Catherine the Great
Page 74
2 “Your long letter and stories”: Ibid., 57
3 “You were in a mood to quarrel”: Ibid., 67
4 “Precious darling”: Ibid.
5 “I wrote you a letter”: Ibid., 75
6 “Do me this one favor”: Ibid., 77
7 “Such rage ought to be expected”: Ibid., 80
8 “My Lord and Dear Husband!”: Ibid., 77
9 “Should you not find pleasure”: Ibid., 81
10 “May God forgive you”: Ibid., 82
11 “Your Most Gracious Majesty”: Ibid., 83
12 “I read your letter”: Ibid., 84
13 “To present this comedy to society”: Ibid., 85
14 “Matushka, here is the result”: Ibid.
15 “Your foolish acts remain the same”: Ibid., 68
16 “Listening to you talk sometimes”: Ibid., 74
17 “God knows I don’t intend”: Ibid., 87
18 “Your Most Gracious Majesty”: Ibid.
19 “You know, Madam, I am your slave”: Soloveytchik, 195
62. NEW RELATIONSHIPS
1 “My husband has written me”: Smith, Love and Conquest, 76
2 “You ask for Zavadovsky’s removal”: Ibid., 85
3 “Varinka, I love you”: Soloveytchik, 167
4 “Listen, my dearest, Varinka is very sick”: Smith, Love and Conquest, 96
5 “What’s the use of all this?”: Soloveytchik, 170
6 “Would it not be charming”: Anthony, 315
63. FAVORITES
1 “with the greatest dignity”: Coughlan, 294
2 “Last night I was in love with him”: Haslip, 257
3 “Pyrrhus, king of Epirus”: Kaus, 326,
4 “Big books at the bottom”: Cronin, 256
5 “changed his original common name”: Haslip, 261
6 “kind, gay, honest”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 354
7 “compared to the others, he was an angel”: Haslip, 288
8 “they helped, but I could not endure”: Alexander, 217
9 “I am plunged into the most profound grief”: Ibid., 216
10 “From Catherine to my dearest friend”: Haslip, 290
11 “I am once more inwardly calm”: Ibid., 292
12 “You cur, you monkey”: Ibid., 299
13 “Either he or I must go!”: Ibid.
14 “They slept until nine o’clock”: Alexander, 218
15 “We are as clever”: Coughlan, 295
16 “Sasha is beyond price”: Haslip, 305
17 “stifling”: Ibid., 306
18 “It is your duty to remain”: Ibid., 330
19 “cold and preoccupied”: Alexander, 219
20 “a girl most ordinary”: Ibid., 220
21 “God grant them happiness”: Gooch, 51
22 “I have never been”: Alexander, 222
23 “constantly tortures my soul”: Ibid.
64. CATHERINE, PAUL, AND NATALIA
1 “We have never had a jollier time”: Gooch, 26
2 “I return to town on Tuesday”: Ibid.
3 “Everything is done to excess”: Alexander, 227
4 “The grand duke”: Smith, Love and Conquest, 58
5 “Her friends are, with reason”: Alexander, 228
6 “Never in my life”: Ibid.
7 “For three days”: Haslip, 239
8 “perfectly formed boy”: Alexander, 229
9 I have wasted no time”: Troyat, 232
10 “since it has been proven”: Ibid., 231
65. PAUL, MARIA, AND THE SUCCESSION
1 “I hope that in time”: Ibid., 231
2 “Nothing can exceed”: Gooch, 29
3 “The grand duke is exceedingly amiable”: Ibid.
4 “my daughter.… Be assured”: Alexander, 232
5 “We shall have her here”: Anthony, 277
6 “My son has returned”: Alexander, 233.
7 “I swear to love and adore you”: Troyat, 234
8 “This dear husband is an angel”: Gooch, 30
9 “Wherever she goes”: Ibid.
10 “had been given a map of Europe”: Haslip, 285
11 “whether his Polish majesty”: Ibid., 286
12 “prefers stewed fruit”: Ibid.
13 “an ardent and impetuous man”: Waliszewski, 403
14 “The grand duke is greatly undervalued”: Gooch, 30
15 “When they admitted me”: Ibid., 32
16 “He combined plenty of intelligence”: Ibid., 33
17 “You tax me with my hypochondria”: Anthony, 287
18 “Permit me to write you often”: Ibid.
19 “One cannot see everything”: Troyat, 323
20 “I told you that your request”: Gooch, 27
21 “I shall be separated”: Gooch, 34
22 “There is no one”: Anthony, 288
23 “I see into what hands”: Gooch, 35
24 “I hope not in the time of M. Alexander”: Ibid., 36
66. POTEMKIN: BUILDER AND DIPLOMAT
1 “Is that a soldier’s business?”: Soloveytchik, 177
2 “such a mixture of wit”: Ibid., 221
3 “She had the strongest desire to help us”: Ibid., 201
4 “You have chosen an unlucky moment”: Ibid., 212
5 “The interest I take in everything”: Ibid., 216
6 “Flatter her as much as you can”: Ibid., 225
7 “You can demand of us”: Ibid.
