b o o k o n l y four; namely, Marilial Romanzof, for his vi&oriesover
-— the Tarks ; Count Alexey Orlof, for burning the Turkiih
, fleet at Tchefmer; Count Panin, for the taking of Bender;
and Prince Dolgorucki, for his conquefts in the Crimea.
The fecond clafs compriied only eight knights : the third
4 8 ; and the fourth 2 37.
No perfon can obtain tlris order without having performed
fome gallant exploit, or having ferved with eredit in the
rank of officer 25 years by land, or 18 by fea *.
There is alfo the order of St. Catharine, appropriated to
the ladies ; it was ¡inftituted in 1 7 1 4 by Peter, in honour of
his wife Catharine. Tire motto of “ Love and fidelity” was
intended to commemorate the difplay of ‘thofe. virtues in her
behaviour on the banks of the Pruth.
This orderis extremely honourable, as, befide the em-
prefs, the great-dutchefs, and a few foreign princefles, only
'five Ruffian ladies were decorated with it.
The order of St. Andrew is the firft and mbit honourable
of thefe, which,,.befide the fovereign princes and foreigners,
eomprifed, in 1778, 26 Ruffians; that of St. Alexander
Nevfki 109.; and that of St. Anne 208. The emprefs
may alfo be faid to have the difpofa-1 of the Poliih orders of
-the White Eagle and of St. Staniflaus.
Since our departure fromRuffia her majefty inftituted, on
the 4thofO<flober, 1782, anew order, called St. Volodimir,
in favour of thofe who ferve in civil employments ; and it
is nearly on the fame footing as that of St. George with
refpedt to the falaries annexed to the different clafles. There
are to be ten great crofles, twenty o f the fecond clafs, thirty
of the third, and fixty of the fourth, befide a fifth for thole
who have ferved 35 years, whichgives them a right to wearit,
* SeeOJkafe ueber die Siilrang des St. Georg’s-Ordens, in Schmidts B t jt r ig e .
7 Two
Two or three times in the winter there are mafquerades c h a p .
at court, to which perfons of all ranks are admitted. At one ■ ^ ■
of thefe entertainments which we attended, about eight
thoufand tickets were diftributed ; and from the great con-
courfe I fhould fuppofe that number to have been actually
prefent. A magnificent fuite of twenty apartments were
opened on this, occafion, all handfomely illuminated. One
of thefe apartments, a large oblong room, the fame in which
the common balls at court are held, had a fpace in the middle
enclofed with a low railing, appropriated to the nobility
who danced. A moft elegant faloon of an oval form, called
the great-hall of Apollo, nearly as big as the rotunda atRane-
lagh, but without any fupport in the middle, was allotted for
the dances of the burghers, and other perfons, who had not
been prefented at court. The remaining rooms, in which
tea and other refreihments were ferved, were filled with
card-tables, and crouded with perfons continually pafling and
re-palling. All the company had on their malks, or took
them off at their pleafure. The nobles in general wore
dominos ; the natives of inferior rank appeared in their own
provincial clothes, embelliihed, perhaps, with a few occafi-
onal ornaments. An exhibition of the feveral drefles actually
ufed by the different inhabitants of the Ruffian empire
afforded a greater variety of motley figures than the wildeft
fancy ever invented in the mafquerades of other countries.
Several merchants wives were decked with large quantities
of valuable pearls, many of which were fplit in halves for
the purpofe of making more lhow.
About feven the emprefs made her appearance at the head
of a fuperb quadrille, confifting of eight ladies led by as
many gentlemen. Her majefty and the other ladies of
V ol. I. S s s this