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

  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 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

  he would not be refused. The next morning I sent my servant to his

  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