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Demetrius. The death and chara&er of Boris Godunof are thus delineated by an. im-partial hiftorian *.

The party of the pretended Demetrius increafed daily, and the Ruffians flocked tohim from all quarters. This circumftance, joined to the inaftivity of the Ruffian army,had fuch an effect upon Boris, that, driven to defpair, he fwallowed poifon |. He feltthe firft effedls of the poifon at dinner, and the fymptoms were fo violent, that he hadfcarcely time to enter into the monadic order before he expired. According to theRuflian cuflom, he changed his name from Boris to Bogolep. His deceafe happenedon the 13th of April, or the 24th, according to the new ftyle, 1605, after a reign ofeight years and two months.

“ It mud be allowed that his death was a great lofs to Ruffia ; for if we except theunjuflifiable means by which he raifed himfelf to the throne, and the cruelty with whichhe perfecuted feveral illuftrious families, particularly the houfe of Romanof, he mud beefleemed an excellent fovereign. Ambition and revenge were his principal vices : onthe contrary, penetration and fagacity, affability and munificence, political knowledge,diligence in the adminidration of affairs, affiduity in introducing into Ruffia the im-provements of foreign nations, in a word, unwearied attention to promote the advantageof his country, and the welfare of his fubjedts, were confpicuous parts of his character.We are apt to overlook the vices of a fovereign in confideration of his princely virtues,and in this refpedt Boris is entitled to our efleem. When we add to thefe confidera-tions the long chain of calamities which fucceeded his death, his lofs could not but befenfibly felt.”

His remains were at firfl depofited in the Imperial fepulchre at Mofcow ; but wereafterwards removed to the convent of the Holy Trinity j.

Chap. VII. — Hijlory and Adventures ef the Tzar who reigned under the Name ofDetnetrius. — Seats himfelf on the Throne . — His Character — and AJfaJJination.— Probably the real Demetrius.

AMONG the tombs in the cathedral of St. Michael I had occafion to mention thatof a child, called by the Ruffians Dmitri, or Demetrius, whofe intricated and contro-verted hiflory was referved for a feparate narrative.

Ivan § Vaffilievitch II. left two fons ; Feodor who fucceeded to the throne, and De-metrius, an infant, who was educated at Uglitz under the care of his mother the TzarinaMaria Feodorofna, and in the eighth year of his age was faid to have been aflaffinated

1 * Muller, S. R. G. V. p. 247.

f Captain Margaret fays, that he died of an apoplexy. Etatde la Ruffle, p. 118.j For the Hiltory of Boris Godunof, fee Muller, S. R. G. Vol. v. p. 27 to 249.

' S I had finifhed this chapter before the publication of L’Evefque’s Hiftoire de Ruffle. That ingeniousauthor has, in his account of the perfon who ftyled himfelf Demetrius, advanced many plaufible argumentsto Ihew, that he was probably not an impoftor ; and though they appear to me unanfwerable, and it is eafyto perceive that he entirely leans to that opinion, yet he candidly concludes with affcrting, “ Plufieurs ob-jeftions que j’ai hazardees contre 1 ’impofl.ure d’Otrepief me paraiffent d’une grande force, je n’oferai cepen-dant decider la qaeftion ” See Hif. de Ruff. v. iii. p. 226 to.236. It may ferve, perhaps, as an addi-tional proof in favour of Demetrius, that two foreigners, who vifited Ruffia, both unbiaffed by national pre-judices, and without the leaft communication, Ihould hold nearly the fame opinion upon fo intricate a

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