sian generals to hold themselves
and their troops obedient to the instructions of Frederic, and to
cooeperate in every way with him to repel their former allies, the
Austrians. It was the caprice of a drunken semi-idiot which thus
rescued Frederic the Great from disgrace and utter ruin. The Emperor
of Prussia had sufficient sagacity to foresee that Peter III. would
not long maintain his seat upon the throne. He accordingly directed
his minister at St. Petersburg, while continuing to live in great
intimacy with the tzar, to pay the most deferential attention to the
empress.

There was no end to the caprices of Peter the drunkard. At one time he
would leave the whole administration of affairs in the hands of
Catharine, and again he would treat her in the most contemptuous and
insulting manner. In one of the pompous ceremonials of the court, when
the empress, adorned with all the marks of imperial dignity, shared
the throne with Peter, the tzar called one of his mistresses to the
conspicuous seat he occupied with the empress, and made her sit down
by his side. Catharine immediately rose and retired. At a public
festival that same evening, Peter, half drunk, publicly and loudly
launched at her an epithet the grossest which could be addressed to a
woman. Catharine was so shocked that she burst into tears. The
sympathy of the spectators was deeply excited in her behalf, and their
indignation roused against the tzar.

While Peter III. was developing his true character of brute and
buffoon, gathering around him the lowest profligates, and reveling in
the most debasing and vulgar vices, Catharine, though guilty and
unhappy, was holding her court with dignity and affability, which
charmed all who approached her. She paid profound respect to the
external observances of religion, daily performing her devotions in
the churches, accosting the poor with benignity, treating the clergy
with marked respect, and winning all hearts by her kindness and
sympathy.

One of the mistresses of Peter III., the Countess Vorontzof, had
gained such a boundless influence over her paramour, that she had
extorted from him the promise that he would repudiate Catharine, marry
her, and crown her as empress. Elated by this promise, she had the
imprudence to boast of it. Her father and several of the courtiers
whose fortunes her favor would secure, were busy in paving her way to
the throne. The numerous friends of Catharine were excited, and were
equall