The Daughter of an Empress

Elizabeth could now undisturbedly enjoy her imperial splendor. The

successor to the throne was assured, Anna Leopoldowna languished in the

fortress of Kolmogory, and in Schlusselburg the little Emperor Ivan

was passing his childish dream-life! Who was there now to contest her

rights--who would dare an attempt to shake a throne which rested upon

such safe pillars of public favor, and which so many new-made counts and

barons protected with their broad shoulders and nervous arms?

Elizabeth had no more need to govern, no more occasion to tremble. She

let sink the hand which, with a single stroke of the pen, could give

laws to millions of men, which could give them interminable sorrow and

endless torments; she again took the heavy imperial crown from her

head, replacing it with wreaths of myrtles and ever-fragrant roses. She

permitted Tscherkaskoy to govern, and Bestuscheff to sell to England the

dearest interests of Russia. She permitted her ministers to govern with

unrestricted power, and was rejoiced when no one came to trouble her

about affairs of state or the interests of her people.