Potemkin is not Fahal with the Empress: he was in the south and arranged everything there for her benefit. Instead he was led by Vsfm gr. Bezborodko. The entire Great Court, that is, the court of the Empress, stood together with her; The closest servants of her court, the secretary Khrapovitsyu with two assistants and two couriers, and the eternal chamberlain-jungf Marya Savvishna Perekusikhina also left. Only the Small Court remained in St. Petersburg, the court of the heir to the throne and his wife. TsSheterburg was very empty: “We are now like a provincial the city,” the St. Petersburg residents complained, “they travel with the courtyard for everything.”
“It was 17° below zero,” Segur says in his notes, “the road was beautiful, and we rode nicely.
Our carriages on high runners seemed to be flying. To protect ourselves from the cold, we wrapped ourselves in bear fur coats, worn on top of another more elegant one.
*) Even Elizabeth’s old nobleman, I.I. Shuvalov, went with Catherine to the Crimea.
and rich, but also mBkhov clothes; We had sable hats on our heads. Thus, we do not
Ekaterina P in a traveling suit.
The cold was brewing, even when it reached 200. The stations were so well heated that
We could have been exposed to excessive heat or cold. At this time of the shortest days of the year, the sun rose late, and after 6 or 7 hours it was already dark night. But to dispel this darkness, eastern luxury brought us light: at short distances, on both sides of the road, there were huge bonfires made of pine, spruce, and birch trees piled up in heaps, so that we fell between the lights, which were brighter than the rays of day. Thus, the majestic ruler of the north, in the darkness of the night, uttered her message: let there be light!
"We drove through the vast snowy plains of pine and spruce trees, which, covered with frost, sometimes sparkled with diamonds and crystals in the sunlight. You can imagine what an extraordinary phenomenon the road, illuminated by many lights, represented on this snowy sea. the majestic train of the queen of the north with all the splendor of the most magnificent court. In cities and villages, this lonely path was covered with crowds of curious townspeople and villagers: they, not noticing the cold, greeted their empress with loud cries.
"The usual order that the empress introduced into her way of life hardly changed during her travels. At 6 o'clock she got up and did business with the ministers, then had breakfast and received us. At 9 o'clock we left and stopped at 2 for lunch; after that we stopped again at 7. Everywhere she found a palace or a beautiful house prepared for her. We talked with her every day.
After a few minutes devoted to the toilet, the Empress came out into the hall, talked, and played with us; at 9 o'clock she went to her room and studied until 11 o'clock. In the cities we were given quiet apartments in the houses of wealthy people. In the villages there are many
Catherine's journey during the Holy Fire.
went to sleep in o. where sometimes it was impossible to sleep due to the unbearable heat.”
People everywhere were waiting for Mother Queen. “The poor villagers,” continues Segur, “with frosty beards, despite the cold, gathered in tolls and surrounded small palaces, as if by magical power, erected in the middle of their huts, palaces in which
The empress's cheerful retinue, sitting at a luxurious table and on relaxing wide sofas, did not notice either the cruelty of the cold or the poverty of the surrounding areas. Everywhere we found warm chambers, excellent wines, delicious fruits and delicious dishes.” Illuminations were set up in cities; the empress was not entirely happy with this, and having inquired what the illumination was worth, “speaked of empty glitter and insignificance,” as Ratchet recorded her words.
Sitting in her carriage, the empress talked with her “pocket ministers”; Segur wrote down several such devils.
"Vkaterina knew that many people, especially the French, considered Russia to be an Asian country, poor, mired in ignorance, in the darkness of barbarism, and she loved to talk about her empire in order to dispel such accusations. “How did you like my small farm?” she asked. “Isn’t it right, is it getting better little by little? I don’t have much money, but it seems it was spent with benefit?“
Another time, turning to Segur, she said: "I am convinced, Count, that your Parisian beauties, fashionistas and scientists will now deeply regret you, that you are forced to travel through the lands of the bears, between the barbarians, with some boring queen. I respect your scientists, but I prefer to love the non-feminine; I myself want to know only what I need to manage my little one." farming."
“Your V. is pleased to joke at our expense,” Segur objected, “but you know better than what he thinks.”
about you Francia. Voltaire’s words express V. V. our thoughts and our feelings in the best possible way. “Rather, you may be dissatisfied because the extraordinary growth of your small economy in some way inspires fear and envy even in significant powers.”
“Yes,” she sometimes said, laughing, “you don’t want me to drive your Turks out of my community. There is nothing to say, your pets are good, they do you honor. What if you brought such communities into Piedmont or Spain that would bring plague and famine to you every year, exterminate and take away 20 pln from you?” thousands of people a year, and I would take them under my protection, what would you say then? Oh, how you would then reproach me for barbarism!