| Citation |
AWM.738.011
27 Apr-4 May 1738:21, 22 (957)
Extract of a letter from Petersburg, dated Feb. 10. Nothing
could be more magnificent than the celebration of our
Empress's birth day, which was kept here the 28th.
Her Czarian Majesty having received in the morning the
compliments of the nobility, foreign ministers and the
gentry, dined afterwards in publick under a rich canopy in
the great hall of the palace with the two Imperial
Princesses; and at another table, which represented a Spread
Eagle, were entertain'd a number of Lords and Ladies. The
Italian musick played the whole time of dinner; and at every
health, the cannon of the palace were fired, the drums
beating, and the trumpets sounding throughout the whole
entertainment. About four in the afternoon the ball began,
which continued 'till eight. In the meantime, the theatre
was illuminated by an infinite number of lights, and at nine
in the evening the fireworks were lighted by a rocket from
one of the galleries of the great hall. The illumination at
the theater represented a large garden with this
inscription.
The Happy Retreat of Peace
The firework formed in a manner the entrance into the garden
. . .
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