8 The dialogue between Potemkin and Harris regarding an Anglo-Russian alliance is drawn from Soloveytchik, 227–45
9 “La mariée est trop belle”: Ibid., 234
10 “The acquisition of the Crimea”: Soloveytchik, 180
67. CRIMEAN JOURNEY AND “POTEMKIN VILLAGES”
1 “Everything was done to deter me”: Haslip, 308
2 “Your children belong to you”: Troyat, 271
3 “Your latest proposal”: Rounding, 424
4 “heavy baggage”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 569
5 “It was a time”: Haslip, 307
6 “One day when I was sitting”: Rounding, 429
7 “Here, the greenery in the meadows”: Smith, Love and Conquest, 176
8 “Avoid the prince”: Haslip, 310
9 “the greatest genius of her age”: Ibid., 303
10 “the pleasantest company”: Ibid., 304
11 “It is odd”: Smith, Love and Conquest, 175
12 “Gentlemen, the king of Poland”: Montefiore, 365
13 “It was thirty years”: Ibid., 366
14 “They spoke little”: Haslip, 314
15 “our guest’s desire that I remain here”: Smith, Love and Conquest, 178
16 “The king bores me”: Haslip, 315
17 “The new favorite is good-looking”: Ibid., 317
18 “I performed a great deed”: Cronin, 130
19 “What a peculiar land”: Montefiore, 371
20 “the most beautiful port I have ever seen”: Ibid., 374
21 “I love you and your service”: Smith, Love and Conquest, 180
22 “How I appreciate the feelings”: Ibid., 182
23 “Between you and me, my friend”: Ibid.
68. THE SECOND TURKISH WAR AND THE DEATH OF POTEMKIN
1 “You are impatient”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 398
2 “Children, I forbid you”: Soloveytchik, 301
3 “I will try to get it cheaply”: Ibid., 308
4 “You cannot capture a fortress”: Ibid.
5 “My dear friend, you alone mean more to me”: Ibid.
6 “May the Prince Gregory Alexandrovich”: Ibid., 309
7 “Hurry up, my dear friend”: Ibid.
8 “If Izmail resists”: Montefiore, 450
9 “this insane note … Sir John Falstaff”: Alexander, 270
10 “breastplate”: Haslip, 346
11 “We have pulled one paw out”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 414
12 “I here behold a Commander in Chief”
: Ibid., 314
13 “Has your ship struck”: Morison, 230
14 “Paul Jones has just arrived: Ibid., 364
15 “I was entirely captivated”: Ibid.
16 “It is to you alone”: Montefiore, 400
17 “Our victory is complete”: Ibid.
18 “I hope to be subjected”: Morison, 382
19 “nobody wished to serve:: Ibid., 384
20 “She then indulged”: Ibid., 387
21 “The charge against me is an unworthy”: Ibid., 388
22 “The accusation against me is false”: Ibid. 513 “Paul Jones is no more guilty than I”: Montefiore, 421
23 “I must pull out the tooth”: Soloveytchik, 326
24 “When one looks at the Prince-Marshal Potemkin”: Ibid., 327
25 “The child sends his greetings”: Ibid., 335
26 “I could not remove him from my path”: Montefiore, 478
27 “Please send me a Chinese dressing gown”: Ibid., 338
28 “the first pianist and one of the best composers”: Montefiore, 482
29 “Take that which”: Smith, Love and Conquest, 389
30 “I’m not going to recover”: Soloveytchik, 340
31 “Tell me frankly”: Ibid.
32 “Good hands”: Ibid., 341
33 “Matushka, oh how sick I am!”: Smith, Love and Conquest, 390
34 “I have no more strength”: Ibid., 390
35 “This will be enough”: Soloveytchik, 342
36 “the prince is no longer on this earth”: Ibid., 343
37 “Now I have no one left”: Ibid.
69. ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND THE BRONZE HORSEMAN
1 “The Walpole paintings are no longer to be had”: Descargues, 42
2 “The Comte de Baudoin leaves it”: Ibid., 44
3 “The world is a strange place”: Ibid.
4 “We are prodigiously delighted”: Ibid.
5 “I am a glutton”: Waliszewski, 344
6 “You should know our mania”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 532
7 “Now I love to distraction”: Waliszewski, 390
8 The Captain’s Daughter appears in Yarmolinski, ed., 599–727
9 “My posterity is Your Majesty”: Waliszewski, 341 529 “What a charming picture”: Descargues, 26
10 “My paintings are beautiful”: Ibid., 29
11 “They have not made, as I have”: Rounding, 221
12 “There is an old song”: Ibid., 222
13 “I hear only praise”: Ibid.
