THE ANCESTOR 25 friendship soon sprung up between him and Potemkin, and, what was even more important, he became a very favoured being in the eyes of the Russian empress, who in her later conduct, e.g. in the affair of the ' Armed Neutrality,' was less actuated by feelings of real enmity against England, as by a wish to see that country entirely hampered, in order that, having all the great states of Europe fully engaged in their own concerns, she might have a wider scope for her ambitious schemes of Russian aggrandisement. Frederic the Great's influence was strong at the Court of the Empress, and it is curious to find that Sir James Harris had to guard himself most carefully against the emissaries of that sovereign, to whom he had so lately been accredited, although of course it must be stated that it was partly owing to his knowledge of the King of Prussia's character that he was in the first instance selected for this post. If Sir James Harris failed to accomplish the first object of his mission and was unable to enlist the sympathy and hearty co-operation of her Imperial Majesty, he was at all events successful, as has already been said, in establishing himself in her good graces, and throughout the whole of his residence at the Court of Catharine II. he continually received marks of her kindness and condescension, as well as proofs of her personal appreciation for his services. He was often a guest at her various palaces, not only on the more formal occasions of state, to which his position would have entitled his — nay, more, necessitated his appearance, but at her Majesty's private suppers and card parties. The empress's predilection for handsome men is notorious, and doubtless this contributed in no small way to his popu- larity with her. Among historic relics at Heron Court there is a baby's christening frock of white satin and lace sent by the Czarina to Sir James Harris on the birth of his elder daughter, named Catharine, after this imperial lady. The following is a con- temporary description of the christening ceremony : — From the Register Book belonging to the Chapel of the British Factory at St. Petersburg :^ — Catharine, daughter of Sir James Harris, K.B. (His Britannic Majesty's 1 This factory long represented the centre of English life in Russia, for an excellent and short account of which vide Murray's Handbook of Russia^ etc., pp. 22-5 (1893 ed.).
