-Elisaveta tells P. to come with Lev to the garden that night... to meet with Peter??
Yes
-P. goes with Branicki (who is this guy??) to the garden as instructed, Peter meets him
Branicki: this guy. Short version: friend of P's, betrayed him to the Russians when Poniatowski actually tried his best for Poland. Here they are in old age, in Russia, with Poniatowiski a gilded cage type of state prisoner and Branicki visiting.
-Peter gets Catherine, who says he should go to Poland? I am kind of confused as to what Peter is thinking here and why he is much happier than he was when he last saw P.
Okay, clarification: "our friend" means Poniatwoski, not Peter. Poniatowski is about to return to Poland, not least because the "tailor" bust up means the Czarina - Elizabeth, still alive, remember! - frowns on the indiscretion of it all. What Catherine is suggesting is that Peter, if he really has no hard feelings, should write to his mistress' dad (Woronzow, who is the political head honcho at the Russian court) to give the signal that Poniatowski can come back as envoy from Poland. I should say that Poniatowski had already once left (as Saxon envoy) and returned (as Polish envoy). Yes, Saxony was still in a union with Poland, but under Prussian occupation (there was a war going on, after all).
Why Peter is in a far better mood: presumably because his mistress has pointed out to him that if he lets his wife have her lover, more free time for them? I'm just guessing.
Re: this entire episode, between "I'm a tailor!"' and Poniatowsi jumping through the wrong window, a case can be made he's not afraid of making himself look ridiculous in his memoirs, knowing he does, which presumably was part of his charm.
From what using the search machine tells me, Catherine's memoirs just about break off at this point, so there isn't an equivalent detailed description of this episode there, but she has earlier stuff, for a contrast and compare.
Meeting Poniatowski:
I think we were allowed to come from Oranienbaum to town at Pentecost. Around this time, the English envoy Chevalier Williams came to Russia. In his entourag there was also Count Pontiatowski, a Pole (...). Around this time, I learned how indiscreet Sergej Saltykov (Catherine's first lover and possibly the biological father of her son) had behaved both in Dresden and in Sweden. Besides, he'd courted every women he met in both countries. At first, I didn't want to believe it, but then it got confirmed to me from so many sides that even his friends didn't want to defend him anymore. During this year, I became better friends than ever with Anna Nikitchna Naryshkin. Her brother-in-law was a great part of this, he always was the third in our company, and our pranks never ended. (...) Leo Naryshkin got sick of a dangerous fever, and during the course of that illness he wrote letters to me which I could tell at once weren't written by him. But I couldn't help replying. The letters were very good and full of humor. He claimed he let them be written by his secretary. At last, I found out that this "secretary" was none other than Count Poniatowski who'd become friends with the family Naryshkin and didn't leave his side.
After which Catherine/Poniatowski becomes a thing. I'm tickled she wants us to know she fell in love with his mind first, though, in a Cyrano fashion.
Catherine also has a French farce episode to report:
During this summer, Count Poniatowski made a trip to Poland, from which returned to Russia with a mandate from the King of Poland. (Currently just the King of Poland, since Prussian troops ocupy Saxony, remember.) Before his departure he came to Oranienbaum to say farwell to us. With him was Count Horn. He'd been sent from the King of Sweden (...). Count Poniatowski and Count Horn remained in Oranienbaum for forty-eight hours. During the first day, the Grand Duke was acting very well towards them, on the second day, they bored him since the wedding of a hunter was on his mind, where he wanted to indulge in a drinking bout. When he saw that Counts Poniatowski and Horn were still staying, he just left and I had to remain as sole hostess. After dinner I led the small company to the private rooms of the Grand Duke and myself. When we entered my cabinet, my bolognese pet dog raced towards us and barked angrily at Count Horn. But when it noticed Count Poniatowski, the animal was visibly overwhelmed with joy and affection. Since my cabinet was rather small, no one other than Leo Naryshkin, his sister-in-law and myself noticed. But Count Horn wasn't deceived, and when I returned to the dining room, he grabbed Count Poniatowski at his coat and said: "My friend, there's no worse traitor than a Bolognese spaniel. Whenever I fell in love with a woman, I always gave her such a dog as a gift. Through the animals I always learned if anyone was more favoured than I was. This rule never fails. (...) Count Poniatwoski treated the whole affair as being in Horn's imagination, but he couldn't dissuade him. Count Horn simply replied: "Don't worry, I'm discretion itself."
