ALEXANDER MENZIKOF. 
371 
irt the service of the czar Alexis Michaelowitz, and that, as it was not 
extraordinary for gentlemen to serve in the stables of the czar, Men- 
zikoff was there employed as one of the head -grooms, and that in 
this situation his talents were noticed by the czar, and his advance- 
ment begun. 
Whatever may in this respect be true, it is certain, that when he had 
begun to attend the emperor, he soon made himself agreeable, and 
finally necessary, to that prince, whose projects he seconded with 
great address ; and, having studied several languages, was able to be 
useful in various situations. Being appointed to the government of 
Ingria, his services in that situation obtained him the title of prince, 
with the rank of major-general ni the army. He signalized himself 
in 1708 and 1709; but in 1713 he was accused of peculation, and con- 
demned to pay a fine of three hundred thousand crowns. The czar, how- 
ever, remitted the fine, and having received him again into his favour, 
sent him with a command into the Ukraine in 1719, and ambassador 
to Poland in 1722. When the czar died in 1725, Menzikoff had 
already contrived the means of continuing and increasing his power; 
He was aware of the designs of Peter to give his throne to the empress 
Catherine, and therefore, to secure her gratitude, Menzikoff prepared 
all parties to acquiese in this arrangement. Catherine was not insen- 
sible of her obligations to him, and agreed that her son, afterwards 
Peter II. shoidd marry the daughter of Menzikoff, which she made 
an article in her will. At her death in 1727, the prince being then 
under twelve years of age, Menzikoff was also one of the regency 
appointed by her will, and the most active member in it. 
Soon after the accession of Peter H. that prince was affianced 
publicly to the daughter of Menzikoff, w ho then thought himself almost 
at the summit of happiness and elevation ; he was made generalis- 
simo by sea and land, duke of Cozel, and had the chief appointment in 
the household of the czar. Intoxicated at length with this extraor- 
dinary elevation, he behaved with haughtiness towards the young czar, 
and with an imprudent ostentation in himself, which gave his enemies, 
particularly the princess Dolgomchi, the means of supplanting him in 
the affections of the prince, and compassing his final overthrow. His 
disgraces now followed fast upon each other. 
The emperor removed from the palace of Menzikoff, whither he had 
hitherto resided, and he was ordered to quit Petersburgh, and pass the 
remainder of his days at Oranienburgh, a petty town on the borders of 
the Ukraine, which he had built and partly fortified. On his depar- 
ture, he added to his other imprudences, that of setting out in great 
pomp ; but on his journey he was overtaken by an order to seal up 
all his effects, and leave him nothing but necessaries. Many com- 
plaints being now preferred against him, he was condemned to live alto- 
gether, for the rest of his life, at Beresowa, situated on the most dis- 
tant frontiers of Siberia. His wife, grov/n blind with w'eeping, died 
upon the jonrney. His three children fell sick of the small-pox, and 
one of them, a daughter, died of it. Menzikoff bore his misfortunes with 
more firmness than might have been expected. He even recovered 
his health for a time, which had been injured by a grossness of habit, 
and, being allowed ten roubles a day, he not only found them suffi#’ 
