Catherine the Great

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Catherine the Great Page 72

by Robert K. Massie


  7 “The ceremony lasted four hours”: Ibid., 78

  8 “Our situation is the same”: Ibid. 64 “one was almost suffocated”: Memoirs, 71

  9 “My daughter conducts herself”: Oldenbourg, 79

  10 “There was not a day”: Memoirs, 72

  11 “I know that Your Highness has sent my brother”: Kaus, 65

  12 “use my influence”: Memoirs, 72

  10. A PILGRIMAGE TO KIEV AND TRANSVESTITE BALLS

  1 “pedagogues”: Memoirs, 73

  2 “got into ours”: Ibid., 74

  3 “We allowed only the most amusing”: Ibid.

  4 “While we were enjoying ourselves”: Ibid.

  5 “Knowing how easily excited”: Ibid., 75

  6 “When my mother was in a temper”: Ibid.

  7 “In truth, at that time”: Ibid.

  8 “Never in my whole life”: Ibid., 76

  9 “I was afraid of not being liked”: Ibid., 77

  10 “My respect for the empress”: Ibid.

  11 “I must say”: Ibid., 78

  12 “The very tall Monsieur Sievers”: Ibid.

  13 “washed her hands”: Ibid., 79

  11. SMALLPOX

  1 “uncontrollable in his whims”: Ibid., 82

  2 “he confided his childish pranks”: Ibid.

  3 “and was on such bad terms”: Ibid., 84

  4 “was very much to my liking”: Ibid.

  5 “she ordered me to go”: Ibid., 91

  6 “Your Highness, my very dear niece”: Troyat, 39

  7 “He was a man of great intelligence”: Memoirs, 85

  8 “I read his remarks again”: Ibid., 86

  9 “What a pity”: Ibid., 86, footnote

  10 “semi-darkness”: Ibid.

  11 “almost with terror”: Ibid.

  12 “he came up to me”: Kaus, 79

  12. MARRIAGE

  1 “About as discreet as a cannon ball”: Memoirs, 88

  2 “All the attention”: Ibid., 92

  3 “We spent our time walking”: Ibid. 93

  4 “As my wedding day came nearer”: Ibid., 97

  5 “severely scolded”: Ibid.

  6 “We had a long, friendly talk”: Ibid., 97

  7 “Her silver brocade wedding gown”: Oldenbourg, 95

  8 “The procession infinitely surpasses”: Kaus, 85

  9 “horribly heavy”: Memoirs, 98

  10 “I begged the Princess of Hesse”: Ibid., 99

  11 “I remained alone”: Ibid.

  12 “How it would amuse my servants”: Ibid.

  13 “And matters remained in this state”: Kaus, 86

  14 “There was not a single man” Memoirs, 100

  15 “The following day”: Ibid.

  16 “My dear husband”: Ibid., 100

  17 “I would have been ready”: Ibid., 101

  18 “was the gayest marriage”: Kaus, 85

  13. JOHANNA GOES HOME

  1 “Since my marriage”: Memoirs, 101

  2 “At that time I would have given much”: Ibid., 102

  3 “Our farewell was very loving”: Kaus, 89

  4 “When the princess took leave”: Ibid.

  5 “not to make me any sadder”: Anthony, 102

  6 “I consider it necessary”: Kaus, 90

  14. THE ZHUKOVA AFFAIR

  1 “From that moment on”: Herzen, 46

  2 “I thought I would faint”: Memoirs, 10

  3 “feared that I had grown”: Ibid.

  4 “My mother did not know Russian”: Ibid., 104

  5 “Through my servants”: Ibid., 105

  6 “It is difficult to find an explanation”: Ibid.

  7 “As for the previous dress”: Ibid., 149

  15. PEEPHOLES

  1 “on the empress’s behalf”: Ibid., 106

  2 “It seemed strange to us”: Ibid.,

  3 “satisfied and pleased with me”: Ibid., 107

  4 “I fear he may fall in love”: Ibid., 104

  5 “At last my wish is fulfilled”: Kaus, 84

  6 “this might serve his purposes”: Memoirs, 112

  7 “He did not tell us what it was”: Ibid., 109

  8 “a disrespectful little boy”: Ibid., 110

  9 “let fly at him”: Ibid.

  10 “We were dumfounded”: Ibid.

  11 “She was like a Fury”: Ibid., 111

  12 “One must admit”: Ibid

  13 “We beg your pardon, Mama”: Ibid.

  14 “had a great liking for the bottle”: Ibid., 112

  15 “Your Highness should bear in mind”: Ibid., 116

  16 “You talk and think of nothing”: Ibid.

