b o o k dcrecl with iilver fringe and ermine. Each tomb has at its
>— /■ dower extremity a fmall iilver plate, upon which is engraved
the name of the deceafed fovereign, and the sera of
his death.
From the time that Mofcow has been the Imperial reii-
dence to the clofe of the'laft century, all the tzars have been
interred in this cathedral, excepting Boris Godunof, whofe
remains are depofited in the convent of the. Holy Trinity %
the tzar under the name of Demetrius t, who was deftroyed
in a tumult, and Vaflili Shuiiki, who died in captivity at
- Warfaw.
The tomb of Ivan Vaflilievitch I. claimed my principal
attention, who may juftly be efteemed the founder of
the Ruffian greatnefs. At his acceffion to the throne in
146 a, Ruffia formed a colledtion of petty principalities engaged
in perpetual wars with each other, fome of them nominally
fubject to the great-duke of Mofcow, and all of
them, together with that monarch himfelf, tributary to the
Tartars J.
Ivan, in the courfe of a profperous reign of above forty
years, gave a new afpeiSt to the Ruffian affairs ; he annexed
to his dominions the duchies of Tver and other neighbouring
principalities, fubdued Novogorod, and, what was Hill
more glorious and beneficial, he refcued this country front
* See Chapter V I - ipare’ s milk and i f a drop chanced to
■f’ See Chap. V I I . “ felt upon the mane o f the horfe, oiv,
% Thefervitude o f the great-duke wHi u whfieh the:TaVta¥-.tmhafedof was fitting,
beft appear from the ,following cifeum-' “ he ould himfelf tick it up*.' Whenihey
fiances, recorded by Cromer the Poliih “ reached the 'hall o f audience,, the embaf*
kiftoriari. . “ Whenever the Tar tar em - “ fadbrs bead the khan?s letter featedl upon-
“ bafladors were fent to Mofcow in “ a carpet o f the choiceft fur«?, while the.
“ order tot colleft the accufiomed--tribute, “ great-duke with his nobles ‘knelt, and
the great-duke ufed to meet them, and “ liilened in Tefpeifcful filenee.” GFomer,
** offer, as a mark o f his refpeft, a cup o f L , 29,, p. 647,
the
the Tartar yoke, and refufed the payment o f the ignominious CHAI
tribute, which for above a century had been exacted from >__
his predeceffors, He had no fooner delivered Ruffia from
this dependence, than his alliance was courted by many European
fovereigns; and during his reign Mofcow faw, for
the firft time, embafiadors from the emperor of Germany,,
from the pope, the grand-fignor, from the kings of Poland
and Denmark, and from the republic o f Venice.
The talents of this able monarch were not confined to
military atcbievements : Ruffia was. indebted to him for the
improvement of her commerce, and for opening a more
ready communication with the European nations. Under
his aufpices, the knowledge of gunpowder and the art of
calling, cannon was firft brought into Ruffia by Arillotle of
Bologna * : he employed the fame artift t, as well as other
foreigners, to ftrike anew the Ruffian, coins, which had hitherto
been disfigured by Tartar infcriptions ; he engaged,,
at a vaft expence, Italian artills to enclofe the Kremlins o f
Mofcow and Novogorod with walls of brick, and to conftruct
feveral churches and other public ftrudtures with the fame-
materials ¡L For his various civil and military fenfires he
defer vedly acquired the name of the Great. He is defcribed.
as a perfon of gigantic ftature and ferociops afpeft. His
manners and deportment, ftrongly infedled with the barba-
rifm of his age and country, were fomewhat foftened and:
polifhed by the example of his fecond wife Sophia §, aGrecianprincefs
Baehmeifter’s Eflai fur la Bib. de Pe- Sophia- was daughter-of Thomas Patwf.
p. 28. lseogollls, Brother o f Conflantine the la fr
+ Poffevinus. Grecian emperor; who loft his life when.
+ A. vaft effort in thefe barbarous times, Conftantinople was taken by the Turks in
and which delerves to be mentioned, becaufe 1453. Soon after that event.Sophia re-,
at his acceffion to the throne almoft all the paired to Rome with her father, where
lidding? o f Mofcow. were of-wood. they lived under ..the protedlion o f the pope,
The