n at her (not
without cause);--and that Siberia, or worse, is possible by and by. The
Czarina was helplessly wretched for some time; and by degrees entered
on a Plot;--assisted by Princess Dashkof (Sister of the Snub-nosed), by
Panin (our Son's Tutor, "a genuine Son, I will swear, whatever the
Papa may think in his wild moments!"), by Gregory Orlof (one's present
Lover), and others of less mark;--and it ripened exquisitely within the
next four months!--

HORDT HEARS THE PRAISES OF HIS KING. "Next day [nobody can guess what
DAY] I dined at Court. I sat opposite the Czar, who talked of nothing
but of his 'good friend the King of Prussia.' He knew all the smallest
details of his Campaigns; all his military arrangements; the dress
and strength of all his Regiments; and he declared aloud that he would
shortly put all his troops upon the same footing [which he did shortly,
to the great disgust of his troops].--Rising from table, the Czar
himself did me the honor to say, 'Come to-morrow; dine with me EN PETIT
APPARTEMENT [on the SNUG, where we often play high-jinks, and go to
great lengths in liquor and tobacco]; I will show you something
curious, which you will like.' I went at the accustomed hour; I
found--Lieutenant-General Werner [hidden since his accident at Colberg
last winter, whom a beneficent Czar has summoned again into the light
of noon]! I made a great friendship with this distinguished General, who
was a charming man; and went constantly about with him, till he left me
here,"--Czarish kindness letting Werner home, and detaining me, to my
regret. [HORDT, i. 133-145, 151.]

The Prussian Treaties, first of Peace (May 5th), with all our Conquests
flung back, and then of Alliance, with yourself and ourselves, as it
were, flung into the bargain,--were by no means so popular in Petersburg
as in Berlin! From May 5th onwards, we can suppose Peter to be, perhaps
rather rapidly, on the declining hand. Add the fatal element, "Church
in Danger" (a Czar privately Apostate); his very Guardsmen indignant
at their tight-fitting Prussian uniforms, and at their no less tight
Prussian DRILL (which the Czar is uncommonly urgent with); and a Czarina
Plot silently spreading on all sides, like subterranean mines filled
with gunpowder!--

HERR BUSCHING SEES THE CATASTROPHE (Friday, 9th July, 1762). "This being
the day before Peter-and-Paul, which is a great Holiday in Petersburg, I
drove out, between 9 and 10 in the morning, to visit t