r°3
depofition put an immediate flop to its progrefs. The conltru&ion of fo large a build-ing in fo fecure a place, and in fuch a fmall fpace of time, has always been deemed anayftery ; but there is great reafon to fuppofe that he intended it for his confort, whomhe determined to divorce and imprifon. A few weeks before his depofition, Peter vi-fited Schluffelburgh,.and faw Ivan; he examined this houfe with great attention, andfeemed fatisfied with the expedition of the workmen *.
Several hate prifoners of high rank have been confined in this fortrefs ; among themoft remarkable are Maria f, filter, and Eudocia '{, firft wife of Peter the Great , whowas here imprifoned in one of the mod; gloomy cells. Count Piper, minilter to CharlesXIL who was taken at the battle of Pultava , died here after a lingering captivity. BirenDuke of Courland , and Regent of Ruffia, here exchanged the pomp of palaces for aloathfome dungeon, and the ill-fated Ivan, after an imprifonment of twenty-three years,.here fuffered an untimely death §.
Thefe melancholy ideas, heightened by the dreadful gloom, dead filence, and awfulappearance of a few folitary centinels, communicated fuch an impreffion as will not ea~fily be obliterated ; and even at this diffance of time and place, I fhudder at the recol-lection of a Ruffian ftate-prifon.
* Bufching fuppofes that Peter oonffrudfecTa houfe for Prince Ivan in the fortrefs of Schluffeiburgh.This can mean no other houfe than that defcribtd in the text, which I am convinced was dt iigned for theEmprtfs; but Btifching probably did not know that Ivan was removed to K-exholm the beginning ofJune. Bufching, vol. vi. p. 53 t.
Sec the account of Piince Ivan in book v, chap ii. in the next volume. Several authors who have writ-ten iince the death of the Emprefs, have advanced the fame opinion, though without the fmalkst founda-tion. In fuch inytterious tranfadlions as thefe, difference of opinion mu ft occur.
f Maria was imprifoned on fufpicion of being concerned with Alexey, was again releafed, and died at'Ptterfburgh in 1723.
J Eudociawas efpoufed in : 689 to Peter the Great , and was ckliveredof Alexey in 1690. Her oppnfitfon to>Peter’s plans of rcfoi mat ion and remonftrances againlt his incontinence, occafioned her divorce, which tookplace in 1 6e 6 ; when /lie was compelled to afftime the veil, and confined in a convent at Sufda). During herI'cfidence in that convent, fhe is reported to have formed a connexion with General Glebof, and even to haveentered into a c< niraCft of marriage by exchanging rings. Encouraged by the predictions of the Archbifhopof Roftof, who, irom a dream, announced to her the death of Ptter, and her immediate retirrn to court,under the reign of her fon Alexey, (lie re-atfumed, it was faid, her fecular drefs, and was publicly prayed forin the church of the convent under the name of the Emprefs Eudocia. Being conveyed to Mofcow in 1718,and examined, fhe was, by order of her inhuman hufband, fcourged by two nuns, and imprifoned in a fmall'cell in the convent of New Ladoga, without hefng fuffered to fee any one but the perfons who brought herfood, which fhe dreffed herftlf. From thence file was removed to the fortrefs of Schluffeiburgh; Beingreleafed on the acctffion of her grandfon Peter Ill. file repaiied to.Mofcow, was prefent at his coronation-,as well as that of the Emprtfs Anne, and expired in the Devitchei nunnery, where fhe held her court, in1731, in the 59th year of her age ||.
This Princeff, though certainly a weak woman, perhaps was not fo guilty as (lie was reprefented by Peter.Mrs Vigor, who faw and converftd with her at Mofcow in 1731, allures us, that Glebof “underwent-fuch repeated tortures, as it was thought no creature could have borne, with great conftancy, perlilting inhis own and her innocence during his torments. At lall the Tzar himfelf came to him, and offered himpardon if he would confefs. Ele fpit in the Tzar ’s face, and told him, he fiiould difdain to fpeak to him,,but he thought himfelf obliged to clear his miitrefs, who was as virtuous a woman as any in the world,” &c,Tetters from a Lady in Ruffia, p. 44 * 4 ^* Alio Voltaire, Schmidt, See.
$ For an'account of his death fee book v. chap. ii.
|1 Schmidt. Gen. Tab. in his Ruff. Geft
Ghapu