brother, who, being of a sickly constitution, was at the same time very weak in his understanding. The princess Sophia, his half-sister, made an insurrection in favour of John; and to put an end to the civil war, it was at last agreed that the two brothers should jointly share the imperial dignity. Peter had been very ill brought up, not only through the general defects of the Russian education, but likewise through the arts of the princess Sophia, who surrounded him with every thing that might stifle his natural desire of knowledge, deprave his mind, and enervate it with pleasures. Notwithstanding this, his inclination for military exercises discovered itself in his tenderest years. He formed a company of 50 men, commanded by foreign officers, clothed and exercised after the German manner. He entered himself into the lowest post, that of a drummer; and never rose otherwise than as a soldier of fortune. Herein his design was to teach his uobility, that merit, not birth, was the only title to military employments. He reinforced his company with several others, till at last he had got together a considerable body of soldiers. As he then had no war on his hands, he exercised them in all sorts of mock engagements, and by this means secured to himself a body of well-disciplined troops. The sight of a Dutch vessel, which he had met with on a lake belonging to one of his pleasure-houses,

made such an impression on his mind, that he conceived the almost impracticable design of forming a navy. His first care was to get some Hollanders to build some small vessels at Moscow; and he passed two successive summers on board English or Dutch ships, which set out from Archangel, that he might instruct himself in every branch of naval affairs (A). In 1696 czar John died, and Peter was now sole master of the empire. In 1698 he sent an embassy to Holland; and went incognito in the retinue, and visited England, as well as Holland, in order to inform himself fully in the art of ship-building. At Amsterdam he worked in the yard as a private ship-carpenter, under the name of Peter Michaelof; but he has been often heard to say, that if he had never gone to England, he had still remained ignorant of that art. In 1700 he had got together a body of standing forces, consisting of 30,000 foot; and now the vast project he had formed displayed itself in all its parts. He opened his dominions, which till then had been shut up, having first sent the chiefnobility of his empire into foreign countries to improve themselves in knowledge and learning. He invited into Russia all the foreigners he could meet with, who were capable of instructing his subjects in any manner, and offered them great encouragement to settle in his dominions. This raised many discontents; and the despotic authority he exerted on that occasion was scarcely powerful enough to suppress them. In 1700, being strengthened by the alliance of Augustus king of Poland, he made war on Charles XII. king of Sweden. His first ill success did not deter him; for hẹ used to say, I know that my armies must be overcome for a great while; but even this will at last teach them to conquer. He 'afterwards gained considerable advantages; and founded Petersburg in 1703. In 1709 he gained a complete victory over the Swedes at Pultowa. In 1712 he was inclosed by the Turks on the banks of the Pruth; and seemed inevitably lost, had not the czarina Catherine bribed the grand visir, and the czar's prudence completed his deliverance. In 1716 he made a tour through Germany and Holland, and visited the royal academy of sciences at Paris. It would be endless to enumerate all the various establishments for which the Russians are obliged to him. He formed an army according to the manner of the politest and most experienced nations: he fitted out fleets in all the four seas which border upon Russia: he caused many strong fortresses to be raised after the best plans; and made convenient harbours: he introduced

arts

(A) The following circumstance, it is said, in some measure determined Peter to attempt those reformations which he afterwards accomplished. Great events have been sometimes the effect of little causes; and it is at least possible, that without the occurrence we are going to relate, Russia might still have been in a state of barbarism. A young Genevese, called Le Fort, about 1695, went to Moscow with the Danish ambassador. The czar Peter, who was then 19 years old, met with this Genevese, who had soon learnt the Russian tongue, and spoke almost all the languages of Europe. Le Fort ingratiated himself with the prince, entered into his service, and soon afterwards into his familiarity. He made him comprehend that there was a different manner of living and reigning from what had unhappily obtained throughout his vast and miserable empire. A prince must be born with an uncommon greatness of soul to listen readily to a stranger, and to be able to divest himself of the prejudices of a throne and of his country. The czar was sensible that neither himself nor his people were yet to be reckoned among men; and that he had an empire to form, but could have no assistance at home. From that time he took a resolution to leave his dominions; and set out, like another Prometheus, to borrow celestial fire for animating his countrymen.

