Zuboff, the favourite, was, by this event, which hurled him at once from the pinnacle of power to his original obscurity, overwhelmed with an unfeigned sorrow. The young grand-dutchesses bewailed in their grandmother the source whence all their pleasures flowed. The ladies and courtiers who had enjoyed her private society, and experienced the captivation of her manners, paid a tribute of tears to her loss: the happy evenings of the hermitage, the freedom and pleasure which Catherine so well knew how to diffuse, were contrasted by them with the military constraint and formal etiquette which were likely to succeed. The domestics of the empress sincerely mourned a good and generous mistress, whose mild and equal temper, superior to petty caprices or sudden gusts of passion, whose noble and dignified character, had rendered their services equally easy and pleasant. Catherine, as the mother of her family and household, as the patroness of her court, and the benefactress of her friends, merited the tears that embalmed her memory. The changes that followed under the administration of her son made her still more regretted.

She still retained, though seventy years of age, the vestiges of beauty. She was of the middle stature, and, carrying her head high, appeared tall: her hair was auburn, her eyebrows dark, and her eyes blue: her countenance, though not deficient in expression, never betrayed what passed in her mind; a mistress of dissimulation, she knew how to command her features. She became corpulent as she advanced in years, yet her carriage was graceful and dignified. In private she inspired, by her conciliatory manners, confidence and good humour; youth, playfulness, and gaiety appeared to surround her. But in public, and on proper occasions, she knew how to assume the empress, to appear "the Semiramis of the North," and to awe by her frowns. She usually dressed in the Russian mode. She wore a green gown or vest,* with close sleeves reaching to the wrist: her hair lightly powdered, and flowing upon her shoulders, was crowned with a small cap covered with diamonds: in the latter periods of her life she put on a great quantity of rouge. In her habits and diet she was strictly

* Creen is the national colour of Russia.

temperate she took a light breakfast, ate a moderate dinner,

and had no supper.

The estimate of her character must be formed from her actions: her reign was perhaps for her people rather brilliant than happy. Within the circle of her influence, her government was moderate and benign; at a distance, terrible and despotic: under the protection of her favourites, justice, order, and law, were sometimes violated, and the most odious tyranny practised with impunity. Her situation in the empire, delicate, and often critical, restrained her judgment; it was by suffering her power to be abused that she was enabled to preserve it; she knew how to reward, but dared not always punish.

For her licentiousness as a woman no excuse can be offered; as a sovereign she must be allowed the title of great. If her love of glory too often assumed the features of a destructive ambition, the praise of an enlightened and magnanimous mind cannot be denied to her.

It has been well observed, that the splendor of her reign, the magnificence of her court, her institutions, her monuments, and her victories, were to Russia what the age of Louis XIV. had been to Europe: as an individual, the character of Catherine had a better title to great. The French formed the glory of Louis, Catherine that of the Russians: she reigned not like him over a polished people, nor had she his advantages. She had a nation to form, and her measures were her own: however deceived or seduced, she suffered not herself to be governed. Humane and generous, cheerful and amiable, she constituted the happiness of those who surrounded her. Her active and regular life, her firmness, courage and sobriety, were moral qualities of no mean value: corrupted by prosperity, and intoxicated with success, her crimes of a darker hue were those of her station rather than of her heart. The barbarous country over which she reigned, the grossness of its manners, and the difficulties with which she had to struggle, must not be forgotten in forming an estimate of her character. Whatever may have been her faults, and doubtless they were great, her genius, her talents, her courage, and her success, must ever entitle her to a high rank among those women whose qualities and attainments have thrown a lustre on their sex.

She aspired to the character of an author, to which by her celebrated Instructions for a Code of Laws, her dramatic pieces and proverbs, her tales and allegories for the improvement of her grand-children, she is justly entitled. Among the productions of her pen, her Letters to Voltaire are accounted the most interesting. She composed also for the imperial family a plan of education, compiled principally from the writings of Locke and Rousseau, which reflects infinite credit on her liberality and discernment.

There are few reigns more interesting than that of Catherine, more strictly biographical; few that involve more important principles, that afford a wider scope, or that more forcibly tend to awaken reflection. Let this be an apology for a diffuseness that may seem to form an exception to the limits allowed to individuals by the nature of the present work.

Life of Catherine II.-Secret Memoirs of the Court of St.
Petersburgh, &c. &c.

LADY ELIZABETH CAREW.

