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26 THE ANCESTOR Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Empress of all the Russias) and Harriet his wife, born the i8th of May, was baptized the 20th of June, 1780. Her Imperial Majesty, represented by her Lady of the Bed- chamber, Alexandra Vassillievna Englehart, and her Grand Master of the Horse, M. Leof Alexandritch Narishkin, was sole Sponsor. The above extract was taken this 25th day of August, 1780, by me W. TooKE, Minister. St. Petersburg, August 2^, 1780. The following addition to the above appears in the family- Bible : ' Her Imperial Majesty presented her god-daughter with a fine diamond necklace/ Besides the usual snuff-box, given to him by the empress, there is also at Heron Court a wonderful Chinese screen pre- sented by Prince Potemkin, and lastly there is the portrait of Catharine herself, as well as those of her son and daughter- in-law, the Grand-Duke ^ (afterwards the Emperor) Paul and his Grand-Duchess. In 1784 Sir James Harris was chosen by Mr. Pitt — although not then his recognized political leader — for the delicate and arduous task of opposing French influence at the Hague. Of his success in forming the Triple Alliance of 1788, of his elevation to the peerage in consequence, of his public life at home, of his second ministry at Berlin, of his mission to Brunswick, so unhappy in its results, when he brought back (against his own private inclinations) the Princess Caroline to be the unfortunate and unloved bride of George, Prince of Wales, and of his unfruitful attempts to make peace with a nation maddened by the sight of blood, space forbids any further reference. These are matters of history, and must here remain as such. Deafness — one of the infirmities of old age — came upon him prematurely and made him decline any further employ- ment, although his advice and counsel was still sought by the rising generation of statesmen. In 1 800 he was advanced to an earldom. No more fitting conclusion can be found to the life of one of the most cele- brated diplomatists of the eighteenth century than his own dignified farewell to life, written a few weeks before his death :^ — ^ The writer, when he visited Russia, saw more than one picture of the Emperor Paul exactly similar to the one at Heron Court. These were in the imperial palaces there, and a * fac-simile ' of these is to be seen in MorfiU's History of Russia Story of the Nations ' series).