— Acceffion o f Peter.— -His rage fo r reformation.— Irritates
by his imprudent conduSI the clergy, the army, and the
. nobles.—-His enthujiajlick admiration o f the king o f Pi uffia
carried to a mojl ridiculous excefs.— Hisiinconjijlent behaviour
to his confort Catharine.— Her great abilities, prudent
conduB, and popularity.— Ill-treated by the emperor.
— In danger o f being arrefed-.— Heads a party.— Meetings
■■■of the infur gents.— Peter’s blindnefs and infatuation.—
Catharine -£/«7/>i\f from Peterhof.— Harangues the guards.
— Afcends the throne.— -Her manifejlo.— Advances againfl
p - the emperor.— His arrivaLat Peterhof.— Uefpondency and
irrefolution.— Sails to Gronftadt.— Is refufed admittance.
— Retires to Oranienbaum.— Rejigns himfelf into the
-hands o f the :■ emprefs-.— Signs his abdication, is conveyed a
prfoner to Robfcha,«»^ dies.— His body laid in Jlate and
interred.— Lenity,of the emprefs to his. adherents.
THE revolution ¡of 1 7 4 1 placed Elizabeth, daughter of
Peter the Great'-and Citherrpe/i. upon the throne o f
Ruffia. The year following the emprefs nominated her ne-
:phew Charles Peter Ulrick, fon o f Charles Frederick duke o f
Holftein-Gottorp, and o f Anne, daughter of Peter the Great,
fucceffor to the crown. Accordingly that prince, then, only
fourteen years o f age, having publickly embraced the Gredk
.-religion, was appointed great-duke o f Ruffia, with the ac-
.cuftomed formalities. He affirmed the name o f Peter Feo-
dorovitch. In 174 5 he efpoufed Sophia Augulia princefs o f
Anhalt Zerbft, who, upon being rehapdzed according to the
rites of the Greek church, was called Catharine Alexiefna.
She was born in 1729, and was fixteen years o f age at the
time o f her marriage. 'Their-only iffiie were the prefent
greatgreat
duke Paul, born 1.754 5 and Anne, who was born in
a 7.57, and died in 1 7 6 1 .
During the flrft years o f their marriage the moil perfedl
union fubiifted between them, which however was at length
fucceeded- on both fides by mutual av-erfion and difgnil.
Peter, whofe mind had been warped by a bad education,
and who was purpcrfely eftranged from political affairs, was
held by Elizabeth in a Rate o f dependence : a prey to
-idlenefs, and without the power o f amufing himfelf with,
-rational occupations o f literature, he gave himfelf up to the
moil trifling purfuits, or to the loweft gratifications. He was
perpetually/befet by fpies, whooccaiionallymade the mofl unfavourable
reports o f his conduct to that emprefs, ever fuf-
picious o f his intentions, and who was conftantly alarmed
with the dread o f a revolution fimilar to that which had
placed her upon the throne. When he was at Peteriburgh
he had apartments -in the imperial palace, and lived more in
the ftyle o f a ftate prifoner, than o f a fucceffor to, the crown.
When the emprefs removedto-Peterhof, he was permitted to
refide at his favourite palace o f Oranienbaum,"where he indulged
that tafte for military purfuits which became his foie
-amufement during thelatter years o f Elizabeths'reign. He
began by drawing out his fervants in a body, trained them to
military exereile, and was accuftomed to attend regularly at
the hours appointed for that purpofe. The emprefs, confi-
dering this employment as an innocent amufement, and
likely to draw his attention from political intrigues, ordered
a fmall body o f foldiers to be draughted from feveral regiments,
who were allowed to repair to Oranienbaum, and to
¡be quartered in that place.
Peter was eager in the purfuit o f his new occupation. He
built in the garden a fortrefs -in miniature, a few feet fquare,
5 by