726 €OXE*S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA .

meftic affairs, and was fuppofed to be his mi ft refs. Soon afterwards {he was removedinto the family of Prince Mentchikof, who was no lefs ftruck with the attra&ions of thefair captive : with him (lie lived until 1704, when, in the feventeenth year of her age,{he became the miftrefs of Peter the Great , and won fo much upon his affections, thathe efpoufed * her on the 29th of May, 1711. The ceremony was fecretly performedat Jawerof in Poland , in the prefence of General Bruce, and on the 20th of February,1712, was publicly folemnized at Peterfburgh.

Catharine, by the moft unwearied afliduity and unremitted attention, by the foftnefsand complacency of her difpofition, but above all by an extraordinary livelinefs of tem-per, acquired a wonderful afcendency over the mind of Peter. The Emperor was fub-jeCt to occafional horrors, which rendered him gloomy and fufpicious, and produced atemporary madnefs. In thefe dreadful moments Catharine was the only perfon whoventured to approach him: fuch was the kind of fafcination f Are had acquired over hisfenfes, that her prefence had an inftantaneous effeCfc; the firft found of her voice com-pofed his mind and calmed his agonies. From thefe circumftances the feemed neceffary,not only to his comfort, but even to his exiftence ; fhe became his infeparable com-panion during his journies into foreign countries, and accompanied him even in his mili-tary expeditions.

The peace of Pruth , by which the Ruffian army was refcued from certain deftruc-tion, has been wholly attributed to Catharine, though fhe was only the inftrument inextorting the confent of Peter. In the campaign of 1711 againft the Turks, havingimprudently led his troops into a difadvantageous fituation, he formed the defperaterefolution of cutting his way through the Turkifli army in the night, and retiring to histent in an agony of defpair, gave pofitive orders that no one fhould be admitted, underpain of death. In this important junfture, the principal officers and the vice-chancellorShaffirof J, affembled in the prefence of Catharine, and drew up certain preliminariesto obtain a truce from the Grand Vizier . Plenipotentiaries were immediately difpatchedwithout the knowledge of Peter, to the Grand Vizier , and a peace obtained on morereafonable conditions than could have been expected. With thefe conditions Catha-rine, notwithftanding the orders iffued by Peter, entered the tent, and obtained hisfignature. By her condmft Catharine acquired great popularity, and the Emperor Ipecifies her behaviour at Pruth , as one of the reafons which induced him to crown herpublicly at Mofcow with his own hand. This ceremony § was performed in 1724;and though defigned by Peter only as a proof of his affedion, was the caufe of herfubfequent elevation.

Some authors have affirmed, without the fmalleft foundation, that Peter placed thecrown upon her head as a prelude to his future intention in her favour, and even ap-pointed her his fucceffor ; but no traces of this intention were ever difcovered. Nothing

* Gordon fays fire liad feveral children by the Czar before he efpoufed her, particularly the PrincefsAnne. The Czar, he adds, was married to her in 1710. Life of Peter, vol. ii. p 258. Weber onlyrelates, that the marriage, which was before kept fecret, was made public in 1711. Voltaire places thefecret marriage in 1707. A paffage in Bruce’s Memoirs is decifive : '‘ On the 17th (May, 1711) wearrived at Warfaw, and at Jawerof on the 29th, where we found the Czar and Czarina, and they wereprivately married, at which ceremony the General was prefent ; and upon this occalion he was made mailer-general of the ordnance, in the room of the Prince of Melita, who died a priforier in Sweden .” P. 36.

•J “ Elle avait un ai'cendant fur fes fens, qui tenait prefque du prodige.” Baffevitz in Bufch. ix>p. 294.

J Motraye’s Travels, vol. iii. p. 151, note, alfo p. 103.

§ The reader will find a circumftantial account of the coronation, with all the ceremonies and entertain-ments, in Bruce, who was himfelf prefent. Bruce’s Memoirs, p. 351 to 363.

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