there, and saw several persons coming out of it all bloody, while others
were carried out. Amongst those most severely wounded was the Princess
Gagarine, my maid of honour. She had tried to escape like the rest, but
in passing through a room adjoining her own, a stove, which fell down,
overturned a screen, by which she was thrown upon a bed, which was in
the room. Several bricks fell upon her head, and wounded her severely,
as they did also a girl who was with her. In this same story there was a
small kitchen, in which several servants slept, three of whom were
killed by the fall of the fire-place. This, however, was nothing
compared with what occurred between the foundations and the ground
floor. Sixteen workmen attached to the slides slept there, and all of
them were crushed to death by the fall of the house. All this mischief
arose from the house having been built in the autumn, and in a hurry.
They had given it as a foundation four layers of limestone. In the lower
story the architect had placed, in the vestibule, twelve beams, which
served as pillars. He had to go to the Ukraine, and at his departure
told the manager of the estate of Gostilitza not to allow any one to
touch those beams till his return. Yet, notwithstanding this
prohibition, when the manager learnt we were to occupy this cottage,
nothing would do but he must immediately remove these beams, because
they disfigured the vestibule. Then, when the thaw came, everything sank
upon the four layers of limestone, which gave way in different
directions, and the entire building slid towards a hillock, which
arrested its progress. I escaped with a few slight bruises and a great
fright, for which I was bled. This fright was so general and so great
amongst us all, that for more than four months afterwards, if a door was
only slammed with a little extra force, every one started. On the day of
the accident, when the first terror had passed, the Empress, who
occupied another house, sent for us, and, as she wished to make light of
the danger we had been in, every one tried to see little in it, and some
none at all. My terror displeased her very much, and she was out of
humour with me. The Master of the Hounds wept, and was inconsolable; he
talked of blowing out his brains. I presume he was prevented, for he did
nothing of the kind, and the next day we returned to St. Petersburg, and
some weeks later to the Summer Palace.
I do not exactly remember, but I fancy it was about this time that the
Chevalier Sacromoso arrived in Russia. It was a long time since a Knight
of Malta had visited this country, and, generally speaking, few persons
came to St. Petersburg in those days; his arrival, therefore, was a sort
of event. He was received with marked attention, and was shown
everything worthy of note in St. Petersburg and Cronstadt. A naval
officer of distinction was appointed to accompany him. This was M.
Poliansky, then captain of a man-of-war, since an admiral. He was
presented to us. In kissing my hand he slipped into it a very small
note, saying at the same time, in a low voice, "It is from your
mother." I was almost stupefied with terror at this act. I dreaded its
being observed by some one or other, especially by the Tchoglokoffs, who
were close by. However, I took the note, and slipped it into my right
hand glove; no one had noticed it. On returning to my room, I found, in
fact, a letter from my mother, rolled up in a slip of paper, on which it
was stated that the Chevalier expected an answer through an Italian
musician, who attended the Grand Duke's concerts. My mother, rendered
anxious by my involuntary silence, wanted to know the cause of it; she
also wished to know in what situation I was. I wrote to her, giving her
the information she required. I told her that I had been forbidden to
write to any one, under the pretext that it did not become a Grand
Duchess of Russia to write any letters but such as were composed at the
Office of Foreign Affairs, where I was only to attach my signature, and
never to dictate what was to be written, because the ministers knew
better than I did what was proper to be said; that it had almost been
made a crime in M. Olzoufieff that I had sent him a few lines, which I
begged him to enclose in a letter to my mother. I also gave her
information on several other points, about which she had inquired. I
rolled up my note in the same manner as the one I had received, and
watched with impatience and anxiety the moment for getting rid of it. At
the first concert given by the Grand Duke, I made the tour of the
orchestra, and stopped behind the chair of the solo violinist,
D'Ologlio, who was the person pointed out to me. When he saw me come
behind his chair, he pretended to take his handkerchief from his
coat-pocket, and in doing so left his pocket wide open. Without any
appearance of action, I slipped my note into it, and no one had the
slightest suspicion of what had happened. During his stay in St.
Petersburg, Sacromoso delivered to me two or three other notes having
reference to the same matter; my answers were returned in the same
manner, and no one was ever the wiser.
