ath of his new ally, the Czar Peter.

After making peace with Frederick, and sending 20,000 of his troops
to serve under him, Peter, from a spirit of admiration of the Prussian
monarch, and of enthusiasm in his cause, insisted upon introducing the
Prussian discipline, and even the Prussian uniform into his army. He
set the example by appearing in the dress of a Prussian general, and he
often observed that, if he had remained Duke of Holstein, he would have
commanded a regiment in the Prussian service, and have become personally
acquainted with Frederick. This naturally offended the national
prejudices; but he took a more fatal step for his own welfare, by
building or dedicating Protestant chapels, by ordering the removal
of painted images of saints from the churches, and by checking the
entrances of novices into convents. By these measures he therefore
gained himself many enemies both among the military and the priesthood.
Every third man he admitted into his councils or his presence, it has
been said, was a traitor. His fall, however, might have been far distant
but for the wife of his bosom. Catherine, Princess of Anhalt Zerbst,
charmed the Russians as much as Peter disgusted them, and she was,
moreover, induced to believe that he had discovered her guilty connexion
with Count Gregory Orloff, and entertained a design of divorcing her and
casting her into prison, that he might raise his own favourite mistress,
Elizabeth Countess of Woronzow, to the throne. Hence--and being also
inflamed with ambition--Catherine lent a willing ear to the complaints
of the army, clergy, and nobility, and, aided by them, she effected
another revolution in Russia. Habited in the garb of a man, and
surrounded by some of the military and nobility, she proceeded to
the church of the Virgin Mary of Casan, where a vast concourse of the
clergy, the nobles, and the soldiery hailed her on her arrival as their
deliverer. She was crowned sole empress by the Archbishop of Novogorod,
and all present took the oath of allegiance to her. From the church,
Catherine proceeded to the senate, which at once acknowledged her right,
and swore fidelity to her cause. All the adherents of her husband were
then arrested, and Peter himself was thrown into prison, where, after a
few days, he died, as some say by disease, but more probably as others
assert, by assassination.

No one was more interested in these proceedings than Frederick of
Prussia. He conceived that