could have nothing but extremity of cold to encounter, with a
scarcity of provisions, and must lie in an empty town all the
winter. Therefore, upon the whole, I thought it much my better way
to let the caravan go, and make provision to winter where I was, at
Tobolski, in Siberia, in the latitude of about sixty degrees, where
I was sure of three things to wear out a cold winter with, viz.
plenty of provisions, such as the country afforded, a warm house,
with fuel enough, and excellent company.
I was now in quite a different climate from my beloved island,
where I never felt cold, except when I had my ague; on the
contrary, I had much to do to bear any clothes on my back, and
never made any fire but without doors, which was necessary for
dressing my food, &c. Now I had three good vests, with large robes
or gowns over them, to hang down to the feet, and button close to
the wrists; and all these lined with furs, to make them
sufficiently warm. As to a warm house, I must confess I greatly
dislike our way in England of making fires in every room of the
house in open chimneys, which, when the fire is out, always keeps
the air in the room cold as the climate. So I took an apartment in
a good house in the town, and ordered a chimney to be built like a
furnace, in the centre of six several rooms, like a stove; the
funnel to carry the smoke went up one way, the door to come at the
fire went in another, and all the rooms were kept equally warm, but
no fire seen, just as they heat baths in England. By this means we
had always the same climate in all the rooms, and an equal heat was
preserved, and yet we saw no fire, nor were ever incommoded with
smoke.
The most wonderful thing of all was, that it should be possible to
meet with good company here, in a country so barbarous as this--one
of the most northerly parts of Europe. But this being the country
where the state criminals of Muscovy, as I observed before, are all
banished, the city was full of Russian noblemen, gentlemen,
soldiers, and courtiers. Here was the famous Prince Galitzin, the
old German Robostiski, and several other persons of note, and some
ladies. By means of my Scotch merchant, whom, nevertheless, I
parted with here, I made an acquaintance with several of these
gentlemen; and from these, in the long winter nights in which I
stayed here, I received several very agreeable visits.
CHAPTER XVI--SAFE ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND
It was talking one night with a certain prince, one of the banished
ministers of state belonging to the Czar, that the discourse of my
particular case began. He had been telling me abundance of fine
things of the greatness, the magnificence, the dominions, and the
absolute power of the Emperor of the Russians: I interrupted him,
and told him I was a greater and more powerful prince than ever the
Czar was, though my dominion were not so large, or my people so
many. The Russian grandee looked a little surprised, and, fixing
his eyes steadily upon me, began to wonder what I meant. I said
his wonder would cease when I had explained myself, and told him
the story at large of my living in the island; and then how I
managed both myself and the people that were under me, just as I
have since minuted it down. They were exceedingly taken with the
story, and especially the prince, who told me, with a sigh, that
the true greatness of life was to be masters of ourselves; that he
would not have exchanged such a state of life as mine to be Czar of
Muscovy; and that he found more felicity in the retirement he
seemed to be banished to there, than ever he found in the highest
authority he enjoyed in the court of his master the Czar; that the
height of human wisdom was to bring our tempers down to our
circumstances, and to make a calm within, under the weight of the
greatest storms without. When he came first hither, he said, he
used to tear the hair from his head, and the clothes from his back,
as others had done before him; but a little time and consideration
had made him look into himself, as well as round him to things
without; that he found the mind of man, if it was but once brought
to reflect upon the state of universal life, and how little this
world was concerned in its true felicity, was perfectly capable of
making a felicity for itself, fully satisfying to itself, and
suitable to its own best ends and desires, with but very little
assistance from the world. That being now deprived of all the
fancied felicity which he enjoyed in the full exercise of worldly
pleasures, he said he was at leisure to look upon the dark side of
them, where he found all manner of deformity; and was now convinced
that virtue only makes a man truly wise, rich, and great, and
preserves him in the way to a superior happiness in a future state;
and in this, he said, they were more happy in their banishment than
all their enemies were, who had the full possession of all the
wealth and power they had left behind them. "Nor, sir," says he,
"do I bring my mind to this politically, from the necessity of my
circumstances, which some call miserable; but, if I know anything
of myself, I would not now go back, though the Czar my master
should call me, and reinstate me in all my former grandeur."
