The Grand-Duke Paul and his Duchess arrived at Rome under the names of Count and Countess of the North, and with them one of her brothers, a Prince of Würtemberg. Madame de Beckersdorff and two maids of honour were also with them, and the first seemed to be her intimate friend, and a very pleasing person. The Grand-Duke, though not tall, had a good figure, but his face was Calmuck. His manners were good, and he talked agreeably to those who were introduced to him. The Grand-Duchess was, like most of her family, very handsome. She was tall, her figure majestic, and her features and complexion very fine. Her manners were dignified and gracious. We were introduced to them at a concert given by the Cardinal de Bernis for the birth of the Dauphin. Princess D.,[114] who had been staying some time at Rome with her son and married daughter, came to the fête dressed in black. She was considered by the Grand-Duke and Duchess as a spy on their proceedings; and, at all events, the part which she was supposed to have taken in the imprisonment and death of the Grand-Duke’s father must have rendered the sight of her very painful to them. Unmindful of this, she seated herself at the concert as near as possible to the Grand-Duke, just behind him to the right. He was greatly annoyed, and, turning towards her, said: “Madame, on ne vient pas habillé en noir à la fête d’un souverain.” Princess D. gave as an excuse the assurance that, as she was about to leave Rome, all her other dresses were packed up. The Grand-Duke replied: “On peut toujours rester à la maison.”
The Princess was a short, fat, middle-aged woman, with a very red face and harsh countenance; and the broad red riband and star, which she wore in the way such decorations are worn by men, added to her formidable appearance. It is said she was only eighteen years of age when the death of the Emperor Peter took place, and that, seated at a table with two pistols before her, she waited for the news with the intention, if it proved contrary to her wishes, of killing the messenger with one and herself with the other.[115] Pistols, we were told, she always carried about with her; and, notwithstanding the services she had rendered to the Empress Catherine, and the strange masculine honours conferred upon her in return—such as this decoration, and her being made President of the Academy of Sciences—it is evident that her absence was more agreeable to her Imperial mistress than her presence would be, for she was many years in England, Scotland, and Italy. She would not allow her daughter to live with her husband, and she used to lock up her son, who must have been turned of twenty, every night. How unlike to her amiable and excellent brother. It is said that she had a sister who was gentleness itself. One would wish to think that Princess Dashkoff was in some measure misrepresented. I recollect saying something to her son, with whom I was a little acquainted, about the maids of honour attending on the Grand-Duchess, and I naturally expressed myself in the terms, “the ladies of the Grand-Duchess.” The young man, who just before had been talking to me with the civility usually shown to a young woman, suddenly reddened, and looked quite savage. “Madame,” said he, “the Grand-Duchess has no ladies; she has no right to have any. They are the ladies of our august sovereign, who allows them to attend upon the Grand-Duchess in her travels.” Does not this put one in mind of a remark made by Bonaparte: “Pour peu qu’on y gratte on trouve le Tartare?”