COXE’s TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.

630

Having in Poland betrothed hirafelf to Marina, the daughter of the Palatine Mnifchek,he difpatched a fplendid embaffy to demand her in marriage. The efpoufals were per-formed at Cracow , and the bride having made her entry into Mofcow, accompaniedwith a large fuite of Poles, was lodged in a nunnery until the folemnization of the nup-tials : during this interval he difturbed the devotion of the holy filterhodd with repeatedfeafts, concerts, and balls, whereby he excited public horror, as a violator of religiousdifcipline. By this infatuated behaviour he inflamed the difaffechion of his fuujeds tofuch a degree, that a regular confpiracy was concerted againfl him The leader wasPrince Vaffili Ivanovitch Shuifki, the fame perfon -who had owed his life to' the lenity ofDemetrius, and on whom this ad of clemency had no other effed than to render himmore cautious in his l'ubfequent machinations againfl: his benefador. Demetrius fre-quently received intimations from different quarters of a projeded inlurredion; the po-pular odium betrayed itfelf by the molt alarming fymptoms; perfons were heard ex-claiming in the ftreets, “ The Tzar is an heretick, worfe than a Turk, and not the fonof Ivan Vaffilievitch.” But, either from a natural magnanimity that braved all danger,or from the incoifiderate levity of his character, he was infenfible to all thefe prognoflics;and by obftinately perfevering in his unpopular condud, feemed almoft to invite de-flrudion.

The infurredion broke out early in the morning on the 17th of May. The confpi-rators fecured the principal avenues of the city ; the great bell in the Kremlin, the com-mon fignal of alarm, was tolled; and a confufed cry was l'pread among the people, thatthe Poles were preparing to maffacre the inhabitants. - Vaffili Shuifki, who fecretly in-flamed the public difcontents, led the way to the palace, bearing a crofs in one hand,and a fabre in the other, accompanied by a vaft multitude armed with the firft weaponswhich chance prefented. This party, having overpowered the guards, burft open thegates of the palace, and ruffled towards the royal apartment. Demetrius, awakened bythe tumult, fummoned the few guards who were immediately about his perfon, and Tal-lying, without a moment’s deliberation, againfl his affailants, hewed down feveral of theforemoft : being foon overborn by numbers, he attempted to retreat into the interiorpart of the palace; but, clofely preffed by his purfuers, precipitated himfelf from awindow into a court, and diflocated his thigh with the fall.

Being difcovered in this deplorable condition, he was re-conveyed to the palace, andbrought before Vaffili Shuifki, who loaded him with reproaches for his impofture. Not

cufationsdo not meritferious refutation. Many idle tales arealfo gravely related againfl: him; and indeed everycircumftance of his conduit was malevolently interpreted. Among the public diverfions which he gave inhonour of his marriage, was a fire-work, in which a dragon was reprefented with three heads fpitting outflames. Such a fpedfacle being uncommon in the country, affrighted the Ruffians; and it was reportedthat the Tzar had contrived it on purpofe to alarm his fubjeits. The Poles were not wanting upon thisand all other occafions to ridicule the ignorance and fimplicity of the Ruffians, which increafed the hatredagainfl them and the fovereign who protected them. A wooden tower was alfo conftru&ed near the city,which, upon a certain day, was to be attacked with a cannonade and ftormed. After the aflaffination ofDemetrius, Vaffili Shuifki publicly afierted in a manifefto, that Demetrius intended to take the opportunity,which the ftorming of this tower prefented, of maffacring many inhabitants of Mofcow. The gates of thecity w ere to be fudderdy fhut, the cannon to be fired among the people, and thofe who efcaped to be hewnin pieces by the Coflacs and Strelitz, and the Ruffian nobles to be murdered by the Polifh troops. This ac-count, fo improbable in itfelf, is only fupported by the fuppofed confeffion of two Polifh nobles, to whomDemetrius is Paid to have revealed it a day or two before his aflaffination ; but we may more juftly believe itto have been a calumny, invented by Vaffili Shuifki, to render the memory of his rival more odious. SeeS. R. G. Vol, v. 342—346.

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