COXE*S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.

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All his a&ions proved an extraordinary pronenefs to prefer his Own precipitate rcfolii.tions to the mod; prudent advice, and to adopt the raffiefl: meafures. His fudden eleva-tion rendered him infolent; he was fo ambitious, that even the Ruffian empire appearedtoo fmall to fatisfy his luff of dominion, and he extended his views to the reduction ofTurkey and Tartary. His ebriety and incontinence were his mod: notorious vices, whichfrequently expofed him in the eyes of the public. Beddes the Princefs Irene, the daugh-ter of Boris Godunof, all who pleafed him were facrificed to his defires, without the lead;regard to rank or age * *.

“ On his acceffion to the throne he was eafy of accefs, but gradually became fufpiciousof his lubjects j he had a foreign guard, and often refufed audience to the Ruffian no-bility, when he admitted the Poles without referve. He feemed to fummon the privy-cpunlellors only for the purpofe of turning them to ridicule. If a Ruffian lodged a com-plaint againfl a Pole, he could never obtain juftice, and infult was added to injury.Probably this infolence was the chief caufe of his fubfequent misfortunes ; and his fait‘Would at lead; have been retarded, had he endeavoured to conciliate the affeftion of theprincipal nobles. But the circumdance which principally contributed to his lots of popularity, was the little reverence which he profeded for the ceremonies of the Greekchurch. On his arrival at Mofcow he entered the two cathedrals with drums beatingand trumpets founding ; he paid no refpeft to the clergy ; he made no diftin&ionbetween fads and feltivals, would neither bow nor crofs himfelf before the facredpaintings; he profaned the church by admitting foreigners at the time of divinelervice, and dill more by the number of dogs which followed him upon the fameoccafion. -

“ He was not only fo much attached to the Polidi cudoms and drefs as to prefer themupon all occafions ; but he even ridiculed the Ruffian manners, and in every indancedeviated from the examples of the Tzars his predeceifors. Indead of ffiowing himfelf tothe people feldom, and only upon extraordinary occafions with a large retinue, he wasaccudomed to traverfe the dreets with a few fervants; he commonly rode, and, as hewas an excellent horfeman, was generally mounted upon the mod fiery deeds ; hehunted frequently,, had mufic at his repads, never dept at mid-day r never bathed. Thefetrifling circumdances were regarded in fo ferious a light, that the omiffion of them ren-dered him the objeft of general hatred ; and it was commonly reported, that the perfonwho could ffiow fuch a didade for the cudoms of his country, could never bedefceodedfrom the race of ancient fovereigns. It was an obvious inference, to confider the de-fpiler of hisfubjecls as their enemy. Under fuch circumdances his dedrudtion feemedinevitable fand yet near a year elapfed before any tumult broke out. At length hismarriage with a foreign lady clofed the fcene ; and it would have been a wonder if hehad continued any longer upon the throne.”

Having

when Demetrius afcended the throne, and was a prefent from the Sophy of Perfia to Ivan Vaffilievitch II.S. R. G. Vol. v. p. 335. Many fimilar ornaments employed at his coronation had been ufed by the formerSovereigns, who were crowned with Afiatic magnificence.

* Thefe parts of his condudl were alfo greatly mifreprefented. L’Evefque afierts, with great appear-ance of probability, that thefe reports of his incontinence were not founded in truth ; and particularly denies

*hat the Princefs Irene was facrificed to his defires. Vol. iii. p. 202.

t Muller relates an account of a match with fnow-balls between the Ruffian foldiers and Poles; whenthe latter, at the command of Demetrius, filled the fnow-balls with fand and {tones, by which the Ruffians(blaue Augen undblutige Koepfe bekamen) receiyed many black eyes and bloody heads, puch abfurd ac-

cufatiocs*