[29] We find, in the memoirs of count Strahlemberg, a Swedish officer, who was taken prisoner at the battle of Pultowa, and continued many years at the court of czar Peter, the following account of the true cause of this extraordinary kind of hydrophobia. When Peter was about five years of age, his mother took him with her in a coach for an airing, and having to pass a dam, where there was a great fall of water the child, who was then sleeping in his nurse's lap, was so terrified by the rushing of the water (the noise of which waked him suddenly out of his sleep), that he was seized with a violent fever, and, after his recovery, he retained such a dread of that element, that he could not bear the sight even of any standing water, much less to hear a running stream. [30] Memoirs of Petersburg and Moscow. [31] This should certainly be four years; as we can hardly suppose a boy of fourteen years and a half, would be received into the military service of any country, and much less by the Dutch at that period of time, when they stood in need of able and experienced soldiers, to withstand the attacks of the French, who breathed nothing less than the utter subversion of their state. [32] General Le Fort's MSS. [33] General Le Fort's MSS. [34] Extracted from memoirs sent from China; also from Petersburg, and from letters published in Du Halde's History of China. [35] A famous and considerable river of the Asiatic part of the empire of Russia, which falls into the eastern ocean. It was formerly called Charan Muran, but at present the Chinese and Mauschurs give it the name of Sagalin Ula. It also bears the several appellations of Jamur, Onon, Helong, Kiang, and Skilka. It is formed by the junction of the rivers Sckilk and Argun, and is navigable to the sea. [36] Busching, the famous geographer, says, that its whole length is no more than four hundred miles, so that there must be a very great error in one or other of these authors. [37] Memoirs of the jesuits Pereira and Gerbillon. [38] 1689, Sept. 8, new style. Memoirs of China. [39] The present reigning empress Catharine seems even to exceed her aunt in lenity, which together with the superior qualifications of this princess, affords her people the most happy presage of a glorious reign; and it is not without reason, that the most sensible amongst them flatter themselves with the hope, that under this august princess, the Russian empire will arrive at its highest pinnacle of glory. [40] Le Fort's Memoirs.