

At.KK \\-liKB. KARL OF STIUI.IXO. 



ALEXEI MICH.ULOWITZ. 



of the Ul 



that could b* drawn from th* 



. . i 1 



r, .*..' b* taught to amend their own 

 own paaaion* and their power over all in 

 aulil i>ln to them ; and if they have bat this end with such readers 

 M torn them historical dialogue*, or anything el**, can b* no discredit 

 to them." Alesander WM evidently composing UMM tragedies up ... 

 n totally fob* theory of art; bat it WM on* .ulwd to hi. natur*! 

 power* satd hi* aequir*SM>nta. Th* oharaoter of a poet, with which he 

 eh**, to BW***bhn**lf, had in bis vi*w no mjord to the highest 

 Meets at poetry. Vem WM for him a conventional thing, suited M 

 h* tnonght for the delivery of a sorie* of lecture* upon state policy 

 and th* moral virta**, in which th* introduction of historical name* 

 M Uw speakers of th* .aid lecture* might give the *entenoM a greater 

 authority than if they appeared to oom* wholly from the month of 

 William Alxandnr. In oar great ag* of dramatic poetry, these 

 therefore, on*r a remarkable contrast to the living spirit 

 I th* acting piny* of even tho humblest of Alexander s 

 A singular notion h* prevailed, nevertheless, that 

 owed from Alexander, particularly in bis own 'Julius 

 this, although he has th* good sense to 



tnrdie*. 

 whtok (a 



i that what he call* the parallel pMiagee " mixht perhaps have 

 nroeaoded only from the two authors drawing from the aame source." 

 Another critic, of whom it would be difficult to aay whether hU 

 prsMiaaptioB or hi* ignorance U the meet conspicuous, affirms tha 

 uieuililiiia more 4ggr'f t '~l 1 y : " There U a great similarity between 

 the ' Julius CaMar* of Shakospeare and that of Lord Stirling. Which 

 WM written the first I In other words, which of these writers borrowed 



front the other f This, we fear, cannot be ascertained The 



probability U, that Shikaspmre borrowed from the northern poet" 

 (Lardn*r*s 'Cyclopoli. : < Literary and ScientiBc Men,' vol. ii.) 



The poems of Alexander were sufficiently bepraised in his own day. 

 OM calls him "the monarch-tragic of this ule;" another compares 

 ate with Sophocles, Euripides, and yEtcbylus. Ercn Drumuioud 

 i him with- 



" Thj n<r :i lx muse, itill ing'd with wonder*, flic*." 



John Davis of Hereford, in bis Epigrams pubUshed about 1611, thinks 

 that Alexander th* Oreat had not won more glory by hi* (word than 

 this AUiander with bis pen. Yet iu less than forty years after his 

 flrs^n hi* poem* were forgotten. Edward Phillips, the nephew of 

 Milton, doe* not even mention him in his ' Theatrum Poetarum,' 

 although Drummond is spoken of M writing in a style " sufficiently 

 month and delightful." 



Alexander began to pay to King James the homage of verse adula- 

 tion at the exact moment when the king WM in a condition to confer 

 uUtaatial benefit* in return. In 1604 he addressed two poems to 

 ifsmr*. which have not been reprinted in his collected works : the 

 Monarehickc Tragedie*' are dedicated to bis Majesty iu a poem of 

 > ttancu, in which the king is toll 



* Tb* world lent'd for thj- birth three hundrt th j-car. J1 



and substantial offices were bestowed by James on the 

 he called "his philosophical poet" Alexander became 

 in 1613, to Prince Charles; and in the same year 

 WM knighted, and nude Master of tbe Requests. Tbe subsequent 



;.ublic career of Kir William Alexander is altogether very singular, 

 n I Ml. King Jame*, by charter, granted to him the whole territory 

 of Nova Scotia, coupled with the famous icheme of extending the 



connection with 

 during tho last 

 ami Sir William 



-- adventurers In hi* 



pamphlet, publuhed In 1625, entitled 'An Encouragement to Colonies.' 

 In th* trst year of hie reign Charles created Sir William Alexander 

 Ueatenamt gsnsisJ of New Scotland. In a few yean afterward* be 

 had th* namkabl* prirUcg* granted him of coining small copper 

 on*?. IB 16. h* WM appointed secretary of state for Scotland. 

 In 16*0 b* WM created Viscount Stirling, and in 1633 Karl of Stirling. 

