b o o k . i t i s a fufficient proof o f the bad terms in which the prin-
■ ' , cefs. lived with her huiband, that ihe had not once mentioned
his name, .unwilling, perhaps, to diftur’b her laft moments
with any diftreffmg reflexions. Her ardent defire to fee the
.emperor before ihe expired, was gratified. Peter, who was at
Schluffelburgh at the time of her delivery, had fet off upon
the fir ft news of that intelligence for Peteriburgh; but, upon
his arrival in the capital, was feized with a hidden illnefs,
which confined him to his chamber. Upon perufing, however,
the affectionate expreffions of her attachment, he was
placed upon a machine rolling upon wheels, and thus conveyed
to her apartment. Their interview was awful: ilie took
leave of him in the moft moving language and affecting
manner, recommending her children to his care, and her fer-
vants to his protection; and received from him every con-
folation which her fituation would admit, and the ftrongeft
affurances that all her wiihes ihould be fulfilled. She then
embraced her children, and, having bedewed them with
Tears, delivered them into the hands of her huiband,
whom decency obliged to be prefent at this tender fcene.
‘ After having fuffered the moft acute, pains, and ftruggled
with.fucceeding agonies, ihe expired at midnight'*.
She died a member of the Lutheran religion, which ihe
.had in vain been folicited to renounce ; and nothing conveys
a ftronger proof o f the high efteem in which ihe was held by
the emperor, than that, although ihe had not embraced the
Greek perfuafion, her .remains were interred in a Ruffian
•church : they were depofited on the 8th of November in
jthe cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, with all the funeral
¿honours due to her exalted Ration.
■* Muller and Bruce*
1 have been thus particular in relating the principal dr- c^ ‘
‘cumftances which, attended the death of this princefs, not«— ..— <
•only becaufe her fate is intereftingto every feeling mind, but
-alfo becaufe a few years ago there appeared in France the
following extraordinary account of this princefs. Soon after
her delivery, as the emperor happened to be abfent from Pe-
tteriburgh, llie perfuaded fome of her attendants to circulate
a report of her death ; and her huiband, who had paid no attention
to her during her illnefs, ordered her to be buried
without delay : a piece of wood Was fubftituted in the place
o f the body, and interred in the cathedral; and the .princefs
made her efcape into France. Apprehenfive of being there
difeovered, fhe embarked for Louifiana, where ihe married
a French ferjeant, who had formerly been at Peteriburgh, to
whom ihe bore a daughter. In 1752 ihe came with her
huiband to Paris, was difeovered as ihe was walking in the
Thuilleries' by marihal Saxe, who promifed fecrecy, and
procured a commiffion for her huiband in the Me of Bourbon.
Having loft her huiband and child, ihe, in 1754, returned
to Paris with a negro woman. The bills upon the
Taft India Company, which ihe brought in her huiband’s
name, being refufed becaufe ihe-could not prove herfelf to
*be his wife, a gentleman, whom ihe had known in the Iile
•of Bourbon, offered his afliftance, which fhe declined. She
confeffed, it is faid,to this gentleman her real character; and
¡from him the author of the account pretends to have received
thefe anecdotes 4 adding, that ihe foon afterwards
•difappeared, and was fuppofed to have retired to the court of
■her nephew the duke of Brunfwick. In this wonderful
•narrative, the king of France is alfo laid to have privately
acknowledged her, and even to have enjoined the governor
■of the Iile of Bourbon to pay her tho'fe honours which were
■due to her jank. It is added, that the fame monarch, in a
4 F a l e t t e r