204 memoirs nf brigadier "Resen. April \i., 



be employed. It is easy to conceive the gracious 

 reception Catharine gave the old servant ot Peter 

 the Great, who seemed to be dropt from the clouds 

 to render the inauguration of his statue complete, 

 in the very costume^ and language of his reign ; and 



•he was accordingly taken care of the rest of his life, 

 presented with an order of knighthood, invited to 

 court, \3c. which he attended ever afterwards, on 



•great holidays, till the day of his death, with all the 



;gaiety and spirit of a young man. 



Tlie following outline of the commodore's' life was 

 taken by his physician, from his own mouth,, on dif- 

 ferent visits he made him, rather as a friend than a 



■patient ; for the old tar was never sick but once do- 



•ring their acquaintance, which commenced after his 

 resurrection at the statue; nor had he ever taken* in 

 his life any thing under the name of remedy, but a 

 difli of what he called his purgative, Virginia tea, or 



; infusion of tobacco, a medicine worthy of Smollett's 

 Trunnion, whether for taste or operation. 



Commodore Resen was born in Norway, about 

 tlie end of 1679 or the beginning of 1680, and edu- 

 cated for the Danifli navy at the marine cadet corps 

 of Coix;nhagen. Towards the end of 1691 he em- 

 barked on his first voyage, in a frigate called the 

 Northern Eagle, accompanied by another called the 

 * Crown Prince, both under the command of his uncle 

 Van Resen, afterwards admiral and governor of Dron- 

 theim in Norway. They were ordered to Leith as a 

 convoy to some merchant vefsels, and the old com- 

 modore still preserved a faint remeiTibrance of Edin- 

 burgh, particularly ita castle, an object that had 