 In addition to hi* grant of Nova Scotia, b* ree*ive<l a charter of the 

 lord-kip of Canada in 1828 and obtained from tbe council of New 

 nt of a Urge tract of country, including Long 

 th* island of Stirling. H* applied himself with 

 .. in concert with hi* tldest ton, to colonise this island, 

 to foond a KtUrarat on th* St Lawrence. But he doe* not 

 to have derived any permanent advantag* from these project*, 

 and tb* labour* of hi* son brought on a di*ta*e which terminated in 

 hi* death. Nova Scotia WM told by Sir William to th* French, and 

 Hi bnjnuiil hnrunsta lent tb* torritotial grant* which were to have 

 hem cttocned loth. Hinitv. Aa mM>t b. .u.r 



, 



A aaotber grant 

 then called th* 



toshed to th. dignity. A* might be mspected, a good deal of 

 WM attached to the lohimis of Alexander. In a very extra- 

 7 book wriiun by Sir TbomM Urqubart, th* tran.fator of 



the 



to hare bad a notion that 

 conducive to the 



art of money-making. HU bate copper ooiut were called ' turners, 

 and Douglat in bit ' Peerage' tells us that the favourite of James and 

 Charles having built a large house in Stirling on which he inscribed 

 " Per mare, per terras," hi* motto, it was whimsically read " Per 

 metre, et turners." He certainly obtained very substantial tokens of 

 th* royal favour, for, besides the American grants, tho baronies of 

 Menstriea, of Largis and Tullibody, of Tullicultre and of Uartmoro 

 were uoosasively conferred upon him ; and in addition to his office 

 of secretary of state, he was keeper of the signet, oommiut 

 exchequer, and an extraordinary lord of session. Yet after his death, 

 which took place in 1640, hi* family estate* were given up t his 

 creditors by his third son, Anthony. By his wife Janet, the daughter 

 of Sir William Enkine, the Earl of Stirling had seven sons and two 

 daughter*. The eldest son, William, died in the lifetime of his father, 

 and the grandson succeeded to the earldom, but died about a month 

 after the subject of this article. The second sou, Henry, became than 

 Karl of Stirling. The title is now extinct; the last of the male 

 descendant* died in 1730. 



(Recreation* vith the Mum, 1637 ; Encouragement to Colonies. 1025 ; 

 Map and Delineation of .\*-u> Eayland, 1630; Urquhart, Viicotery of 

 a mott tf</ui/f Jewel, Ac., lOJ'J ; Lungb.iino, Dramatic Pott* ; Kippi*, 

 Biographia Britan 



ALEXKI M1CI1AII.OWITZ, born at Moscow in the year 1630, WM 

 a sou of the Czar Michrfilo Keodorowiti llomanow, the fint of the 

 house of Romanow that held the sceptre of Russia, aod of his second 

 consort, Eudoki* Lukianowna Streshnew. At the death of his father, 

 July 12th, 1645, ho succeeded to the crown, and M he was atill very 

 young, he was mainly guided by the advice of his councillors, Moroeow, 

 his tutor and brother-in-law; Miloalawskoj ; and Pleasow, a judge in 

 one of the high courts at Moscow. The excessive avarice and dos* 

 potum of these men caused an insurrection in Moscow, in 1648, in 

 which Plessow and several of their creatures were murdered. Tim 

 Czar's intercession with difficulty saved Morosow from the people'* 

 fury. 



The reign of Alexei was disturbed by two pretenders to the throne, 

 of whom one was the celebrated Demetrius ; the other was Aukudi- 

 now ; and the support of their pretended claim? by Poland led to a 

 war with that country, in which the Polish comiuamier-in-chief, John 

 Radzivil, was completely defeated at Sklovo; the Russians took 

 Suiolensko in 1654, and almost the whole of Lithuania WM conquered 

 and devastated by them. The Poles, being at this time severely 

 pressed l>y the Swedes, found it advisable, -after two years' war, to 

 agree to an armistice, which was concluded at Nienietz, iu November, 

 1656, Austria being on this Decision the mediator. The Poles agreed 

 to cede the provinces of Smolcusko, T&hernigow, and Seweria to the 

 Russians, for a sum of money. 



Alexei's second war was against Charles Giistav of Sweden, which 

 commenced before the armistice with Poland was concluded. The 

 cause of complaint on the part of the Russians was, that liu-tiv hod 

 hindered the operations of their army in Lithuania. The war wan 

 long and destructive, but inconclusive, and Alexei at length agreed 

 to an armistice with Sweden, which was signed on the 23rd of April, 

 1658, and three yean after, on the 21st of June, 1661, was converted 

 into a treaty of peace at K mlix, by which their former possession* 

 were mutually secured to each party. A peace had also been con- 

 cluded between Poland and Sweden, in 1G6U, at Oliva; but before its 

 conclusion, tho war between Russia and Poland had been renewed; 

 this war WM occasioned by the Cossaks on the Dnieper, who had 

 revolted from Russia, and sought protection from tho Poles. It lasted 

 till 1667, and by an armistice concluded at Andruseow, Russaia gained, 

 in addition to former conquests, that part of the Ukraine on the other 

 side of the Dnieper of which she had already got possession. 



Immediately after the conclusion of the Polish war a formidable 

 insurrection broke out among the Don Cossaks. Steuko Ra/.uii, a 

 Coesak, resented the death of Ins brother, who had been executed by 

 order of a Russian general, and seduced his countrymen to revolt ; 

 they burnt and devastated the country from the lower Wolga to Joik, 

 took Astrakhan in 1670 (whore Stenko ordered the Woiewod Proso- 

 rowskny to be thrown over the wall*), and several other cities. 



Hopes were held out to Steuko which prevailed on him to present 

 himself at Moscow, where he WM executed M a traitor and rebel ; 

 after this, tranquillity WM easily restored among the Cossaks. Alexei'a 

 last war WM against the Turks. Led by their hetman Dorosensky, 

 the Saparogian Cowaks had revolted against the Poles, and made a 

 treaty of alliance with Mohammed IV., receiving from him the pro- 

 vince of Ukraine in fief. From this cause naturally arose a war 

 between the Poles and the Turks; and Russia WM not slow in inter- 

 fering, and demanded that Azow, which originally belonged to Russia, 

 and in 1642 bad been taken from the Cossak* by the Turks, nlmnM 

 again be ceded to Russia. But Mohammed's success did not dispose 

 him to listen to the demands of Ruatia : he took the Polish frontier 

 fortress Kaminieck, conquered the whole of Poilolia in lers than two 

 months, and alarmed the Russian* by the rapidity snd success of bis 

 operations. The King of Poland, Michael, drew no advantage from 

 the victory over the Tartars gained by Sobiesky at Kalusxo on the 

 18th of October, 1672, but made a hasty peace which was disgraceful 

 to his country. But the King of Poland's peace WM rejected by the 

 Polish diet, and Alexei was glad to assist even a constitutional power 