From the Summer Palace we went to Peterhoff, which was then being
rebuilt. We were lodged in the upper palace, in Peter the First's old
house, which was standing at that time. Here, to pass the time, the
Grand Duke took it into his head to play with me every afternoon at
two-handed ombre. When I won he got angry, and when I lost he wanted to
be paid forthwith. I had no money, so he began to play at games of
hazard with me, quite by ourselves. I remember on one occasion his
night-cap stood with us for 10,000 roubles; but when at the end of the
game he was a loser, he became furious, and would sometimes sulk for
many days. This kind of play was not in any way to my taste.
During this stay at Peterhoff we saw from our windows, which looked out
upon the garden towards the sea, that M. and Madame Tchoglokoff were
continually passing and repassing from the upper palace towards that of
Monplaisir on the sea-shore, where the Empress was then residing. This
excited our curiosity, and that of Madame Krause also, to know the
object of all these journeys. For this purpose Madame Krause went to her
sister's, who was head lady's-maid to the Empress. She returned quite
radiant with pleasure, having learned that all these movements were
occasioned by its having come to the knowledge of the Empress that M.
Tchoglokoff had had an intrigue with one of my maids of honour,
Mademoiselle Kocheleff, who was with child in consequence. The Empress
had sent for Madame Tchoglokoff and told her that her husband deceived
her, while she loved him like a fool; that she had been blind to such a
degree as to have this girl, the favourite of her husband, almost living
with her; that if she wished to separate from her husband at once it
would not be displeasing to her Majesty, who even from the beginning had
not regarded her marriage with M. Tchoglokoff with a favourable eye. Her
Majesty declared to her point-blank that she did not choose him to
continue with us, but would dismiss him and leave her in charge. Madame
Tchoglokoff at first denied the passion of her husband, and maintained
that the charge against him was a calumny; but in the meantime her
Majesty had sent some one to question the young lady, who at once
acknowledged the fact. This rendered Madame Tchoglokoff furious against
her husband. She returned home and abused him. He fell upon his knees
and begged her pardon, and made use of all his influence over her to
soothe her anger. The brood of children which they had also helped to
patch up their difference; but their reconciliation was never sincere.
Disunited in love, they remained connected by interest. The wife
pardoned her husband; she went to the Empress, and told her that she had
forgiven everything, and wished to remain with him for the sake of her
children. She entreated her Majesty on her knees not to dismiss him
ignominiously from court, saying that this would be to disgrace her and
complete her misery. In a word, she behaved so well on this occasion,
and with such firmness and generosity, and her grief besides was so
real, that she disarmed the anger of the Empress. She did more; she led
her husband before her Imperial Majesty, told him many home truths, and
then threw herself with him at the feet of her Majesty, and entreated
her to pardon him for her sake and that of her six children, whose
father he was. These different scenes lasted five or six days; and we
learned, almost hour by hour, what was going on, because we were less
watched during the time, as every one hoped to see these people
dismissed. But the issue did not answer their expectations; no one was
dismissed but the young lady, who was sent back to her uncle, the Grand
Marshal of the Court, Chepeleff; while the Tchoglokoffs remained, less
glorious, however, than they had been. The day of our departure for
Oranienbaum was chosen for the dismissal of Mademoiselle Kocheleff; and
while we set off in one direction, she went in another.
At Oranienbaum, we resided, this year, in the town, to the right and
left of the main building, which was small. The affair of Gostilitza had
given such a thorough fright, that orders had been issued to examine the
floors and ceilings in all the houses belonging to the court, and to
repair those which required attention.
This is the kind of life I led at Oranienbaum: I rose at three o'clock
in the morning, and dressed myself alone from head to foot in male
attire; an old huntsman whom I had was already waiting for me with the
guns; a fisherman's skiff was ready on the sea-shore: we traversed the
garden on foot, with our guns upon our shoulders; entered the boat
together with a fisherman and a pointer, and I shot ducks in the reeds
which bordered on both sides the canal of Oranienbaum, which extends two
verstes into the sea. We often doubled this canal, and consequently were
occasionally, for a considerable time, in the open sea in this skiff.
The Grand Duke came an hour or two after us; for he must needs always
have a breakfast and God knows what besides, which he dragged after him.