THIS lady, the author of a dramatic piece entitled "Mariam, the fair queen of Jewry" (4to, 1613), lived in the reign of James I. and is supposed by Oldys, in his MS. notes on Langbaine, to have been the wife of sir Henry Carew. The works of several of her contemporaries are dedicated to lady Carew.

SUSANNAH CENTLIVRE.

SUSANNAH, daughter of Mr. Freeman, a gentleman of Holbeach, in Lincolnshire, was born in 1667. Her father, a dissenter zealously attached to the parliament, was at the period of the restoration compelled to fly into Ireland, when his estate, which was considerable, was forfeited. Her mother was the daughter of Mr. Markham, a gentleman of fortune at Lynn Regis in Norfolk, who, in consequence of his political principles, was involved in the same calamity. It is uncertain whether Susannah was born previous or subsequent to the

flight of her family. She unhappily lost her father in the third year of her age, nor did her mother survive many years. Before she had completed her twelfth year, Susannah found herself an orphan.

At a very early period of life she discovered a propensity to poetry, and is said to have composed a song before she was seven years of age. Having been treated with unkindness and severity by those under whose care she had been placed, she determined to leave the country, and to seek in London a happier destiny. Some obscurity at this period involves her life, to which an air of romance is given. She attempted, it appears, to put in practice her perilous enterprise alone and on foot, the consequences of which were such as might have been expected and forseen. On the road she met with Anthony Hammond, esq. (father of the celebrated author of the elegies), then a member of the university of Cambridge. Struck with her youth and beauty, this gentleman offered to her his protection. Induced by her forlorn circumstances and inexperience in life to accede to his proposal, she accompanied him to Cambridge, her sex disguised by the habit of a boy, and was introduced by her protector to his college acquaintance, as a relation desirous of spending with him some time in the university.

She remained with her seducer for some months, till, either wearied with his conquest or apprehensive of a discovery of the sex of his companion, he prevailed on her to go to London, for which purpose he provided her with a considerable sum of money, and a recommendatory letter to a lady of his acquaintance. On their parting, he gave her an assurance of speedily meeting her in town and renewing their intercourse.

This promise he however neglected to perform, yet, notwithstanding the disadvantages of her introduction into life, she married, in her sixteenth year, a nephew of sir Stephen Fox. This gentleman died within two years after their union. Soon after his decease, the youth and charms of his widow attracted a new lover, an officer of the name of Carrol, with whom she formed a second matrimonial engagement, and who was killed in a duel about a year and a half after their marriage.

To this gentleman she seems to have been tenderly attached, his death for a time overwhelmed her with affliction.

During her second widowhood, she was, by the narrowness of her circumstances, induced to become a candidate for dramatic fame. Her earlier pieces were published under the name of Carrol. Her first tragedy, "The Perjured Husband," was performed a Drury-lane, in 1700, and published in 4to the same year. In 1703 she produced "The Beau's Duel, or a Soldier for the Ladies," a comedy. Also "Love's Contrivances," principally translated from Moliere. The succeeding year she brought out "The Stolen Heiress, or the Salamanca Doctor outwitted," a comedy. In 1705, her comedy of "The Gamester," was acted at the theatre in Lincoln's-inn-fields, with great success. This piece has been since revived at Drury-lane. The plot was in a great measure taken from Le Dissipateur, a French comedy. The prologue was written by Mr. Rowe.

Not satisfied with her fame as a dramatic writer, she be came ambitious of making a figure on the boards. In this department, it is probable, she proved less successful, as it does not appear that she ever exhibited at the theatres in the metropolis. In 1706 she performed at Windsor, where the court then resided, the part of Alexander the Great, in Lee's “Rival Queens." She captivated in this character the heart of Mr. Joseph Centlivre (principal cook to queen Anne), to whom she soon after gave her hand, and with whom she passed the remainder of her life in tranquillity.

She produced the same year the comedies of "The Basset Table," and "Love at a Venture." The latter was represented by the servants of the duke of Grafton, at the new theatre at Bath. Her most celebrated performance, "The Busy Body,' was acted at Drury-lane in 1708. This play, afterwards so popular, was refused by the managers, nor were they prevailed upon to let it appear till towards the close of the season. Mr. Wilkes, even then, threw down at the rehearsal the part of Sir George Airy with contempt on the stage, while he declared that no audience would endure such stuff.' Notwithstanding these prognostics, the piece was received by the public with unbounded applause, and is still occasionally performed..