o death a single highway robber. His former delight had been in storming towns and gaining battles; but he now found his greatest pleasure in building churches, and endowing seminaries of education. He encouraged the raising of new cities and towns; peopled the waste districts of his country with the prisoners whom he had taken in war; and not only conducted himself as a sovereign who consulted the welfare of his dominions, but displayed many amiable qualities that highly endeared him to his subjects. On great festivals, he was accustomed to give entertainments to the inhabi- tants of the capital, and to send refreshments to those who were prevented, by sickness or infirmity, from at- tending the public feast. By these marks of regard to the general and individual interests of his people, he contributed to win them from the old religion, and to give them a taste for the new doctrines which he pro- fessed. By showing that Christianity had made him both

Vol. XVIII. Part I. a milder and a wiser prince, he insured from his people a respect for the new religion, while the striking example of the sovereign and his nobles could not fail to influence the minds of the inferior orders. Having one day issued a proclamation, ordering all the inhabitants of Kief to repair next morning to the banks of the river to be baptized, the people cheerfully obeyed the order, observing that if it were not good to be baptized, the prince and the boyars would never submit to the ceremony.

The establishment of Christianity in the Russian dominions, forms one of the most prominent features in the reign of Vladimir, and gives him a much juster claim to the title of Great, which has been bestowed on him by historians, than all his numerous victories. We have therefore dwelt on it with the greater minuteness. Indeed the latter transactions of his reign afford but little interest. His last days were embittered by domestic vexations; his wife and one of his favourite sons died long before him, and another of his sons, Yaroslaf, on whom he had bestowed the government of Novgorod, refused to acknowledge him as his liege, and applied to the Varagians for assistance against his father. The aged Vladimir, compelled to march against a rebellious son, died with grief upon the road, after a long and glorious reign of 35 years.

The character of this monarch may be easily collected from the account we have given of the transactions that marked his reign. He had certainly great, if not amiable qualities; and if he failed in communicating to his subjects the zeal for civilization and improvement which he himself possessed, it was the fault rather of the times, than of the instructor. His country remained barbarous, because barbarism was the characteristic of the age, and the monarch himself rose but little above the character of a barbarian, because the times in which he lived did not admit of superior refinement. It has been well observed by an ingenious writer on the history of Russia, that it is scarcely possible for a man to rise far above his contemporaries, and that had Vladimir lived in the 17th century, the civilization and refinement of Russia might have been imputed to him, as it is now imputed to Peter the Great.

Notwithstanding the circumstances we have noticed, the improvement which Russia owed to this prince was great and permanent. With the Christian religion he imported from Greece the arts which then flourished in that empire, and almost entirely new-modelled the language of his country, by engraving on it the more refined dialect of the Greeks, and adopting, in a great measure, the letters of their alphabet. See Philology.

The dominions of Russia, which at first consisted of two principalities, that of Novgorod, bordering on the Baltic, and that of Kief, occupying no very large space on the eastern bank of the Dnieper, were, by the victories of Vladimir, extended westward along the shores of the Baltic, into Lithuania and Poland; southward along the shores of the Euxine, so as to include the Crimea and great part of the Bulgarian territories; while to the east it extended to the Oka, the Don and the Volga. He still maintained the seat of government at Kief, of which he was styled grand prince, while the other districts were either tributary to that principality, or held of it as their superior.

Before his death, Vladimir had divided his extensive territories among his twelve sons, reserving to himself and his immediate heir, the grand principality of Kief. The consequences of this ill-considered distribution were his confusion, contention, and almost perpetual warfare among his sons. The most respectable, and in the end among his most powerful of these, was Yaroslaf, or as he is commonly called Jaroslaf, prince of Novgorod. This prince finding that Sviatopolk, who had raised himself to the sovereignty of Kief after his father's death, attempted by assassination, or force of arms, to take possession of the neighbouring principalities, determined to resist him in his incroachments. Collecting an army of Novgorodians, he in 1016, drove Sviatopolk from Kief, and forced him to seek an asylum, with his father-in-law, Boleslaus, duke of Poland. Boleslaus was easily persuaded to engage in the cause of his son-in-law, as he hoped to reap advantage from the quarrels among the descendants of Vladimir, and not only regain that part of his dominions which had been conquered by that prince, but enlarge his territory by encroachments on the Russian borders. He therefore accompanied Sviatopolk into Russia with an army, retook Kief, and obliged the Novgorodian prince to retire with precipitation. While he was endeavouring to collect fresh forces to renew the war with Boleslaus and Sviatopolk, the latter, by the treachery and perfidy with which he treated his Polish allies, contributed to his own downfall. He caused great numbers of the Poles to be secretly massacred, a transaction by which Boleslaus was so incensed, that he plundered Kief, made himself master of several places on the Russian frontiers, and then left his perfidious son-in-law to shift for himself. Sviatopolk now sought assistance from the Petchenegans, and with an army of these auxiliaries, offered battle to Yaroslaf, not far from the place, where he had, four years before, caused one of his brothers to be murdered. The contest was long and bloody, but terminated in favour of Yaroslaf. Sviatopolk was put to flight, and died soon after.

By this victory Yaroslaf acquired possession of the reign of greater part of his father's dominions, and testified his gratitude for the assistance given him by the Novgorodians, by the attention which he paid to the particular improvement of that state. He drew up for it a code of laws, which are still known by the appellation of the municipal law of Novgorod. He also exerted himself for the welfare of other towns, and of the country at large.

Yaroslaf did not neglect the advancement of the Christian religion. He established a metropolitan in Kief, and thus gave to the Russian clergy a head, who might watch over the morals of the inferior pastors, and provide for the general dissemination of the Christian doctrine. He collected several books in the Greek religion, and caused many of them to be translated into the Russian language.

This monarch is supposed to have died in 1054, and to have reigned 35 years. He followed the example of his father, in dividing his territories among his sons, though he endeavoured to prevent the divisions which he himself had witnessed from such a partition, by exhorting them on his deathbed, to the most intimate concord, and endeavouring to convince them that they would be respected by their subjects, and feared by their enemies. enemies, only while they continued to act with unanimity.

We know little of the proceedings of Yaroslaf's successors, except that Ilialfaf, his eldest son, and grand prince of Kief, had frequent disputes with his brothers, in which he was assisted by the Poles, and supported by the influence of the Roman pontiff. During these disputes he was once expelled from his dominions, but again recovered them, and reigned till 1073.

From the death of Ilialfaf to the beginning of the 12th century, the history of Ruffia comprises little else than a continued series of intestine commotions and petty warfare with the neighbouring states. The same system of dismemberment was continued by the succeeding princes, and was attended with the same result. There were during this period not fewer than 17 independent principalities, though these were at length reduced to seven, viz. those of Kief, Novgorod, Smolensk, Vladimir, Tver, Halitch, and Moikva (Mosco). Of these, Kief and Novgorod long continued to be the most powerful, though they could not always maintain their superiority over the other principalities; and towards the latter end of the period which we have mentioned, the district of Vladimir created itself into a grand principality, and became at least as powerful as Kief and Novgorod.

In the supremacy of these three great principalities, we may trace the division of European Russia into Great, Little, and White Russia, a distinction which long maintained its ground, and in later times gave to the sovereign of this empire the title of monarch or emperor of all the Russias. Great Russia comprehended the principality of Novgorod, and extended northward to the White sea, eastward to the river Dvina, and the entrance of the Petchora into the Urals mountains; while to the south it bordered on the district of Vladimir, as far as the Volga and the mouth of the Medveditsa, and to the west on Lithuania and Prussia, including the tributary tribes on the Baltic, as far as Memel. Its capital was Novgorod. Little Russia extended along the river Ager to the north above the Donetz and the Oka, on the east to the Polovtzes and the Petchenegans, while to the south it stretched as far as the Tauric Chermonesus, or the Crimea, and to the west along the banks of the river Goryn. This was the principality of Kief, and in that city was held the seat of government. The principality of Vladimir received the name of White Russia. It extended northward along the Volga, to the southern boundary of Great Russia; to the east it bordered on the possessions of the Ugres, and the territory of the Mordvines, stretching down the Volga to the mouth of the Oka; to the south it extended along the Oka to the principality of Riazan, and the Bulgarian territory. The metropolis of this division was at first Shuia, afterwards Roftof, Sulidal, and Vladimir, till at length the seat of government was transferred to Mosco.

