BOOK
V. no perfon fhould be promoted above him in the Pruffian
army. Upon receiving the patent which conferred upon
him the rank o f lieutenant-general in that- fervice, he in-
ftantly drefled himfelf in his new uniform, ordered a general-
difcharge of. the cannon in the fortrefs o f Oranienbaum,
gave a magnificent entertainment in honour o f his promotion,
and drank his majlefs health until he became quite in<-
toxicated.
During his fhort reign he maintained a- conftant corre-
fpondence with the king o f Pruffia, and always received from
him the moft falutary advice which the circumftances would
admit. That able monarch earneftly diffuaded him from-
the war with Denmark; but finding him obftinately determined
to engage in it, he advifed him to be firft crowned1
at Mofcow with the ufual- folemnities; and, when he
marched to Holftein, to carry in his train all the foreign-
minifters, and fuch o f the Ruffian- nobles who were fuf-
pedted o f difaffedtion. Frederick alfo cautioned him againft
alienating the lands o f the monafteries, and interfering with
the drefs o f the clergy ; and particularly recommended to
him a due attention to his confort, Indeed, the king, whofe
penetration is equal to his valour, forefaw the confequences
which were likely to refult from the emperor’s imprudent
condudt; and ordered his embaflador at Peterfburgh to ffiow
every mark o f refpedt to the emprefs.
Had the advice o f the king of Pruffia been adopted, Peter
might have avoided his unhappy deftiny; but it was the
character o f that mifguided prince to purfue with unremitted
obftinacy what he had once refolved, and to remain unconvinced
by the moft powerful arguments. Though his plans
o f reformation were in many refpedts highly falutary, yet
the precipitancy with vvhich he endeavoured to carry them
into
into execution, and his impolitick defiance of popular pre- CIIAI>-
judices, deftroyed the affedtion o f his fubjedts, fomented th e . ■
intrigues o f the oppofite party,, and terminated in his dethronement.
In no light did the inconfiften&yof the emperoris-charadter
manifeft itfelf more ftrongly than in his behaviour to his
confort. During;the reign of.Elizabeth,.Catharine had employed
her hours o f leifure in a courfe o f affiduous ftudy
and had particularly applied herfelf to‘ thofe authors who
were moft eminent for political knowledge : born with fu-
perior abilities, fhe had improved-them by a conftant habit
o f reflection, and had paid an unremitting attention to the
cultivation of her mind. Her mild and infinuating manners,
her engaging addrefs, the graces o f her perfon, her unwearied
affiduities, and a perpetual fund,of interefting converfa-
tion, had conciliated the favour o f the fufpicious Elizabeth,
who ever treated- her with complacency and affedtion. Even
her huiband, though his general behaviour to her was contemptuous
and unmannerly, occafionally teftified great re-
fpedt for her fuperior abilities, and ufuaMy aiked her advice
in every emergency.. Whenever any quarrel arofe between
him and Elizabeth,. Catharine was fore to mediate between
them ; and. Peter owed, more than once a- favourable reception
at court.to her influence. After, his aeceffion, though
he frequently ga-ve publick marks o f deep-rooted-averfion,
yet he would often.behave to her with that.deference, which
the fuperiority o f her underftanding challenged; By an
unaccountable. a£t o f imprudence, he would, in a full court,
inveft her with' the exterior decorations o f fovereignty;
while, in the charadier o f a. colonel, he prefented to her the ■
officers o f his regiment. At the Bleffing o f the waters,
when the Ruffian monarch appears in all. the pomp o f majefty,