. NO 19., MAY 10. '56.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
365
LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1856.
PETER THE GREAT AT SATES COURT, DEPTFORD.
In the latter part of the seventeenth century, Sayes Court, Deptford, the seat of the celebrated John Evelyn, was honoured by the temporary residence of the Czar of Muscovy, Peter the Great, who was then on a visit to this country. He was desirous of obtaining a knowledge of ship- building, and consequently chose this spot in order that he might be near the dockyard at Deptford, where he would have ample opportunity for pur- Buing his studies in naval architecture. Until about this period Evelyn had made Sayes Court his residence, where he bestowed great pains in cultivating and laying out his garden. In 1696, he let the premises to Captain Benbow, afterwards Admiral, of whom he thus speaks in his Diary :
" I have let my house to Captain Benbow, and have the mortification of seeing every day much of my former labours and expense there impairing for want of a more polite tenant."
In the commencement of the year 1698, Ben- bow underlet the house, together with all his fur- niture, to the Czar, but he soon had to regret the accommodation he had afforded to his Majesty, for in the month of May in that year.we find him petitioning the Lords of the Treasury that com- pensation be made him for the damage the Czar had done to his house, garden, and furniture.
The proceedings on this petition, which I have made the subject of this communication, afford interesting details of the dilapidations caused by the Czar's tenancy of Sayes Court, and I believe now meet the public eye for the first time.
The petition is as follows :
" To the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury.
" The humble Peticion of John Benbow, " Shewetli,
"That your Petitioner did some time since, take the House of John Evelyn, Esquire, call'd Sayes Court at Deptford, and is bound by Agreement to keep the same (together with the Gardens), &c. in Good, and Sufficient Order and Repair ; And to leave them in the same at the Expiration of his Tenne; And so it is (May it pleas your Honours), That his Czarish Majestic coining to your Petitioner about Three Months agoe, did request the use of his House, dureing the time of his Stay in England, as also the Furniture in it, as it stood. Hee freely con- sentented * thereto, and imediately removed his Family out of it, and gave him posession ; Soposing it might be a pleasure to his good Master the King, and that he would have used his house, Goods, and Gardens, otherwise than he finds he hath ; which are in so bad a condition that he can scarsly describe it to your Honours : besides much of the Furniture broke, lost, and destroy'd.
" Your Petitioner therefore humbly prays that your Honours will please to order a
- Sic in orig.
Survey upon the House, &c. : to see what
damages he hath sustained and that Repar-
ation be made him, that so he may not be a
Sufferer for his Kindness ;
" And he shall pray, &c."
On the sixth of May this petition was sent to Sir Christopher Wren, who was directed to survey the house, gardens, and goods, and to report how much the damage done by the Czar and his retinue amounted to. Within a very few days Wren, with the assistance of Mr. Sewell, of the moving wardrobe, and Mr. London, the king's gardener, made his survey, and estimated the total damages at 3501. 9s. 6d., the full particulars of which ap- pear from the following documents :
"May 9* 1698,
- < Account of Dammages done to the building and Fences by
the Czar of Moscovy and his Retinue at Sayes Court,
in Deptford :
s. d.
" For 150 yards of Painting at - - 7 10
For 244 yards of Whiting in the House 2 8
For 300 Squares in the Windows - - ' 15
For 20 Quarries - - - - 1 8
For 3 Brass Locks - - - - 2 8
For 9 more that's dammag'd - 2 5
For keys wanting to all the said Locks - 1 For 90 foot of Dutch Tyles to repaire in
Chimneys - 1 10 For 100 foot of Flemish Tyle paving to re- paire - - '150 For 90 foot of Purbeck paving to repair in
ye Kitchin - 1 10
For mending the Stoves there - 10
For plaining the Dressers - - 10
For repairing an oven dammaged - 10 All the floores dammag'd by Grease and
Inck - - - - -200
For 2 new Deale Dores - - 1 4
For a new Floore to a Bogg House - 10 For repairing 300 foot of flint and Pebble
paving - 1 For 240 foot running of Posts and Pales of
Firr - - - 60 For 170 foot running of Posts and Raile of
Oake - - - - 17 For 100 foot running of border board in ve
Garden - - - " - 1 13 8 For new pollishing 4 marble foot paces and
a Marble Table - - - 1 4
For 3 wheelbarrows broke and Lost * 1
107 7
Measured by William Dickinson Clarke.
" An Inventory of Aamirall Benboiv's Goods that is Lost, Broake, and damage done to them while the Czar of Moscovey Lodged iheire, is valued as follotceth.
s. d.
" The Bedchamber hung with blew paragon and a blew paragon Bed lined with a BufFColloured silke all much stained and spoyled - - - - 4 10 00
- We read that one of the Czar's favourite amusements
at Sayes Court consisted in being wheeled through Eve- lyn's famous holly hedge. Perhaps the barrows men- tioned in this item were the identical vehicles in which His Majesty rode.