  17 “I cannot speak to you like this”: Ibid., 117

  18 “The grand duke is asking for you”: Ibid.

  19 “No, my father”: Ibid., 123

  16. A WATCHDOG

  1 “Her Highness has been selected”: Oldenbourg, 110

  2 “In the two years I had been in Russia”: Memoirs, 113

  3 “Now, as I was married”: Herzen, 66

  4 “I know quite well”: Memoirs, 114

  5 “I could not save myself by flight”: Ibid.

  6 “such talk would displease the empress”: Ibid., 119

  7 “In those days”: Ibid., 123

  8 “Never did two minds resemble each other less”: Ibid., 129

  17. “HE WAS NOT A KING”

  1 “your father was not a king”: Ibid., 130

  2 “Apparently, my words carried conviction”: Ibid.

  3 “This was a dreadful blow for us”: Ibid., 127

  4 “Within a few days”: Ibid., 128

  5 “a gentle, reasonable man”: Ibid.

  6 “The grand duke and I”: Ibid., 133

  7 “In his distress, the grand duke”: Ibid., 128

  8 “There were moments”: Ibid., 129

  18. IN THE BEDROOM

  1 “It seems to me that I was good for something else”: Kaus, 101

  2 “The least rabbi of Petersburg”: Kaus, 94

  19. A HOUSE COLLAPSES

  1 “Get up and get out”: Memoirs, 141

  2 “like the waves of the sea”: Ibid., 142

  3 “Immediately afterward”: Herzen, 89

  4 “That, as to my stupidity”: Memoirs, 136

  5 “To show how useless this kind of order is”: Herzen, 84

  6 “often slipped me useful … information”: Ibid.

  7 “This is from your mother”: Memoirs, 144

  20. SUMMER PLEASURES

  1 “a large, stupid, clumsy girl”: Memoirs (Anthony), 132

  2 “I had the greatest freedom imaginable”: Ibid., 147

  3 “dominant passion”: Herzen, 78

  4 “On a woman’s saddle”: Ibid., 131

  5 “To tell the truth”: Memoirs, 183

  6 “She was tall”: Ibid., 181

  7 “We bit our lips”: Ibid., 182

  21. DISMISSALS AT COURT

  1 “She was a living archive”: Memoirs, 164

  2 “Do not come near me!”: Ibid., 150

  3 “Last night, Count Lestocq and his wife”: Ibid.

  4 “The empress did not have the courage”: Ibid., 151

  5 “This son of a bitch”: Ibid., 140

  6 “Do you remember the time”: Ibid., 141

  7 “This is the effect”: Ibid.

  8 “So, in order not to spoil his pleasure”: Ibid., 133

  9 “only two occupations”: Ibid., 154

  10 “From seven in the morning”: Ibid.

  11 “One day, hear a poor dog cry”: Ibid., 159

  22. MOSCOW AND THE COUNTRY

  1 “Countess Shuvalova told the empress”: Memoirs, 156

  2 “I know that. We will not speak of it”: Ibid., 157

  3 “It was the worst I have ever had”: Ibid., 160

  4 “She was mortally afraid of mice”: Ibid., 163

  5 “I rode constantly all day”: Ibid., 161

  6 “himself no enemy of wine”: Ibid.,
163

  7 “He did not know what he was saying”: Ibid.

  8 “He was very cheerful”: Ibid., 161

  9 “She sat by my bed”: Ibid., 164

  23. CHOGLOKOV MAKES AN ENEMY

  1 “one would have thought”: Herzen, 101

  2 “Choglokov is a conceited fool with a swollen head”: Memoirs, 165

  3 “As he could never keep”: Ibid., 167

  4 “I have never in my life felt anything like the pain”: Ibid., 170

  24. A BATH BEFORE EASTER AND A COACHMAN’S WHIP

  1 “beautiful eyes”: Memoirs, 173

  2 “her wit made one forget”: Herzen, 118

  3 “seeing myself slighted”: Ibid., 120

  4 “everyone was shocked and disgusted”: Ibid.

  5 “I would like to see what she can do”: Memoirs, 174

  6 “both took leave of their senses”: Ibid.

  7 “My God!, what happened?”: Ibid., 177

  8 “Wipe your cheek”: Ibid.

  9 “You see how these women treat us”: Ibid.

