Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/246

232 as she advanced in years. She had a fair complexion, dark eyes, and light hair, which she was always accustomed to dye with a black colour. Colonel Bruce affirms, that the clerk of Ringen taught her to read, but others say, she could neither read nor write. Her daughter Elizabeth usually signed her name for her, and particularly to her last will and testament, and count Osterman generally put her signature to the public decrees and dispatches. Gordon, who had frequently seen her, says, "She was a very pretty well-looking woman, of good sense, but not of that sublimity of wit, or rather that quickness of imagination, which some people have believed. The great reason why the czar was so fond of her, was her exceeding good temper; she never was seen peevish or out of humour; obliging and civil to all, and never forgetful of her former condition; withal, mighty grateful." CatharineCatherine [sic] maintained the pomp of majesty with an air of ease and grandeur united, and Peter used frequently to express his admiration at the propriety with which she supported her high station, without forgetting she was not born to that dignity.

She reigned little more than two years alone; She had several daughters by the czar, the youngest of whom, Elizabeth, after the heirs of the elder branches were extinct, ascended the throne in December, 1741.

Voltaire, in his history of the czar Peter, speaks of her in the following terms. "The lenity of this princess, (says he) has been carried to a degree unparallelled in the history of any nation. She had promised, that during her reign nobody should be put to death, and she has kept her word. She is the first sovereign that ever shewed this regard to the human species, malefactors are now condemned to serve in the mines, and other public works;