but it was a time of peace, and had we been engaged in an expensive war, we could have added very little to our income. But it will be necessary to present the reader with a view of the state of Europe at the time this Monarch came to the crown.
The nations that formed what we call the north having been overturned by the immense power of the Russians, made one vast monarchy, which comprehended Moscovy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Lithuania, now called the empire of Russia. Peter the IVth. was the Monarch that swayed the imperial sceptre; a Prince whose martial feats were hardly ever exceeded, if we consider his barbarous courage and successful temerity; the acquisitions he had made were the effects of mere personal courage in himself, that excited an ardour in his troops, and not the consequence of policy or design; he was an indifferent statesman, and asavage
