C A T FT 
moft dreaded, received additional marks of her favour. 
Jo the mean time, to gain the affections of the people at 
large, file paid the utmoff attention to the adminifti ation 
ol juflice; formed magnificent eftablifliments for the edu¬ 
cation of the youth of both fexes ; founded hofpttals tor 
orpitans, for the tick, and for lying-in women ; invited 
foieigners of all nations, pofTeffied of any merit, to fettle in 
diffeient parts of her vaft territories ; increafed the naval 
force of the empire ; and gave Inch encouragement to the 
Cultivation of every elegant and ufefill art, that is the fliort 
i'pace of a year and a half from her acctfilon to the throne, 
tiie national improvement of Ruflia vvas- vilible. In the 
midft of all this, however, her want of title to the throne 
was now feen by all ranks of her fubjects; the good qua¬ 
lities of Peter III. were remembered, and his failings and 
faults forgotten. His fate was univerfally lamented ; and, 
except the confpirators, who may be faid to have embmed 
their hands in his blood, there was hardly a Ruffian who 
did not regret that the fovereignty had paffed from the an¬ 
cient family of czars to a foreigner, allied only by mar¬ 
riage to the blood royal. Even the confpirators tliem- 
felves had loft much of their regard for Catharine. Count 
Panin felt himfelf uneafy under the predominant influence 
of the favourite, and tried in vain to divert Catharine’s 
affeCtions to a new objeCt. She’ received a few fecret vifits 
from a handl'ome young man, and then appointed him to a 
lucrative and honourable employment in Come difta+ir pro¬ 
vince of the empire; when Orlotf recovered his former 
afcendency, which through his own careleifiiefs he had 
nearly loft. In this Rate of the public mind, confpiracies 
were very frequent; and, as the general objeCt of them 
was to place on the throne prince Ivan, who was languifh- 
ing in a dungeon, the emprefs had given to Isis guard an 
order, figned by her own hand, to put that unfortunate 
prince to death, fhould any attempt be made to liberate 
him from prifon. An attempt was made by a very infe¬ 
rior officer, as fome have fuppofed, by the inftruClions of 
Catharine, and her bloody order vvas inftantly obeyed. 
The affallins were rewarded, and promoted in the army ; 
but the officer, who attempted to refcue the prince, vvas 
condemned to death, and fullered iiiidefervedly the fen- 
tence of the law. The brothers and lifters of Ivan, who 
had been kept in a prifon different from his, were lent to 
Denmark ; and, to provide them with necelfaries fuitable 
to their rank, the emprefs made them a prefeni of 200,oco 
rubles, and paid annually to the maintenance of tluir dig¬ 
nity a penfion of thirty thoufand. 
The throne of Catharine was naw eftablifhed by the 
death or renunciation of every perfon who was defcended 
of the Imperial family ; and (he had leifure to turn her 
thoughts to the aggrandifement of the empire. But it is 
not by her wars, nor by the atrocities of her private cha- 
raCler, that her life is emitled to a place in a general re- 
pofitory of arts, fciences, and literature ; it js as being the 
patronefs of the arts, and of fcience, arrd as the legiflatrix 
of a vaft empire, who employed all her talents' and all her 
power for the civilization of a great part yf the human 
race, that the faithful biographer is bound to record and 
to appreciate her merit. She certainly .introduced into t he 
adminiftration of juftice, the greateft reformation of which 
the half-civilized ftate of Ruftia would perhaps admit. 
She fpared neither trouble nor expence'to diffnfe over ihe 
empire the lights of fcience,and the benefits of ufeful and 
elegant arts ; and (lie protected, as far as (he could, the 
poor from the oppreflions of the rich. About the middle 
of 1767, fhe conceived the idea of fending a company of 
learned men to travel through the interior of her vaft do¬ 
minions, to determine the geographical pofition of the 
principal places, to mark their temperature, and to exa¬ 
mine into the nature of their foil, their vegetable and mi¬ 
neral productions, and the manners of the people by whom 
they were inhabited. To this employment rtie appointed 
Pallas, Gindin, Euler, and many others of the higheft 
eminence in the republic of letters ; from whofe journals 
of thefe hiterefting travels, large additions have been 
Vcl. III. No. 171. 
