by her hand, the mass of knowledge, which had been confined to Petersburgh and kept for ostentation rather than for use, distributed in a thousand channels, pervaded the whole empire, fructifying the soil through which it flowed. According to an imperfect survey, in thirty-one places of education 6800 children of both sexes were trained up at the expense of government. The sums appropriated to this purpose are said to amount to 754,335 rubles per annum. But to return to the affairs of the court.

Orloff, who had, without being recalled, come back to Petersburgh, became habituated to the pre-eminence of Potemkin, who occupied the place nearest the throne. Proud of his inAuence and insatiable of power, the latter left to Zavadoffsky the quiet possession of the affections of Catherine. For a-year and a half this subaltern favourite appeared content with his fortune; but ambition at length divided his heart. Fired by the example of Potemkin, like him he aspired to pass from the cabinet of the empress to the post of first minister. But for this. purpose it was necessary not merely to possess the talents, but to supplant the object of his envy, a project in which he engaged with greater ardor than skill. He began his operations by an attempt to render the despotism of his rival odious to to the sovereign, in which design he obtained the concurrence of envious courtiers, discontented officers, and artful women. Potemkin, informed of these intrigues, and conscious of his superior powers, resolved to crush at a blow a competitor whom he despised. An opportunity for effecting this design. soon presented itself.

Zoritch, a young Servian, an officer of the hussars, possessed the qualities calculated to attract the notice of the empress: Potemkin gave him a captain's commission, and threw him in her way; the scheme failed not to prove successful with the voluptuous and inconstant Catherine: Zavadoffsky, who, like Phaeton, owed to his ambition his fall, was presently dismissed, and Zoritch promoted to his place. Zavadoffsky, however, departed not without the usual marks of the bounty of his mistress. The new favourite, uneducated and inexperienced, could give no umbrage to the haughty minister; content with his advantages in the favour of Catherine, he used his influence but in the service of his benefactor. It was with

Potemkin only that the empress balanced the concerns of Europe.

An account of the relation between Russia and Denmark, the arrogant conduct of the Russian ministers at Copenhagen, the pretensions of Catherine, and the politic conduct of Bernstoff, the Danish minister, by which they were defeated, would extend this article to an unreasonable length, and perhaps be foreign to the present purpose.

The revolution which took place about this period (1776) in Sweden, and which diminished the influence of Petersburgh, gave great umbrage to Catherine. Her agents were ordered to restore the government overturned by Gustavus, but their ef forts to this purpose proved ineffectual. Some explanations having terminated with harshness, Russia fitted out at Cronstadt a fleet of galleys, which excited at Stockholm great alarm. Gustavus demanded in vain the cause of these preparations; no satisfactory answer was to be obtained: disquieted by appearances so hostile, he determined personally to confer with the empress respecting the measures she meant to adopt.

On the 16th of June, 1777, the king of Sweden arrived at Petersburgh, under the title of count of Gothland, accompanied by several of his courtiers. The Swedish minister only had been apprised of his intention: Gustavus alighted at his hotel, and presently afterwards visited count Panin. Towards evening, he proceed to Tzar-sko-selo, where he had an interview with the empress: expressions equally cordial and equally sineere were, on this occasion, lavished on both sides. Catherine, to impress the Swedish monarch with her magnificence, entertained him sumptuously, while with her usual penetration, she studied his character, of which presumption appeared to her the prominent feature.

By qualities more brilliant than solid, by his popular manners, and by the pleasures which he provided for his people, he had conciliated their affections. A reputation resting on a ba sis thus precarious, a moment's imprudence might overthrow; the purposes of Catherine were to accelerate that moment, by prompting him to embark in some hazardous enterprise.

With this view, she talked to him of the impediments experienced by sovereigns in their attempts to advance the civi lization of their subjects; the difficulty with which changes

were effected, even in things apparently insignificant and unimportant; while mankind, the slaves of habit, obstinate in error, and averse to change, behold with distrust every innovátion. She illustrated these observations, just in themselves, by the example of Peter the Great, and the resistance opposed to him by the Russians, when he wanted them to part with their beards. These artful insinuations roused, as was foreseen, the vanity of the Swedish monarch, who contended warmly that such failures originated with the sovereign rather than with the people; that men sacrificed willingly their habits to their fortunes; and that the king who made himself beloved would triumph without difficulty over obstacles like these. To this he added, that, on all occasions, there was a fitness of times and seasons, which must be skilfully chosen; and also a manner of executing a design that required qualities to which Peter the Great was a stranger. Catherine, in reply, supported her arguments with additional proofs, till the pride of Gustavus was irritated to prove by facts the verity of his assertions. The challenge being provoked and given, the monarch undertook to induce the Swedes to adopt a new mode of dress.