If we met we went together, if not each shot and hunted alone. At ten
o'clock, and often later, I returned and dressed for dinner. After
dinner we rested; and in the evening the Grand Duke had music, or we
rode out on horseback. Having led this sort of life for about a week, I
felt myself very much heated and my head confused. I saw that I required
repose and dieting; so for four-and-twenty hours I ate nothing, drank
only cold water, and for two nights slept as long as I could. After this
I recommenced the same course of life, and found myself quite well. I
remember reading at that time the Memoirs of Brantôme, which greatly
amused me. Before that I had read the Life of Henri IV. by Périfix.
Towards autumn we returned to town, and learned that we were to go to
Moscow in the course of the winter. Madame Krause came to tell me that
it was necessary to increase my stock of linen for this journey. I
entered into the details of the matter; Madame Krause pretended to amuse
me by having the linen cut up in my room, in order, as she said, to
teach me how many chemises might be cut from a single piece of cloth.
This instruction or amusement seems to have displeased Madame
Tchoglokoff, who had become very ill-tempered since the discovery of her
husband's infidelity. I know not what she told the Empress; but, at all
events, she came to me one afternoon and said that her Majesty had
dispensed with Madame Krause's attendance on me, and that she was going
to retire to the residence of her son-in-law the Chamberlain Sievers;
and next day Madame Tchoglokoff brought Madame Vladislava to me to
occupy her place. Madame Vladislava was a tall woman, apparently well
formed, and with an intelligent cast of features, which rather
prepossessed me at the first look. I consulted my oracle Timothy
Yevreinoff relative to this choice. He told me that this woman, whom I
had never before seen, was the mother-in-law of the Counsellor
Pougovichnikoff, head clerk to Count Bestoujeff; that she was not
wanting either in intelligence or sprightliness, but was considered very
artful; that I must wait and see how she conducted herself, and
especially be careful not to place much confidence in her. She was
called Praskovia Nikitichna. She began very well; she was sociable, fond
of talking, conversed and narrated with spirit, and had at her fingers'
ends, all the anecdotes of the time, past and present. She knew four or
five generations of all the families, could give at a moment everybody's
genealogy, father, mother, grandfathers, grandmothers, together with
their ancestors, paternal and maternal; and from no one else have I
received so much information relative to all that has occurred in Russia
for the last hundred years. The mind and manners of this woman suited me
very well; and when I felt dull I made her chat, which she was always
ready to do. I easily discovered that she very often disapproved of the
sayings and doings of the Tchoglokoffs; but as she also went very often
to her Majesty's apartments, no one knew why, we were obliged to be on
our guard with her, to a certain degree, not knowing what interpretation
might be put upon the most innocent words and actions.
From the Summer Palace we passed to the Winter Palace. Here was
presented to us Madame La Tour l'Annois, who had been in attendance on
the Empress in her early youth, and had accompanied the Princess Anna
Petrovna, eldest daughter of Peter I., when she left Russia with her
husband, the Duke of Holstein, during the reign of the Emperor Peter II.
After the death of this Princess, Madame l'Annois returned to France,
and she now came to Russia, either to remain there, or possibly to
return after having obtained some favours from her Majesty. Madame
l'Annois hoped, on the ground of old acquaintance, to re-enter into the
favour and familiarity of the Empress. But she was greatly deceived;
every one conspired to exclude her. From the first few days after her
arrival I foresaw what would happen, and for this reason: One evening,
while they were at cards in the Empress' apartment, her Majesty
continued moving from room to room without fixing herself anywhere, as
was her custom; Madame l'Annois, hoping, no doubt, to pay her court to
her, followed her wherever she went. Madame Tchoglokoff seeing this,
said to me, "See how that woman follows the Empress everywhere; but that
will not continue long, she will very soon drop that habit of running
after her." I took this as settled, and, in fact, she was first kept at
a distance, and finally sent back to France with presents.
