Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/511

232 daughter of Peter III. It consisted of only one class, of fifteen Knights, and was brought to Russia by the son of the founder, the Emperor Peter III. Under the reign of the Empress Catharine II., the dispenser of that Order was the Grand Duke, afterwards Emperor Paul I., who, after his accession to the throne, in 1796, declared it a Russian Order, and divided it into three classes, indiscriminately for natives and foreigners, decreeing that the Knights of St. Andrew should also wear the decoration of St. Ann.

In 1815, the Emperor Alexander added to it a fourth class, exclusively for the military, and ordered that the members of that fourth class should wear the enamelled decoration upon the hilt of the sword.

The annual festival of the Order is celebrated on the 2th February.

The decoration (Tab. II. No. 10) is worn by the Knights of the first class, across the left shoulder towards the right hip, by a broad bright red ribbon, with small yellow borders, accompanied by a star (No. 9) on the breast. The Knights of the second class wear the cross round the neck suspended by a similar, but narrower ribbon, and those of the third class at the button-hole. The middle of the cross contains the initials of St. Ann, and that of the star, the inscription: 'Amant. just. piet. fidem' (To the friends of the fear of God, justice and fidelity).

The Emperor Nicholas frequently presented, for special merit, this decoration of the first and second classes set in rubies, and the corners adorned with brilliants, or with the imperial crown of white enamel.

Of all the Russian Orders, 'St. Ann' is mostly conferred on foreigners who are not in the service of the country. In 1818, the Order counted (by the Court Almanack) one thousand and twenty Knights of the first class, five thousand four hundred