  25. OYSTERS AND AN ACTOR

  1 “an extraordinary passion”: Memoirs, 148

  2 “I listened to talk”: Herzen, 126

  3 “If this man or someone like him”: Ibid., 124

  4 “As ambassador, I have no instructions”: Memoirs, 192

  26. READING, DANCING, AND A BETRAYAL

  1 “of a dullness that I have never seen equaled”: Herzen, 148

  2 “He was blond and foppish”: Ibid., 132

  3 “Good God, what modesty!”: Memoirs, 190

  4 “I was very glad to see him”: Ibid., 189

  5 “And so, things went no further”: Herzen, 149

  6 “The truth”: Memoirs, 181

  7 “How is this, Madame Choglokova?”: Herzen, 151

  27. SALTYKOV

  1 “He was a born clown”: Memoirs, 194

  2 “a fool in every sense”: Herzen, 132

  3 “As these people”: Memoirs, 199

  4 “And your wife”: Ibid., 200

  5 “All that glitters”: Ibid.

  6 “He was twenty-six years old”: Ibid.

  7 “handsome as the dawn”: Ibid. 153 “How do you know”: Ibid., 201

  8 “his favorite subject”: Herzen, 155

  9 “I had to admit”: Memoirs, 201

  10 “Yes, yes, but go away”: Ibid.

  11 “He already believed himself”: Ibid., 202

  12 “Sergei Saltykov and my wife”: Ibid.

  13 “without something happening first”: Herzen, 158

  14 “I must speak to you”: Memoirs, 208

  15 “Madame Choglokova began”: Ibid.

  16 “You will see”: Ibid.

  17 “As soon as I had seen”: Ibid., 207

  18 “a few words that would allow him”: Ibid.

  19 “I know that you can see through them”: Ibid.

  20 “He gave him”: Ibid., 208

  21 “I must have been pregnant”: Herzen, 168

  22 “When this happened”: Ibid., 169

  23 “No one had ever seen”: Alexander, 45

  24 “There was no furniture”: Herzen, 173

  25 “He was dying just at a time”: Memoirs, 220

  26 “I am certain that my husband”: Herzen, 184

  28. THE BIRTH OF THE HEIR

  1 “a pillar of salt”: Memoirs, 248

  2 “Countess Shuvalova’s petticoats”: Herzen, 174

  3 “a depression”: Memoirs, 223

  4 “my troubles followed me”: Ibid.

  5 “isolated, with no company”: Herzen, 187

  6 “I had not the strength to crawl”: Ibid., 189

  7 “through excess of care”: Ibid., 192

  8 “I did not have a kopeck”: Memoirs, 228

  9 “whatever came from the empress”: Ibid.

  10 “This meant that I was”: Ibid., 229

  11 “I thought him beautiful”: Ibid.

  12 “until I felt strong enough”: Ibid.

  13 “a singular revolution in my brain”: Herzen, 196

  14 “ought to be the Breviary”: Durant, 10:435

  15 “all day and part of the night”: Memoirs, 230

  16 “constantly smoked”: Ibid.

  17 “I underwent agonies”: Herzen, 197

  18 “I saw as clear as day”: Memoirs, 231

  19 “He knew how to conceal his faults”: Ibid., 200

  20 “Has he not committed”: Alexander, 63

  29. RETALIATION

  1 “I had a superb dress made”: Memoirs, 232

  2 “I treated them with profound contempt”: Herzen, 198

  3 “One day, His Imperial Highness”: Memoirs, 233

  4 “he could have saved himself”: Herzen, 201

  5 “he got nothing”: Memoirs, 234

  6 “shuddered to think”: Herzen, 203

  7 “Those accursed Germans”: Memoirs, 235

  8 “a freakish prank”: Ibid., 236

  9 “We have become the servants”: Ibid.

  10 “as far away as I could”: Ibid

  30. THE ENGLISH AMBASSADOR

  1 “It was not difficult to talk”: Memoirs, 239

  2 “a stumbling block”: Ibid.

  3 “nowhere are people quicker”: Ibid., 240

  4 “The empress’s health”: Kaus, 138

  5 “A man at my age”: Cronin, 105

  6 “I have some hesitation”: Troyat, 87

  7 “Whatever may be further given”: Kaus, 143

  31. A DIPLOMATIC EARTHQUAKE

  1 “I have heard with pleasure”: Kaus, 144–45

  32. PONIATOWSKI

  1 “An excellent education”: Haslip, 71

  2 “A severe education”: Poniatowski, 157

  3 “She was twenty-five”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 48

  4 “I cannot deny myself the pleasure”: Oldenbourg, 178

  33. A DEAD RAT

  1 “You ought to go and see her”: Memoirs, 242

  2 “The evening passed”: Ibid., 243

  3 “Sometimes at the theater”: Ibid., 244,

  4 “like a servant girl”: Haslip, 76

  5 “Tell me how much you know”: Memoirs, 252

  6 “there is no worse traitor”: Ibid., 249

  7 “in the present critical and delicate”: Haslip, 82

  8 “I pressed her strongly”: Anthony, 137

  34. CATHERINE CHALLENGES BROCKDORFF

  1 “They tell me he is suspected”: Memoirs, 254

  2 “If such things are done: Ibid., 249

  3 “Come to my apartment”: Ibid., 255.

