It is to be remarked, that in all the negotiations which Peter the Great attempted to make, either with the king of Sweden or with the Turkish government, he always requested the delivery of Mazeppa, for whose person he offered large sums of money. But the Turks, who never broke the sacred laws of hospitality, whose noble feelings and generosity are universally acknowledged, constantly rejected such proposals. And Charles, barbarous once only in his life towards Patkul, too proud to complain, and having a generous heart, attached to Mazeppa by the bonds of common misfortune, and judging men according to their real value, never dreamed of committing such a wrong. Soon, however, grief, imeasiness, inactive life, mingled probably with cutting reproaches of conscience and disappointed hopes, undermined Mazeppa's constitution and spirit, and he took poison, and died in the eighty-first year of his age.
In carefully investigating the adventures of Mazeppa, we must acknowledge there is something mysterious, wild, and romantic in them, -hich cannot fail to interest the fair sex, and which have been turned to such good account by the fervid genius of Byron.
Without refusing the homage due to the great ability, accomplishments, and manly qualities of Mazeppa, we cannot, as an historian, refrain from pointing out also his ambition, ingratitude, and crimes, which can only be exceeded by the misfortunes of his early days. Under the cloak of sincerity and indifference, the crafty Mazeppa, whose features and words never betrayed the secret thoughts of his heart, and whose disposition was rather adapted to form an eastern tyrant than a ruler of the civilised world, was a perfect master in the art of dissimulation, and never failed to sacrifice, without any visible emotion, even the lives of his best friends for the gratification of his ambition. Liberal and impenetrable by nature, of abstemious habits, he easily wrested the secrets of another by a jest, a smile, or a word. His conduct towards Samoilovicz, his benefactor, whose innocent son he murdered; his conduct towards Paley, and many other murders and crimes, are stains on his memory which cannot be washed away. He passed through the world like a gust of moaning wind in the desert, and to this hour the Ukranian people preserve his memory in their national songs. See Life of Peter the Great, Hist, de Charles XIL par Voltaire, see Voyage de la Motraye, Poiogne Pittoresque, Ncemcevicz, Lettres de Charles XII., rapportees par Norberg; Roulliere, Anarchic de Poiogne; Leclerc, Pufendorf, John Perry, Present State of Russia; and Lesur, on the Cossacks.