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724 COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
judice or partiality, to compare the various hiftories of Catharine I. and to colle& from
the whole the moft probable narrative. :
Catharine was the natural daughter * of a country girl, and was born at Ringen, a
{mall village upon the lake Virtcherve, near Dorpt, in Livonia. ‘The year of her birth
is
* T fhall make a few remarks concerning the authors from whom I have principally extrafted this ac-
count of Catharine I. The firft and moft authentic is Weber.
Weber was the Hanoverian refident at Peterfburgh during part of the reign of Peter I. and took extras
ordinary pains to obtain the beft informa’ion relative to the origin of Catharine. He learned the Ruffian
language of Wurmb, who was tutor to Gluck’s children when Catharine was in that minifter’s houfe at
Marienburgh : from him, therefore, he was able to obtain the moft authentic intelligence. | Weber may
have been miftaken in a few trifling incidents, but his narrative upon the whole is to be depended upon. See
Verandertes Rufsland, vol. iii. p..7 —10.
La Motraye, in his Travels, has given a fhort account of her family, &c. Among other intelligence,
he collected much information from a Livonian girl, who had been fold by the Ruffians to the Turks, and
whom he bought of the Janizaries: this girl knew Catharine at Marienburg, and told him feveral particu-
lars relating to her, which were afterwards confirmed to him in Livonia. The account of La Motraye
correfponds with that of Weber in the principal events, differing only in a few trifling points.
Bruce has alfo given an account of her origin, which he relates as he heard it told by thofe who knew
her from her infancy. His narrative corref{ponds, upon ihe whole, with that of Weber in all effential
circumftances.
Thefe three perfons are the principal authors who were in Ruffia towards the beginning of this century,
and colle€ted information on the {fpot: we may therefore rely on them with more fafety than upon later
writers ; and they all agree in confirming the lownefs of her birth, and her marriage with the Swedifh
dragoen.
Voltaire, in his life of Peter 1. has flightly pafled over the early adventures of Catharine ; he mentions
nothing of her birth, her marriage with the Swedifh foldier ; as circumftances derogatory from the honour
of the Emprefs Elizabeth, by whofe defire he wrote the life of Peterthe Great. But willing to ennoble
the family of Catharine I. he records a ftrange ftory, which. has all the air of romance, concerning a brother
of Catharine, named Scavronfki, who was found to be the fon of a gentleman of Lithuania. Voltaire cites
for his authority “le manufcrit curieux d’un homme qui etait alors au fervice du czar, & qui parle comme
temoin ;”’ but without mentioning his name. !
From Voltaire many fucceeding authors have advanced that Catharine was of the family of Scavronfki ;
and it is certain that the Emprefs Elizabeth acknowledged that family as her relations, and conferred
honours upon its members.
This anecdote concerning Scavronfki is pofitively contradifted by a paflage in Baffevitz, who affifted
Mentchikof in raifing Catharine to the throne, and who muft have known if any brother of Catharine had
been at Peterfburgh during the life of Peter. He afferts, that Catharine did not produce any of her rela-
tions during Peter’s life; that after his death a perfon made his appearance at Peterfburgh as her brother,
under the uame of Count Hendrikof; that he lived in obfcurity during the reigns of Peter IL. and Anne,
and that Elizabeth made his fon a chamberlain. Bufching, ix. p. 295.
Weber alfo upon this head relates, “that a near relation of Catharine came to Peterfburgh with his fa-
mily, confilting of three fons and two daughters. He was called Count Ikavoronfki (certainly the fame as
Scavronfki) ; the eldeft daughter, Sophia, was appointed by the Emprefs maid of honour ; the other chil-
dren were educated by their father. The arrival of she/e frangers gave rife to many reports concerning the
origin of Catharine; that her father, whofe name was faid to be John Rabe, was a quarter-mafter ina
Swedifh regiment ; and that her mother was the daughter of a town-fecretary of Riga. The widow, after
her hufband’s death, went to her relations at Riga; but foon dying, Gluck took the foundling into his
family. Thefe reports, which began to circulate, eccafioned a public decree, forbidding all perfons, upon
pain of death, from uttering difrefpe€tful expreffions againft the late Emperor, or the reigning Emprefs and
her family.” Ver. Ruff. vol. iii. p. 76.
We may indeed take it for granted, that if Catharine’s family had been nobly defcended, the fecret would
have been difcovered during the life of Peter, and have been favourably received by that Emperor, who was
prevented, from the obfeurily of her birth, from carrying her with him to Paris, not being willing to expofe
her to infult: “Il ne vouloit pas Pexpofer, dit on, aux rebuts qu’il craignait pour elle vi Pobfeurité de fa
naifance, de la délicatefle Frangaife.” Baffevitz in Buf. Mag. ix. p. 316.
An Auttrian envoy, who was at Peterfburgh in 1725, and wrote an account to his court of her acceffion
to the throne, fays, ¢ that fhe was a natural daughter of a Livonian nobleman, whofe name was Alvendhel ;
ahat her mother afterwards married arich peafant, by whom fhe had a fon anda daughter ; that the former
was
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