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THE ORLOFF. 53
crowns, etc.] look very fine on velvet cushions under glass cases." The Czars are always crowned .in Moscow, the ancient capital of Russia.
Paul,
having performed the weird ceremony already described, then had himself
duly and solemnly crowned. His reign was a short one however, and in
1801 he gave place to his successor Alexander, in the orthodox Russian
manner— that is to say he was strangled.
In
1812 the Orloff and its magnificent companions had to fly from Moscow.
In the beginning of September in that terrible year, finding that the
mountains of slain on the bloody field of Borodino could not stop
Napoleon, the Russians sullenly retired before him. On the third of
the month the Regalia was carried out of Moscow and lodged in a place
of safety in the interior. This flight was followed by that of
everybody and everything that was portable. When Napoleon entered on
the fourteenth it was to find, an absolute desert in Moscow, only
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