Ivan Yelagin

Yelagin studied in the cadet corps for nobles with Mikhail Kheraskov and Alexander Sumarokov, a popular playwright whose works he alternately praised and derided.

After Catherine's coming to power in 1762, Yelagin replaced Sumarokov as director of the court theatres.

[1] He also helped Catherine in re-editing her manuscripts: all her literary works survive only in Yelagin's handwritten copies.

[2] "With Dr Ely, a converted Jew and a mason, Yelagin studied Hebrew and Cabbala, theosophy, physics and chemistry, Egyptian traditions".

[5] This side of his activities eventually aroused Catherine's suspicions and contributed to his downfall in the early 1780s.