ch a good-for-nothing
creature.' . . . As my brother and I passed near him to leave the
room, he hit out at us with his crutch. Happily we escaped the blow,
for it would certainly have struck us down, and we at last escaped
without harm.

Yet, as the Princess Christian remarks, 'despite the almost cruel
treatment Wilhelmine received from her father, it is noticeable that
throughout her memoirs she speaks of him with the greatest affection.
She makes constant reference to his "good heart"'; and says that his
faults 'were more those of temper than of nature.' Nor could all the
misery and wretchedness of her home life dull the brightness of her
intellect. What would have made others morbid, made her satirical.
Instead of weeping over her own personal tragedies, she laughs at the
general comedy of life. Here, for instance, is her description of Peter
the Great and his wife, who arrived at Berlin in 1718:

The Czarina was small, broad, and brown-looking, without the
slightest dignity or appearance. You had only to look at her to
detect her low origin. She might have passed for a German actress,
she had decked herself out in such a manner. Her dress had been
bought second-hand, and was trimmed with some dirty looking silver
embroidery; the bodice was trimmed with precious stones, arranged in
such a manner as to represent the double eagle. She wore a dozen
orders; and round the bottom of her dress hung quantities of relics
and pictures of saints, which rattled when she walked, and reminded
one of a smartly harnessed mule. The orders too made a great noise,
knocking against each other.

The Czar, on the other hand, was tall and well grown, with a handsome
face, but his expression was coarse, and impressed one with fear. He
wore a simple sailor's dress. His wife, who spoke German very badly,
called her court jester to her aid, and spoke Russian with her. This
poor creature was a Princess Gallizin, who had been obliged to
undertake this sorry office to save her life, as she had been mixed
up in a conspiracy against the Czar, and had twice been flogged with
the knout!

* * * * *

The following day [the Czar] visited all the sights of Berlin,
amongst others the very curious collection of coins and antiques.
Amongst these last named was a statue, representing a heathen god.
I