Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/269

Rh reigned, but cannot be said to have ruled, only three and a half years altogether, while the empresses held the throne for the rest of the time. Catherine was Empress from 1762 till 1796; so that during the eighteenth century the Russian crown was worn by women for nearly seventy years.

"The heir to the throne at present is too young to have made his mark in any way; and besides, he has had no opportunity, even if he were of age. His name is Nicholas; he is the eldest son of Alexander III., and when he ascends the throne he will be known as Nicholas II. He was born in 1868, and is said to be a young man of great promise.

"Four at least of the seventeen rulers named above were murdered, and there were suspicions of poisoning in the cases of two others. Consequently the description of the Government of Russia as 'despotism tempered by assassination' is not so very far from the truth.

"It is sometimes said that the Romanoff family is more German than Russian, in consequence of the marriages of the emperors with German princesses. Peter the Great was pure Russian; his son Alexis, father of Peter II., married a German princess, and their daughter Anne married a German duke. Anne and the German duke were the parents of Peter III., the husband of Catherine II.; Peter III. and Catherine were the parents of Paul, who married a German princess, and the example has been followed by all the emperors. The Russian poet Pushkin used to represent in an amusing way the Germanizing of the Imperial family, which was as follows:

"He placed in a goblet a spoonful of wine for the Czarevitch Alexis and a spoonful of water for his German wife. Then he added a spoonful of water for Anne's German husband, a third for Catherine II., and a fourth, fifth, and sixth for the German wives of Paul, Nicholas, and