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Alexey Michaelovhch bis fon, vvhofe allies are contiguous to bis remains, is chieflyknown by foreigners asthefather of Peter the Great ; but he deferves likewife our atten-tion for bis own public virtues, and for many falutary inflitutions. He revifed, amend-ed, and new-modelled the code of laws compiled by Ivan Vaffilievitch II.; he intro-duced a more regular difeipline into the army, and invited foreign officers into hisfervice * ; he procured from Amfterdam fhip-builders, whom he employed in con-ftrudting veffels for the navigation of the Cafpian Sea : in a word, he traced the greatoutlines of thofe regulations, which were afterwards improved and enlarged by thevaft genius of his fon Peter the Great . Alexey deceafed in 1676, in the j2d yearof his reign, and the forty-ninth of his age.
Oppofite to the fepulchre of Alexey are thofe of his fons Feodor and Ivan. Feodor,who fucceeded his father in the throne, is deferibed by Voltaire and others as a princewho poffelfed a vigorous mind in a weak frame, and whofe adminiftration was dignifiedwith many ufeful and glorious regulations. But incapacity, no lefs than ill-health,difqualified him from conducing the affairs of government; he refigned bimfelf tothe direction of his filter Sophia, and all the beneficial afts of his adminiftration muffbeaferibed to her influence, and to the abilities of his prime minifter, the great Galitzin.Feodor, after a fhort reign of fix years, funk under the diforders which had long prey-ed upon his frame.
Ivan, fecond brother of Feodor, was rightful heir of the throne; being debilitatedby epileptic fits, both in body and mind f, was at firft excluded from the fucceffion,Sis incapable of difeharging the fundtions of government; but being afterwards recog-nifed as joint-fovereign with his half-brother Peter the Great , he was confidered merelyas a puppet, to fatisfy the multitude, and fecure to his adherents a fhare in the adminif-tration of affairs. He was allowed to continue this flare-pageant during the remainderof his life ; and his death, which happened in 1698, was fcarcely perceived by his fub-jedbs, and not known to the reft of Europe , except by the omiffion of his name in thepublic adts.
'I he fucceeding fovereigns are interred at Peterfburg, excepting Peter II. , whofeafhes repofein this cathedral. This monarch, the fon of the unfortunate TzarovitchAlexey, was born in 1715, fucceeded in 1727 Catharine I. and died in 1730 of thefmall-pox, on the day appointed for his marriage with Princefs Dolgorucki. His deathwas occafioned by the ignorance of the phyficians, who treated his diforder as a ma-lignant fever. He acquired great popularity by fixing, during the latter part of hisfhort reign, his imperial refidence at Mofcow. He was regretted as thegrandfon of Peterthe Great, and as the prince in whom the male line of the houfe of Romanof becameextindh
* Mayerberg fays, among the foreign officers in the fervice of Alexey Michaelovitch, were two generals*two field marfhals, more than a hundred colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants, and enfigns in pro-portion.
■f Schleiffing, who was at Mofcow during the adminiftration of Sophia, thus deferibes the perfon ofIvan. “ Ivan Alexey, the eldeft Tzar, is ill-formed by nature, infomuch that he can neither rightlyfee, read, nor fpeak. He always wears a piece of green filk before his eyes, in order to prevent the up-per part of his face from being feen on account of its deformity. But he is very pious and devout; and as,on account of his weak conftitution, he cannot hunt, or take any violent exercife, he is the more confta ntin his attendance at church, and never miftes a proceffion. He is Ihort in his perfon, very thin, and >»now thirty years of age.
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