A Russian princess admitted defeat with a most gracious compliment.
ByCharles Maybury Archerfl. 1840-1870
1770s
In the Time of
King George III1760-1820
Catherine II of Russia1762-1796Empress of Russia
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A Man Without a Price
By Dmitry Levitzky (1735-1822), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. Source
Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova in 1784.
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Yekaterina Dashkova in 1784, painted by Dmitry Levitzky (1735-1822). In 1762, Empress Catherine deposed her own husband, Peter III, for his worrying admiration for Frederick the Great’s Prussia, and took the crown. Princess Dashkova supported her, and remained one of her must trusted counsellors. Dashkova’s European tour, which began in 1768, introduced her to the circle of such literary giants as Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin (who invited her to be the first female member of the American Philosophical Society). In England, she visited Bath, Bristol and Oxford, and became friendly with actor David Garrick and the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland; on a later trip she stayed in Edinburgh, and was regularly in the company of Hugh Blair and Adam Smith. A long-suffering victim of rheumatism, she also went to Matlock and Scarborough for the cure.
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Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova in 1784.
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By Dmitry Levitzky (1735-1822), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Yekaterina Dashkova in 1784, painted by Dmitry Levitzky (1735-1822). In 1762, Empress Catherine deposed her own husband, Peter III, for his worrying admiration for Frederick the Great’s Prussia, and took the crown. Princess Dashkova supported her, and remained one of her must trusted counsellors. Dashkova’s European tour, which began in 1768, introduced her to the circle of such literary giants as Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin (who invited her to be the first female member of the American Philosophical Society). In England, she visited Bath, Bristol and Oxford, and became friendly with actor David Garrick and the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland; on a later trip she stayed in Edinburgh, and was regularly in the company of Hugh Blair and Adam Smith. A long-suffering victim of rheumatism, she also went to Matlock and Scarborough for the cure.
John Smeaton (1724-1792) was an English engineer who made advances in water and steam power, and engineered bridges, canals, harbours and land drainage schemes. Such was his reputation that Empress Catherine of Russia, who had a high regard for English know-how, dangled the lure of her glittering Court and immense treasury in the hope of landing him.
The Empress Catherine of Russia was exceedingly anxious to have his [Smeaton’s] services in the formation of great engineering works in her dominions,* and she commissioned the Princess Dackshaw* to offer him his own terms, if he would accede to her proposal. But his plans and his heart were bent upon the exercise of his skill in his own country, and he steadily refused all the offers made to him.*
It is reported that when the Princess found her attempts unavailing, she said to him, “Sir, you are a great man, and I honour you. You may have an equal in abilities,* perhaps, but in character you stand single. The English minister, Sir Robert Walpole, was mistaken; and my sovereign, to her loss, finds one who has not his price.”*
* This story comes of good authority. It occurs in a speech to the Committee of Civil Engineers given at Fellfoot near Kendal on October 30th, 1797, by Mary Dixon, one of Smeaton’s daughters; Archer’s account is fuller and a little easier to read.
* Princess Yekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (1743-1810). In her memoirs she called herself Princess Daschkaw, and Mary Dixon referred to her as the Princess De Askoff. Dashkova had played a key role in the court intrigues that brought Catherine to the throne, and was one of her most trusted counsellors. In 1768 she embarked on tour of Europe that lasted fourteen years, spending December 1776 to June 1779 in Edinburgh. Well-read and an experienced writer, on her return to Russia Dashkova was showered her with distinctions. She was appointed Chairwoman of Imperial Russian Academy (which she helped to found) and Director of Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1783.
* Not that Smeaton had any objection to helping Russia progress. In 1774, English sailor Sir Charles Knowles, whom Catherine had engaged to modernise the Imperial Navy in 1771, commissioned a waterpump from Carron Iron Works of Falkirk for draining the docks at Kronstadt, St Petersburg, and Carron consulted Smeaton on the design. It was tested in 1777, and inspected by the Empress in 1782, who was delighted with it. On Britain’s proud role in shaping the modern Russian Navy, see Samuel Greig.
* The most prominent among them was surely James Watt, who in 1769 had patented the first steam engine capable of driving industrial machinery, but he politely declined Catherine’s overtures too. Catherine nonetheless sent promising Russian students to the firm of Boulton and Watt in England to learn the techniques of steam engine design.
* Dashkova was not referring to any remark by Walpole directed specifically at Smeaton. ‘Every man has his price’ was by this time quoted as one of Walpole’s favourite sayings; John Wesley did so in Sermon 123, delivered at Halifax on April 21st, 1790.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author
aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that
strike you. How do they help the author communicate his
ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you?
How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939)
by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at
Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn,
Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University,
USA.
Précis
In the 1770s, engineer John Smeaton was invited by Catherine the Great to work in Russia. He was invited to name any terms, but no amount of money could tempt him. Catherine’s envoy Princess Dashkova was gracious in defeat, exclaiming that whatever Robert Walpole may say, there were still some men who were not for sale at any price.(59 / 60 words)
In the 1770s, engineer John Smeaton was invited by Catherine the Great to work in Russia. He was invited to name any terms, but no amount of money could tempt him. Catherine’s envoy Princess Dashkova was gracious in defeat, exclaiming that whatever Robert Walpole may say, there were still some men who were not for sale at any price.
Edit | Reset
Variations:
1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words.2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words.3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, because, or, since, unless, until, whether.
Suggest answers to this question. See
if you can limit one answer to exactly
seven words.
How did John Smeaton impress Princess Dashkova?
Suggestion
By turning down a lucrative job offer.
(7 words)
Variations:
1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words.2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words.3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
JigsawsBased on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single
sentence, using different words as much as possible.
Do not be satisfied with the first answer you
think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Catherine offered Smeaton a job in Russia. She told him to name his terms. He declined the job.
Variation:
Try rewriting your sentence so that it uses one or more of
these words:
1.Accept 2.Sum 3.Turn
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1I.Man.Unavailing.
2But.Her.Say.
3His.If.Stand.
Variations:1.include direct and indirect speech2.include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who3.use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
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