Travelled nobles and ambassadors also told of the great enjoyment derived from the theatre in Western Europe. Likhatchev, who was sent to Florence in 1658, wrote with naïve enthusiasm of an opera which he had seen there; but he seems to have been more impressed by the scenic effects, which included a moving sea filled with fish, and a vanishing palace, than by the music which accompanied these wonders. Potemkin, who represented the Tsar at the Court of the Grand Monarque, saw Molière's company in "Amphitryon" in 1668, and doubtless communicated his impressions to his sovereign. But before this date, as early as 1660, Alexis Mikhaïlovich had given orders to an Englishman in his service to engage for him "Master Glassblowers, Master Engravers and Master Makers of comedies." It was long, however, before Russia actually attained to the possession of this last class of workers. Finally, incited by his wife's tastes, by the representations of his more polished nobles, and not a little by personal inclinations, Alexis issued an _Oukaz_, on May 15th, 1672, ordering Count Von-Staden to recruit in Courland all kinds "of good master workmen, together with very excellent skilled trumpeters, and masters who would know how to organise plays." Unfortunately the reputation of Russia as a dwelling-place was not attractive. Doubtless the inhabitants of Eastern Europe still spoke with bated breath of the insane cruelties of Ivan the Terrible which had taken place a hundred years earlier. At any rate the Courlanders showed no great anxiety to take service under the Tsar, and Staden returned from his mission to Riga and other towns, in December, 1672, with only "one trumpeter" and "four musicians." Nevertheless the _Oukaz_ itself is an important landmark in the cultural evolution of Russia, marking, according to Tikhonraviev, the end of her long term of secular isolation as regards the drama. These five imported musicians formed the nucleus of what was to expand one day into the orchestra of the Imperial Opera.