m presented to the
Empress. St. Pierre was so handsome, that by some of his friends it was
supposed, perhaps, too, hoped, that he would supersede Orloff in the
favor of Catherine. But more honourable illusions, though they were
but illusions, occupied his own mind. He neither sought nor wished to
captivate the Empress. His ambition was to establish a republic on the
shores of the lake Aral, of which in imitation of Plato or Rousseau,
he was to be the legislator. Pre-occupied with the reformation of
despotism, he did not sufficiently look into his own heart, or seek to
avoid a repetition of the same errors that had already changed friends
into enemies, and been such a terrible barrier to his success in
life. His mind was already morbid, and in fancying that others did
not understand him, he forgot that he did not understand others. The
Empress, with the rank of captain, bestowed on him a grant of fifteen
hundred francs; but when General Dubosquet proposed to take him with him
to examine the military position of Finland, his only anxiety seemed to
be to return to France: still he went to Finland; and his own notes of
his occupations and experiments on that expedition prove, that he gave
himself up in all diligence to considerations of attack and defence. He,
who loved Nature so intently, seems only to have seen in the extensive
and majestic forests of the north, a theatre of war. In this instance,
he appears to have stifled every emotion of admiration, and to have
beheld, alike, cities and countries in his character of military
surveyor.

On his return to St. Petersburg, he found his protector Villebois,
disgraced. St. Pierre then resolved on espousing the cause of the Poles.
He went into Poland with a high reputation,--that of having refused
the favours of despotism, to aid the cause of liberty. But it was his
private life, rather than his public career, that was affected by his
residence in Poland. The Princess Mary fell in love with him, and,
forgetful of all considerations, quitted her family to reside with
him. Yielding, however, at length, to the entreaties of her mother,
she returned to her home. St. Pierre, filled with regret, resorted to
Vienna; but, unable to support the sadness which oppressed him, and
imagining that sadness to be shared by the Princess, he soon went back
to Poland. His return was still more sad than his departure; for he
found himself regarded by her who had once loved him, as an intruder.
It