During this winter was celebrated the marriage of Count Lestocq with
Mademoiselle Mengden, Maid of Honour to the Empress. Her Majesty and the
whole court assisted at it, and she paid the newly-married couple the
honour of visiting them at their own house. One would have said that
they enjoyed the highest favour, but in a couple of months afterwards
fortune turned. One evening, while looking on at those engaged at play
in the apartments of the Empress, I saw the Count, and advanced to speak
to him. "Do not come near me," he said in a low tone, "I am a suspected
man." I thought he must be jesting, and asked what he meant. He replied,
"I tell you quite seriously not to come near me, because I am a
suspected man, whom people must shun." I saw that he had an altered
look, and was extremely red. I fancied he must have been drinking, and
turned away. This happened on the Friday. On the Sunday morning, while
dressing my hair, Timothy Yevreinoff said to me, "Are you aware that
last night Count Lestocq and his wife were arrested, and conducted to
the Fortress as state criminals?" No one knew why, but it became known
that General Stephen Apraxine and Alexander Schouvaloff had been named
commissioners for this affair.
The departure of the court for Moscow was fixed for the 16th of
December. The Czernicheffs had been transported to the Fortress, and
placed in a house belonging to the Empress, called Smolnoy Dvoretz. The
elder of the three sometimes made his guards drunk, and then went and
walked into town to his friends. One day, a Finnish wardrobe-maid, who
was in my service, and was engaged to be married to a servant belonging
to the court, a relation of Yevreinoff, brought me a letter from Andrew
Czernicheff, in which he asked me for several things. This girl had seen
him at the house of her intended, where they had spent the evening
together. I was at a loss where to conceal this letter when I got it,
for I did not like to burn it, as I wanted to remember what he asked
for. I had long been forbidden to write even to my mother. I purchased,
through this girl, a silver pen and an inkstand. During the day I had
the letter in my pocket; when I undressed, I slipped it under my garter,
into my stocking, and before going to bed I removed it, and placed it in
my sleeve. At last I answered it; sent him what he asked for through the
channel by which his letter had reached me, and then, at a favourable
moment, burned this letter which had occasioned me so much anxiety.
About the middle of December we set out for Moscow. The Grand Duke and I
occupied a large sledge, and the gentlemen in waiting sat in the front.
During the day the Grand Duke joined M. Tchoglokoff in a town sledge,
while I remained in the large one. As we never closed this, I conversed
with those who were seated in front. I remember that the Chamberlain,
Prince Alexander Jourievitch Troubetzkoy, told me, during this time,
that Count Lestocq, then a prisoner in the Fortress, wanted to starve
himself during the first eleven days of his detention, but that he had
been forced to take nourishment: he had been accused of having accepted
1,000 roubles from the King of Prussia to support his interests, and for
having had a person named Oettinger, who might have borne witness
against him, poisoned. He was subjected to the torture, and then exiled
to Siberia.
In this journey, the Empress passed us at Tver, and as the horses and
provisions intended for us were taken by her suite, we remained
twenty-four hours at Tver without horses, and without food. We were
dreadfully hungry. Towards night Tchoglokoff had prepared for us a
roasted sturgeon, which we thought delicious. We set off at night, and
reached Moscow two or three days before Christmas. The first thing we
heard there was, that the Chamberlain of our Court, Prince Alex. Mich.
Galitzine, had received, at the moment of our departure from St.
Petersburg, an order to repair to Hamburg as minister of Russia, with a
salary of 4,000 roubles. This was looked upon as another case of
banishment: his sister-in-law, Princess Gagarine, who was with me,
grieved very much, and we all regretted him.
We occupied at Moscow the apartments which I had inhabited with my
mother in 1744. To go to the great church of the court, it was necessary
to make the circuit of the house in a carriage. On Christmas-day, at the
hour for mass, we were on the point of descending to our carriage, and
were already on the stairs, during a frost of 29 degrees, when a message
came from the Empress to say that she dispensed with our going to church
on this occasion, on account of the extreme cold; it did, in fact,
pinch our noses. I was obliged to keep my room during the early portion
of our residence in Moscow, on account of the excessive quantity of
pimples which had come on my face: I was dreadfully afraid of having to
continue with a pimpled face. I called in the physician Boërhave, who
gave me sedatives, and all sorts of things to dispel these pimples. At
last, when nothing was of avail, he said to me one day, "I am going to
give you something which will drive them away." He drew from his pocket
a small phial of oil of Falk, and told me to put a drop in a cup of
water, and to wash my face with it from time to time, say, for instance,
once a-week. And really the oil of Falk did clear my face, and by the
end of some ten days I was able to appear. A short time after our
arrival in Moscow (1749), Madam Vladislava came to tell me that the
Empress had ordered the marriage of my Finnish wardrobe-maid to take
place as soon as possible. The only apparent reason for thus hastening
her marriage was, that I had shown some predilection for her; for she
was a merry creature, who from time to time made me laugh by mimicking
every one, Madame Tchoglokoff especially being hit off in a very amusing
manner. She was married, then, and no more said about her.
