For the grace and dignity of the French King, the splendour of the French Court, the discipline of the French armies, and the genius and learning of the French writers, were then renowned all over the world.

But the Czar's mind had early taken a strange ply which it retained to the last.

His empire was of all empires the least capable of being made a great naval power.

The Swedish provinces lay between his States and the Baltic.

The Bosporus and the Dardanelles lay between his States and the Mediterranean.