He spoke this with so much warmth in his temper, so much
earnestness and motion of his spirits, that it was evident it was
the true sense of his soul; there was no room to doubt his
sincerity. I told him I once thought myself a kind of monarch in
my old station, of which I had given him an account; but that I
thought he was not only a monarch, but a great conqueror; for he
that had got a victory over his own exorbitant desires, and the
absolute dominion over himself, he whose reason entirely governs
his will, is certainly greater than he that conquers a city.
I had been here eight months, and a dark, dreadful winter I thought
it; the cold so intense that I could not so much as look abroad
without being wrapped in furs, and a kind of mask of fur before my
face, with only a hole for breath, and two for sight: the little
daylight we had was for three months not above five hours a day,
and six at most; only that the snow lying on the ground
continually, and the weather being clear, it was never quite dark.
Our horses were kept, or rather starved, underground; and as for
our servants, whom we hired here to look after ourselves and
horses, we had, every now and then, their fingers and toes to thaw
and take care of, lest they should mortify and fall off.
It is true, within doors we were warm, the houses being close, the
walls thick, the windows small, and the glass all double. Our food
was chiefly the flesh of deer, dried and cured in the season; bread
good enough, but baked as biscuits; dried fish of several sorts,
and some flesh of mutton, and of buffaloes, which is pretty good
meat. All the stores of provisions for the winter are laid up in
the summer, and well cured: our drink was water, m
ixed with aqua
vitae instead of brandy; and for a treat, mead instead of wine,
which, however, they have very good. The hunters, who venture
abroad all weathers, frequently brought us in fine venison, and
sometimes bear's flesh, but we did not much care for the last. We
had a good stock of tea, with which we treated our friends, and we
lived cheerfully and well, all things considered.
It was now March, the days grown considerably longer, and the
weather at least tolerable; so the other travellers began to
prepare sledges to carry them over the snow, and to get things
ready to be going; but my measures being fixed, as I have said, for
Archangel, and not for Muscovy or the Baltic, I made no motion;
knowing very well that the ships from the south do not set out for
that part of the world till May or June, and that if I was there by
the beginning of August, it would be as soon as any ships would be
ready to sail. Therefore I made no haste to be gone, as others
did: in a word, I saw a great many people, nay, all the
travellers, go away before me. It seems every year they go from
thence to Muscovy, for trade, to carry furs, and buy necessaries,
which they bring back with them to furnish their shops: also
others went on the same errand to Archangel.
In the month of May I began to make all ready to pack up; and, as I
was doing this, it occurred to me that, seeing all these people
were banished by the Czar to Siberia, and yet, when they came
there, were left at liberty to go whither they would, why they did
not then go away to any part of the world, wherever they thought
fit: and I began to examine what should hinder them from making
such an attempt. But my wonder was over when I entered 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
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 to set himself free.
He declared, in earnest terms, that he was fully bent on remaining
where he was rather than seek to return to his former miserable
greatness, as he called it: where the seeds of pride, ambition,
avarice, and luxury might revive, take root, and again overwhelm
him. "Let me remain, dear sir," he said, in conclusion--"let me
remain in this blessed confinement, banished from the crimes of
life, rather than purchase a show of freedom at the expense of the
liberty of my reason, and at the future happiness which I now have
in my view, but should then, I fear, quickly lose sight of; for I
am but flesh; a man, a mere man; and have passions and affections
as likely to possess and overthrow me as any man: Oh, be not my
friend and tempter both together!"
If I was surprised before, I was quite dumb now, and stood silent,
looking at him, and, indeed, admiring what I saw. The struggle in
his soul was so great that, though the weather was extremely cold,
it put him into a most violent heat; so I said a word or two, that
I would leave him to consider of it, and wait on him again, and
then I withdrew to my own apartment.
