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which daily increased, became at length but too visible to the court.

Elizabeth had, from the moment of naming her nephew to the succession, considered him as her rival: influenced probably by a narrow jealousy, she had removed him from the tuition of Brumner, a man of an enlightened mind, under whom his education had begun in Holstein, and consigned him to the charge of Thoglokoff, whose powers were contracted, and whose endowments were mean. From the few who, regretting the ignorance and neglect in which the duke was left, ventured to point out the impropriety of such a conduct, all remonstrance proved vain; the empress, governed by sordid motives, was either deaf to their instances, or repulsed their importunities with displeasure and harshness. Johanna, a woman of the bed-chamber, had the courage to enquire of her mistress, why the grand-duke was excluded from the deliberations of the council? If you will not permit him,' said she, to learn what is necessary for the affairs of government, what think you is to become of him and the empire ?? -Johanna,' replied Elizabeth, regarding her: with sternness, knowest thou the way to Sibe ria ?' It is thus that, by despotism, truth and. justice are silenced.

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Peter had, from the moment of his arrival, been beheld with distrust by the principal Russian families: among the most determined of his enemies was the chancellor Bestucheff, who, having formed the design of excluding him from the throne, occupied himself incessantly respecting the means by which it was to be effected. Without flattering himself with his complete disinheritance, he sought to banish him to the camps and armies, and to place Catherine at the head of affairs. Having matured his plan, and communicated it to those by whom it was likely to be approved, he conducted his intrigues with dili gence and address. The employments allotted to: his agents and partisans, to whom instructions, in disguised characters, were daily given, was to alienate the affections of the empress from her: successor with this view his faults, were aggravated, and his defects exaggerated, while vices and designs of which he was wholly guiltless were artfully imputed to him. The jealousy of: Elizabeth was, by this conduct, without difficulty› awakened, and her fears roused. Credulous and timid, she listened eagerly to the calumnies with which her ears were assailed, and imbibed the: poison so subtily administered. The enmity of the chancellor had its source in his fears; having

privately injured the grand-duke and his family, he dreaded the vengeance due to his offences.. The house of Austria was also supported by Bes-tucheff against the king of Prussia, to whom Peter was devoted with youthful enthusiasm. The associates of the duke, and those whom he regarded as his friends, were, by the artifices of the chancellor, converted into spies upon his conduct.. The conspirators, among whom were the young princess Dashkoff and Maria Simeonovna Tsho-glokoff, lady of honour and confidant of the em-press, met at the house of Cyril Razumoffsky, a man of mean birth, whom fortune had rapidly raised, and who cherished against Peter a personal· animosity.

Among other accusations brought forward against their victim was that of drunkenness, a habit he had not then acquired, and which he afterwards probably contracted as a temporary relief against the lassitude of indolence, or to drown reflection as the difficulties of his situation increased. To convince the empress of the truth of this imputation, was the task allotted to Maria Simeonovna, who affected to deplore to her royal. mistress the excesses into which her successor had fallen. Of the justice of this accusation, Elizabeth demanded of Maria a proof; 'Nothing

is easier,' replied the treacherous confidant; your majesty shall be satisfied by sensible evidence.' A few days after this conversation, Peter, being indisposed, received from this lady a consolatory visit: with great affectation of sympathy and concern, she requested permission of the duke to remain with him while he dined: her petition was readily granted, while Peter, good-humouredly, desired her to take a place at table. During the repast, Maria testified, with many sprightly sallies, her satisfaction at the honour she received, and her attachment to the duke, whom she failed not to ply with champagne, which she assured him was a sovereign remedy for all his complaints. Peter was, by her importunity, induced to drink to the health of the empress in repeated bumpers, till his head at length grew giddy. His companion, as the effects of the liquor became more apparent, perceiving the critical moment, ran to her mistress, whom she conducted to the scene thus artfully prepared. Elizabeth, ignorant of what had passed, beheld, with mingled indignation and grief, the condition of the duke, against whom she was previously but too much disposed to receive prejudices.

Emboldened by their success, the conspirators set no bounds to their calumnies, by which the

unfortunate prince was rendered odious to his aunt a prey to lassitude, the inactivity in which he languished, with the flexibility of his temper, gave but too many advantages to the perfidy of his enemies. Persuaded of his misconduct, the empress gradually withdrew from him her favour. Complaints sometimes escaped him, which were, with aggravation, uniformly reported to the em press. Elizabeth had, soon after his marriage, presented to him Oranienbaum, a palace in the country: thither he was accustomed to retire, and immure himself as a state prisoner rather than as heir to the crown. In this retreat, his employment was to perform with his people, habited in the German uniform, the Prussian exercise; and hither Elizabeth, not displeased with an occupation which preserved him from pursuits more obnoxious, sent to him soldiers, drafted from the regiments, with whom he delivered himself up to military amusements. To these men he added others, whom he selected for their skill in music, or theatrical exhibitions, of whom he formed a dramatic company; while the best pieces of the German theatre were chosen for their performance. But finding these exercises and entertainments insufficient to fill up the whole of his time, he relaxed into the habits contracted

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