Catherine's Birth, Education, and Talents— Her early Gallantries and Dissimulation— Arrival at the Court of the Empress Elizabeth of Russia — Marriage with the Grand Duke Peter, afterwards Czar of Russia, under the name of Peter IH. — She concocts a Plot with her lovers to hurl him from the Throne, and conducts it with great skill and boldness— Is successful— Orders the Murder of her Husband, and becomes after his Death the absolute Sovereign of Russia — Her numerous Lovers — Prince Potemkin — The manner of Choosing and Dismissing the Favourites — Lontskoi — Momonof and his Lady — Catherine's Cruelty and Excesses— Her Death.
As the reign of Catherine II. empress of Russia, her crafty intrigues, the caprice of her numerous favourites, and the enormities of her generals, greatly influenced the ultimate fate of unhappy Poland, it may not be improper to give a sketch of her early days; to furnish the reader with the names of her principal lovers (the others are too insignificant and numerous to be mentioned), and to narrate some of the dark villanies related by her most authentic biographers.
Sophia Augusta Frederica, who, under the name of Catherine II., became the absolute empress of Russia after the murder of Peter III. in 1762, was the lawful daughter of Prince Augustus Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. and the princess of Holstein; and was bom May 2, 1729, at Stettin, in Prussian Pomerania.
Catherine's mother was a remarkably clever woman, and gave her an excellent education. From her early days the youthful Princess Sophia was not less remarkable for her beauty, her eloquence, and her firm and sagacious mind, than for her ambition, her licentiousness, and the extraordinary art with which she concealed her most secret thoughts. Even at the early age of fourteen she conducted her love affairs with no ordinary dissimulation. Brought to the court of the Empress Elizabeth, and married to the Grand Duke Peter, she attracted general admiration. Feigning an ardent passion for her husband, who became, after the death of his aunt Elizabeth, czar of Russia, under the title of Peter III., she planned with her lover an intrigue for hurling him from the throne, and taking into her own hands the sceptre of the Russian empire. In this difficult undertaking, which she conducted with extraordinary skill, boldness, and dissimulation, under the most trying circumstances, she ultimately succeeded.
Without attempting to describe her life, which has been so well written by many distinguished authors, we proceed to the description of the czarina's favourites.
It is a general remark, that when kings reign, women rule; and when women reign, men govern. Though some women may have possessed great strength of mind and talents; yet, on the whole, they never equal in any science or undertaking eminent men; but they always govern them by the power of their charms. From a remote period of Russian history, and especially in the last century, the monarchs of Russia have always had favourites oiScially; it is no wonder that a custom, so ancient and scrupulously observed by four empresses, namely, Catherine I., Anne, Elizabeth, and Catherine II., should be almost considered as the fundamental law of the empire, and as a concomitant of the imperial grandeur.
As the reign of Catherine II. was longer than that of any of her predecessors, and as her passions were warmer, it was natural that the number of her favourites should be greater. Sovereigns are but mortal after all, and are governed by the same feelings as the rest of mankind; consequently, they are often slaves to the same caprices and weaknesses, and having a larger field wherein to gratify their fancies and propensities, and being obliged often for state reasons to sacrifice their affection to the paltry considerations of court policy, they have more claim to our indulgence than those whose sphere of life shelters them from similar sacrifices. Infamy and crime, however, must not be committed, nor the laws of public decency violated with impunity.