Peter.

Peter.

arts and sciences into his dominions, and freed religion
from many superstitious abuses: he made laws, built
cities, cut canals, &c; was generous in rewarding,
impartial in punishing; faithful, laborious, and humble;
yet was not free from a certain roughness of temper
natural to his nation. He had indeed cured himself
of excess in drinking; but he has been branded with
several other vices, particularly cruelty. He published
the unfortunate history of his son Prince Alexis (B);
towards whom some blame his severity, while others
think it no more than was necessary. He perfectly
knew the honour due to persons of merit; and not
only heaped honours upon them during their life, but
gave them marks of esteem even after their death.
He died of the strangury in 1725, and left the world
with the magnanimity of a hero and the piety of a
Christian.

Peter was tall of stature, and of a bold and majestic
aspect, though sometimes disfigured by convulsions,
which altered his features. This deformity was ascri-
bed to poison, given him, as it is said, by his sister
Sophia; but it was indeed no other than wine and
brandy, which he often drank to excess, relying too
much on the strength of his constitution.
He con-
versed with persons in all stations, from the mechanic
to the general of an army; and his conversation was
neither like that of a barbarian who makes no distinc-
tion between men, nor of a popular prince who seeks
to please all the world, but that of a person who aims
at instruction. He loved women as much as the king
of Sweden, his rival, dreaded them, and all were equal-
ly agreeable to him; he valued himself on drinking
large draughts, rather than sipping delicious wine. We
are told that kings and legislators should never suffer
themselves

Peter.

(B) Alexis, like his father, is said to have married a slave, and, like him, quitted Muscovy secretly, but had not the same success in his undertakings; and the being but a bad imitator of his father, cost him his life. He became an example of the most terrible severity that ever was given from the tribunal of the throne: but, what is much to the honour of the empress Catherine, she had no hand in the misfortunes of that prince, who was born of another woman, and loved nothing that his father loved. Catherine was not in the least suspected of acting the cruel stepmother. The great crime of the unfortunate Alexis was his being too much a Russian, and his disapproving every thing that was grand and immortal, and projected by his father for the glory of the nation. One day, hearing some Muscovites lamenting the insupportable fatigues they were to undergo in the building of Petersburg, he said, "Take courage, this city will not stand long." When he was called to attend his father in a journey of 600 or 700 leagues, which the czar often made, he feigned sickness. He took violent purges for a distemper which he had not; and such quantities of medicines, with excessive drinking of brandy, impaired his health and his wits. At first he had an inclination to learning, was acquainted with geometry and history, and had learnt the German tongue: but he hated war, and would never learn it; for which he was most reproached by his father. They had married him in 1711 to the princess of Wolfenbuttle, sister of the empress consort to Charles VI. This marriage was unfortunate; the princess was often abandoned for a debauch in brandy, and for Afrosina, a Finland wench, of a large stature, well made, and very agreeable. It is reported that the princess died of chagrin, if it be possible for chagrin to prove mortal; and that afterwards the czarowitz secretly espoused Afrosina in 1713, when the empress Catherine had just brought him a brother, at which he had no reason to be uneasy.

The misunderstandings between the father and the son became every day more serious; till at length the father, about the year 1716, threatened the prince to disinherit him; and the prince told him that he intended to go into a monastery.

The czar, in 1717, renewed his journeys, as well with a view to politics as curiosity. He came at last into France. If the son had entertained an inclination to revolt, if he had actually had a party formed in his favour, now was the time to declare himself; but instead of remaining in Russia, making himself popular, and creating dependents, he took a journey in his turn, having with much difficulty scraped together some thousands of ducats which he had secretly borrowed. He threw himself under the protection of the emperor Charles VI. brother of his deceased wife. They kept him for some time incognito at Venice, from whence he passed to Naples, where he resided almost a year, while neither his father nor any person in Russia knew the place of his

retreat.

