uire property."

A ruffian attempted to assassinate Catharine. He was arrested in the
palace, with a long dagger concealed in his dress, and without
hesitation confessed his design. Catharine had the assassin brought
into her presence, conversed mildly with him, and seeing that there
was no hope of disarming his fanaticism, banished him to Siberia. But
the innocent daughter of the guilty man she took under her protection,
and subsequently appointed her one of her maids of honor. In the year
1767, she sent a delegation of scientific men on a geological survey
into the interior of the empire, with directions to determine the
geographical position of the principal places, to mark their
temperature, their productions, their wealth, and the manners and
characters of the several people by whom they were inhabited. Russia
was then, as now, a world by itself, peopled by innumerable tribes or
nations, with a great diversity of climates, and with an infinite
variety of manners and customs. A large portion of the country was
immersed in the profoundest barbarism, almost inaccessible to the
traveler. In other portions vagrant hordes wandered without any fixed
habitations. Here was seen the castle of the noble with all its
imposing architecture, and its enginery of offense and defense. The
mud hovels of the peasants were clustered around the massive pile; and
they passed their lives in the most degrading bondage.

From all parts of Europe the most learned men were invited to the
court of Catharine. The renowned mathematician, Euler, was lured from
Berlin to St. Petersburg. The empress settled upon him a large annual
stipend, and made him a present of a house. Catharine was fully
conscious that the glory of a country consists, not in its military
achievements, but in advancement in science and in the useful and
elegant arts. The annual sum of five thousand dollars was assigned to
encourage the translation of foreign literary works into the Russian
language. The small-pox was making fearful ravages in Russia. The
empress had heard of inoculation. She sent to England for a physician,
Dr. Thomas Dimsdale, who had practiced inoculation for the small-pox
with great success in London. Immediately upon his arrival the empress
sent for him, and with skill which astonished the physician,
questioned him respecting his mode of practice. He was invited to dine
with the empress; and the doctor thus describes the dinner party:

"The empress sat