It was not long before Catherine, hooked on the shallow youngster, was upset again. In early August 1778, just a few months after Korsakov's appointment, Harris reported to London that the new favourite was already in decline and that Potemkin, Grigory Orlov and Nikita Panin were each struggling to sponsor the replacement. Within a couple of weeks, he even knew 'the secret in Count Panin's office by name Strackhov ... first noticed at a ball at Peterhof on 28 June'. If the connection lasted, Harris told his Secretary of State for the North, the Earl of Suffolk, 'it must end in the fall of Potemkin'. By the end of the year, Harris decided that Korsakov was safe again but 'entirely subservient to the orders of Prince Potemkin and Countess Bruce'.
The mention of Countess Bruce was ominous. By the end of January, the candidates for favourite were multiplying: there was still Strackhov, whose 'friends were in great hope', but then there was also Levashev, a major in the Semenovsky Guards, who might have become favourite 'if a young man by name Svickhosky, patronised by Madame Bruce ... had not stabbed himself through disappointment. The wound is not mortal.' These rumours of Catherine's affairs were often based on a whisper of gossip which had little foundation, but the diplomatic scandal-mongering signified intense political struggles at Court, even if it was not necessarily what was happening in the imperial bedchamber. Nonetheless Harris was better informed than most because of his friendship with Potemkin. By this time, even a new diplomat in town like Harris knew that Countess Bruce had returned to her 'violent passion for Korsakov'.
The whole of Petersburg, except sadly the Empress herself, must have been aware that Countess Bruce had only restrained herself from Korsakov for a short time. Since both lived in the Palace only a few yards from the Empress's bedroom, they conducted their liaison right under Catherine's nose. Small wonder that the Empress was always looking for the favourite. Countess Bruce, the same age as Catherine and formerly a courtier of discretion and experience, must have lost her head to the beauties of the 'King of Epirus'.27 Serenissimus and Countess Bruce fell out at this time, possibly over Korsakov. Potemkin, who would have known about the affair almost as soon as it started, wanted to remove Bruce. He must have tried to hint about it delicately to the Empress earlier in September. They rowed. The diplomats thought it was because he was jealous of Panin's candidate Strackhov.28
The Prince, who did not wish to hurt the Empress nor again lose credit for trying to help, decided to fix the matter. When the Empress was looking around the Palace for the elusive Korsakov, someone loyal to Potemkin would direct her towards a certain room. This person was probably Potemkin's favourite niece, Alexandra Engelhardt, who was a maid-of-honour. Harris would have heard this story from Alexandra herself since she was the secret recipient of English money.29 Catherine surprised her lover and Countess Bruce in a compromising position, if not in flagrante delicto. There ended the short reign of 'silly' Korsakov.
The Empress was wounded and angry but never vindictive. As late as 10 October 1779, she still wrote kindly to Korsakov: 'I'm repeating my request to calm yourself and to encourage you. Last week, I demonstrated that I'm taking care of you ...'. Despite munificent presents, Korsakov lingered in Petersburg and even boasted of his sexual antics with the Empress in the salons in the most degrading way. Word of it must have reached the protective Potemkin, who loved Catherine too much not to do something about it. When she was discussing whether to reward her next favourite, Serenissimus suggested there should be limits to her generous treatment of Korsakov and the others. Once again, he hurt Catherine's pride. Her generosity was partly a shield to conceal the depth of her own emotional wounds - and partly an effort to compensate for her age and their youth. According to Corberon, the two argued but later made up.
Korsakov was not finished. He had the effrontery not just to cuckold the Empress but also to cuckold the cuckoldress, Countess Bruce, by beginning an adulterous affair with a Court beauty, Countess Ekaterina Stroganova, who left her husband and child for him. This was too much even for Catherine. The ingrate was despatched to Moscow. An era of Catherine's private life ended when Countess Bruce, now in disgrace, left the capital to pursue the 'King of Epirus' to Moscow. He no longer wanted her and she returned to her husband, Count Yakov Bruce.30 The Court cheerfully plunged into the amorous guessing game that was just as popular as whist and faro.
The bruised Catherine enjoyed an unusual six months without being in love with anyone. It was at times of unhappiness like this, commented Harris, that
Potemkin became even more powerfuclass="underline" did he return to Catherine's bed to comfort his friend?
It is most likely they temporarily resumed their old habits as they were to do throughout their lives: this is suggested in her letters to Potemkin, which joke about the delicious effects of the 'chemical medicines of Cagliostro'. The notorious charlatan, Count Cagliostro, rose to European fame in 1777 and became fashionable in Mittau, the Courland capital, before coming to Petersburg at precisely this time.* Catherine raved about 'Cagliostro's chemical medicine which is so soft, so agreeable, so handy that it embalms and gives elasticity to the mind and senses - enough, enough, basta, basta, caro amico, I mustn't bore you too much .. .'.3I This tonic is either a jocular reference to some mystical balm sold by that necromancing snake-oil salesman - or one of Potemkin's sexual specialities. Since Catherine had little patience for Cagliostro's alchemy, Freemasonry and marketing of eternal life, but a proven tolerance for Potemkin's love-making, one can guess which it was.
Meanwhile the courtiers manoeuvred to find the Empress a new favourite. This time there were several candidates, including a certain Staniov, afterwards lost to history, then Roman Vorontsov's natural son, Ivan Rontsov, who, a year later, emerged in London as the rabble-rousing leader of a Cockney mob in the Gordon Riots. Finally, in the spring of 1780, she found the companion she deserved, a young man named Alexander Dmitrievich Lanskoy.
Aged only twenty to Catherine's fifty-one, this 'very handsome young man', according to an English visitor, was the gentlest, sweetest and least ambitious of Catherine's favourites. Sasha Lanskoy 'of course was not of good character', said the fast-rising Bezborodko, Catherine's secretary, but, compared to those who came later, 'he was a veritable angel'. Bezborodko, who saw everything in Catherine's office, had reason to know. Though Lanskoy did become embroiled in at least one intrigue against Serenissimus, he was also the favourite who was happiest to join the broader Catherine-Potemkin family.31
Lanskoy, another Horse-Guardsmen, had been one of Potemkin's aides-de- camp for a few months, which is probably how Catherine noticed him. Yet, according to Harris, who was seeing Potemkin on a daily basis at this time, he was not his first choice. The Prince was persuaded to acquiesce only by imperial gifts of land and money on his birthday that Harris claims came to 900,000 roubles, a sum that beggars avarice. Whether Potemkin did have another candidate, he was eminently flexible in all matters of the boudoir: he supported Lanskoy.
Soon a lieutenant-general, he was Catherine's ideal pupil and companion. He was not highly educated but keen to learn. He liked painting and architecture. Unlike the others, he tried to avoid politics - though that was not completely possible - and he made an effort to stay friends with Potemkin, though that was not completely feasible either.33 Despite his taste for splendour and his greedy family, Lanskoy was the best of the minions because he truly adored Catherine and she him. For the next four years, Catherine enjoyed a stable relationship with the calm and good-natured Lanskoy at her side.