dangerous than humiliating. The hetman used on this occasion the frankness and earnestness which his station, his fortune, and his services authorised. Vorontzoff, at the feet of the empress, implored her not to form a connection teeming with the most perilous consequences. Catherine, pretending surprise, after thanking her counsellors for their friendship and courage, assured them, that the measure they deprecated had never entered her mind; that it was without her knowledge an intrigue so odious had been carried on, of which Bestucheff was the sole conductor, and who should assuredly feel her resentment. Nevertheless, she reproved not with too great severity a man who had sought but to flatter her inclinations, and whose humours she conceived it necessary to indulge. (Concluded in the next volume.) END OF VOLUME THE SECOND, T. Davison, Whitc-Friars: |