Explore "Devereux Book V" by Edward Bulwer-lytton on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
THE last accounts received of the Czar reported him to be at Dantzic. He had, however, quitted that place when I arrived there. I lost no time in following him, and presented myself to his Majesty one day after his dinner, when he was sitting with one leg in the Czarina's lap and a bottle of the best /eau de vie/ before him. I had chosen my time well; he received me most graciously, read my letter from the Regent -- about which, remembering the fate of Bellerophon, I had had certain apprehensions, but which proved to be in the highest degree complimentary -- and then declared himself extremely happy to see me again. However parsimonious Peter generally was towards foreigners, I never had ground for personal complaint on that score.
The very next day I was appointed to a post of honour and profit about the royal person; from this I was transferred to a military station, in which I rose with great rapidity; and I was only occasionally called from my warlike duties to be intrusted with diplomatic missions of the highest confidence and importance.