Catherine loved to refer to the example of Peter the Great. During her travels,” de Ligne says, “she always had with her a snuffbox with a portrait of Peter 1. “I ask myself every day,” she said, what this great man would order, what he would do, and what he would forbid, being on my 5th century.”
Often, however, the conversation turned to dull, political topics. De Ligne conveys the following scene: “The Empress told us yesterday at the table: “It seems strange to me, why did you, meaning the plural, come into use, and why did you expel it?” —It has not yet been completely banished, V.V., and can be used between great persons, which is also said to God in all prayers.
“Tell me, why do you treat me with such ceremony?” Let's see, I'll answer you the same way. Will you talk to me like that? - she said to the Chief of the Horse.
“Why not,” he answered, “if only you yourself will be polite to me.”
Thousands of thousands of people poured out here, are you just thinking? Her other == hih. I mfshaly with the name of the Majesty, XO his "2 Majesty was already pleased for me. Nobody knows what to say, and the Majesty, showered with rude you, "'B08—= rotating it back, despite @e, impla view of the Lady of All Russia, and almost all parts of the world.'
"I left Kev on the 22nd of this month,” the Empress wrote to Grimm, “and now we have been rowing along the Boriseen for three days: everyone, thank God, is healthy. I can’t tell you anything new, except that of all my sailings this seems to be the most difficult, because the river is so winding, there are so many islands and there are so many shallows that until now we have not used sails at all; it is much faster than the Neva. Now we are between two banks, one of which belongs to Poland; the Russian bank is completely low-lying. I hope to see the King of Poland on my galley tomorrow or the next.
Even earlier, from YuKev, in March, Potemkin went to Fastov and saw the Polish king there. It was a preliminary date; Potemkin assured the king of the empress’s readiness, as far as possible, to fulfill the king’s wishes. Now in
Kanev5 the Empress was about to meet with her former TRAVEL OF KATHERINE IP TO THE CRIMEA. 6
I'm a fan of hers. The new favorite, Mamonov, pretended that Catherine was cruelly jealous of him. Segur and de Ligne could hardly restrain themselves from laughing while looking at this; the king was 55, and Catherine was 58 years old.
The artist Lindsay depicted in watercolor Catherine's fleet at the moment when he approached Kanev. In front are 3 large sailing ships of the same size and identically painted with red paint and gilding. On their decks are pavilions with large windows; above the pavilions are platforms on which soldiers are placed in battle formation. The first of the galleys, named “Dnpr”, belongs to the sovereign. “Bug” stands side by side with her,” from the book. Potemkin and his nieces; Some distance behind, the third bark, Desna, serves as a dining room. The rest of the galleys follow them in single file.
"Our fleet," says Segur, stopped near Kanev, in which Polish troops were deployed, in rich uniforms, with brilliant weapons. Cannons from the ships and from the city heralded the arrival of both monarchs. Catherine sent several generals on a beautiful boat to meet the Polish king. The king, in order to get rid of the difficult etiquette, wanted to preserve incognito, and said to the messengers who accompanied him: “Gentlemen, the King of Poland has instructed me to introduce Count Poniatowski to you.”
“When he stepped onto the empress’s galley, we surrounded him, wanting to notice his first impressions and hear the first words of the two sovereign persons who
After the Polish king—Stanislav-August—“Gr. Ponyatovsyu”,
were in a position far different from what they had once been in. But we were deceived in our expectations, because, after a mutual bow, important, proud and cold, Catherine offered her hand to the king, and they entered the office, where they stayed for half an hour.”... (When they left), “in his eyes there was a trace of sadness, which his forced smile did not hide.”