“Not at all; we have seen to that.  The last year of this century will not be counted as a leap year.  It is fortunate that the difference is one of eleven days, for as that is the number which is added every year to the epact our epacts are almost the same.  As to the celebration of Easter, that is a different question.  Your equinox is on March the 21st, ours on the 10th, and the astronomers say we are both wrong; sometimes it is we who are wrong and sometimes you, as the equinox varies.  You know you are not even in agreement with the Jews, whose calculation is said to be perfectly accurate; and, in fine, this difference in the time of celebrating Easter does not disturb in any way public order or the progress of the Government.”

“Your majesty’s words fill me with admiration, but the Festival of Christmas——­ "

“I suppose you are going to say that we do not celebrate Christmas in the winter solstice as should properly be done.  We know it, but it seems to me a matter of no account.  I would rather bear with this small mistake than grievously afflict vast numbers of my subjects by depriving them of their birthdays.  If I did so, there would be no open complaints uttered, as that is not the fashion in Russia; but they would say in secret that I was an Atheist, and that I disputed the infallibility of the Council of Nice.  You may think such complaints matter for laughter, but I do not, for I have much more agreeable motives for amusement.”

The czarina was delighted to mark my surprise.  I did not doubt for a moment that she had made a special study of the whole subject.  M. Alsuwieff told me, a few days after, that she had very possibly read a little pamphlet on the subject, the statements of which exactly coincided with her own.  He took care to add, however, that it was very possible her highness was profoundly learned on the matter, but this was merely a courtier’s phrase.

What she said was spoken modestly and energetically, and her good humour and pleasant smile remained unmoved throughout.  She exercised a constant self-control over herself, and herein appeared the greatness of her character, for nothing is more difficult.  Her demeanour, so different from that of the Prussian king, shewed her to be the greater sovereign of the two; her frank geniality always gave her the advantage, while the short, curt manners of the king often exposed him to being made a dupe.  In an examination of the life of Frederick the Great, one cannot help paying a deserved tribute to his courage, but at the same time one feels that if it had not been for repeated turns of good fortune he must have succumbed, whereas Catherine was little indebted to the favours of the blind deity.  She succeeded in enterprises which, before her time, would have been pronounced impossibilities, and it seemed her aim to make men look upon her achievements as of small account.