therine, odious and insatiable, was not confined to Orloff; but she knew how to distinguish talents and firmness, and in whom to confide her daring plans. Seated on the throne, she became the invisible, but powerful, principal of the factions formed against the czar. To the conspiracy of Bestucheff, supported by his nephew the prince of Volkonsky, united with count Panin, another was added, of which the princess Dashkoff, a girl only eighteen years of age, was the most active and spirited member. Of these factions, who acted in unison, though without the cognisance of each other, Catherine was the animating spirit.

The princess, a widow, but lately returned from Moscow, where she had been held as in exile by her husband, was destined by her family to supplant her sister in the affections of Peter: whether the lady disdained an imperial conquest, or whether the military taste of the czar, infatuated to liquor, and rendered gross by the fumes of tobacco, rendered him insensible to her charms, it is certain the project failed. To Catherine the princess became more acceptable: intrigue and the study of letters united them; according in their talents and in their pursuits, they passed whole days together. On the dismissal of

the empress to Peterhoff, her friend remained at Petersburg, the more effectually to serve her. A correspondence was kept up between them, in which the empress was informed of all that passed in the court and city, with the measures proper to adopt in circumventing the designs of the czar. Other motives, added to her friendship for the empress, might possibly combine to animate the zeal of this fair and youthful conspirator: jealous of the elevation that awaited her sister, the united interests and authority of her family proved insufficient to divert het from a cause in which, as prime mover, her ambition was interested. Dur ing her residence at Moscow she had studied the languages; while, conversant with the writings. of foreign nations, she had learned to contemn the ignorance and grossness of her own. Young, ardent, inexperienced, conscious of talent, and intoxicated with vanity, she aspired to the glory of conducting a revolution, braved the resentment of her family, defied danger, and despised death.

Her taste for the literature of France had been flattered and confirmed by Odart, a Piedmontese, who in search of fortune had come to Petersburg, and who had enlisted himself in the suite of the princess. Wit and a turn for intrigue

were the characteristics of this man; qualities which endeared him to his patroness, who extolled him to the empress as a superior genius, and a man to whom she was principally indebted for her acquirements. Catherine, by these eulogiums, was induced to desire his services, and to confer on him the title of her private secretary. From this office he was raised to the honour of her confidence: a witness to the indignities she suffered from the czar, he perceived in his overthrow the only means for her escape; how this was to be accomplished, and by whom would the attempt be hazarded, became the subject of his meditations. He perceived at once the dangers and the difficulties in which the project was involved; but riches and honours opposed themselves on one side to punishment and death on the other: avarice, the darling passion of Odart, was not long in adjusting the balance. He addressed himself to the princess, who had anticipated his ideas, and who received with exultation the aid which his talents promised.

The conspirators, intoxicated with flattering hopes, promised themselves from their success the most brilliant recompence.. .While the views of the secretary terminated in the acquisition of

wealth, the princess aspired to a more dazzling reward: glory was her idol, which required for its gratification the gaze of an admiring world.

For the execution of the conspiracy much yet was wanting; soldiers, money, and above all a chief, who, by his name and authority, might give dignity to their measures, and whom, accustomed to manage the court and direct its intrigues, no obstacles might discourage, no disappointments dismay. The attention of the faction was turned, as men proper for their purpose, on the hetman Cyril Razumoffsky, and count Nikita Ivanovitch Panin.

The influence enjoyed by the former during the reign of Elizabeth, the familiarity of the czar, which he had the art of preserving, the post which he held, one of the first in the empire, his immense riches, and liberality towards the troops, secured his ascendancy at court, and his popularity in the army. He had little esteem for Catherine, nor did he appreciate her powers, but he adhered with fidelity to his former party. Having applauded the designs communicated to him by the princess, he assured her, without seeming to take a direct part in the conspiracy, that in case of necessity she might rely on his concurrence. When, a few days afterwards, Orloff endeavoured

to sound him on the subject, he gave him every encouragement to espouse the cause of Catherine against her husband, while he intimated that her adherents might depend on his assistance. The hetman, pleased with the rising factions, and mentally determined to give them his support, kept the secret both of Orloff and the princess, who had not yet confided their views to each other. He went yet farther: assembling his friends on the instant, without precisely informing them of what was passing, he hinted to them a plot ripening among the troops for the dethronement of the czar; to this he added, that in their neglect to declare themselves its leaders, no alternative would probably remain, but to become the forced instruments or victims of the conspiracy. His hearers anxiously enquired on what it would be proper for them to determine: Join me,' replied the hetman, the moment hostilities commence ; I will take care to assign to each of you the rank to which he has a title to aspire. The blind intrepidity of some obscure persons is now meditating the blow; let us watch for the instant: should they succeed, it is for our dexterity to reap the fruit of their toils. Speak! Do you feel your selves disposed to follow my example ?'-Oaths of allegiance were mutually given and received