ed, too, on every side with fringes,
ribbons, tufts, tassels, and gold lace, in the richest manner. Under the
canopy was the double throne for the emperor and empress, and near it
seats for the royal princesses, all covered with crimson velvet trimmed
with gold.

When the appointed hour arrived the procession was formed at the royal
palace, and moved toward the Cathedral through a dense and compact mass
of spectators that every where thronged the way. Every window was
filled, and the house-tops, wherever there was space for a footing, were
crowded. There were troops of guards mounted on horseback and splendidly
caparisoned--there were bands of music, and heralds, and great officers
of state, bearing successively, on cushions ornamented with gold and
jewels, the imperial mantle, the globe, the sceptre, and the crown. In
this way the royal party proceeded to the Cathedral, and there, after
going through a great many ceremonies, which, from the magnificence of
the dresses, of the banners, and the various regal emblems that were
displayed, was very gorgeous to behold, but which it would be tedious to
describe, the crown was placed upon Catharine's head, the moment being
signalized to all Moscow by the ringing of bells, the music of trumpets
and drums, and the firing of cannon.

The ceremonies were continued through two days by several other imposing
processions, and were closed on the night of the second day by a grand
banquet held in a spacious hall which was magnificently decorated for the
occasion. And while the regal party within the hall were being served
with the richest viands from golden vessels, the populace without were
feasted by means of oxen roasted whole in the streets, and public
fountains made to run with exhaustless supplies of wine.

The coronation of Catharine as empress was not a mere empty ceremony.
There were connected with it formal legal arrangements for transferring
the supreme power into her hands on the death of the Czar. Nor were
these arrangements made any too soon; for it was in less than a year
after that time that the Czar, in the midst of great ceremonies of
rejoicing, connected with the betrothal of one of his daughters, the
Princess Anna Petrowna, to a foreign duke, was attacked suddenly by a
very painful disease, and, after suffering great distress and anguish for
many days, he at length expired. His death took place on the 28th of
January, 1725.

One of his daughters, the Prin