his good-nature, his kind attentions, will never be effaced from my remembrance.' ' And you know not the name of this worthy man?" eagerly asked the czar. 'Oh, yes! I remember him well, Korff was the name he bore.'

This very man, master of the Petersburg police, was among those by whom the emperor was attended. He melted into tears at this simple testimony to his worth; while the czar, taking him by the arm, said in a broken voice, You see, baron, a good action is never lost. To recover from this emotion, Peter went out with Korff and two of his officers, leaving the third with the prisoner. How came you hither, prince?" said this gentleman, addressing Ivan. 'Who can be secure against robbers?" replied the prince. An order, from whom we know not, is brought to the prison where I reside with my parents. The ruffians fall upon my family, bear me from the only persons in the world whom I knew, in whom I confided, and to whom I was dear. Alas! how piercing were my cries, how bitter my regrets! How do my family, if they yet survive, lament the fate of their son and brother!'' What think you, asked the officer, 'will be the fate of our new emperor?" 'To judge from my idea of the Russian character, not more happy than my

own.

That foreign princes would be hated and dethroned by the treacherous and haughty Russ, was among the first lessons impressed by my parents upon my mind.'

The czar and his companions now re-entered, accompanied by the commandant, whom, in the presence of Ivan, Peter thus addressed: From this moment I order you to give to the prince all the satisfactions he shall require, and that he shall be allowed to walk, and to amuse himself within the precincts of the fortress. Written orders, containing farther particulars, shall be sent to you, by which your conduct is henceforth to be regulated, in what respects his sacred person.'

On coming out of the chamber, the emperor went over the fortress, and gave directions for the constructing an edifice in which to lodge the prisoner. 'Let it run,' said he, 'in a straight line, from wall to wall of this angle of the fort: let nine rooms be formed in front, and let the remaining space, to the extremity of the angle, be occupied by a garden, in which he may recreate himself, and find in the open air some alleviation to the severity of his confinement. When the building is completed, I will myself come and give him possession.'

These orders might possibly be given by the

czar to deceive the commandant respecting his real purpose; or a different object might occupy his thoughts: this edifice, in the opinion of many, was designed for Catherine. Peter paid one more more visit to the prince before he quitted Schlusselburg, whence he returned to Petersburg. No one suspected the extraordinary enterprise in which he was engaged, nor the interview so recently past. The prince of Holstein, when informed by his nephew of his visit to Schlusselburg, counselled him to send Ivan, together with his family, into Germany. To avoid suspicions of his intentions, the czar affected to approve this advice; but, for the present, contented himself with removing the prince to Kexholm, a fortress built on a small island, in the Ladoga lake, and nearer to the capital.

The unfortunate Ivan, on his passage to this place, nearly escaped being wrecked, by one of those summer storms, that, suddenly rising, dangerously agitate the lake.

The hopes of Catherine received daily accession from the imprudence of her husband, whose designs against her, though known but in part, emboldened her to dare every thing for their prevention. Dismissed to Peterhoft, she passed her days in one of its most retired apartments, where she meditated the dethronement of Peter: her evenings were devoted to the company of an adherent, converted by her favour into an intrepid conspirator.

The power of the czars, like all despotisms, is weakly founded: resting on the opinions and preJudices of the governed, it requires to poise it a steady hand: change of manners, and a broken succession, had rendered revolutions in Russia not more difficult than sudden. The foreign nativity of Peter enhanced his danger, which his attention to foreign interests, to the prejudice of the empire, contributed to augment.

Catherine had the address, since the removal of Poniatofsky, to preserve in the eyes of the courtiers an apparent fidelity to the memory of his attachment: the new predeliction with which she consoled herself was concealed from the knowledge of her most intimate friends. M. de Breteuil, in the persuasion of her constancy, degraded his dignity as embassador, by charging himself with her correspondence with the Pole: even princess Dashkoff, while plotting with Orloff, was ignorant of his interviews with the empress; one of the most ingenious of whose women, and the least scrupulous, contrived to manage the connection. Gregory Orloff, less indebted to birth and

education than to nature and fortune, was distinguished for courage and manly beauty. For these advantages he had been selected from a post in the artillery, while his brothers remained soldiers in the guards, as aide-de-camp to count Peter Schuvaloff, grand-master of the artillery, a vain and pompous man. The handsome and gallant aide-de-camp was favoured by one of the finest women of the court, the princess Kourakin, whose husband took umbrage at the condescension of the lady: the presuming Orloff was, in consequence, banished from the presence of his mistress, and threatened with a journey to Siberia. This adventure becoming notorious, reached the retreat of Catherine, whose curiosity was excited to see the hero, whom, though at first unknown to him, she found means to console for his loss. This mysterious interview was succeeded by several others, which led to the development of more important purposes. Orloff was, by his imperial mistress, initiated into the particulars of the conspiracy formed against the czar, of which he became an active and zealous member. By his means, his brothers, several officers, and some companies of the guards, were, without understanding the extent of the project, won over to give it their support. The licentiousness of Ca