[7] There are among our countrymen those who are scarcely outdone by the Tzar of Russia and his companions. At the same place, and probably at the same house, long known as _Moon's_, two noble dukes, the one dead, the other yet living, stopped, as they intended, for a moment, while sitting in their carriages, to eat a mutton chop, which they found so good that they each of them devoured _eighteen_, and drank five bottles of claret. It would appear, indeed, from all accounts, that the Tzar was a prodigiously hard drinker, in his younger days. In a letter from Mr. A. Bertie to Dr. Charlett, and in the same collection, he says, "The Tzar lay the other night at Mr. James Herbert's, being come from Deptford to see the Redoubt,[8] which the justices have suppressed, by placing six constables at the door. Upon that disappointment he fell to drinking hard at one Mr. Morley's; and the Marquess of Carmarthen, it being late, resolved to lodge him at his brother-in-law's, where he dined the next day; drank a pint of brandy and a bottle of sherry for his morning draught; and after that about eight more bottles of sack and so went to the playhouse."[9] [8] It is presumed some notorious place of ill fame. [9] Ballard's Collection. Bodleian. The King having given a grand ball at St. James's, in honour of the Princess's birthday, Peter was invited; but instead of mixing with the company, he was put into a small room, from whence he could see all that passed without being himself seen. This extraordinary aversion for a crowd kept him away from all great assemblies. Once, indeed, he attempted to subdue it, from a desire to hear the debates in the House of Commons, but even then the Marquess of Carmarthen could not prevail on him to go into the body of the house. Having dined with the King at Kensington, he was prevailed on to see the ceremony of his Majesty passing four bills; but, it appears from a note of Lord Dartmouth, that here, as in the Commons, he avoided going into the house. His Lordship says, "He had a great dislike to being looked at, but had a mind to see the King in parliament; in order to which he was placed in a gutter upon the house-top, to peep in at the window, where he made so ridiculous a figure, that neither king nor people could forbear laughing, which obliged him to retire sooner than he intended." From the same authority we learn that Peter was, at another time, placed in an awkward situation. "The King made the Tzar a visit, in which an odd incident happened. The Tzar had a favourite monkey, which sat upon the back of his chair; as soon as the King was sat down, the monkey jumped upon him, in some wrath, which discomposed the whole ceremonial, and most of the time was afterwards spent in apologies for the monkey's misbehaviour."[10] [10] Lord Dartmouth.--Note in Burnet's History of his own Times.