In the middle of the Carnival, during which there were no amusements
whatever, the Empress was seized with a violent cholic, which threatened
to be serious. Madame Vladislava and Timothy Yevreinoff each whispered
this in my ear, entreating me not to mention to any one who had told me.
Without naming them, I informed the Grand Duke of it, and he became very
much elated. One morning, Yevreinoff came to tell me that the Chancellor
Bestoujeff and General Apraxine had passed the previous night in the
apartment of M. and Madame Tchoglokoff, which seemed to imply that the
Empress was very ill. Tchoglokoff and his wife were more gruff than
ever; they came into our apartments, dined there, supped, but never
allowed a word to escape them relative to this illness. We did not speak
of it either, and consequently did not dare to send and inquire how her
Majesty was, because we should have been immediately asked, "How,
whence, by whom came you to learn, that she was ill?" and any one named,
or even suspected, would infallibly have been dismissed, exiled, or even
sent to the Secret Chancery, that state inquisition, more dreaded than
death itself. At last her Majesty, at the end of ten days, became
better, and the wedding of one of her maids of honour took place at
court. At table I was seated by the side of the Countess Schouvaloff,
the favourite of the Empress. She told me that her Majesty was still so
weak from the severe illness she had just had, that she had placed her
diamonds on the bride's head (an honour which she paid to all her maids
of honour) while seated in bed, her feet only being outside; and that it
was for this reason she was not present at the wedding-feast. As the
Countess Schouvaloff was the first to speak to me of this illness, I
expressed to her the pain which her Majesty's condition gave me, and the
interest I took in it. She said her Majesty would be pleased to learn
how much I felt for her. Two mornings after this, Madame Tchoglokoff
came to my room, and, in the presence of Madame Vladislava, told me that
the Empress was very angry with the Grand Duke and myself on account of
the little interest we had taken in her illness, even carrying our
indifference to such an extent as not once to send and inquire how she
was. I told Madame Tchoglokoff that I appealed to herself, that neither
she nor her husband had spoken a single word to us about the illness of
her Majesty, and that knowing nothing of it, we had not been able to
testify our interest in it. She replied, "How can you say that you knew
nothing of it, when the Countess Schouvaloff has informed her Majesty
that you spoke to her at table about it." I replied, "It is true that I
did so, because she told me her Majesty was still weak and could not
leave her room, and then I asked her the particulars of this illness."
Madame Tchoglokoff went away grumbling, and Madame Vladislava said it
was very strange to try and pick a quarrel with people about a matter of
which they were ignorant; that since the Tchoglokoffs alone had the
right to speak of it, and did not speak, the fault was theirs, not ours,
if we failed through ignorance. Some time afterwards, on a court-day,
the Empress approached me, and I found a favourable moment for telling
her that neither Tchoglokoff nor his wife had given us any intimation of
her illness, and that therefore it had not been in our power to express
to her the interest we had taken in it. She received this very well, and
it seemed to me that the credit of these people was diminishing.
The first week of Lent, M. Tchoglokoff wished to go to his duty. He
confessed, but the confessor of the Empress forbade him to communicate.
The whole court said it was by the order of her Majesty, on account of
his adventure with Mademoiselle Kocheleff. During a portion of our stay
at Moscow, M. Tchoglokoff appeared to be intimately connected with Count
Bestoujeff and his tool General Stephen Apraxine. He was continually
with them, and, to hear him speak, one would have supposed him to be the
intimate adviser of Count Bestoujeff--a thing that was quite impossible,
for Bestoujeff had far too much sense to allow himself to be guided by
such an arrogant fool as Tchoglokoff. But, at about half the period of
our stay, this intimacy suddenly ceased--I do not exactly know why--and
Tchoglokoff became the sworn enemy of those with whom he had been so
intimate a short time previously.