single complaint, but, raising the fainting form of the Lady Taddea in his arms, he said, gently, "God will restore us-we must struggle

on."

Carrara applied what restoratives he had to his unfortunate lady, and, having watched her return to consciousness, he left her in charge of the attendants, and, regardless of the risk he incurred, entered Pisa with his Florentine guide, and having procured some food and a horse, he returned to cheer the downcast spirits of those whom he had left awaiting with anxiety the result of his expedition. The Lady Taddea having mounted, they proceeded by a circuitous route to the town of Cascima, where they lodged for the night in the stable belonging to a miserable inn. Worn out both in mind and body, Carrara and his wife threw themselves gladly upon the straw prepared for the animals, and whilst they endeavoured to sleep, Donati, who had joined their little troop, the Florentine, and the other attendants guarded the door from all intruders.

At dead of night, when their weary eyelids were beginning to close from exhaustion, there was a loud knocking at the door, which roused them and filled their minds with foreboding. The Carraras had ceased to hope for anything good at the hand of man, and this rude knocking sent a thrill of apprehension through the heart of the noble lady. A voice was heard demanding the lord of Padua.

"I am he," said Donati, with the generous impulse of a friend, for he, too, was suspicious of the inquirer's object; but when he learned that this stranger came from Gambacorta, bringing a letter to explain his conduct that day, together with six horses and other necessaries for the journey, besides luxuries, such as preserves, lights, &c., he hesitated not to conduct him into the wretched stable, where the real lord lay reposing upon a bed of straw.

The good news was soon communicated, and it was the more welcome from being so wholly unexpected.

In consequence of a command from Gambacorta that the illustrious fugitives should everywhere be well entertained throughout his territory, the landlord of the little inn, who had before refused them any shelter in his house, gave up his own bed, that Carrara and his wife might pass the remaining part of the night in comparative comfort.

This was the first time since her departure from Asti that the Lady Taddea had enjoyed the luxury of reposing upon a bed. Till then, throughout all their arduous travelling, they had never lain upon aught but straw, or worse, upon the hard ground.

The next day brought them to Florence, the asylum they had looked forward to so long and so ardently.

Disappointment was again their lot even here.

It is true that they were now in safety from Visconti, freed from anxiety, at their journey's end, and reunited to their children. All these were subjects for rejoicing, but, unhappily for Carrara, the policy of the Florentine government had considerably changed during the short time which had elapsed since his departure from Asti. Giovanni Galeazzo professed a strong desire to remain at peace, and as the republic was suffering from a severe famine, the magistrates were anxious not to give the powerful lord of Lombardy any pretext for a quarrel, which in their present condition could only be carried on by them with difficulty, and perhaps

disadvantage. It was for this reason that they avoided any official communication with the fugitive lord of Padua. He was not received with open arms, as he had had reason to anticipate; his wrongs were not loudly proclaimed in the senate as deserving of redress; he was treated but as a private individual seeking that shelter which Florence accorded to any unfortunate, of whatever rank.

This was the cause of disappointment, which dulled the brightness of their otherwise happy reunion, and made even the stout-hearted Carrara fear for the future. It was not a mere asylum that he wanted at the hands of Florence. He saw in the republic a natural enemy to the rapacious Visconti, and hoped to regain possession of his territory through its instrumentality. If, however, Florence forgot her own interests, and allowed the continued encroachments of this formidable neighbour, where could he seek for the support he needed?

The energies of the exiled lord were rather increased than checked by this momentary despair. His determination to withstand the power of Visconti, and by perseverance regain what he had lost, grew stronger as the difficulties which enclosed him thickened more and more.

His position at Florence, though humiliating, was far preferable to the unsafe and hollow grandeur in which he had resided at Milan. What he now possessed was at least secure, and upon calculation he found that the treasure he had succeeded in saving amounted to eighty thousand florins in money, and sixty thousand in jewels and precious stones.

Carrara's thoughts and actions were all tending to the one great aim of his life. He took advantage of every occasion which seemed to bring him nearer, even though it were but an inch, to the one object upon which his heart was set.

As Tuscany had refused her support for a time, he resolved to seek elsewhere amongst the enemies of Galeazzo Visconti for some who would be ready to lend him aid at the same time that they gratified their own

resentment.

He despatched Baldo da Piombino as an ambassador to his kinsman, the Count Stefano, whose possessions lay in Croatia, that he might be fully acquainted with his condition, and how much he might expect from him in case of need.