14 “in general, everyone is very happy”: Ibid.
15 “You will choose honest and reasonable people”: Waliszewski, 350
16 The lines from Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” are cited in Yarmolinski, ed., 106–107
70. “THEY ARE CAPABLE OF HANGING THEIR KING FROM A LAMPPOST!”
1 “to God and the country never to be separated”: Schama, 359
2 “Go tell those who have sent you”: Schama, 363
3 “null, illegal, and unconstitutional”: Winik, 124
4 “I fear that the greatest obstacle”: Gooch, 103
5 “French, Russians, Danes”: Madariaga, Catherine, 189
6 “I cannot believe in the superior talents”: Gooch, 99
7 “They are capable of hanging their king”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 421
8 “Above all, I hope”: Gooch, 99
9 “I am sad to see you go”: Haslip, 341
10 “I am afraid so, Madame”: Ibid.
11 “the Hydra with twelve hundred heads”: Waliszewski, 351
12 “only people who set in motion a machine”: Gooch, 100
13 “Tell a thousand people to draft a letter”: Cronin, 269
14 “the cause of the king of France”: This summary of Catherine’s memorandum is based on Lariviere, 101 ff.
15 “an exemplary and unforgettable act”: Schama, 612
16 “a scum of criminals vomited”: Loomis, 75
17 “I don’t give a damn about the prisoners”: Schama, 633
18 “to protect the republic”: Thompson, 258–9
19 “the foulest and most atrocious act”: Schama, 687
20 “The revolution has no need”: Loomis, 335
21 “Madame, we must go now”: Ibid., 333
22 “The mechanism falls like thunder”: Schama, 621
23 “immediately after the decapitation”: www.guillotine.dk/Pages/30sek/html.
71. DISSENT IN RUSSIA, FINAL PARTITION OF POLAND
1 “Likely to corrupt morals”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 546
2 “beastly purpose”: Radishchev, 96
3 “breaks the head”: Ibid., 97
4 “Do you know, dear fellow citizens”: Ibid., 153
5 “has learning enough”: Ibid., 239
6 “hence the suspicion falls on M. Radishchev”: Ibid., 241
7 “the purpose of this book is clear”: Ibid., 239
8 “a rabble-rouser, worse than Pugachev”: Ibid., 11
9 “I’ve read the book you sent me”: Montefiore, 440
10 “Now I am my own master”: Radishchev, 19
11 “will oppose us with only”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 430
12 “exterminate that nest of Jacobins”: Haslip, 353
13 “I am breaking my head”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 428
14 “Apparently you ignore”: Ibid., “435
15 “soldiers of Her Imperial Majesty”: Haslip, 356
16 “Does the Diet authorize”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 439
17 “Silence means consent”: Ibid. 557 “a Russian province”: Ibid., 440
18 “the whole of Praga”: Ibid., 446
72. TWILIGHT
1 “You probably don’t need this contrivance”: Cronin, 289
2 “are you not ashamed of yourself?”: Waliszewski, 376
3 “let me march against the French!”: Kaus, 376
4 “Madame, you must be gay”: Ibid., 367
5 “Twenty years ago”: Waliszewski, 391
6 “I have said it to you before”: Ibid., 412
7 “It is astonishing”: Troyat, 236
8 “If you only knew what wonders”: Kaus, 306
9 “I am making a delicious child”: Troyat, 236
10 “He loves me instinctively”: Oldenbourg, 331
11 “It is sewn together”: Waliszewski, 413
12 “There is in my country”: Troyat, 323
13 “I didn’t know what would become of me”: Cronin, 295
14 “the grand duchess will never be troubled”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 576
15 “With the church’s blessing?”: Cronin, 296
16 “King Gustavus is not well”: Ibid., 297
17 “What I have written”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 576
18 “The fact is that the king pretended”: Memoirs (Anthony), 321
73. THE DEATH OF CATHERINE THE GREAT
1 “The grand duke got out of his sleigh”: Cronin, 299
2 “Gentlemen, the Empress Catherine is dead”: Ibid., 300
3 “The subject was the unlimited power”: Madariaga, Russia in the Age, 580
4 “Before I became what I am today”: Haslip, 361
5 “HERE LIES CATHERINE”: Anthony, 325
6 “my name is Catherine II”: Alexander, 265
7 “Day before yesterday”: Haslip, 361
ALSO BY ROBERT K. MASSIE
Nicholas and Alexandra
Peter the Great
Dreadnought
The Romanovs
Castles of Steel
Journey (co-author)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ROBERT K. MASSIE was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and studied American history at Yale and European history at Oxford, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar. He was president of the Authors Guild from 1987 to 1991. His previous books include Nicholas and Alexandra, Peter the Great: His Life and World (for which he won a Pulitzer Prize for biography), The Romanovs
: The Final Chapter, Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War, and Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea.