oned the Czar on
that subject, during coffee, in the withdrawing rooms; but he answered,
'No, you must not,--not till an express Prussian Envoy arrive!' I had
to stay, therefore; and was thenceforth almost daily at Court",--but
unluckily a little vague, and altogether DATELESS as to what I saw
there!

BIEREN AND MUNNICH, BOTH OF THEM JUST HOME FROM SIBERIA, ARE TO DRINK
TOGETHER (No date: Palace of Petersburg, Spring, 1762).--Peter had begun
in a great way: all for liberalism, enlightenment, abolition of abuses,
general magnanimity on his own and everybody's part. Rulhiere did not
see the following scene; but it seems to be well enough vouched for, and
Rulhiere heard it talked of in society. "As many as 20,000 persons,
it is counted, have come home from Siberian Exile:" the L'Estocs, the
Munnichs, Bierens, all manner of internecine figures, as if risen
from the dead. "Since the night when Munnich arrested Bieren [readers
possibly remember it, and Mannstein's account of it [Supra, vol. vii. p.
363.]], the first time these two met was in the gay and tumultuous crowd
which surrounded the new Czar. 'Come, bygones be bygones,' said Peter,
noticing them; 'let us three all drink together, like friends!'--and
ordered three glasses of wine. Peter was beginning his glass to show the
others an example, when somebody came with a message to him, which was
delivered in a low tone; Peter listening drank out his wine, set down
the glass, and hastened off; so that Bieren and Munnich, the two old
enemies, were left standing, glass in hand, each with his eyes on the
Czar's glass;--at length, as the Czar did not return, they flashed each
his eyes into the other's face; and after a moment's survey, set
down their glasses untasted, and walked off in opposite directions."
[Rulhiere, p. 33.] Won't coalesce, it seems, in spite of the Czar's high
wishes. An emblem of much that befell the poor Czar in his present high
course of good intentions and headlong magnanimities!--We return to
Hordt:--

THE CZAR WEARS A PORTRAIT OF FRIEDRICH ON HIS FINGER. "Czar Peter never
disguised his Prussian predilections. One evening he said, 'Propose to
your friend Keith [English Excellency here, whom we know] to give me a
supper at his house to-morrow night. The other Foreign Ministers will
perhaps be jealous; but I don't care!' Supper at the English Embassy
took place. Only ten or twelve persons, of the Czar's choosing, were
present. Czar very gay and in fine s