In pursuance of Phull's scheme, the Czar and Barclay de Tolly fell back with that army towards the intrenched camp on the Dwina.

But doubts had already begun to haunt their minds as to the wisdom of Phull's plans.

In fact, the bias of Barclay's nature was towards the proven and the practical.

He came of a Scottish family which long ago had settled in Livonia, and had won prosperity and esteem in the trade of Riga.

His ancestry and his early surroundings therefore disposed him to the careful weighing of evidence and distrust of vague theories.