which added fuel to his burning brain, he ordered a secret staircase to be constructed, which, leading from his own chamber, passed under a false stove in the anti-room, and led by a small door to the

terrace.

It was the custom of the emperor to sleep in an outer apartment next to the empress's, upon a sopha, in his regimentals and boots, whilst the grand duke and duchess, and the rest of the imperial family, were lodged at various distances, in apartments below the story which he occupied. On the 10th day of March, O.S. 1801, the day preceding the fatal night, whether Paul's apprehension, or anonymous information, suggested the idea, is not known, but conceiving that a storm was ready to burst upon him, he sent to count P―, the governor of the city, one of the noblemen who had resolved on his destruction; "I am informed, P, said the emperor, "that there is a conspiracy on foot against me; do you think it necessary to take any precaution?" The count, without betraying the least emotion, replied, "Sire, do not suffer such apprchensions to haunt your mind; if there were any combinations forming against your majesty's person, I am sure I should be acquainted with it." "Then I am satisfied," said the emperor, and the governor withdrew. Before Paul retired to rest, he unexpectedly expressed the most tender solicitude for the empress and his children, kissed them with all the warmth of farewel fondness, and remained with them longer than usual; and after he had visited the sentinels at their different posts, he retired to his chamber, where he had not long remained, before, under some colourable pretext, that satisfied the men, the guard was changed by the officers who had the command for the night, and were engaged in the confederacy. An hussar, whom the emperor had particularly honoured by his notice and attention, always at night slept at his bed-roomi door, in the anti-room. It was impossible to re

At this

move this faithful soldier by any fair means. momentous period, silence reigned throughout the palace, except where it was disturbed by the pacing of the sentinels, and only a few lights were to be seen distantly and irregularly gleaming through the windows of this dark colossal abode. In the dead of the night, Zand his friends, amounting to eight or nine persons, passed the draw-bridge, easily ascended the staircase which led to Paul's chamber, and met with no resistance till they reached the antiroom, when the faithful hussar, awakened by the noise, challenged them, and presented his fusee: much as they must have all admired the brave fidelity of the guard, neither time nor circumstances would admit of an act of generosity, which might have endangered the whole plan. Z- drew his sabre and cut the poor fellow down. Paul, awakened by the noise, sprung from his sopha: at this moment the whole party rushed into his room; the unhappy sovereign, anticipating their design, at first endeavoured to intrench himself in the chairs and tables, then recovering, he assumed a high tone, told them they were his prisoners, and called upon them to surrender. Finding that they fixed their eyes steadily and fiercely upon him, and continued advancing towards him, he implored them to spare his life, declared his consent instantly to relinquish the sceptre, and accept of any terms which they would dictate. In his raving, he offered to make them princes, and to give them estates, and titles, and orders, without end. They now began to press upon him, when he made a convulsive effort to reach the window: in the attempt he failed, and indeed so high was it from the ground, that had he succeeded, the expedient would only have put a more instantaneous period to his misery. In the effort he very severely cut his hand with the glass; and as they drew him back he grasped a chair, with which he felled one of the assailants, and a desperate resistance took place. So great

was the noise, that notwithstanding the massy walls, and thick double folding-doors, which divided the apartments, the empress was disturbed, and began to cry for help, when a voice whispered in her ear, and imperatively told her to remain quiet, otherwise, if she uttered another word, she should be put to instant death. Whilst the emperor was thus making a last struggle, the prince Y struck him on one of his temples with his fist, and laid him upon the floor; Paul, recovering from the blow, again implored his life; at this moment the heart of P·Zrelented, and, upon being observed to tremble aud hesitate, a young Hanoverian resolutely exclaimed, "We have passed the Rubicon: if we spare his life, before the setting of to-morrow's sun, we shall be his victims!" upon which he took off his sash, turned it twice round the naked neck of the emperor, and giving one end to Z, and holding the other himself, they pulled for a considerable time with all their force, until their miserable sovereign was no more; they then retired from the palace without the least molestation, and returned to their respective homes. What occurred after their departure can be better conceived than depicted: medical aid was resorted to, but in vain, and upon the breathless body of the emperor fell the tears of his widowed empress and children, and domestics; nor was genuine grief ever more forcibly or feelingly displayed than by him on whose brow this melancholy event had planted the

crown.