After his return to Stockholm, Gustavus, in consequence of this debate, introduced the theatrical dress still worn by the Swedish court. Without enforcing this change as a law, he contented himself with directing the governors of the provinces to recommend it as a fashion by gentleness and persuasion. He pretended that this fantastic habit of his own invention was similar to that worn by the ancient Swedes: he proposed it only to the courtiers, the military, and the superior classes of the people; the lower ranks, with a view of piquing their pride, were not even invited to adopt it; nevertheless, they insensibly and gradually advanced towards the reigning mode. The visit of Gustavus to Petersburgh had not augmented his esteem for the empress, while her desire of humbling a young and turbulent rival became strengthened and confirmed. The Swedish monarch had, notwithstanding this mutual distrust, received on his departure fresh tokens of the magnificent spirit of Catherine.

In the autumn of 1777, Petersburgh was visited with a dreadful calamity: an inundation, to which the city was at times liable, produced the most terrible and destructive effects.

Some new disputes and hostilities which had arisen between Russia and the Porte, were (in 1778) terminated by the interposition of the French ambassador at Constantinople, through whose mediation a treaty was signed in the ensuing spring. The zeal of the French minister on this occasion originated in the desire of the court of Versailles to deprive England of the support of Russia; an attempt that proved in some measure successful. The alliance between the courts of London and Petersburgh, if not broken, was greatly weakened: the French assured themselves, that a power indebted to them for its peace, would not lightly take up arms against them. Catherine testified her satisfaction with the treaty, which favoured her ambition, and extensive commercial projects, by magnificent presents to her own minister at Constantinople, and to that of France. The grand-seignior, the favourite sultana, and the principal members of the divan, experienced on the same occasion proofs of the munificence of the empress. Proud of her victories, and elate with her advantages, jealousy of the superiority claimed by the British flag had contributed to detach the czarina from Great Britain, whose trade she was never-、 theless anxious to retain ; but, while refusing assistance to the English she was lavish to them of civilities, inviting them, on the loss of their colonies, to fetch from her ports the commodities they could no longer obtain from America: she saw, with pleasure, from year to year, their vessels become more numerous in the port of Archangel. The American ships received from her the same encouragement, while, in despite of the British minister, she granted to them the free navigation of the Baltic. A treaty had also, a few years before, been concluded with Versailles, which admitted the establishment of a French factory at Archangel.

The anniversary of the accession of the empress to the throne, and the birth-day of the grand-duke, were this year (July the 9th, 1779) celebrated with extraordinary splendor. The several festivals of the orders of chivalry were not less distinguished by pomp and magnificence. Catherine consented to discharge the functions of sovereign of the order of the Bath, by conferring its badges on Sir James Harris,* to whom

Lord Malmesbury.

they had been sent by the British monarch. Having struck him on the shoulder with a sword richly set with diamonds, and, in conformity to the statutes of the order, exhorted him in the name of God, to be a good and loyal knight,' she presented to him the sword, with the following address: To testify my satisfaction with you, I present to you the sword with which I have stamped you with the order of knighthood.' A few days previous to this ceremony, a grand entertainment was given to commemorate the conflagration of the Turkish fleet, with a superb masquerade and supper in the summer gardens.

The riches and splendor of the court of Petersburgh, during the reign of Catherine, combined with the profusion of Asiatic pomp the refinements and taste of European luxury. On court days, and more peculiarly on festivals, the company which surrounded the empress were resplendent with jewels; men and women appeared to vie with each other in the sumptuousness of their ornaments, and the prodigality of their riches: the people of fashion were covered with diamonds, with a profusion unexampled in the courts of Europe. This passion for precious stones descended even to private indi viduals: the wife of a Russian burgher would sometimes ruin her husband for a girdle of pearls or a head-dress of jewels.

On days of ceremony the empress dined in public, on which occasion she usually wore a diamond crown of immense value; the ribands of St. Andrew and of St. George, both over one shoulder, with the collars of St. Alexander Nefsky, St. Catherine, and St. Vladimir; also two stars on her breast, the one above the other, as grand master of the two first-mentioned orders. The courtiers, who follow the example of their sovereign, emulated this brilliant exhibition. There are five orders of chivalry in Russia: St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St. Alexander Nefsky, and St. Vladimir; to those may be added, the order of St. Anne of Holstein, conferred only by the grandduke, as duke of Holstein. The order of St. Catherine was instituted in 1714, in memory of the assistance received by : Peter the Great from his consort in the camp at Pruth. This order is appropriated to the ladies, who wear, as its badges, a d narrow red riband, edged with silver, to which the figure of tinhe saint, set with diamonds, is suspended; on the left breast