He would appear unexpectedly, at an early hour, at the Senate, at the Synod [Head CONSISTORY], making them stand to their duties,"-- or pretend to do it.

His Majesty is not understood to have got much real work out of either of these Governing Bodies; the former, the Senate, or SECULAR one, which had fallen very torpid latterly, was, not long after this, suffered to die out altogether.

Peter himself was a violently pushing man, and never shrank from labor; always in a plunge of hurries, and of irregular hours.

In his final time, people whispered, "The Czar is killing himself; sits smoking, tippling, talking till 2 in the morning; and is overhead in business again by 7!" CZARINA ELIZABETH'S FUNERAL, AS SEEN BY HORDT (much abridged).

"At 10 in the morning all the bells in Petersburg broke out; and tolled incessantly [day or month not hinted at,--nor worth seeking; grim darkness of universal frost perceptible enough; clangor of bells; and procession seemingly of miles long,--on this extremely high errand!]--Minute-guns were fired from the moment the procession set out from the Castle till it arrived at the Citadel, a distance of two English miles and a half.