Weird Tales/Volume 4/Issue 2/Pastime of Despots
Pastime of Despots
The King of Prussia, in his correspondence with Voltaire, relates an anecdote of the Czar Peter, which is worth extracting, as illustrative of Russian Despotism: "I knew Printz, the marshal of the court of Prussia, who had been ambassador to the Czar Peter in the reign of the late king. The commission with which he was charged proving very acceptable, the prince was desirous of giving him conspicuous marks of his satisfaction, and for this purpose a sumptuous banquet was prepared, to which Printz was invited. They drank brandy, as is customary with the Russians, and they drank it to a brutal excess. The Czar who wished to give a particular grace to the entertainment, sent for twenty of the Strelitz guards, who were confined in the prisons of Petersburgh, and to every large bumper which they drank, this hideous monster struck off the head of one of these wretches. As a particular mark of respect, the unnatural prince was desirous of procuring the ambassador the pleasure, as he called it, of trying his skill upon these miserable creatures. The Czar was disposed to be angry at his refusal, and could not help betraying signs of his displeasure. This is not an invented tale; it is to be found in the narratives of M. de Printz, which are preserved in the archives. I have also mentioned it to many persons who were at Petersburgh at the time, and they all attested its truth."