While the son kept himself thus concealed, the father was at Paris, where he was received with all the respect paid him in other places, but with a gallantry nowhere to be found but in France. If he went to visit a manufactory, and one piece of work attracted his sight more than another, he was presented with it the next day. He went to dine at the duke d'Antin's at Petitbourg, where the first thing he saw was his own picture at full length, in the same habit that he wore. When he was at the royal mint of medals, they struck all kinds before him, and presented him with them; at last they struck one which they let drop on purpose at his feet, and left him to take it up. He there saw himself perfectly engraven with these words, Peter the Great. The reverse was a Fame, and round her in letters Vires acquirit eundo; an allusion no less just than flattering to a prince who really acquired new merit by travelling.

After he had seen this country, where every thing disposes men to gentleness and indulgence, he returned to
his own, and resumed his severity. He had engaged his son to return from Naples to Petersburg, from whence
that young prince was conducted to Moscow before the czar his father; who began with depriving him of his
succession to the throne, by making him sign a solemn act of renunciation at the end of January 1718, in consi-
deration of which act the father promised the son to spare his life.

It was not altogether improbable that such an act would have been some time or other annulled. The czar,
therefore,

5

Peter.

themselves to be transported by passion; but never was
any man more passionate than Peter the Great, or more
merciless. In a king this is more than an infirmity for
which we make amends by confessing it; but it was
generally remarked of Peter, and he himself said to
a magistrate of Holland, at his second voyage,
"I have
reformed my nation, and have not been able to reform
myself." It is true, the cruelties with which he is re-
proached were not novelties at the court of Moscow,
any more than at that of Morocco: it was not uncom-
mon to see a czar, with his own royal hand, inflict 100
lashes on the naked shoulders of a prime officer of the
crown, or of a lady of the palace, for failing in their
duty, by getting drunk; or to try the goodness of his
sabre, by striking off the head of a criminal. Peter had
himself performed some of those ceremonies of his coun-
try; Le Fort, however (see note A), had authority
enough over him at times to stay his hand even when
lifted up to strike, but he had not Le Fort always near
him.

The czar's first marriage is thus related in the memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce, Esq. "It took place in 1690, when he was only 18. He was married to Ottokessa Lapuchin, a boyar's daughter, by whom he had Prince Alexis; some time after he turned her away and shut her up in a monastery, on suspicion of infidelity. It was said, that in one of her jealous fits she charged Prince Menzikoff with carrying the czar to drabs of his former acquaintance, who had been his customers for cakes; upbraiding him with his first occupation: and that Menzikoff ever after bore an irreconcileable enmity to both her and her son. After the divorce,

one Miss Mons, a very beautiful young lady, born at Moscow, of foreign parents, as much in favour with the czar; but when he was abroad, Mr Keyserling, then residing at Moscow as envoy from the king of Prussia, paid his addresses to, and married her. When the czar returned, be was so much offended at Keyserling, that he ordered him to leave Moscow, which occasioned his immediate recal by the king his master, who sent another in his room. It was believed, if his public character had not protected him, he would have severely felt his majesty's displeasure.

"The czar was some time after smitten with the charms of another beautiful young lady, the daughter of a foreign merchant in this city: he first saw her in her father's house, where he dined one day. He was so much taken with her appearance, that he offered her any terms she pleased, if she would live with him; which this virtuous young woman modestly refused: but dreading the effects of his authority, she put on a resolution, and left Moscow in the night, without communicating her design even to her parents. Having provided a little money for her support, she travelled on foot several miles into the country, till she arrived at a small village where her nurse lived with her husband and their daughter, the young lady's foster-sister, to whom she discovered her intention of concealing herself in the wood near that village: and to prevent any discovery, she set out the same night, accompanied by the husband and daughter. The husband being a timber-man by trade, and well acquainted with the wood, conducted her to a little dry spot in the middle of a morass, and there he built a hut for her habitation.