The principality of Novgorod appears, during this interval, to have been the most respectable for its commercial intercourse with the neighbouring nations, and for the independent spirit of its internal government. This, though nominally monarchical, seems to have possessed much of a republican character. The princes were evidently dependent on the people, and some ludicrous instances of this dependence are related by the old historians. One of the grand princes had so much displeased his people, that they refused to pay him their usual obedience. As the prince seems to have been aware of the little influence which he possessed in the state, he employed the metropolitan of the principality to negotiate a reconciliation. This prelate accordingly wrote to the Novgorodians in the following terms. "The grand prince has acted wrong towards you, but he is sorry for it, desires you to forgive him, and will behave better for the future. I will be surety for him, and befriend you to receive him with honour and dignity."

During the intestine broils that attended the dismemberment of the Russian monarchy, the ambition of its neighbours, and partly the folly of the contending princes, who solicited their assistance against their rivals, contributed to diminish the strength and resources of the empire. In particular the Poles and the Hungarians availed themselves of these circumstances. Invited into Russia by the rival princes, and allured by the hope of plunder, they readily lent their aid to any of the parties. By ravaging the towns and villages, carrying off the captives into slavery, and making a prey of whatever appeared most useful, they quickly recompensed themselves for their assistance. The Poles seem to have been most successful in their depredations, and to have fully revenged themselves for their former humiliation.

It is not surprising that a state of anarchy and confusion, such as we have described, should hold out a tempting invitation to any powerful nation to attempt at acquiring the dominion of a people who showed that they were incapable of governing themselves. Not far from the confines of Vladimir and Kief, viz. in the neighbourhood of the sea of Aral, the wandering hordes of Mongols, or Mongol Tartars, had taken up their residence. These people appear to have descended from the ancient Scythians, and to have long dwelt on the confines of the Chinese empire. Hence they gradually marched westward, and about 1223 arrived on the shores of the sea of Aral, under the conduct of Tuchti, son of the famous Tchichinhis Khan, chief of the Mogul empire, many of whose warlike exploits have been recounted under the article MOGUL. From the Aral, Tuchti conducted his horde along the shores of the Caspian, and gradually approached the Dniepr. In his course he attacked and overcame the Tcherkesses, or Circassians, who on his approach had joined with the Polovtzes, to resist the terrible enemy. The defeated Polovtzes gave notice to their neighbours the Russians, of the approaching storm, and invited them to form a common cause against the enemy. In the meantime the Tartars had sent ambassadors to the Russians, hoping to prevent their alliance with the Polovtzes, and thus the more easily subdue the disunited nations. For this time, however, the Russians were true to their own interest, and proved firm to their alliance. In concert with the Polovtzes, they assembled an army, and prepared to resist the incursions of the Tartars. Both parties met near the small river Kalka, which flows into the sea of Aral, and a furious engagement took place. The Russians fought with great intrepidity, but the Polovtzes thrown into consternation at the furious onset of the Tartars, suddenly betook themselves to flight. As they formed the van-guard, their flight put the Russian army, which was drawn up behind them, into such complete disorder, disorder, that a total rout ensued. The prince of Kief, who had kept himself aloof during the engagement, attempted to resist the victorious Tartars, but his army was attacked and defeated with great slaughter.

Had the princes who then shared among them the Russian territories firmly united against the common enemy, there is little doubt that they might have stemmed the torrent, which soon, from their state of rivalry and division, burst in and overwhelmed them. About 13 years after the defeat on the Kalka, another horde of Tartars, headed by Baty Khan, the grandson of Tchinghis-khan, penetrated into Russia, after having attacked and defeated their neighbours the Bulgarians. The Tartars soon spread far and wide the terror of their name. Wherever they came, the whole face of nature was laid waste; towns and villages were destroyed by fire; all the men capable of bearing arms were put to the sword, and the children, women, and old men, carried into captivity. If the inhabitants of the towns to which they approached offered a compromise, the faithless barbarians affected to receive their submission; but immediately broke the agreement, and treated those who surrendered to their mercy with as much rigour as those who had endeavoured to defend themselves, and had been overcome. If the inhabitants of the open towns and villages came out to meet them, and to receive them as conquerors and friends; death, torture, or the most ignominious bondage, was the reward of their spontaneous submission.

The first state which they attacked was Riazan, the prince of which applied for assistance to Yury, commonly called by historians, George Sevolditch, grand prince of Vladimir, who was then chief of the Russian princes. He sent them a few auxiliaries, but they either came too late, or their number was too small. The principality of Riazan fell, and its fall was succeeded by that of Pereiaslav, Roltof, Sudal, and several others. Like a furious torrent rushing down the mountain's side, and irresistibly carrying with it all that impedes its progress, these barbarous hordes rolled their rapid course, carrying in their train fire and sword, ravages and desolation, torments and death, and sweeping all before them in one common devastation. They now approached the principality of Vladimir, and no army appeared to resist them on the frontiers. They advanced unimpeded to the capital, which, left to its fate by the grand prince, had nothing to expect, but the same cruel treatment which the neighbouring cities had received. Yury, with unpardonable negligence, was celebrating a marriage feast, when he ought to have been employed in collecting the means of defence against the enemy, of whose approach to his borders he had received timely intimation. The city of Vladimir, which contained the princess and two of her sons, was left to the protection of a chieftain, totally unqualified for its defence, and the inhabitants seemed to share the pusillanimity of their governor. Instead of annoying the enemy by occasional excursions, and preparing the means of defending the walls against a sudden attack, they gave themselves up to terror and despair; and as they conceived death to be inevitable, they prepared for it, by taking the habits of monks and nuns, in order to insure to themselves a blissful departure. A prey to fear and despondency, the city soon fell into the hands of the Tartars. They one morning scaled the walls, and meeting with little opposition, quickly made themselves masters of the place; when they cast aside every feeling of humanity, and like beasts of prey, glutted their appetite for blood among the wretched inhabitants. The grand princes, and other ladies of distinction, dreading the brutality of the relentless conquerors, had taken refuge in the choir of a church, an asylum which all the assurances of the Tartars that they should suffer no injury, could not prevail on them to abandon. It was therefore set on fire by the barbarians, who feasted their ears with the shrieks and groans of the women, as the flames surrounded them.

Yury, incensed almost to desperation, at the fate of his capital, and the horrible death of his wife and children, was determined to take signal vengeance on the assailants. He assembled all the forces which he could draw together, and though his army was greatly inferior in numbers to the Tartars, he marched against the enemy, and attacked them with the most determined valour. The struggle was short, but bloody; the Tartars were victorious, and the body of Yury was found among the slain.

This appears to have been the only vigorous stand made by the Russian princes. The Tartars pushed forward with rapidity, and successively overpowered the principalities of Novgorod and Kief. In the latter city they found immense booty; but this circumstance did not prevent them from repeating here the same bloody scenes which they had acted in the other capitals. The governor was preserved from the cruelties that had been inflicted on the inhabitants, by the courage he had displayed in defence of the city; and his noble demeanour, when he fell into the hands of the conqueror, acquired the esteem and affection of that chief, and enabled him to obtain a temporary repose to his country.