An appointment was offered to Carrara in the bands of Hawkewood's Condottieri. This he refused, deeming it beneath him; besides which, it would have crippled his actions. To secure an interest amongst these brave adventurers, however, and to give his natural brother, the Count of Carrara, an honourable independence, he caused him to be enrolled as commander of a company of a hundred lances.

307

FREDERICK THE GREAT AND CATHERINE II.

THE publication of the two first volumes of Carlyle's Life of Frederick has acted as a remarkable stimulus on German literati, and contributions to the history of Prussia pour in almost daily. Many of them, it is true, bear the fatal Dryasdust taint, but here and there a valuable hint may be found. Probably, however, the most important of all these is a volume just published by Von Schlözer, in which he analyses the relations that subsisted between Fritz and the crafty Catherine of Russia.* The matter has hitherto been kept in considerable mystery, and the old gentleman's character has naturally suffered from it. More especially is this the case with reference to the partition of Poland, of which Frederick has usually been supposed the originator, but we hope to rehabilitate him by means of the satisfactory evidence Von Schlözer has placed at our disposal.

When Frederick of the Stick was on his death-bed, he called to him the crown prince, and told him, with reference to Russia, that "he should ever maintain a cautious and neutral position towards that power: there was no reason to expect much from Russia, but it was evident that in a war with her there was more to lose than to gain." In truth, the president of the Tobacco College had been sorely deluded by the Empress Anna in the matter of the Polish succession and the duchy of Courland. The two courts had been on excellent terms-to such an extent that Frederick William selected his tallest corporals and sent them to Petersburg to teach the Guards the Prussian exercise, while Anna returned the compliment by picking out eighty of her most powerful recruits, and making them a present to the king for his body-guard. A treaty was negotiated at Wustershausen by which Courland would fall to a Prussian prince, while, on the death of the King of Poland, the two courts would combine their efforts to ensure the election of the infant of Portugal.

The old king had a bitter lesson as to putting faith in princesses: for not only did Russia join with Austria to raise a Saxon prince to the Polish throne on the death of Augustus, in 1733, but Anna gave Courland to her favourite, the Duke of Biron. Woe to the unhappy minister who had to break the news to his Prussian master. To the day of his death the old gentleman never forgot or forgave the perfidy.

When Frederick ascended the throne, his first object was the seizure of the duchy of Berg; but not wishing to leave East Prussia exposed, in the event of a European war, he formed a treaty with the Russian court, by which the latter promised him the aid of twelve thousand men to cover his frontier in the case of certain eventualities. But the death of the Emperor Charles VI. altered all Frederick's plans, and he took advantage of Maria Theresa's position to invade Silesia. About this time, too, the Empress Anna died, and a family revolution made the Grand-Duchess Anna regent in the place of Biron. Münnich, the head of the conspiracy, was devoted to Prussia, and Frederick had thus a powerful support in Russia.

Unfortunately, Münnich's position was very insecure cabals were

* Friedrich der Grosse und Catharina die Zweite. Von Kurd von Schlözer. Berlin. 1859.

formed against him, and he was compelled to resign. The party opposing him naturally favoured Austria, and the Prussian victory at Mollwitz alarmed the regent. All seemed to forebode that Russia would act decisively against Prussia when another revolution broke out, and Elizabeth ascended the throne.

Elizabeth was the youngest daughter of Peter the Great, and resided at St. Petersburg, in a species of honorary Coventry. Her society was formed exclusively of Russians, which gave great offence at court, though her chief favourite, L'Estocq, was a Hanoverian by birth. The princess had rendered herself a favourite with the troops by continually visiting the Guards' barracks, and standing as godmother to the newborn children, while she would publicly drive about the streets with some tall grenadier or the other seated behind her carriage. Strangely enough, although the court were fully convinced that Elizabeth was meditating some design, they took no precautions. The empress reproached the princess mildly for the scandal she created by her liaison with L'Estocq, and this alarmed the conspirators. To precipitate events, L'Estocq showed the princess a piece of paper, on either side of which her portrait was drawn; one represented her in state, as empress; the other as a nun, with a gallows and a wheel on her right and left. beth felt there was no time to be lost, so she placed herself at the head Elizaof the Preobrajenski guard, and invaded the palace. The troops proclaimed her empress, and a few hours sufficed to restore order.

