At the early age of nineteen years, Sophia of Anhalt renounced the faith of her forefathers and her baptismal name, that she might gain even in the icy regions of Russia a new country, a husband, and, above all, a crown.

At this period she was, in appearance, a lovely girl, with a fresh complexion, dark eyebrows, and a magnificent head of hair; in temper, gay and playful; yet her soul, stirred by feelings of ambition, had not yet taken for itself her afterwards celebrated motto

"I WILL have POWER at any price." Young, fair, and candid, she might have had flatterers without controverting history, in order to bestow on her, wellmerited praise.

Sophia, who was afterwards surnamed Catherine, was born at Stettin, in the year 1729. Her father was Christian Augustus, prince of Anhalt-Zerbst; her mother, the Princess of Holstein Entin, a lady of great beauty, of consummate diplomatic skill, though of moderate acquirements. She educated the young Sophia, her daughter, herself; clad her in the simplest habits, and took care to supVOL. VIII.-No. 1.

press all pride and arrogance in her manners, which were formed with that tone of frankness and pleasant adaptation to the tastes of others, of such infinite use to her in after-life. She had an early taste for literature, was acquainted with most of the European languages, and the first writers; moreover, she had profoundly studied history, and the rudiments of several sciences. Such was she when instructed by a celebrated Lutheran divine, who little thought his young pupil would soon renounce her primitive faith.

In the renunciation of that faith for the adoption of a ritual, full of the most gorgeous ceremonies, and almost endless genuflections, in which the Greek church appeals to the eye, and not to the understanding, the young Sophia lost her true guide, and the only one that could have led her without scathe through the corruptions which, at the court of Petersburgh, on all sides surrounded her. Her advancement there was, on the part of her clever mother, a stroke of consummate art.

The reigning empress of Russia, Eli

zabeth, daughter of Peter the Great by his last wife, had been betrothed in her youth to the Prince of Holstein Entin. He, however, died just before the marriage; and Elizabeth, who doated on him with the deepest passion, made a vow in her frantic grief never to wed another man. After his death, she kept up a very warm and affectionate correspondence with his sister, the Princess of Anhalt. Elizabeth had adopted, as the heir of the Russian empire, Peter, Duke of Holstein Gottorp, the orphan of her eldest sister, the Princess Anne; and, as this young prince was desirous of marrying, the Princess of Anhalt invited herself to pay a visit to the frozen dominions of her friend, and took in her hand her lovely and accomplished Sophia, on a real expedition of husband-hunting; for, though a princess, the young German girl was very slenderly endowed with the gifts of fortune.

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Although the Empress Elizabeth had showed so much sensibility on the death of her betrothed, she, the offspring of a beautiful father and mother, was herself one of the loveliest women in Europe, yet of unchaste and sensual habits. Such was the degeneracy in those days, that she was the mother of several illegitimate children, who were taken privately from the palace. One of these, the son of a very handsome Englishman, a Russia merchant, resident at St. Petersburgh, was noted in England for his great munificence and noble person, and as princely patron of the fine arts. His name will be long remembered as the founder of a gallery of paintings. The story goes, that, when a babe, this gentleman was let down in basket from the window of the empress's palace at St. Petersburgh, and endowed, by his imperial mother, with a fortune of 100,000 roubles of gold. This fortune was well improved by his father, who brought the princely boy up as a merchant; and when of age, he made in this country such a prudent and benevolent use of his vast means, that his name will be placed on our annals as the rival, in good deeds, of our Greshams and Herriots. He died, full of years and honours, in England, in 1813. His daughter, the beautiful Julia A- married a Russian prince; and his son follows the steps of his father in England. How much happier is this distinguished and virtuous

family, than if their imperial ancestress had struggled to leave them her crown of thorns. This slight digression will be excused, since it casts a light on the peculiar state of female conduct in Russia at that time, even in the highest grade, and proves the corrupt society into which the ambition of the Princess of Anhalt plunged her daughter; and it also offers some apology for the enormities of conduct of which that princess was afterwards guilty.

The young heir of Russia, like all the Romanzoff family, was remarkable for his fine person and handsome face; and, though ill-educated, possessed talents, and an ardent desire to gain improvement. The empress had received the sister and niece of her former lover with tender friendship; and the charms of the young Sophia speedily captivated the grand duke. As soon as he had declared his passion, the Princess of Anhalt threw herself at the feet of the empress, and assured her that the young lovers were attached by an unconquerable love; and reminding her of the love she still bore her brother, conjured her not to destroy the happiness of his niece. The stratagem succeeded; the choice of a wife for the grand duke was next day announced by the empress to the ambassadors and ministers; and magnificent preparations were made for celebrating the marriage.

Meantime the grand duke fell ill of the small-pox, which disease he had with such virulence, that, although his sight and life were spared, his handsome face was so much disfigured, that his bride could. not look on him without shuddering; and this accident converted the love of the young Princess Sophia, if she ever had any for him, into hatred. However, she was not of a disposition to let an ugly face frighten her from a throne. She embraced the Greek religion, was baptised under the NEW name of CATHARINA ALEXIEVNA; and, with the entire approbation of the empress, was married to the grand duke.

The ungrateful dislike she had taken to her husband, for what was no fault of his, soon manifested itself in quarrels and ill-will. She made a party against him with his aunt, and was successful, till the lightness of her own conduct became the subject of open comment. Her first lover was the grand chamberlain of