The Tartars had now established themselves in the Russian territories, and their khan or chief, though he did not himself assume the nominal sovereignty, princes unregained as paramount lord, and placed on the throne any of the native princes whom he found most obsequious to his will, or who had ingratiated themselves by the magnificence of their presents. The throne was successively occupied by Yarolaf II. Alexander Yaroslavitch, Yarolaf Yaroslavitch, Vasilii Yaroslavitch, Dimitri Alexandrovitch, Andrei, Daniil, both brothers of Dimitri, Mikaila Yaroslavitch, Yury Danilovitch, Alexander Mikailovitch, Ivan Danilovitch, Simon Ivanovitch, and Ivan Ivanovitch.

Among the princes whom we have enumerated, we must particularly notice Alexander the son of Yarolaf der Neffsky. II. This prince was installed grand prince of Russia by the Tartar khan in 1252, and continued to reign till 1264. He is remarkable chiefly for a decisive victory gained by him over the Danes on the banks of the Neva,—a victory which procured him the honourable surname of Neffsky (the conqueror). This victory is said to have taken place in 1239, while Alexander was governor of Novgorod, under his father Yarolaf, who then reigned at Vladimir. After his accession to the throne on the death of his father, he engaged in a successful war with Sweden. This prince is held in great veneration by the Russians, and several miracles are attributed to him. In particular it is said, that when the prayer of abolution was offered to his corpse previous to interment (a practice long customary in Russia), the hand hand of the dead body opened to receive it. His reputation for sanctity occasioned him to be ranked among the tutelary saints of the Greek church, where he still holds a distinguished place, by the title of St Alexander Nevsky.

During these several reigns, which all historians have passed over for want of records concerning them, the miseries of a foreign yoke were aggravated by all the calamities of intestine discord and war; whilst the knights of Livonia, or brothers of the short sword, as they are sometimes called, a kind of military order of religious, on one side, and the Poles on the other, catching at the opportunity, attacked Russia, and took several of its towns, and even some considerable countries. The Tartars and Ruthians, whose interests were in this case the same, often united to oppose their common enemy; but were generally worsted. The Livonians took Pleikow, and the Poles made themselves masters of Black Russia, the Ukraine, Podolia, and the city of Kief. Casimir the Great, one of their kings, carried his conquests still farther. He asserted his pretensions to a part of Russia, in right of his relation to Boleslaus duke of Kalitz, who died without issue, and forcibly possessed himself of the duchies of Perzemylia, Kalitz, and Luckow, and of the districts of Sanock, Lubatczow, and Terebowla; all which countries he made a province of Poland.

The newly-conquered Ruthians were ill disposed to endure the government of the Poles, whose laws and customs were more contrary to their own than those of the Tartars had been. They joined the latter to rid themselves of the yoke, and assembled an army numerous enough to overwhelm all Poland, but destitute of valour and discipline. Casimir, undaunted by this deluge of barbarians, presented himself at the head of a few troops on the borders of the Vistula, and obliged his enemies to retire.

About the year 1362 Dimitri Ivanovitch received the sovereignty from the Tartar chief, and established the seat of his government at Mosco. This prince possessed considerable ambition, and contrived to inspire the other Ruthian princes with so much respect for his person and government, that they consented to hold their principalities as fiefs under Dimitri. This increased the consequence of the Ruthian prince, excited the jealousy of Mamai the Tartar khan, who determined to take measures for maintaining his superiority. He began by demanding an increase of tribute, but when Dimitri seemed to demur at consenting to this new encroachment, the khan not only inflicted on his demand, but required the grand prince to appear before him in person. This requisition Dimitri thought proper to refuse, and prepared to support his refusal by force of arms. The terror with which the Tartars had inspired the inhabitants of Russia had now considerably subsided, while the hatred which the Ruthians bore these haughty masters, was kept alive by the barbarity of their manners, and the difference of their religion. The Christian ministers, justly dreading that the Tartars, in their furious progress, might extirpate Christianity, contributed all in their power to confirm the spirit of revolt among the people; and they promised the crown of martyrdom to such as should fall in battle against the infidels. Thus, the contest into which the grand prince determined to enter in support of his authority, became in some measure a holy war, undertaken in defence of the national religion. This combination of favourable circumstances operated so strongly in favour of Dimitri, and the princes that had confederated with him, that they soon collected an army of 200,000 men. With this force the grand prince left Mosco, and marched towards the Don, on the southern bank of which the Tartars were encamped. Arrived at this river, he left it to the choice of his troops, either to cross the river, and encounter the enemy on the other side, or to await the attack where they were. The general voice declared for passing over to the assault. The grand prince accordingly transported his battalions across the river, that he might cut off all hope of escaping by retreat. The fight now commenced, and though the numbers of the foe far exceeded their own, the Ruthians defended themselves valiantly against the furious onset of the Tartars; but as these barbarians were continually relieved by fresh reinforcements, they appeared to be gaining ground. Indeed, nothing but the impossibility of retreating across the river, and the firm persuasion that death would immediately transport them to the mansions of eternal bliss, restrained the Ruthians from a general flight. At the moment when the day seemed entirely lost, a detachment of the grand prince's army which he had stationed in reserve, and had remained out of the view of the enemy, came up with unabated force, fell on the rear of the Tartars, threw them into such terror and confusion, that they fled with Mamai at their head, and left the Ruthians masters of the field. This contest must have been extremely bloody, as we are told that eight days were employed by the remains of the Ruthian army, in burying the bodies of their slaughtered companions, while those of the Tartars were left uninterred upon the ground.

This glorious victory, which took place in 1380, was attended with numerous advantages to the Ruthian cause. In particular, it taught the native princes that the Tartars were not unconquerable; that nothing was wanting to relieve them from the galling yoke under which they had long groaned, but mutual union, courage, and prudence. The Tartars appear to have been so much humbled by this defeat, that for a time they left the Ruthians to enjoy peace in their recovered liberty. This forbearance, however, was not of long duration. Before the death of Dimitri they returned with increased numbers, laid siege to Mosco, which, after an obstinate defence, was at length induced to surrender, and Russia once more submitted to her old masters.

Dimitri died in 1389, and was succeeded by his son Vasilii Dimitrievitch. In the reign of this prince a new incursion of the Tartars took place, under the great Timur or Tamerlane, who after having subdued all the neighbouring Tartar hordes, extended his conquests to the Ruthian territories, carried Mosco by assault, and carried off immense plunder.

The grand principality of Vladimir, or as it may now comparatively be called, of Mosco, had, at the end of the 14th century, attained its greatest height, while that of Kief had proportionally declined. This latter principality was, at the time of which we are now writing, under the dominion of the Poles, having been seized on in 1320 by Gedemin, duke of Lithuania.

The latter end of the 14th century forms a splendid epoch in the Ruthian history. At this time, viz., from Rus

1462 to 1505, reigned Ivan Vasilivitch, or, as he is commonly called, John Basilovitz. This able prince, by his invincible spirit and refined policy, became both the conqueror and deliverer of his country, and laid the first foundation of its future grandeur. Oberving with indignation the narrow limits of his power at his accession to the throne, after the death of his father Vasilii the Blind, he began immediately to resolve within himself the means of enlarging his dominions. Marriage, though he had in reality no regard or inclination for women, seemed to him one of the best expedients he could begin with; and accordingly he demanded and obtained Maria, sister of Michael duke of Twer, whom he soon after depoised, under pretence of revenging the injuries done to his father, and added this duchy to his own territories of Mosco. Maria, by whom he had a son named Ivan, who died before him, did not live long; and upon her death he married Sophia, daughter of Thomas Paleologus, who had been driven from Constantinople, and forced to seek shelter at Rome, where the Pope portioned this princess, in hopes of thus procuring great advantage to the Roman religion; but his expectations were frustrated, Sophia being obliged to conform to the Greek church after her arrival in Rusia.

