young lord had a sufficient opportunity to conceal himself, never
coming on shore again all the time we stayed there; and this he did
that he might not be seen in the city, where some of the Moscow
merchants would certainly have seen and discovered him.
We then set sail from Archangel the 20th of August, the same year;
and, after no extraordinary bad voyage, arrived safe in the Elbe
the 18th of September. Here my partner and I found a very good
sale for our goods, as well those of China as the sables, &c., of
Siberia: and, dividing the produce, my share amounted to 3475
pounds, 17s 3d., including about six hundred pounds’ worth of
diamonds, which I purchased at Bengal.
Here the young lord took his leave of us, and went up the Elbe, in
order to go to the court of Vienna, where he resolved to seek
protection and could correspond with those of his father’s friends
who were left alive. He did not part without testimonials of
gratitude for the service I had done him, and for my kindness to
the prince, his father.
To conclude: having stayed near four months in Hamburgh, I came
from thence by land to the Hague, where I embarked in the packet,
and arrived in London the 10th of January 1705, having been absent
from England ten years and nine months. And here, resolving to
harass myself no more, I am preparing for a longer journey than all
these, having lived seventy-two years a life of infinite variety,
and learned sufficiently to know the value of retirement, and the
blessing of ending our days in peace.