Peter

therefore, in order to give it more force, forgetting that he was a father, and only remembering that he was the founder of an empire, which his son might overturn, and involve in its ancient barbarity, ordered a public process to be drawn up against that unfortunate prince, for some concealment, with which he was charged, in the confession that they had exacted of him.

An assembly was held of the bishops, inferior ecclesiastics, and professors; who found in the Old Testament, that those who cursed their father or their mother should be put to death; that David indeed had pardoned Absalom, who had rebelled against him, but that Absalom was never pardoned by God. Such was their opinion, without drawing any conclusion; `but it was in effect signing a warrant for his death. Alexis had not in fact cursed his father, neither had he ever revolted like Absalom; he had never lain publicly with the king's concubines; but he had left the kingdom without his father's permission, and had written letters to his friends in which he only signified that he hoped they would one day be mindful of him in Russia. But whatever might be his case, of 124 lay judges, who were appointed to sit on him, there was not one that judged his offences less than capital; and those who could not write, made others sign for them. It is reported in Europe, that the czar had got translated from Spanish into Russian the criminal process against Don Carlos, that unfortunate prince whom his father Philip I. had confined in a prison, where the heir of that great monarchy ended his days. But there was nothing like a process carried on against Don Carlos, nor was it ever known whether that prince died a natural or a violent death. Peter, the most despotic of princes, wanted not an example. Certain it is that the prince died the day after the sentence, and that the czar had at Moscow one of the best apothecary's shops in Europe. It is probable, however, that the prince Alexis, the heir of the most extensive empire in the world, being condemned unanimously by his father's subjects, which were one day to be his own, might die of the sudden shock and change given to the body at the apprehension of so strange and dismal a sentence. The father went to see his son in his last agonies; and it is said he shed tears. Infelix utcunque ferent ea futa nepotes. These tears, however, did not prevent the wheels from being covered with the broken limbs of his son's friends. He beheaded his own brother-in-law Count Lapuchin, brother to his wife Ottokessa Lapuchin whom he had divorced, and uncle to Prince Alexis. The prince's confessor had also his head cut off. If Muscovy has been civilized, she has, it must be confessed, paid dear for her improvement.

The remainder of the czar's life was nothing but a series of grand projects, labours, and exploits, that seemed to efface the memory of his excessive severities, which were perhaps necessary. He made frequent speeches to his court and to his council. In one he told them that he had sacrificed his sop to the welfare of bis dominions.

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tation. She had deposited her money with her nurse to procure little necessaries for her support, which were faithfully conveyed to her at night by the nurse or her daughter, by one of whom she was constantly attended in the night time.

"The next day after her flight, the czar called at her father's to see her, and finding the parents in anxious concern for their daughter, and himself disappointed, fancied it a plan of their own concerting. He became angry, and began to threaten them with the effects of his displeasure if she was not produced: nothing was left to the parents but the most solemn protestations, with tears of real sorrow running down their cheeks, to convince him of their innocence, and ignorance of what was become of her; assuring him of their fears that some fatal disaster must have befallen her, as nothing belonging to her was amissing, except what she had on at the time. The czar, satisfied of their sincerity, ordered great search to be made for her, with the offer of a considerable reward to the person who should discover what was become of her, but to no purpose: the parents and relations, apprehending she was no more, went into mourning for her.