What could induce Ivan to seek a comfort at such a distance is nowhere accounted for, unless it be, that he hoped by this means to establish a pretension to the empire of the east, to which her father was the next heir; but however that may be, the Rusians certainly owed to this alliance their deliverance from the Tartar yoke. Shocked at the servile homage exacted by these proud victors, her husband going to meet their ambassadors at some distance from the city, and standing to hear what they had to say, whilst they were at dinner; Sophia told him that she was surprised to find that she had married a servant to the Tartars. Nettled at this reproach, Ivan feigned himself ill when the next deputation from the Tartars arrived, and by means of this stratagem, avoided a repetition of the humiliating ceremonial. Another circumstance equally displeasing to this princess was, that the Tartars persisted by agreement within the walls of the palace at Mosco, houses in which their ministers resided, a stipulation which they had made, at once to shew their power, and watch the actions of the grand prince. To rid her husband and herself of these unpleasant neighbours, Sophia sent a formal embassy to the khan, to inform him, that as she had been favoured with a vision from above, commanding her to build a temple in the place where then stood the houses of the Tartar ministers, her mind could not be at ease till she had fulfilled the divine command; she therefore desired his leave to pull them down, and give his people others. The khan consented; the houses within the Kremlin (D) were demolished, and no new ones being provided, the Tartar residents were obliged to leave Mosco, an affront which their prince was not able to revenge, as he was then engaged in a war with the Poles.

Ivan taking advantage of this circumstance, and having gradually increased his forces, now openly disclaimed all subjection to the Tartars, attacked their territories, and made himself master of Kazan. Here he was solemnly crowned with a diadem which is said to be the same that is still used in the coronation of the Rusian sovereigns. This took place about the year 1476, and led to a complete emancipation of Rusia from the Tartar dominion. Ivan afterwards carried his arms against the neighbouring states. The province of Permia, with Asiatic Bulgaria, and great part of Lapland, soon submitted to him, and the great Novgorod, a city then so famous that the Rusians were accustomed to intimate their idea of its importance by the proverbial expression, Who can resist God and the great Novgorod? was reduced by his generals after a seven years siege, and yielded immense treasure. This place was so wealthy, that Alexander Witold, prince of Lithuania, to whom the Novgorodians were then tributary, derived from it a yearly contribution of 100,000 rubles. The booty carried off by Ivan to Mosco, is said to have consisted of 300 cart loads of gold, silver, and precious stones, with a much greater quantity of furs, cloths, and other merchandise. After he quitted the city, which had been awed by his presence, the discontented excited at his violent measures broke out into acts of mutiny, on which he, in 1485, carried off 50 of the principal families, and distributed them through several of the Rusian towns. He afterwards carried off some thousands of the most considerable inhabitants, and replaced them by more loyal subjects from other places. By these proceedings the flourishing commerce of this city received a considerable shock, and it suffered still more by the imprisonment of all the German merchants, and the confiscation of their effects. Indeed from this period Novgorod never recovered its former splendor.

After his reduction of Novgorod, Ivan invaded the territories of Livonia and Ethonia, in consequence, as of Livonia we are told, of an affront offered to him by the inhabitants of Reval. Here, however, he met with a stout resistance, and does not seem to have made much progress. Towards the conclusion of his reign, the Kazanian Tartars, who, though humbled, had continued to inhabit that district, made a hard struggle to shake off the Russian yoke that had been imposed on them; but Ivan had established his authority too firmly for them to accomplish their purpose during his life. He died in 1505, and was succeeded by his son Vasilii Ivanovitch, commonly called Basilus III.

The Tartars of Kazan were still suffered to maintain a show of independency, by electing their own khans; but a Rusian noble, under the denomination of voivode, was associated with the khan in the government, and took care that the administration should be conducted in such a manner as to secure the interests of his master. About 14 years after the death of Ivan, however, the Tartars resolved to overturn so humiliating an administration. They murdered the Rusian voivode, expelled their nominal khan, and united themselves with their brethren of the Crimea. With their assistance they assembled a mighty force, entered the Rusian dominions, and carried their arms even to the gates of Mosco. The grand prince Vasilii found himself at that time unable

(D) The Kremlin, or Kremli, is a particular quarter of Mosco, where stands the palace of the tzars, first built of stone by Dimitri Ivanovitch Doniski in 1367. See Mosco. usable to resist the barbarians, and therefore purchased an exemption from general pillage by great presents, and a promise of renewed allegiance. The Tartars retired, but carried off immense booty, and nearly 300,000 prisoners, the greater part of whom they sent to Theodosia in the Crimea, and sold them to the Turks. This humiliation of Vali did not, however, long continue, and he was soon enabled to make head against the Tartars, and to recover possession of the city Kazan, and of Pskov, a city which had been built by the princess Olga, and was the great rival of Novgorod in wealth and commercial importance. Under this prince all the principalities of Russia were once more united, and they have remained ever since under the dominion of one sovereign.

It was under the son and successor of Vali, Ivan IV., or, as he is styled by the Russian historians, Ivan Vasilievich II., that Russia completely emancipated herself from her subjection to the Tartars, and acquired a vast accession of territory, which extended her empire into the north-east of Asia, and rendered her, for the first time, superior in extent to any state that had appeared since the Roman empire. Vali died in 1533, having reigned 28 years, and lived 55. His son Ivan was only three years old when he succeeded to the throne, and the queen-mother was appointed regent during his minority. During her administration the state became a prey to anarchy and confusion. She seems to have had no talents for government, and devoted herself entirely to the pursuit of pleasure, so that the ambitious nobles, and in particular the uncles of the young prince, had the most favourable opportunity for aggrandizing themselves at the expense of the sovereign. The queen mother died in 1538; and though the names and characters of those who assumed the regency after her death are not known, it appears that they must have conducted the administration with considerable prudence and circumspection, as, when Ivan attained his 17th year, he was enabled to assume the reins of government without opposition; and from the important transactions in which he immediately engaged, must have been possessed of considerable resources.

In taking into his own hands the government of the state, Ivan displayed so much prudence and manly fortitude, as soon raised him very high in the estimation of his subjects. At the same time he showed marks of a tyrannical disposition, and irritability of temper, which made him rather feared than admired by his friends, while they rendered him an object of terror to his neighbours and his enemies. He saw himself surrounded on all sides by contending factions, and to suppress these was the first object of his care. In the choice of means for effecting this, he does not seem to have been very scrupulous, provided they tended to the accomplishment of his aim; and in punishing the offences of those who opposed his purposes, his violence of temper not unfrequently led him to confound the innocent with the guilty. He was, however, successful in his great design, and having secured the domestic tranquillity of his dominions, he had leisure to direct his attention to the more remote, but not less predominant objects of his ambition. He resolved to attempt liberating his country for ever from the domination of the Tartars, and he succeeded. In 1551, he marched an army in the depth of winter into the district of Kazan, and laid siege to the capital, regardless of the murmurs of his troops, who loudly and openly expressed their dislike to this expedition, declaring that no good commander would think of conducting his forces to sieges and battles during the inclemencies of winter, or attempt at such a season to attack the enemy in their quarters. Exasperated at these murmurs, he determined to punish severely the principal officers who had contributed to foment the discontent of the soldiers, and by this well-timed severity he effectually repressed all opposition to his will.

