b o o k when, in the feventeenth year of her age, ihe became thé-
■ 1V.' -mifirpA * of Peter the Great, and won fo much upon his affections,
that he efpoufed f her on the 29th of May, 1 7 1 1 .
The ceremony was fecretly performed at Jawerof in Poland,
in the prefence of general Bruce ; and on the 20th of Fe- .
hruary, 1 7 12 , it was publickly folemnized with great pomp
at Pèteriburgh.
Catharine, by the molt unwearied affiduity and unremitted
attention, by the foftnefs and complacency of her
difpofition, but, above all, by an extraordinary livelinefs and
gaiety of temper, acquired a wonderful afcendancy. over the
mind of Peter. The latter was fubjeft to oecafional horrors,
which a£ times rendered him gloomy and fufpicioüs, and ;
raifed his' pallions to fuch an height, as to produce a temporary
madnefs. In thefe dreadful moments Catharine was ;
the only perfon who durit venture to approach him, and
fuch was the kind of fafcination X fhe had acquired over his
fenfes, that her prefence had an inftantaneous effect ; and
the firft found of her voice compofed his mind and
calmed his agonies. From thefe circumftances. fhe feemed
neceffary, not only to his comfort, but even to his.
very exiitence : fhe became his infeparable companion on
^ * Weber writes, that the emperor firft faw marriage in 1 707.
her as fhe. was carrying, fome difhes through T h e following paiTage,however, inBruce’s. ,
the hall ; the Auftrian minifter fays ihe was f. Memoirs, is abfolutely dec i five,
laundrefs to prince Menzikof ; that at the ■ “ On the 17th-(May, 1711) we arrived. ,
clofe o f an entertainment at the prince’s, : “ .atWarfaw, and at Jawerof on the 29th,
when the emperor and company were in- “ where we found the czar and czarina,,
toxicated, ihe was recommended to Peter, . “ and they were privately married, at$ubicb
&c. Bufching XI. p. 482. t £ ceremony the general- was prefent ; and
f Gordon fays, that ihe had feveral chil- “ upon this occafion he was made mafter-
dren by the czar before he efpoufed her, par- “ general o f the ordnance, in.the room o f
ticularly the princeis Anne. T h e czar, he . “ the prince o f Melita, who died à prifoner
adds, was married to her in 1710. Life o f “ in Sweden,” p. 36,
Peter, V o l. II. p. 258. J “ Elle avait un afcendant fur fes fens, <
Weber only relates, that the marriage, “ qui tenait prefque du prodige.” BaiTe-
which was before kept fecret, was made witz in Bufch. IX. 294. See alfo- the firft
pnblick in 1 7 1 1. Voltaire places the fecret note to p . 409 o f this work.
7 . his
tary expeditions. ■ . V II.
The peace of Pruth, by which the Ruffian arm y 1 was
refcued from certain deftrudtion, has bèen wholly attributed
to Catharine, though fhe.was.little more than an inftrument
in procuring the confent of Peter. The latter, in,his campaign
of 1 7 x i againft the Turks, having imprudently led
his troops into a difadvantageous fituation, took the defpe-
rate refolution of cutting his way through the Turkifh army
in the night. With this refol ution he retired to his tent in
an agony of defpair, and gave pofitive orders that no one
ihould be admitted under pain of death. In this important
juncture the principal officers and the vice-chancellor
Shaffirof * affembled in the prefence of Catharine, and drew
up certain preliminaries in order to obtain a truce from the
grand vizier. Inconfequenceof this determination plenipotentiaries
were immediately difpatched, without the knowledge
of Péter, to the grand vizier, and a peace obtained upon more
realbnable conditions than could have been expedted. With
thefe conditions Catharine,- notwithftanding the orders iffued
by Peter, entered his tent, and prevailed upon him to fign
them: Although the honour of this peace, fays Gordon,
was wholly attributed to Catharine, yet, as he jullly remarks,
the generals, together with the vice-chancellor Shaffirof,
* Motraye attributes the principal fuc- “ there made. A ll that the czarina did
cefs o f the négociation with the grand vizier « was to carry to the czar, when he was
to the vice-chancellor Shaffirof t “ It was “ retired- to his tent, and would fee none
“ folely to his ability, and not to any.pre. “ but her, the counfels and methods which
“ tended prefents o f the czarina, that the “ that great minifter fuggéftèd, in order, ta
•l czar owed his deliverance at Pruth. I “ a treaty, and, to induce him .to agree ta
“ was well informed, by the Pacha, with “ them, and to give him a full power, o f
“ whom I was then,-arid by other Turks, a â in g .” Motraye’s Travels, Vol. II I . p.
“ even enemies, to .the vizier, o f what pafled 151, note. See alfo p. 103.
“ there., and o f - the. prefents which were