Cartoons & caricatures of James Gillray. 3

THE EMPEROR PAUL.Mens turpis, corpora turpi.The fife of Paul I. Emperor of Russia, was diversified by many extraordinary circumstances. He was the son of Peter III. and Catherine II. He was born October 1, 1754. Ho was the victim of the bitter dissensions which then subsisted between his parents. No sooner was his birth announced than Peter III. issued an Ukase, declaring his firm conviction that the child was not his son, and caused this proclamation to be registered in the archives of the empire.* Thus abandoned by his father, his mother confided him to the care of a physician named Epinus, and to Count Panin; they superintented his early education, and Paul ever retained a grateful sense of their attentions and services. Paul early evinced a disposition for the acquisition of scientific knowledge; but his mother studiously discouraged his attainment of any considerable advance either in literature or science. After the death of his father, she entertained great jealousy of her son, and did not permit him to hold any important appointment. She seldom allowed him to appear at Court, probably feeling the presence of her son a rebuke on the profligate dissoluteness of his mother's private life. It is generally understood that during her last illness she was devising means to prevent his succession to the throne, either by secretly causing his death, or by proclaiming her adoption of her grandson Alexander as her successor, but her death took place before she could carry this design into execution.

* Catherine took ample revenge on her husband. She caused him to be arrested. The conspirators persuaded him to sign an act of abdication, then imprisoned him in the fortress of Kobscha, and within a week poisoned him. The accession of Paul I. to the throne was hailed with universal joy; his dismissal of his mother's favourites was regarded with approbation; singularly enough, one of the first acts of his government was to order funeral honours to the memory of his father, which his mother had withheld; considering the conduct of Peter III. on his birth, this was esteemed an exemplary instance of forgiveness and filial reverence.

He took the earliest opportunity of evincing his abhorrence of the French Revolution, of French regicides, and the French Constitution and principles. He paid great attention to the exiled French princes, and assigned to Louis XVIII. the palace of Mittau for a residence, and provided him an establishment worthy of imperial munificence and royal acceptance. He entered into a treaty of confederation with Austria and England, to furnish a large army to operate against France. In conformity with this stipulation, the formidable Suwarrow advanced to the aid of Austria. His victorious troops advanced as far as Switzerland amidst a series of brilliant successes, and the Emperor despatched another body of troops to co-operate with the English expedition to Holland.**from 'The Genuine Works of James Gillray, engraved by himself. 2 vols. 1830. ——Illustrative description of the genuine works of … J. G. [With a prefatory notice subscribed T. M[’Lean].] ie Thomas McLean on heavy ragpaper from original plates printed 1830. £85 post inclusive