Before entering seriously on the siege of Kazan, he himself built several forts on the frontiers of the Tartar territories, by which he hoped to awe the barbarians, and thus prevent them from disturbing the peace of his dominions. He then invested Kazan, and in the year 1552, made himself master of it by the new, and, to the Tartars, unheard-of method of springing a mine below the walls. We are told by some historians, that the city had made an obstinate defence, and that, during the siege, which lasted above seven years, another alarming mutiny broke out in the besieging army; that Ivan was in great danger of his life, and was obliged for a time to abandon the enterprise, and retire to Moico, where he made an example of the chief mutineers, and again returned to the siege of Kazan. How far this statement is to be relied on, it is difficult now to determine; but perhaps this mutiny is confounded with that which we have already noticed, as having taken place at the commencement of the enterprise.

As Kazan was taken by storm, the inhabitants were treated with much rigour; and the slaughter was so dreadful, that even the flinty heart of Ivan is said to have relented at the heaps of dead bodies which struck his sight on entering the city. The inhabitants thus escaped slaughter, and the remains of the Tartars, were offered mercy on condition that they should embrace the Christian faith. By this important conquest the domination of the Tartars, which had oppressed the Russians for more than three centuries, was completely and permanently overthrown.

About two years after he had abolished the power of the Tartars, he extended his conquests eastward to the Russian shores of the Caspian, and took possession of the territory that lay on the right bank of the Volga, round the city of Astracan, which was also inhabited by the Tartar hordes.

Ivan, as well as his grandfather, had found it necessary to chastise the inhabitants of Novgorod; but in treatment the year 1570, this city being suspected of forming a plot for delivering itself and the surrounding territory into the hands of the king of Poland, felt still more severely the effects of his vengeance. All who had been in any degree implicated in the conspiracy, to the number of 25,000, suffered by the hands of the executioner. The city of Pskov was threatened with a similar proscription; but Ivan, on their voluntary submission, contented himself with the execution of a few monks, and the confiscation of the property of the most opulent inhabitants. It is not surprising that acts like these should have given to this prince the names of terrible and tyrannical, by which historians have occasionally distinguished him; though it is not a little extraordinary, that he should should have retained so much interest in the affections of his subjects, that when, to try their attachment, he, in 1575, abdicated the government, and retained only the title of Prince of Mosco, the majority of the nation loudly expressed their wish for him to resume the administration of affairs. We can account for this, only by considering the measures which he had adopted for the improvement and civilization of his people. These were of such a nature as in a great measure to obliterate the remembrance of his cruelty and oppression. He promulgated a new code of laws, composed partly of such ancient statutes as still were in force, and were capable of improvement, and partly of new regulations, which he either contrived himself, or adopted from the neighbouring states. He found it necessary, however, to render many of these laws extremely severe, though their execution was most frequently exemplified in the persons of his nobles, whose perseverance and obstinacy seemed unconquerable by more lenient measures.

Ivan cultivated an intercourse with several of the European states, especially with Germany, for which country he seems to have had a very particular esteem. Early in his reign, viz. in 1547, he sent a splendid embassy to the emperor Charles V. requesting him to permit a number of German artists, mechanics, and literary men, to establish themselves in Russia. Charles readily complied with his request, and several hundred volunteers were collected and assembled at Lubeck, whence they were to proceed through Livonia to Mosco. The Lubeckers, however, jealous that the improvement of the Russians in arts and manufactures might render them independent of their neighbours, and diminish the commercial intercourse that had long subsisted between their city and the principal towns of Russia, arrested the Germans in their route, and in concert with the merchants of Reval and Riga, sent a petition to Charles, requesting him to recall the permission he had granted. In consequence of these measures, many of the German artists returned home, but several of them escaped the vigilance of the Lubeckers, and reached Mosco by a circuitous route. Ivan endeavoured to revenge himself on the Livonians by invading their country. This was strenuously defended by the Teutonic knights; and these champions, finding at last that they were unable to maintain their ground, rather than submit to the Russian monarch, put their country under the protection of Poland.

The Swedes also came in for a share of the Livonian territories; and this circumstance gave rise to a war between them and the Russians. Ivan invaded Finland; but that country was bravely defended by William of Furstenberg, grand master of the Livonian knights, with the assistance of the troops of Gustavus Vasa; and it does not appear that Ivan gained much in this expedition, though we are told that the Livonian grand master ended his life in a Russian prison.

In 1553, an event happened which first led to an intercourse between Russia and England. Some Englishmen who were at that time on a voyage of discovery, landed on the shores of the White Sea, where soon after was built the port of Archangel. They were hospitably received by the natives; and in imitation of the circumstance being conveyed to Ivan, he sent for the strangers, and was so much pleased with their abilities and deportment, that he resolved to give every encouragement to the English commerce, and thus open a new channel of intercourse with a highly polished nation, by which his subjects might obtain fresh incitements to activity and industry. We are told, that his affection for the English proceeded so far, as to induce him to form the design of marrying an English lady. He expressed the highest esteem for Queen Elizabeth, and requested by his ambassador, that if the ingratitude of his subjects should ever compel him to quit Russia, (a circumstance by no means improbable), she would grant him an asylum in her dominions. It was in consequence of this accidental communication between the Russians and the English, that England first engaged in a trade to Russia and promoted this new commerce by the establishment of a company of Russian merchants in London.

About twenty years after Astrakan had been annexed to the Russian empire, a new acquisition of territory accrued to it from the conquests of a private adventurer, in the unknown regions of Siberia. The steps that led to the acquisition of this immense tract of the Asiatic continent, are thus related by Mr. Tooke.

"The grand prince, Ivan III., had already sent out a body of men, who penetrated across the Ingrian mountains, and traversed all the districts as far as the river Obi. But, amidst the urgent affairs of government, the discoveries they made infensibly fell into oblivion. Some years afterwards a merchant, named Stroganoff, who was proprietor of some salt-works on the confines of Siberia, was curious to gain a farther knowledge of that country, which was likewise inhabited by Tartars, whose khan resided in the capital Sibir. Perceiving, among the persons who came to him on affairs of trade, men who belonged to no nation with which he was acquainted, he put several inquiries to them concerning the place whence they came, and once sent a few of his people with them back to their country. These people brought with them, at their return from the regions they had now explored, and which proved to be this very Siberia, a great quantity of invaluable furs, and thus opened to their master a new road to wealth. However, not so covetous as to wish to keep this treasure to himself, he sent information of it to the court, and the attention of government was once more directed to this country. But the conquest of it, and its conjunction with Russia, was reserved for an adventurer named Timofeyef Yermak. This Yermak, at the head of a gang of Don Cossacks, had made it his practice to rob and plunder the caravans and passengers that occasionally frequented the roads, as well as the inhabitants, wherever he came, and was so fortunate as to escape the search of the Russian troops that had been sent out against him and his band, which consisted of not fewer than 6000 men. On their flight, he and his people accidentally came to the dwelling of Stroganoff, where, hearing much talk about Siberia, and being persons who had nothing to lose, and therefore might put all to the hazard, they soon formed a plan to penetrate farther into that country, and there seek at once their safety and their fortune. After numerous struggles and conflicts with the natives, which greatly reduced their numbers, they at length conquered the capital, and shortly after the whole country. Yermak now presented the fruit..." fruit of his toilsome and perilous victories to his tsar (E) Ivan, in hopes of obtaining thereby a pardon for his former depredations, which was granted him accordingly. By the building of several towns, and constructing a number of forts, the possession of this country was soon permanently secured. The less and the greater Kabardye were also added to Russia in the reign of Ivan. This tsar, however, not only enlarged the circumference of his empire, partly by force of arms and partly by accident, but he resolved to reform his people, to render them more polished, more skilful, and industrious; but this he found to be the most arduous enterprise he could possibly have undertaken. The insuperable impediments which threw themselves in the way of the execution of this grand work, were the principal incitements to those frequent acts of cruelty and despotism which have covered his memory with so deep a stain."

