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“ Notwithstanding her powerful appeal and the promise of high rewards, all hesitated with the exception of a single company—old Soldiers of Peter the Great; but placing her- self at the head of this small hand, she entered the imperial palace and made prisoners of the regent and of Anne and her son. She possessed already the affections of the people, and at once her authority was firmly established. ”

“ She was indolent and sensual, but she possessed con- siderable abilities, and an energetic will when it was roused to exertion. She had some taste for literature and the fine arts, and founded the university of Mos- cow, and the Academy for the Fine Arts of St Peters- burg. ”

“ The empress Anna Ivanova died in 1740. She had appointed Ivan, son of her niece Anne duchess of Brunswick, 3. child only a few months old, to the throne, with Biron, her favourite, regent. Elizabeth was quite con- tented with this arrangement. She declared that love was the supreme good, and that she had no desire for the cares and honours of a crown. But the prestige of her father’s name, and the favour in which she stood with the Russian people, rendered her an object of jealousy to the regent and t0 the mother of the presumptive heir ”