John Lothrop Motley

Peter the Great is one of the dominating personalities of early modern Europe. During his reign (1682/89-1725) Russia emerged from semi-Asiatic isolation on the remote fringes of the western world to become a great political and military power in her own right, and, for the first time, a principal actor on the European stage. The study does full justice to Peter's extraordinary contribution to the development of Russia - his determination to westernize the country; to furnish it with the means of self-defence; to change drastically its religious and educational institutions; to give it a voice in European affairs; and to create a new capital city - Peter's "window on the West" - of unprecedented splendour. The portrait of the Tsar that emerges is impressive but not attractive. Peter's energy and vision were matched by his brutality in public affairs, a lack of human affection in his private relationships, and the coarseness of his personal behaviour. The darker side of both man and monarch is fully acknowledged here. Yet, when the failures and failings have been taken into account, and the accretions of historical myth-making stripped away, it remains a formidable life; and Matthew Anderson does it full justice in this admirable study.

"The second child of Thomas Motley and Anna Lothrop [daughter of Rev. John Lothrop and Elizabeth Checkley] was John Lothrop Motley, born in Dorchester, now part of Boston, 15th April 1814. ... [He] married on the 2nd March 1837. His wife was Mary, daughter of Mr. Park Benjamin."--P. 9. Their early married life " was passed partly in Boston, but principally at a cottage built for them by Mr. Thomas Motley on his estate of Riverdale near Boston."--P. 19. John Lothrop Motley began his government service as Secretary of Legation at St. Petersburg. He was later appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to serve as United States Minister to the Court of Austria in 1861. His career also included service in England and the Netherlands. His diplomatic contacts were numerous. Mary Motley died in 1874. John Lothrop Motley died at the home of " ... his daughter, Mrs. Sheridan, at Kingston Russell House, Dorsetshire"--P. 301 on 29 May, 1877. "My father's descendants, his grandchildren and great grandchildren are all English."--Pref. as stated by Susan St. John Mildmay, daughter of John Lothrop and Mary Benjamin Motley. Descendants and relatives lived in Massachusetts, England and elsewhere.

Vol. 1-2, pub. 1861, have title : History of the United Netherlands from the death of William the Silent to the Synod of Dort. With a full view of the English-Dutch struggle against Spain and of the origin and destruction of the Spanish armada.

Gathers translations of Plato's works and includes guidance on approaching their reading and study.