Towards the close of Ivan's reign, a prodigious army of Turks and Tartars entered Russia, with a design to subdue the whole country. But Zerbinoff, the tsar's general, having attacked them in a defile, put them to flight with considerable slaughter. They then retired towards the mouth of the Volga, where they expected a considerable reinforcement; but being closely pursued by the Russians and Tartars in alliance with them, they were again defeated and forced to fly towards Azof on the Black sea. But when they came there, they found the city almost entirely ruined by the blowing up of a powder magazine. The Russians then attacked their ships there, took some, and sunk the rest; by which means almost the whole army perished with hunger or by the sword of the enemy.

From this time the empire of Russia became so formidable, that none of the neighbouring nations could hope to make a total conquest of it. The Poles and Swedes indeed continued to be very formidable enemies; and, by the instigation of the former, the Crim Tartars, in 1571, again invaded the country with an army of 70,000 men. The Russians, who might have prevented their passing the Volga, retired before them till they came within 18 miles of the city of Mosco, where they were totally defeated. The tsar no sooner heard this news, than he retired with his most valuable effects to a well-fortified citadel; upon which the Tartars entered the city, plundered it, and set fire to several churches. A violent storm which happened at the same time soon spread the flames all over the city; which was entirely reduced to ashes in six hours, though its circumference was upwards of 40 miles. The fire likewise communicated itself to a powder magazine at some distance from the city; by which accident upwards of 50 rods of the city wall, with all the buildings upon it, were destroyed; and, according to the best historians, upwards of 120,000 citizens were burnt or buried in the ruins, besides women, children, and foreigners. The castle, however, which was strongly fortified, could not be taken; and the Tartars, hearing that a formidable army was coming against them under the command of Magnus duke of Holstein, whom Ivan had made king of Livonia, thought proper to retire. The war, nevertheless, continued with the Poles and Swedes; and the tsar being defeated by the latter after some trifling success, was reduced to the necessity of suing for peace; but the negotiations being broken off, the war was renewed with the greatest vigour. The Livonians, Poles, and Swedes, having united in a league against the Russians, gained great advantages over them; and in 1579, Stephen Battori, who was then raised to the throne of Poland, levied an army expressly with a design of invading Russia, and of regaining all that Poland had formerly claimed, which indeed was little less than the whole empire. As the Poles understood the art of war much better than the Russians, Ivan found his undisciplined multitudes unable to cope with the regular forces of his enemies; and their conquests were so rapid, that he was soon obliged to sue for peace, which, however, was not granted; and it is possible that the number of enemies which now attacked Russia might have overcome the empire entirely, had not the allies grown jealous of each other. The consequence of this was, that in 1582 a peace was concluded with the Poles, in which the Swedes were not comprehended. However, the Swedes finding themselves unable to effect any thing of moment after the defection of their allies, were obliged to conclude a truce; shortly after which the tsar, having been worsted in an engagement with the Tartars, died in the year 1584.

The eldest son of the late tsar, Feodor (or as he is commonly called, Theodore) Ivanovitch, was by no means fitted for the government of an empire so extensive, and a people so rude and turbulent as had devolved Ivanovitch to him by the death of his father. Ivan had been the incapacity of his son, and had endeavoured to obviate its effects, by appointing three of his principal nobles as administrators of the empire; while to a fourth he committed the charge of his younger son Dimitri. This expedient, however, failed of success; and partly from the mutual jealousy of the administrators, partly from the envy which their exaltation had excited in the other nobles, the affairs of the empire soon fell into confusion. The weak Feodor had married a sister of Boris Gudonof, a man of considerable ambition, immense riches, and tolerable abilities. This man had contrived to make himself agreeable to Feodor, by becoming subservient to his capricious desires and childish amusements; and the wealth he had acquired through his interest with the sovereign, enabled him to carry on his ambitious designs. He had long directed his wishes towards the imperial dignity, and he began to prepare the way for its attainment by removing Dimitri the brother of Feodor. This young prince suddenly disappeared; and there is every reason

(e) Previous to the reign of Vasilii, the predecessor of the monarch whose transactions we are now relating, the Russian sovereigns had held the title of Velikii Kniaz, which has been translated great duke, though it more properly denotes grand prince; and by this latter appellation we have accordingly distinguished the preceding monarchs. Vasilii, near the conclusion of his reign, adopted the title of tsar, or emperor; but this title was not fully established till the successes and increasing power of his son Ivan enabled the latter to confirm it both at home and abroad; and since his time it has been universally acknowledged. reason to believe that he was assassinated by the order of Boris. Feodor did not long survive his brother, but died in 1598, not without suspicion of his having been poisoned by his brother-in-law. We are told that the tsaritza, Irene, was so much convinced of this, that she never after held any communication with her brother, but retired to a convent, and assumed the name of Alexandra.

With Feodor ended the last branch of the family of Ruric, a dynasty which had enjoyed the supreme power in Russia ever since the establishment of the principality by the Varagian chief, viz. during a period of above 700 years. On the death of Feodor, as there was no hereditary successor to the vacant throne, the nobles assembled to elect a new tsar; and the artful Boris having, through the interest of the patriarch, a man elevated by his means, and devoted to his views, procured a majority in his favour, he was declared the object of their choice. Boris pretended unwillingness to accept the crown, declaring that he had resolved to live and die in a monastery; but when the patriarch, at the head of the principal nobles, and attended by a great concourse of people, bearing before them the crois, and the effigies of several saints, repaired to the convent, where the artful usurper had taken up his residence, he was at length prevailed on to accompany them to the palace of the tsars, and suffer himself to be crowned.

Boris affords another example, in addition to the numerous instances recorded in history, of a sovereign who became beneficial to his subjects, though he had procured the sovereignty by unjustifiable means. If we give implicit credit to the historians of those times, Boris was a murderer and a usurper, though he had the voice of the people in his favour; but by whatever means he attained the imperial power, he seems to have employed it in advancing the interests of the nation, and in improving the circumstances of his people. He was extremely active in his endeavours to extend the commerce, and improve the arts and manufactures of the Russian empire; and for this purpose he invited many foreigners into his dominions. While he exerted himself in securing the tranquillity of the country, and defending its frontiers by forts and ramparts, against the incursions of his neighbours, he made himself respected abroad, received ambassadors from almost all the powers of Europe; and after several attempts to enlarge his territories at the expense of Sweden, he concluded with that kingdom an honourable and advantageous alliance.

Soon after the commencement of his reign, the city of Moscow was desolated by one of the most dreadful famines recorded in history. Thousands of people lay dead in the streets and roads; and in many houses the fattest of their inmates was killed, to serve as food for the rest. Parents are said to have eaten their children, and children their parents; and we are told by one of the writers of that time (Petrius), that he saw a woman bite several pieces out of her child's arm as she was carrying it along. Another relates, that four women having desired a peasant to come to one of their houses, on pretence of paying him for some wood, killed and devoured both him and his horse. This dreadful calamity lasted three years; and notwithstanding all the exertions of Boris to provide for the necessities of the inhabitants of Moscow, we are assured that not fewer than 500,000 perished by the famine.