About two hours after I heard somebody at or near the door of my
room, and I was going to open the door, but he had opened it and
come in. "My dear friend," says he, "you had almost overset me,
but I am recovered. Do not take it ill that I do not close with
your offer. I assure you it is not for want of sense of the
kindness of it in you; and I came to make the most sincere
acknowledgment of it to you; but I hope I have got the victory over
myself."--"My lord," said I, "I hope you are fully satisfied that
you do not resist the call of Heaven."--"Sir," said he, "if it had
been from Heaven, the same power would have influenced me to have
accepted it; but I hope, and am fully satisfied, that it is from
Heaven that I decline it, and I have infinite satisfaction in the
parting, that you shall leave me an honest man still, though not a
free man."
I had nothing to do but to acquiesce, and make professions to him
of my having no end in it but a sincere desire to serve him. He
embraced me very passionately, and assured me he was sensible of
that, and should always acknowledge it; and with that he offered me
a very fine present of sables--too much, indeed, for me to accept
from a man in his circumstances, and I would have avoided them, but
lordship with a small present of tea, and two pieces of China
damask, and four little wedges of Japan gold, which did not all
weigh above six ounces or thereabouts, but were far short of the
value of his sables, which, when I came to England, I found worth
near two hun
dred pounds. He accepted the tea, and one piece of the
damask, and one of the pieces of gold, which had a fine stamp upon
it, of the Japan coinage, which I found he took for the rarity of
it, but would not take any more: and he sent word by my servant
that he desired to speak with me.
When I came to him he told me I knew what had passed between us,
and hoped I would not move him any more in that affair; but that,
since I had made such a generous offer to him, he asked me if I had
kindness enough to offer the same to another person that he would
name to me, in whom he had a great share of concern. In a word, he
told me it was his only son; who, though I had not seen him, was in
the same condition with himself, and above two hundred miles from
him, on the other side of the Oby; but that, if I consented, he
would send for him.
I made no hesitation, but told him I would do it. I made some
ceremony in letting him understand that it was wholly on his
account; and that, seeing I could not prevail on him, I would show
my respect to him by my concern for his son. He sent the next day
for his son; and in about twenty days he came back with the
messenger, bringing six or seven horses, loaded with very rich
furs, which, in the whole, amounted to a very great value. His
servants brought the horses into the town, but left the young lord
at a distance till night, when he came incognito into our
apartment, and his father presented him to me; and, in short, we
concerted the manner of our travelling, and everything proper for
the journey.
I had bought a considerable quantity of sables, black fox-skins,
fine ermines, and such other furs as are very rich in that city, in
exchange for some of the goods I had brought from China; in
particular for the cloves and nutmegs, of which I sold the greatest
part here, and the rest afterwards at Archangel, for a much better
price than I could have got at London; and my partner, who was
sensible of the profit, and whose business, more particularly than
mine, was merchandise, was mightily pleased with our stay, on
account of the traffic we made here.
It was the beginning of June when I left this remote place. We
were now reduced to a very small caravan, having only thirty-two
horses and camels in all, which passed for mine, though my new
guest was proprietor of eleven of them. It was natural also that I
should take more servants with me than I had before; and the young
lord passed for my steward; what great man I passed for myself I
know not, neither did it concern me to inquire. We had here the
worst and the largest desert to pass over that we met with in our
whole journey; I call it the worst, because the way was very deep
in some places, and very uneven in others; the best we had to say
for it was, that we thought we had no troops of Tartars or robbers
to fear, as they never came on this side of the river Oby, or at
least very seldom; but we found it otherwise.
My young lord had a faithful Siberian servant, who was perfectly
acquainted with the country, and led us by private roads, so that
we avoided coming into the principal towns and cities upon the
great road, such as Tumen, Soloy Kamaskoy, and several others;
because the Muscovite garrisons which are kept there are very
curious and strict in their observation upon travellers, and
searching lest any of the banished persons of note should make
their escape that way into Muscovy; but, by this means, as we were
kept out of the cities, so our whole journey was a desert, and we
were obliged to encamp and lie in our tents, when we might have had
very good accommodation in the cities on the way; this the young
lord was so sensible of, that he would not allow us to lie abroad
when we came to several cities on the way, but lay abroad himself,
with his servant, in the woods, and met us always at the appointed
places.
We had just entered Europe, having passed the river Kama, which in