Frederick immediately took advantage of this change to restore his influence at Petersburg. At the end of 1742 he was in entire possession of Silesia, and the treaty of Breslau secured it to him. But he wanted, before all, the guarantee of Russia remaining on friendly terms with him, for his treasury was exhausted, and peace was essential. Elizabeth met him half way, and a treaty was signed, securing the King of Prussia his new possessions. Fortunately, at the same time, a conspiracy was detected in Petersburg, in which the Austrian ambassador was deeply implicated, and Maria Theresa's cause received a tremendous blow: she had not an open friend left in Russia. To confirm the good feeling with Berlin, Elizabeth wished that the king should betroth one of his sisters to her heir and nephew, Duke Peter of Holstein; but Frederick put no faith in court security in Russia, and declined. However, not to lose the opportunity, he put forward the Princess Sophia Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, who was accepted, in spite of the intrigues of the Elector of Saxony, who offered his daughter Marianne.

The Princess of Zerbst was requested to come to Petersburg incognita with her daughter, and pay the empress a visit. Frederick urged her strongly to go, and explained the prospect opening for her daughter, and the ambitious woman gladly accepted. The future empress was much moved at the separation from her father: her mother, writing to Frederick, says: "Ma fille s'est aperçue, en quittant son père, où le chemin s'adressait : cette séparation l'a extrêmement émue. Sa grande jeunesse lui a fait bientôt surmonter ce premier mouvement, qui à cet âge-là ne saurait proprement se nommer que du nom d'attendrissement. Lui, de son côté, ne l'a pas été peu, et je suis persuadée, de la manière dont il pense sur les grandeurs de ce monde, que rien ne pourra le consoler de l'éloignement d'un enfant qui faisait toute sa joie que les bonnes graces de Votre Majesté, que je lui demande, ainsi qu'à nous tous."

At Riga, the travellers crossed the unhappy Brunswick family, sent into exile by Elizabeth, who were sent to Oranienburg, in consequence of the recent conspiracy. The arrival of the princess at Petersburg was a thunder-stroke for the Saxon party, who hoped to raise religious scruples, owing to the relationship between the young couple, but Elizabeth had already settled those matters with the complaisant synod. She grew much attached to the young princess, whose mother, in the pride of her heart, writes to the Prince of Zerbst, at Stettin: "Notre fille trouve grande approbation. La souveraine la chérit, le successeur l'aime, et c'est une affaire finie." But there were still difficulties in the way: the young princess could not endure the idea of changing her religion, and we find from the Prussian envoy Mardefeld's reports, that she suffered great agony of mind, and wept bitterly at the thought of resigning the religion of her forefathers. At such times her Greek clergyman was dismissed, and a Lutheran called in to offer her consolation.*

The delay troubled Frederick excessively, hence we find him writing to the mother on the 27th February: "Il ne me reste, Madame, qu'à vous prier de vaincre la répugnance de votre fille pour la religion grecque, après quoi vous aurez couronné votre œuvre." How well she succeeded, we find in one of Mardefeld's letters, a few weeks later: "Le changement de religion fait, à la vérité, à la princesse une peine infinie, et les larmes lui coulent en abondance quand elle se trouve seule avec des personnes qui ne lui sont pas suspectes. Cependant l'ambition en prend à la fin le dessus. La mère en est encore plus susceptible, et l'idée flatteuse de pouvoir dire avec le temps, 'l'Impératrice' tout comme 'mon frère,' lui lève facilement tout scrupule et sert à conforter la fille." In the mean while, Frederick was working on that good Prince of Zeibst, who could only reply, "My daughter shall not turn Greek." At last, the king unearthed a priest (he tells us so himself) who persuaded the prince that the Greek rite was like the Lutheran, and he then changed his one note to "Lutheran-Greek, Greek-Lutheran, that will do.'

All being thus smoothed, the princess accepted the Greek confession on the 9th July, and received the name of Katharina Alexeyevna. All present at the ceremony wept abundantly, except the princess herself. The next day she was betrothed to the grand-duke, and Frederick, always anxious to have a friend at court, and not knowing what might turn up, wrote to her on the moment the following letter:

MADAME, Je compte parmi les plus beaux jours de ma vie celui où j'ai vu l'élévation de Votre Altesse Impériale à cette dignité. Je me croirais trop heureux d'y avoir contribué, content que ce serait un service que j'aurais rendu à l'Impératrice de Russie, ma chère alliée, et à tout ce vaste empire, que de lui avoir trouvé une princesse de Votre mérite, Madame, pour compagne de couche du grand-duc. Je Vous prie de croire que je prends plus de part que qui que ce puisse être à tout ce qui regarde Votre aimable personne, et que je me ferai sans cesse un plaisir de vous prouver comme je suis, Madame, Votre très-fidèement affectionné cousin, FREDERICK.

Berlin, 5 Août 1744.

*In the recently published Memoirs of Catherine II., the princess gives a very different account. But it must be remembered that she wrote them for the benefit of her son, and naturally placed her own conduct in the best light.