During these distresses of the capital, the power of Boris was threatened with annihilation by an adventurer, the pretender who suddenly started up, and pretended to be the young prince Dimitri, whom all believed to have been assassinated, or, as Boris had given out, to have died of a malignant fever. This adventurer was a monk named Otrepief, who learning that he greatly resembled the late Dimitri, conceived the project of passing for that prince, and endeavouring, in that character, to ascend the Russian throne. He retired from Russia into Poland, where he had the dexterity to ingratiate himself with some of the principal nobles, and persuade them that he was really Prince Dimitri, the lawful heir to the crown of Russia. The better to infuse into himself the support of the Poles, he learned their language, and professed a great regard for the Catholic religion. By this artifice he both gained the attachment of the Catholic Poles, and acquired the friendship of the Roman pontiff, whose blessing and patronage in his great undertaking he farther secured, by promising that, as soon as he should have established himself on the throne, he would make every exertion to bring the Russians within the pale of the Catholic church. To the external graces of a fine person, the pretended Dimitri added the charms of irresistible eloquence; and by these accomplishments he won the affections of many of the most powerful among the Polish nobility. In particular the voivode of Sendomir was so much captivated by his address, that he not only espoused his cause, but promised to give him his daughter in marriage, as soon as he should be placed on the throne of his fathers. This respectable man exerted himself so warmly in behalf of his intended son-in-law, that he brought over even the king of Poland to his party. The Cossacks of the Don, who were oppressed by Boris, hoped to gain at least a temporary advantage by the disturbance excited in favour of the adventurer, and eagerly embraced the opportunity of declaring in his favour. The news of Prince Dimitri being still alive, soon penetrated into Russia; and though Boris did all in his power to destroy the illusion, by prohibiting all intercourse between his subjects and the Poles, and by appealing to the evidence of the murdered prince's mother in proof of his death, the cause of the pretender continued to gain ground. Many circumstances concurred to interest the Russian people in favour of Otrepief. He had prepared a manifesto, which he caused to be dispersed throughout the empire, and in which he affirmed himself to be the son of Ivan, and asserted his right to the throne then usurped by Boris. The courtiers of the usurper, who had long been jealous of his elevation, pretended to believe these assertions; while those who were persuaded that the young prince had been murdered by order of the present tsar, regarded this event as a judgement from heaven. The greater part of the nation appear to have been persuaded, that the pretender was the real Dimitri; and as they believed that he had been miraculously preserved, they piously resolved to concur with the hand of Providence in assuring him to recover his just rights. Thus, before he set foot in Russia, a numerous party was formed in his behalf. He soon made his appearance on the frontiers with a regiment of Polish troops, and a body of Cossacks. Boris sent an army to oppose him; but though the number of these troops greatly exceeded the small force of Dimitri, these latter were so animated by the eloquence of their leader, and the intrepidity and personal bravery which he displayed in the field of battle, that, after a bloody conflict, the army of Boris was defeated, and the pretended Dimitri remained master of the field.

This victory, over a superior army, served still further to strengthen the belief, that Dimitri was favoured by heaven, and consequently could not be an impostor. To confirm the good opinion which he had evidently acquired, the victor treated his prisoners with great kindness; caused the dead to be decently interred, and gave strict injunctions to his troops to behave with humanity in the towns through which he passed. This gentle behaviour, when contrasted with the horrible excesses committed by the followers of Boris, wherever the people appeared to show any inclination towards the cause of the invader, gained Dimitri more adherents than even the persuasion that he was the lawful sovereign of the country. Unluckily for Boris, the superstition of the Russians was about this time directed against him, by the appearance of a comet, and by more than usual manifestations of the aurora borealis, phenomena which were immediately regarded as manifest demonstrations that the Almighty was pouring out his phials of wrath on the doomed country. It was almost universally believed, that the awful effects of these alarming appearances could be averted only by supporting the cause of Dimitri, who had hitherto been so finally protected, and brought to light by the hand of heaven. Boris, unable to resist the torrent of public opinion in favour of his rival, is said to have taken poison, and thus hastened that fate which he foresaw awaited him, if he should fall into the hands of his enemies.

The death of Boris took place in the year 1605; and though the principal nobility at Moscow placed his son Feodor on the throne, the party of Dimitri was now so strong, that Feodor was deposed and sent to prison with his mother and sisters, within six weeks after his accession.

The successful monk had now attained the summit of his ambitions hopes, and made his entry into Moscow with the utmost magnificence, attended by his Russian adherents, and his Polish friends. Not deeming himself secure, however, while the son of Boris remained alive, he is said to have caused him to be strangled, together with one of his sisters. The new tsar, though he evidently possessed great abilities, seems to have been deficient in point of prudence. Instead of conciliating the favour of his subjects, by attention to their interests, and by conferring on the chief men among them the titles and honours that were at his disposal, he openly displayed his predilection for the Poles, on whom he conferred high posts and dignities, and even connived at the extravagance and enormities which they committed. This impolitic conduct, together with his partiality for the Catholic religion; his marked indifference towards the public worship of the national church, and his want of reverence for the Greek clergy; his marrying a Polish lady; his affectation of Polish manners; hisordinate voluptuousness, and the contempt with which he treated the principal nobility; so irritated and exasperated the Russians, that discontent and insurrections arose in every quarter of the empire; and the joy with which he had been at first received, was converted into indifference, contempt, and detestation. The Russians soon discovered, from a curious circumstance, that their new sovereign could not be sprung from the blood of their ancient tsars. These had been always lifted on their horses, and rode along with a slow and solemn pace, whereas Dimitri betroth a furious stallion, which he mounted without the help of his attendants. In addition to these sources of discontent, it was rumoured that a timber fort, which Dimitri had caused to be constructed before Moscow, was intended to serve as an engine of destruction to the inhabitants, and that at a martial spectacle which the tsar was preparing for the entertainment of his bride, the Poles, and other foreigners that composed his body guard, were, from this building to cast firebrands into the city, and then slaughter the inhabitants. This rumour increased their hatred to fury, and they resolved to wreak their vengeance on the devoted tsar. The populace were still farther incensed by the clergy, who declaimed against Dimitri as a heretic, and by Schuifkoy, a nobleman who had been condemned to death by the tsar, but had afterwards been pardoned. This nobleman put himself at the head of the enraged mob, and led them to attack the tsar's palace. This they entered by assault, put to the sword all the Poles whom they found within its walls, and afterwards extended their massacre to such as were discovered in other parts of the city. Dimitri himself, in attempting to escape, was overtaken by his pursuers, and thrust through with a spear, and his dead body being brought back into the city, lay for three days before the palace, exposed to every insult and outrage that malice could invent, or rage inflict. His father-in-law and his wife escaped with their lives, but were detained as prisoners, and the tsaritsa was confined at Yaroslavl.

Schuifkoy, who had pretended to be actuated by no other motives than the purest patriotism, now aspired to the vacant throne, and had sufficient interest to carry his election. His reign was short and uninteresting, and indeed from this time till the accession of the house of Romanov in 1613, the affairs of Russia have little to gratify the curiosity of our readers. Schuifkoy's short reign was disturbed by the pretensions of two fictitious Dimitris, who successively started up, and declared themselves to be either the late tsar, or the prince whom he had patronized; and his neighbours the Swedes and Poles, taking advantage of the internal dissensions in the empire, made many successful incursions into Russia, set fire to Moscow, and massacred above 100,000 of the people. The Russians, dissatisfied with the reigning prince, treated with several of the neighbouring potentates for the deposition of the imperial crown. They offered it to Vladislav, or Uladilas, son of Sigismund, king of Poland, on condition that he should adopt the Greek persuasion; but as he rejected this preliminary, they turned their eyes, first on a son of Charles IX. of Sweden, and lastly, on a young native Russian, Mikhail Feodorovitch, of the house of Romanov, a family distantly related to their ancient tsars, and of which the head was then metropolitan of Rostof, and was held in great estimation. Thus, after a long series of confusion and disaster, there ascended the Russian throne a new family, whose descendants have raised the empire to a state of grandeur and importance unequalled in any former period.

We have seen the calamities brought upon the empire by the partitions of its early monarchs, and the wars to which these partitions gave birth; by the invasions and tyranny of the Tartars; and lastly, by the disturbances that prevailed from the machinations of the false Dimitris. We have observed the depression which the empire suffered under these calamities. We are now to witness its sudden elevation among the powers of Europe, and to accompany it in its hasty strides towards that importance which it has lately assumed. But before we enter on the transactions that have enriched the pages of the Russian annals since the accession of the house of Romanoff, it may not be improper or uninteresting, to take a general view of the state of the empire at the beginning of the 17th century.

