humour; while the father, an abject and ambitious courtier, connived at the dishonour of his daughter.

The health of the empress was evidently declining; her infirmities, added to her natural indolence, rendered her more than ever negligent of the affairs of government; the remnant of her strength and spirits was wasted in dissipation. The idle tales of the irregularities of her nephew were, in this situation, listened to by Elizabeth with eager credulity: she seemed to seek in these accounts some palliation of her ⚫own excesses; while she treated the duke with indifference and coldness. Catherine, conceiving this to be a favourable opportunity for conciliating the empress, threw herself at her feet, and implored forgiveness. As a condition of accommodation, proposals the most humiliating were made to her, by which a confession of guilt was exacted of her, and submission to the clemency of her husband and his aunt. Pride forbidding her acquiescence in these demands, she withdrew herself from court, and kept close in her apartment, whence, aware of the refusal of her request, she demanded permission to retire to Germany. The tenderness of Elizabeth for the young Paul Petrovitch would not suffer her to consent to the departure of his mother; of which a declaration of the illegitimacy of her child appeared a probable consequence.

This stratagem, proving successful, was soon followed by an accommodation. At the instant when Catherine, in the apprehension of the court, stood on the precipice of disgrace and ruin, she appeared suddenly at the theatre by the side of the empress, whose attentions drew on her the notice of the spectators. The duchess had, in a private conference, promised to resign her lover, and thenceforward to conduct herself with greater reserve. But Poniatoffsky, who almost immediately demanded his audience of leave, still found pretences for lingering in Petersburgh.

The cabal of Bestucheff had not been broken by his disgrace; the enemies of Peter continued to prejudice him in the favour of his aunt, whose various infirmities afforded them opportunities of insinuating the impatience of the heir. Cruelly wounded by this idea, Elizabeth suffered menaces to escape her respecting the succession. By some it was supposed, that she meditated to restore to his inheritance prince Ivan, dethroned by her twenty years before, and still languishing away life in a dungeon: by others it was believed, with greater probability, that it was her intention to

supplant the duke by his infant son. A few days afterwards*, Peter being at Oranienbaum, a new play was ordered by the empress, to which, contrary to the usual custom, neither the foreign ministers nor the courtiers were invited. The grand-duchess, her son, and the favourites of Elizabeth, were her only attendants. No sooner had the empress entered her box, than, complaining of the thinness of the house, she ordered the soldiers of her guard to be admitted. In a moment the theatre was full. Taking in her arms the infant Paul Petrovitch, Elizabeth presented him to these veterans, to whom she had been indebted for the imperial dignity, with lavish praises; while she fondly pointed out to the audience his engaging smiles, his striking aspect, with the virtues and qualities which his physiognomy seemed to indicate. To this address, which appeared to implore of the soldiers support and attachment for the child, they replied with shouts of reiterated applause. A step farther, and Peter had been excluded from the throne for ever: but the empress stopped short, seated herself, and the piece proceeded. This measure was probably intended by Elizabeth either to prepare the way for more solemn and decisive proceedings, or to intimidate the duke, by shewing him the extent of her power. This transaction gave rise to various reflections, but the purposes of the empress, of whatever nature, were by death rendered ineffectual.

A short time after the scene at the theatre, her maladies sensibly increased: the intoxicating portions to which, in the hope of alleviating her sufferings, she had continually recourse, served but to hasten the catastrophe: it was visible to every one that her end rapidly approached. The interested and ambitious, in expectation of this event, concentrated their strength by forming themselves into bands, which at length divided into two great parties. The first consisted of the friends of Bestucheff, who adhered to Catherine, of which count Ivan Ivanovitch Schuvaloff was considered as chief. Schuvaloff, whose rapacity had rendered him obnoxious to the Russian merchants, and whose insolence had disgusted the grand-duke, dreaded his vengeance, and eagerly embraced the cause of his opponents. It was proposed by this faction, in adherence to the plan chalked out by Bestucheff, that Peter * should be elected sovereign, while the regency was to be invested in the grandduchess, under the authority of a council, in which Schuvaloff modestly intended to preside. Though secretly irritated by his presumption, Catherine, prompted by fear and ambition, seconded the plan: carefully concealing her thirst of power, she veiled her purposes under an affected indifference. To her confidents she repeated perpetually, that the title of mother of the emperor would always be preferred by her to that of his consort; neither did she conceal her dread of the resentment of a husband, to whom her infidelities were but too apparent.

The party by whom the rights of the grand duke were defended, was headed by Vorontzoff, an aspiring but sordid courtier, whose daughter was the avowed mistress of Peter. His access to the duke afforded him opportunities of insinuation against the duchess, whose errors and faults he failed not to aggravate. Having gained the confidence of his master, it was not difficult for Vorontzoff to direct his actions. The moment the eyes of the empress were closed, it was determined that Peter should assemble the troops, cause himself to be proclaimed, repudiate the duchess, declare her son to be illegitimate, and publicly espouse the daughter of Vorontzoff. To the success of this enterprise every thing appeared to concur; the grand-duke, however obnoxious