An English Cleric Roams Northern Europe
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	William Coxe (1747–1828) Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark London: Printed by J. Nichols, for T. Cadell, 1784 NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division William Coxe visited Russia in 1778, 1784, and 1805 and described what he saw in a largely sympathetic manner. Nonetheless, he reacted negatively to the Russian form of government and could not accept the institution of serfdom. Shown here is Emil’ian Pugachev (ca. 1742–1775), an illiterate Cossack who in 1773 and 1774 fomented a series of rebellions in Siberia and the Ural mountains. He succeeded in capturing and sacking a number of major provincial cities and military garrisons before his own capture and public execution in Moscow. Pugachev’s revolt underlined some of the elements behind the deep-seated hostility between noble and serf, and between the central authorities and the provincial peasantry. Because of its critical attitude, Coxe’s book was banned in Russia, but appeared in six editions in England and was translated into five European languages.