  4 “Speak to the grand duchess”: Ibid.

  5 “Baba Ptitsa”: Ibid., 256

  6 “He took money from everyone”: Ibid.

  7 “Look at this devil of a fellow”: Ibid., 257

  8 “The great problem lay in the fact”: Ibid., 258

  9 “Well, you began very young”: Ibid., 259

  10 “You seem to be well-informed”: Ibid., 264

  11 “The weather was superb”: Ibid., 276

  12 “The Grand Duchess is kindness”: Ibid., 277

  13 “please the empress”: Kaus, 147

  14 “The grand duke is as completely a Prussian”: Ibid., 148

  15 “I love you as my father”: Cronin, 110

  35. APRAKSIN’S RETREAT

  1 “a very corpulent man”: Cronin, 109

  2 “If the empress should die”:Haslip, 89

  3 “And there now remains”: Kaus, 171

  36. CATHERINE’S DAUGHTER

  1 “I have no idea”: Memoirs, 280

  2 “You fool! Go back”: Ibid.

  3 “Go to the devil!”: Ibid.

  4 “It is said that the public celebrations”: Ibid., 283

  5 “only just awakened”: Ibid., 284

  6 “You should not die of hunger”: Ibid.

  7 “the grand duke’s musicians”: Ibid., 285

  8 “except for Alexander Shuvalov”: Ibid.

/>   37. THE FALL OF BESTUZHEV

  1 “Count, I have just received a message”: Memoirs, 286

  2 “Thank God, we are going to arrest”: Ibid., 287

  3 “a loyal, honest man”: Ibid.

  4 “With a dagger in my heart”: Ibid., 288

  5 “What do all these wonderful things mean?”: Ibid.

  6 “attempting to sow discord”: Ibid., 292

  7 “You are a witness to the fact”: Ibid., 294

  38. A GAMBLE

  1 “in a fearful passion”: Memoirs, 297

  2 “What will you say to her?”: Ibid.

  3 “Today, my damned nephew”: Ibid., 299

  4 “I felt myself possessed”: Ibid

  5 “My natural pride”: Ibid., 300

  6 “I have just said”: Ibid., 301

  7 “We are all afraid”: Ibid., 302

  39. CONFRONTATION

  1 “Why do you wish me”: Memoirs, 305

  2 “My children are in your hands”: Ibid.

  3 “Your Imperial Majesty will tell them”: Ibid.

  4 “God is my witness”: Ibid.

  5 “You are dreadfully haughty”: Ibid., 306

  6 “She is dreadfully spiteful”: Ibid.

  7 “You meddle in many things”: Herzen, 288

  8 “And why did you write”: Ibid., 289

  9 “The grand duke showed much bitterness”: Ibid.

  10 “I have many more things to say”: Ibid., 290

  11 “He told me that the empress had spoken”: Ibid., 291

  12 “I expect you to answer truthfully”: Ibid., 296

  40. A MÉNAGE À QUATRE

  1 The quotations appearing in this chapter are taken from Poniatowski’s Memoires, translated by R. Massie

  41. PANIN, ORLOV, AND ELIZABETH’S DEATH

  1 “Let the boy remain”: Kaus, 176

  2 “I had rather be the mother”: Ibid., 177

  3 “the terror which the enemy”: Duffy, Frederick, 171

  4 “If I were emperor”: Alexander, 55

  5 “I must make room here”: Kaus, 183

  6 “the head of an angel”: Ibid.

  7 “a man of pleasure”: Dashkova, 1:3

  8 “We spoke French fluently”: Ibid., 4

  9 “I may venture to assert”: Ibid., 13

  10 “She captured my heart”: Ibid., 29

  11 “My child, you would do well”: Ibid., 27

  12 “You are a mere child”: Ibid., 29

  13 “gained me a high degree of notoriety”: Ibid., 30

  14 “I saw how little”: Ibid., 31

  15 “He must be mad”: Oldenbourg, 230

  16 “Of an army of forty-eight thousand”: Asprey, 520

  17 “What is wrong with me”: Duffy, Frederick, 192

  18 “I intend to continue the war”: Oldenbourg, 222

  19 The account of Dashkova’s nocturnal visit and conversation with Catherine is from Dashkova, 1:32–35

  20 “Her Imperial Majesty, Elizabeth Petrovna”: Haslip, 108

 

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