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went off as a member of 'the great embassy' to the West,three hundred strong, which was to introduce to theyoung Russian aristocrats the science and technique ofthe German lands, the Netherlands, England, andVenice. It was followed by other, more or less forced,educational assignments abroad. Peter himself paid anotable visit to Paris in 1717, after which more Russianswere sent to France, partly for general education, specially(as elsewhere) for naval instruction. The subjects prescribedfor study were for the most part directly utilitarian,in connexion with the army and navy. But languagesnecessarily figured as well, and in his later years someoutlet was given to the polite arts and general culture.Already in 1717 there appeared in Russian The HonourableMirror of Youth, to be reprinted five times within fiftyyears, one of the most popular guides for teaching theyoung gentry how to behave like courtiers instead ofcountry bumpkins.Probably more important than forced studies abroad,which in too many cases resulted in little permanent gain,were the effects of the great extension of Russian diplomaticand business connexions with the West and of thefact that Russian armies and missions spent so muchtime in North German Baltic lands during the later partof the war against Sweden. Regular contact withforeigners in their own countries, as well now on a muchlarger scale in Russia herself, bred up a generation ofofficers and officials, the best of whom were deeplyinfluenced by such contacts and took pride in theirnickname of ' fledgelings' of Peter, to whom they gavetheir full loyalty. And loyalty was the first and lastrequisite for Peter in his treatment of men.Peter's third method of westernizing was the organizationin Russia for the first time of lay, secular education.It was on a small scale, but it started from nothing. Theobject was to give a rudimentary technical or professionaleducation for state service of various kinds. The namesare significant: the 'school of mathematics and navigation,'a number of 'ciphering schools,' which taught thethree R's and geometry, a few 'admiralty schools' and'war department schools,'336