Re: How (Not) To Conduct A Very Secret Affair
-Catherine wins over Elisaveta
Yes
-Elisaveta tells P. to come with Lev to the garden that night... to meet with Peter??
Yes
-P. goes with Branicki (who is this guy??) to the garden as instructed, Peter meets him
Branicki: this guy. Short version: friend of P's, betrayed him to the Russians when Poniatowski actually tried his best for Poland. Here they are in old age, in Russia, with Poniatowiski a gilded cage type of state prisoner and Branicki visiting.
-Peter gets Catherine, who says he should go to Poland? I am kind of confused as to what Peter is thinking here and why he is much happier than he was when he last saw P.
Okay, clarification: "our friend" means Poniatwoski, not Peter. Poniatowski is about to return to Poland, not least because the "tailor" bust up means the Czarina - Elizabeth, still alive, remember! - frowns on the indiscretion of it all. What Catherine is suggesting is that Peter, if he really has no hard feelings, should write to his mistress' dad (Woronzow, who is the political head honcho at the Russian court) to give the signal that Poniatowski can come back as envoy from Poland.
I should say that Poniatowski had already once left (as Saxon envoy) and returned (as Polish envoy). Yes, Saxony was still in a union with Poland, but under Prussian occupation (there was a war going on, after all).
Why Peter is in a far better mood: presumably because his mistress has pointed out to him that if he lets his wife have her lover, more free time for them? I'm just guessing.
Re: this entire episode, between "I'm a tailor!"' and Poniatowsi jumping through the wrong window, a case can be made he's not afraid of making himself look ridiculous in his memoirs, knowing he does, which presumably was part of his charm.
From what using the search machine tells me, Catherine's memoirs just about break off at this point, so there isn't an equivalent detailed description of this episode there, but she has earlier stuff, for a contrast and compare.
Meeting Poniatowski:
I think we were allowed to come from Oranienbaum to town at Pentecost. Around this time, the English envoy Chevalier Williams came to Russia. In his entourag there was also Count Pontiatowski, a Pole (...). Around this time, I learned how indiscreet Sergej Saltykov (Catherine's first lover and possibly the biological father of her son) had behaved both in Dresden and in Sweden. Besides, he'd courted every women he met in both countries. At first, I didn't want to believe it, but then it got confirmed to me from so many sides that even his friends didn't want to defend him anymore. During this year, I became better friends than ever with Anna Nikitchna Naryshkin. Her brother-in-law was a great part of this, he always was the third in our company, and our pranks never ended. (...) Leo Naryshkin got sick of a dangerous fever, and during the course of that illness he wrote letters to me which I could tell at once weren't written by him. But I couldn't help replying. The letters were very good and full of humor. He claimed he let them be written by his secretary. At last, I found out that this "secretary" was none other than Count Poniatowski who'd become friends with the family Naryshkin and didn't leave his side.
After which Catherine/Poniatowski becomes a thing. I'm tickled she wants us to know she fell in love with his mind first, though, in a Cyrano fashion.
Catherine also has a French farce episode to report:
During this summer, Count Poniatowski made a trip to Poland, from which returned to Russia with a mandate from the King of Poland. (Currently just the King of Poland, since Prussian troops ocupy Saxony, remember.) Before his departure he came to Oranienbaum to say farwell to us. With him was Count Horn. He'd been sent from the King of Sweden (...). Count Poniatowski and Count Horn remained in Oranienbaum for forty-eight hours. During the first day, the Grand Duke was acting very well towards them, on the second day, they bored him since the wedding of a hunter was on his mind, where he wanted to indulge in a drinking bout. When he saw that Counts Poniatowski and Horn were still staying, he just left and I had to remain as sole hostess. After dinner I led the small company to the private rooms of the Grand Duke and myself. When we entered my cabinet, my bolognese pet dog raced towards us and barked angrily at Count Horn. But when it noticed Count Poniatowski, the animal was visibly overwhelmed with joy and affection. Since my cabinet was rather small, no one other than Leo Naryshkin, his sister-in-law and myself noticed. But Count Horn wasn't deceived, and when I returned to the dining room, he grabbed Count Poniatowski at his coat and said: "My friend, there's no worse traitor than a Bolognese spaniel. Whenever I fell in love with a woman, I always gave her such a dog as a gift. Through the animals I always learned if anyone was more favoured than I was. This rule never fails. (...)
Count Poniatwoski treated the whole affair as being in Horn's imagination, but he couldn't dissuade him. Count Horn simply replied: "Don't worry, I'm discretion itself."