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726 COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
mettic affairs, and was fuppofed to be his miftrefs. Soon afterwards fhe was removed
into the family of Prince Mentchikof, who was no lefs {truck with the attra€tions of the
fair captive: with him fhe lived until 1704, when, in the feventeenth year of her age,
fhe became the miftrefs of Peter the Great, and won fo much upon his affeétions, that
he efpoufed * her on the 29th of May, 1711. The ceremony was fecretly performed
at Jawerof in Poland, in the prefence of General Bruce, and on the 2oth of February,
1712, was publicly folemnized at Peterfburgh.
Catharine, by the moft unwearied afliduity and unremitted attention, by the foftnefs
and 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 a
temporary madnefs. In thefe dreadful moments Catharine was the only perfon who
ventured to approach him: fuch was the kind of fafcination ¢ fhe had acquired over his
fenfes, that her prefence had an inftantaneous effect; the firft found of her voice com-
pofed his mind and calmed his agonies. From thefe circum{tances fhe feemed neceflary,
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 in
extorting the confent of Peter. Inthe campaign of 1711 again{ft the Turks, having
imprudently led his troops into a difadvantageous fituation, he formed the defperate
refolution of cutting his way through the Turkifh army in the night, and retiring to his
tent in an agony of defpair, gave pofitive orders that no one fhould be admitted, under
pain of death. In this important juncture, the principal officers and the vice-chancellor
Shafhirof{, affembled in the prefence of Catharine, and drew up certain preliminaries
to obtain a truce from the Grand Vizier. Plenipotentiaries were immediately difpatched
without the knowledge of Peter, to the Grand Vizier, and a peace obtained on more
reafonable conditions than could have been expected. With thefe conditions Catha-
rine, notwith{tanding the orders iffued by Peter, entered the tent, and obtained his’
fignature. By her condué Catharine acquired great popularity, and the Emperor
{pecifies her behaviour at Pruth, as one of the reafons which induced him to crown her
publicly at Mofcow with his own hand. This ceremony § was performed in 17243
and though defigned by Peter only as a proof of his affeClion, was the caufe of her
{ubfequent elevation.
Some authors have affirmed, without the fmalleft foundation, that Peter placed the
crown 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 fhe had feveral children by the Czar before he efpoufed her, particularly the Princefs
Anne. The Czar, he adds. was married to her in 17 ro. Life of Peter, vol. ii. p.258. Weber only
relates, that the marriage, which was before kept fecret, was made public in 1711. Voltaire places the
fecret marriage in 1707. A paflage in Bruce’s Memoirs is decifive: ‘*On the 17th (May, 1711) we
arrived at Warfaw, and at Jawerof on the 29th, where we found the Czar and Czarina, and they were
privately married, at which ceremony the General was prefent; and upon this occafion he was made matter-
general of the ordnance, in the room of the Prince of Melita, who died a prifoner in Sweden.”? P. 36.
+ “Elle avait un afcendant fur fes fens, qui tenait prefque du prodige.’”? Baffevitz in Bufch, ix.
| 204
: ae Travels, vol. iti, p. 151, note; alfo p. 103.
§ The reader will find a circumiftantial account of the coronation, with all the ceremonies and entertain-
ments, in Bruce, who was himfelf prefent. Bruce’s Memoirs, p. 351 to 363.
indeed
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