Kings & rulers > History of Charles XII, King of Sweden

THE HISTORY OF
17>8 THE HISTORY OF ROOK V.
ringing of all the bells in Moscow, with the sound oi
drums, kettle drums, trumpets, and an infinite num>
her of musical instruments, which played in concert)
together with the vollies of two hundred pieces oj
cannon, amidstthe acclamations of five hundred thou¬
sand men, who, at every stop the Czar made in thk
triumphal entry, cried out, “ Long live the Emperor]
our Father.”
This dazzling exhibition augmented the people’s
veneration for his person, and perhaps made him ap¬
pear greater in their eyes than all the solid advantages
they had derived from his labours. Meanwhile he
continued the blockade of Jtiga; and the generals
made themselves masters of the rest of Livonia and
part of Finland. At the same time the King of Den¬
mark came with his whole-fleet to make a descent
upon Sweden, .where lie landed seventeen thousand
men, and left them under the command of the Count
de dieventiau.
Sweden was, at that time, governed by a regen¬
cy composed of some senators, who were appoint¬
ed by the King before he left Stockholm. The body
of the senate, imagining that the government of right
belonged to them, became jealous of the regency;
and the state suffered by these divisions. But when,
after the battle of Pultowa, the firet news was brought
to Stockholm that the King was at Bender, at the
mercy of the Turks and Tartars, and that the Danes
had invaded Schonen,- and taken the town of Elsin,*
burg, all their jealousies immediately vanished, and
they bent their whole attention towards the preserva¬
tion of the kingdom. Sweden was now drained in a
great measure of regular troops; for though Charles
had always made his great expeditions at the head of
small armies, yet the innumerable battles he bad