1

The sun shone upon a new order of things. At seven o'clock the intelligence of the demise of Paul spread through the capital. The interval of time, from its first communication to its diffusion over every part of Petersburg, was scarcely perceptible. At the parade Alexander presented himself on horseback, when the troops, with tears rolling down their rugged and sun-browned faces, hailed him with loud and cordial acclamation. The young emperor was overwhelmed, and at the moment mounting the

throne of the most extensive empire under heaven, he was seen to turn from the grand and affecting spectacle and weep.

What followed is of a very subordinate consideration; but perhaps it will be eagerly asked, to what extremity did the avenging arm of justice pursue the perpetrators of the deed? Mercy, the brightest jewel of every crown, and a forlorn and melancholy conviction that the reigning motive was the salvation of the empire, prevented her from being vindictive. Never upon the theatre of life was there presented a scene of more affecting magnanimity; decency, not revenge, governed the sacrifice. P- Z-was ordered not to approach the imperial residence, and the governor of the city was transferred to Riga. As soon as madame Chevalier was informed of the demise of her imperial patron, she prepared, under the protection of her brother, a dancer, for flight, with a booty of nearly a million of rubles. A police officer was sent to inspect and report upon her property: amongst a pile of valuable articles, he discovered a diamond cross of no great intrinsic value, which had been given by Peter I. to a branch of the imperial family, and on that account much esteemed; it was to recover this that the officer was seut, who obtained it, after the most indecent and unprincipled resist. ance on her part. Passports were then granted to madame Chevalier and her brother. Thus terminated this extraordinary and impressive tragedy.

We proceeded to the Taurida palace, built by Catherine II. and given by her to her distinguished favourite prince Potemkin, upon whom she lavished unprecedented dignities and treasure. She bestowed upon him the name of the Taurian, in honour of his conquest of the Crimea, and called this building after him. Upon the death of the prince, the empress purchased it of his family for a vast sum. The grand front of this building, which is of brick, stuccoed white, is toward the street leading to the convent des demoiselles, in the east end of the city, consisting

of a centre, adorned with a portico supported by co. lumns, and a large cupola of copper painted green, and extensive wings. A variety of out-offices, orangeries, and hot-houses, reach from the wing to a prodigious distance; in the front is a court-yard, divided from the street by a handsome railing. The exterior of this building is very extensive, but low; and although it has a princely appearance, does not excite the astonishinent that a stranger feels in entering it. The pleasure grounds are small, but beautifully laid out by Mr. Gould, who was a pupil of the celebrated Browne; and who, at the advanced age of seventytwo years, beholds this little paradise, which he created from a mephitic bog, flourishing and exciting the admiration of foreigners, and in the shade of which Potemkin, Catherine the Great, and two succeeding emperors of Russia, have sought tranquillity and repose from the oppressive weight of public duty.

The first room we entered from the garden, was the celebrated hall in which prince Potemkin gave the most gorgeous and costly entertainment ever recorded since the days of Roman voluptuousness! I am not able to communicate to my readers the ideas which this enormous room excited. If a pagan were to be transported into it in his sleep, when bə awoke he could not fail of thinking that he had undergone an apotheosis, and had been conducted to the banqueting-room of Jupiter. It was built after the unassisted design of Potemkin, and unites, to a sublime conception, all the graces of finished taste. This prodigious room is supported by double rows of colossal Doric pillars, opening on one side into a vast pavilion, composing the winter garden, which I saw prepared for the emperor, who resides here for a short time every year, just before I left Petersburg. This garden is very extensive: the trees, chiefly orange, of an enormous size, are sunk in the earth in their tubs, and are entirely covered with fine mould; the walks are