"Above a year after this she was discovered by an accident. A colonel who had come from the army to see his friends, going to hunt in the wood, and following his game through the morass, he came to the hut, and looking into it saw a pretty young woman in a mean dress. After inquiring of her who she was, and how she came to live in so solitary a place, he found out at last that she was the lady whose disappearance had made so great a noise; in the utmost confusion, and with the most fervent intreaties, she prayed him on her knees that he would not betray her; to which he replied, that he thought her danger was now past, as the czar was then otherwise engaged, and that she might with safety discover herself, at least to her parents, with whom he would consult how matters should be managed. The lady agreed to this proposal; and he set out immediately, and overjoyed her parents with the happy discovery; the issue of their deliberation was to consult Madame Catherine (as she was then called) in what manner the affair should be opened to the czar. The colonel went also upon this business, and was advised by Madame to come next morning and she would introduce him to his majesty, when he might make the discovery and claim the promised reward. He went according to appointment; and being introduced, told the accident by which he had discovered the lady, and represented the miserable situation in which he found her, and what she must have suffered by being so long shut up in such a dismal place, from the delicacy of her sex. The czar showed a great deal of concern that he should have been the cause of all her sufferings, declaring that he would endeavour to make her amends. Here Madame Catherine suggested, that she thought the best amends his majesty could make, was to give her a handsome fortune and the colonel for a husband, who had the best right, having caught her in pursuit of his game. The czar, agreeing perfectly with Madame Catherine's sentiments, ordered one of his favourites to go with the colonel, and bring the young lady home; where she arrived to the inexpressible joy of her family and relations, who had all been in mourning for her. The marriage was under the direction and at the expence of the czar, who himself

gave the bride to the bridegroom; saying, that he pre- Peter sented him with one of the most virtuous of women; aud accompanied his declaration with very valuable presents, besides settling on her and her heirs three thousand rubles a-year. This lady lived highly esteemed by the czar, and every one who knew her. Besides the concurring reports of other people, I had the story from her own mouth."

On the whole, that Peter I. was a great man, few will deny who know what real greatness is. A minute account of the life of this distinguished emperor would make a large volume; we have been able to give but the mere outlines of it: the anecdotes, however at the end, show in some degree the nature of the man; at all events they show one important truth, that it is a more difficult thing to reform one's self than to reform a kingdom; to conquer one's passions, than to conquer the world. The Russians, however, if there be any good in civilization, owe to him every thing: and they seem to be sensible of it; for a very pompous oration was delivered to his memory by Michael Lomonossoff, before the Academy of Sciences at St Petersburgh, on the 26th of April 1755. For a minuter account of his improvements, &c. see RUSSIA, PETERSBURGH, and CATHERINE I.

PETER the Wild Boy. This extraordinary creature occasioned great speculation among the learned; but we do not know that any satisfactory causes have been assigned for the striking difference between him and other human beings.

He

The following account of him is extracted from the parish-register of North-church, in the county of Hertford. "Peter, commonly known by the name of Peter the Wild Boy, lies buried in this churchyard, opposite to the porch. In the year 1725 he was found in the woods near Hamelen, a fortified town in the electorate of Hanover, when his majesty George I. with his attendants, was hunting in the forest of Hertswold. was supposed to be then about 12 years of age, and had subsisted in those woods upon the bark of trees, leaves, berries, &c. for some considerable length of time. How long he had continued in that wild state is altogether uncertain; but that he had formerly been ander the care of some person, was evident from the remains of a shirt collar about his neck at the time when he was found. As Hamelen was a town where criminals were confined to work upon the fortifications, it was then conjectured at Hanover that Peter might be the issue of one of those criminals, who had either wandered into the woods and could not find his way back again, or being discovered to be an idiot was inhumanly turned out by his parents, and left to perish or shift for himself. In the following year 1726, he was brought over to England, by the order of Queen Caroline then princess of Wales, and put under the care of Dr Arbuthnot with proper masters to attend him. But notwithstanding there appeared to be no natural defect in his organs of speech, after all the pains that had been taken with him he could never be brought distinctly to articulate a single syllable, and proved totally incapable of receiving any instruction. He was afterwards intrusted to the care of Mrs Titchbourn, one of the queen's bedchamber women, with a handsome pension annexed to the charge. Mrs Titchbourn usually spending a few weeks every summer at the house of Mr James Fenn, a yeoman farmer at Axter's

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