Taurida and Caucasus. The example of the khan of the Krimea deterred not other princes from ac cepting the perfidious protection of Russia, whose presents dazzled their eyes.

While extending the dominions of his sovereign, Potemkin neglected not his personal interests. Estates and honours were lavished upon him. The surname of Tavritschesky * was conferred upon him by the empress, who, with the rank of grand-admiral of the Euxine, gave him the government of Taurida, and built for him the magnificent palace in Petersburg, which bears the name of Tavritschesky.

Count Nikita Ivanovitch Panin, and prince Gregory Orloff, died about this period; the one at Moscow, the other at Petersburg. Panin died of chagrin, a malady to which discarded ministers are liable. Orloff, though in possession of numberless benefits heaped on him by Catherine, and the husband of a young and beautiful wife, found the presence of the new favourites insupportable. He had passed in travelling the latter years of his life. In 1782 he lost his wife at Lausanne, and on her death sunk into deep melancholy. On his return to court, he presented to his friends a sad spectacle of insanity: at one moment he gave himself up to an extravagant gaiety; the next, bursting into reproaches against the empress, he struck horror into those who heard him, and filled Catherine with terror and grief. Having at length retired to Moscow, remorse revived with tenfold force: the bleeding shade of the murdered Peter incessantly haunted his imagination, and pursued him in every retreat: night and day, in his distracted fancy, it appeared to aim at him an avenging dart. Death at last relieved him-he expired in the agonies of frenzy and despair.

In the former periods of his favour he had received from the empress a medallion surrounded with brilliants, on which was her portrait, which he constantly wore. After his death, the miniature was presented to Catherine, who returned it to Alexy Orloff, the brother of the deceased, and the actual murderer of Peter III. An affecting: present *!

About 1780 it happened that, after presenting some gentiemen at court, the English minister and

* The sequel to the revolution of 1762 was performed in 1797, after the death of the empress, when Alexy Orloff resided at Moscow. The emperor Paul, on coming to the crown, caused the corpse of his father Peter III.

his countrymen were favoured by a conversation with the empress. Prince Baratinsky standing near her, she exclaimed in her lively manner*, Voilà un homme qui m'a rendu le plus grand service dans le moment le plus critique de ma vie. Every

interred in the church of St. Alexander Nefsky, to be taken up and brought to the palace, to receive there similar honours with that of the empress his wife. In the printed ceremonial, prince Baratinsky + and count Alexy Orloff were ordered to officiate as chief mourners. The ceremony of coronation having been omitted by Peter during his life, the imperial crown was placed on his coffin, as it lay beside that of his consort. Over both was a kind of true-love knot, with the following inscription in Russ: "Divided in life, united in death." The chief mourners took their station in presence of the assembled court; amidst sable hangings, lighted tapers, and all the solemnity of imperial woe. The strong nerves of Orloff endured the scene, unshaken: his companion, with a heart less inaccessible, fainted beneath his emotions, and could scarcely support his station, during the three hours ordained by the ceremonial, with the aid of volatile salts and other stimulative applications. Alexy, without requesting it, received afterwards permission to travel in foreign parts, while Baratinsky was spared the trouble of a future attendance at court.

+ The assistant of Alexy Orloff in the murder of Peter.

* Behold a man who rendered me the greatest service in one of the most critical moments of my life.'

:

one present heard this expression with astonishment, as the particulars of the revolution were one of those secrets which are known to all the world. Catherine immediately added, perhaps on recollection, that in stepping from her carriage her foot had twisted at the ancle, when Baratinsky catching her at the instant prevented her from falling upon her face to the ground.

This anecdote is thought by many to afford a presumption of the ignorance of the empress re specting the manner of her husband's death : otherwise, say they, it could scarcely be expected, from her acknowledged prudence, that she would have hazarded an expression thus equivocal.

The vicinity of the Caspian invites the Russians to trade with Persia; and by Persia a commerce with India can easily be prosecuted. They had accordingly long profited by these advantages. The fleet maintained in the Caspian by Catherine cruised along the Persian coasts, burning all the vessels and even floats of timber which they happened to meet. The commanders received orders to sow discord between the several khans, and to support the weak against the strong; a method found but too successful in Poland and in the Krimea. In 1782, the empress determined on executing the project formed by Peter I. against

Persia, of extending the Russian dominion on the western shores of the Caspian sea. The dissensions which laid waste those fertile regions appeared to favour her design, which unforeseen obstacles nevertheless opposed.

The trade carried on by the Russians in China, not less beneficial than that of the Caspian, had received a check by their arrogance and ill conduct. Catherine found means to appease the Chinese, and to revive the spirit of commerce: an archimandrite, with several young Russians, was at the same time sent to study the language of China. Maritime expeditions to Kamtschatka were also set on foot.

There was yet another country with which the empress was desirous of a commercial connection, when an incident occurred that favoured her purpose. Some shipwrecked Japanese, sixteen sailors and the master of the vessel, had saved themselves on the northern coasts of Russia, which approximated to Japan. The master was, in 1792, brought by professor Laxmann to Petersburg. Catherine received him graciously, and gave him instructors, who, while they taught him the Russian and Tartarian languages, learnt enough of the Japanese to enable them to form some commercial arrangements. If no great success has