At this period the government of Russia may be considered as a pure aristocracy, as all the supreme power rested in the hands of the nobles and the superior clergy. In particular the boyars, or chief officers of the army, who were also the privy counsellors of the prince, possessed a very considerable share of authority. The election of the late princes Boris, Dimitri, and Schuiskoy, had been conducted principally by them, in concert with the inhabitants of Moscow, who was then held the seat of government. The common people, especially those of the inferior towns, though nominally free, had no share in the government, or in the election of the chief ruler. The boors, or those peasants who dwelt on the noblemen's estates, were almost completely slaves, and transferable with the land on which they dwelt. An attempt to do away this barbarous vassalage had been made, both by Boris and Schuiskoy, but from the opposition of the nobles it was abandoned.

The laws in force at the time of which we are now speaking, consisted partly of the municipal laws drawn up for the state of Novgorod by Yaroslav, and partly of an amended code, called fidebnik, promulgated by Ivan Vasilievitch II. By this fidebnik the administration of the laws was made uniform throughout the empire, and particular magistrates were appointed in the several towns and districts, all subject to the tsar as their chief. The fidebnik consisted of 97 articles, all containing civil laws, as the penal statutes are only briefly mentioned in some articles, so as to appear either connected with the civil, or as serving to illustrate them. The criminal laws were contained in a separate code, called gulnica gramota, which is now lost, but is referred to in the civil code. In neither of these codes is there any mention of ecclesiastical affairs; but these were regulated by a set of canons drawn up in 1542, under the inspection of Ivan Vasilievitch, in a grand council held at Moscow. In the civil statutes of the fidebnik, theft was punished in the first instance by restitution, or, if the thief were unable to restore the property stolen, he became the slave of the injured party, till by his labour he had made sufficient compensation. Of murder nothing is said, except where the person slain was a lord or master, when the murderer was to be punished with death. There is no mention of torture, except in cases of theft.

Before the accession of the house of Romanoff, the commercial intercourse which the cities of Novgorod and Pskov formerly held with the Hans towns, had entirely ceased; but this was in some degree compensated by the newly established trade between Russia and England, the centre of which was Archangel. This trade had been lately increased by the products derived from the acquisition of Siberia, in exchange for which the English principally supplied the Russians with broad cloth. In 1568, an English counting-house was established at Moscow, and about the same time the Russian company was incorporated. Previous to the 15th century, the trade of the Russians had been carried on merely by barter, but during that century the coinage of money commenced at Novgorod and Pskov; and from this time their commerce was placed on an equal footing with that of the other European nations.

Except in the article of commerce, the Russians were deplorably behind the rest of Europe; and though attempts had been made by Ivan I. Ivan Vasilievitch II., and Boris, to cultivate their manners and improve the state of their arts and manufactures, these attempts had failed of success. The following characteristic features of the state of Russia in the 16th century, are given by Mr. Tooke.

The houses were in general of timber, and badly constructed, except that in Moscow and other great towns, there were a few houses built of brick.

That contempt for the female sex, which is invariably a characteristic of defective civilization, was conspicuous among the Russians. The women were kept in a state of perfect bondage, and it was thought a great instance of liberality, if a stranger were but permitted to see them. They durst seldom go to church, though attendance on divine worship was considered of the highest importance. They were constantly required to be within doors, so that they very seldom enjoyed the fresh air.

The men of the middle ranks always repaired about noon to the market, where they transacted business together, conversed about public affairs, and attended the courts of judicature to hear the causes that were going forward. This was undoubtedly a practice productive of much good, as the inhabitants of the towns by these means improved their acquaintance, interchanged the knowledge they had acquired, and thus their patriotic affections were nourished and invigorated.

In agreements and bargains the highest assentation was, "If I keep not my word, may it turn to my infamy," a custom extremely honourable to the Russians of those days, as they held the disfavour of having forfeited their word to be the deepest degradation.

If the wife was so dependent on her husband, the child was still more dependent on his father; for parents were allowed to sell their children.

Masters and servants entered into a mutual contract respecting the terms of their connection, and a written copy of this contract was deposited in the proper court, where, if either party broke the contract, the other might lodge his complaint.

Single combat still continued to be the last resource in deciding a cause; and to this the judge resorted in cases which he knew not otherwise to determine: but duels out of court were strictly prohibited; and when these took place, and either party fell, the survivor was regarded... regarded as a murderer, and punished accordingly. Personal vengeance was forbidden under the strictest penalties.

The nobles were universally soldiers, and were obliged to appear when summoned, to assist the prince in his wars.

Till the end of the 16th century, the boor was not bound to any particular matter. He tilled the ground of a nobleman for a certain time on stated conditions. Thus, he either received part of the harvest or of the cattle, a portion of wood, hay, &c.; or he worked five days for the master, and on the fifth was at liberty to till a piece of ground set apart for his use. At the expiration of the term agreed on, either party might give up the contract to the other; the boor might remove to another master, and the master dismiss the boor that did not suit him.

During the troubles and dissensions in which the empire had been involved, since the death of Feodor Ivanovitch, the chief men of the state were divided into several parties. Of these, one fought to elevate to the throne a Polish prince, while another rather favoured the succession of a Swede. A third, and by far the strongest party, were desirous to place upon the throne a native Russian; and they soon turned their eyes on Mikhail Romanof, a distant relation of the ancient family of the tzars, whose father was metropolitan of Rostof. The clergy seemed particularly interested in this choice, as they justly concluded, that a Russian boor, brought up in the orthodox Greek faith, would most effectually prevent the poison of Catholic opinions or Protestant heresy, the introduction of which was to be feared from the accession of a Polish or a Swedish monarch. Accordingly, the voice of a single ecclesiastic decided the electors in favour of Mikhail. A metropolitan declared in the hall of election, that it had been announced to him by divine revelation, that the young Romanof would prove the most fortunate and prosperous of all the tzars who had filled the Russian throne. This revelation had an immediate effect on the electors, as their reverence for the superior clergy was so great, that none could presume to doubt the veracity of a person of such exalted rank and sacred function. The revelation once made public, the people too expressed their desire to have the young Romanof for their sovereign, that all soon united in their choice. The young man himself, however, refused the proffered honour, and his mother, dreading the fate that might arise from so dangerous an elevation, with tears implored the deputies to depart. The modest refusal of Mikhail served only to persuade the people, that he was the most worthy object on which they could fix their choice; and at length the deputies returned to Moscow, bringing with them the consent of the monarch elect. The coronation took place on the 11th of June 1613, and thus the views of Poland and Sweden, as well as the designs of Marina, the widow of the first pretender Dimitri, who still contrived to keep a party in her favour, were entirely frustrated.

At the accession of Mikhail, the Swedes and Poles were in possession of several parts of the empire; and to dislodge these invaders was the first object of the new tsar. Aware of the difficulty of contending at once with both these formidable enemies, he began by negotiating a treaty of peace with Sweden. This was not effected without considerable sacrifices. Mikhail agreed to give up Ingria and Karilin, and to evacuate Estonia and Livonia. Thus freed from his most dangerous enemy, Mikhail prepared to oppose the Poles, of whom a numerous body had entered Russia, to support the claims of their king's son, Vladislav. Mikhail proceeded, however, in a very wary manner, and instead of opposing the invaders in the open field, he entrapped them by ambuscades, or allured them into districts already desolated, where they suffered too much from cold and hunger, that in 1619 they agreed to a cessation of hostilities for fourteen years and a half, on condition that the Russians should cede to Poland the government of Smolensk.