* 
A R I N S. gag 
made to the general ftock of ufeful knowledge. This fnr- 
vey of the empire, and the maps made from it, had Ca¬ 
tharine done nothing elfe, would alone have been fufficient 
to render her name immortal. Well convinced in her own 
mind, that it is not fb much by the power of arms, as by 
precedence in fcience, that nations obtain a confpicuotts 
place in 1 lie annals of the world, with a laudable zeal (he 
encouraged artifts and fcholars of all denominations. She 
granted new privileges to the two academies of IcieiiCes 
and (hearts; encouraged Inch of the youth as had be¬ 
haved well in thefe national inftitutes, to travel for far¬ 
ther improvement over Europe, by bellowing upon them, 
for three years, large penflons to defray their expences; 
and, to remove as much as pollible the Ruffian prejudice 
againft all kinds-of learning, ihe granted patents of nobi¬ 
lity to thofe who, during their education, had conducted 
themfclves with propriety, and become proficients in any 
branch of ufeful or elegant knowledge. Still farther to 
encourage the fine arts in her dominions, fhe alligned an 
annual fum of 5000 rubles for the tranflation of foreign 
literary works into the Ruffian language. She founded in 
St. Peterfburgh alone thirty-one ieminaries, where 6800 
children of both fexes were conftantly educated, at the 
expence of 754,33; rubles annually to the government. 
She fuperintended herfelf the education of her grand-chil¬ 
dren, and wrote for them books of inftruclion. With 
what veneration, then, fhould we look upon the memory 
of the emprefs of Rnilia, could we forget the means by 
which fhe obtained the Imperial dignity, could wipe away 
the lafeivious (lain which foiled her moral character, and 
eraze from public record that luft of power and aggran- 
difement, which trampled on the laws of nations and the 
rights of humanity ! 
Her greateft weaknefs was that grofs paffion which her 
panegyrifts have dignified with the name of love; but to 
fitch an appellation it had no claim, if love be any tiling 
more than a carnal appetite. One mod remarkable parti¬ 
cular in her tafte for voluptuoufnefs, is, that (lie employ¬ 
ed this very propenfity to forward the fuccefs of her 
fchemes of greatnefs ; and, that when the had attained the 
objedt of her endeavours, that fame propenfity, which 
fometimes caufed her much uneafmefs, never degraded 
her either in the opinion of her fubjeds, or of the nations 
of Europe. Another lingularity was, that, though warm 
in her attachments, and having experienced in her affec¬ 
tions not only all the pleafurcs, but a part at leaft alfo of 
the pains, of love, fhe had foexadllv methodized that por¬ 
tion of her exiftence, that the office of her favourite was 
become a (011 of eminent poll, or appendage of her court. 
There was a pecidiar etiquette, with certain diftindtions 
and duties, belonging to this poll, The reader will pro¬ 
bably not be difpleafed at being made acquainted with 
them. When the emprefs had made choice of a new fa¬ 
vourite, (lie created him aid-de-camp-general, that he 
might accompany her every where without olfence to pro¬ 
priety. Thenceforwards, the favourite occupied an apart¬ 
ment in the palace, fituated under that of the emprefs, 
and with which it communicated by apiivate flair-cafe. 
On the firft day of his inftallation, he received a prefent 
of 100,000 rubles, and every month he found 12,000 on 
his toilette. The marffial of the court had the care of 
providing him a table of twenty-four covers, and of de¬ 
fraying all the expences of h : s houfe. The favourite was 
obliged to accompany the emprefs every where; he could 
not ftir out of the palace without afking her cuiifcnt ; he 
d d not dare to talk with any woman belides her; and, if 
he went to dine with 011c of his friends, the miltrefs of the 
houfe niLift take cate to be ablent. Whenever her ma- 
jefty fixed her eyes on one of her lubjefls in order to raife 
him to the poll of favourite, fhe caufed him to be invited 
by fome one of her confidants, on whom (lie dropped in, 
as if by chance. There fhe chatted with the new-comer, 
and endeavoured to find out whether or not lie was wor¬ 
thy of the favour for which the defigned him. If tiie 
judgment fhe formed was favourable, a look was fufficient 
10 Y inftiudion 
