book js infcribed the name o f the province to which it is appro-
. / . priated. In the fame manner the manufcripts relative to
foreign kingdoms are placed in feparate divifions under the
refpeCtive titles of Poland, Sweden, England, France, Germany,
See. The papers which concerned my native Country
firft engaged my attention. The earlieft correfpondence
between the fovereigns of England and Ruffia commenced
about the middle of the 16th century, foon after the difcovery
of Archangel, and chiefly relates to the permiffion of trade
granted excluiively to the Engliih company of merchants
fettled in this country. The firft record is an original letter
o f Philip and Mary to Ivan Vaflilievitch II. acknowledging
the receipt of a difpatch tranfmitted to England by his em-
baffador Ofef Niphea, and returning thanks for the liberty
of opening a free trade throughout the Ruffian dominions,
The charter of privileges granted by the fame tzar to the
Engliih merchants, and the numerous letters which he received
from Elizabeth are all preferved in this collection;
and are for the moft part printed in Hackluyt’s Voyages:
I obferved one, however, not to be found in that work ; it is
dated the 18th of May, 1 57 0, and Elizabeth, among other
expreffions of friendihip, offers to Ivan Vaflilievitch, in cafe
he ffiould be compelled by an infurreCtion to quit his country,
an afylum for himfelf and family in England. This
letter was figned by Elizabeth in the prefence of her fecret
council: amongft the ilgnatures I noticed the names of Bacon,
Leycefter, and Cecil.
As fome hiftorians have afferted that the tzar Ivan Vaflilievitch
II. carried his perfonal refpeCt for queen Elizabeth
fo far as to be one of her fuitors, while Camden only relates
that he propofed to marry lady Anne Haftings, daughter of
the earl of Huntingdon, my curiofity led me to make inquiries
quiries into this tranfaCtion. With refpeCt to any treaty of chap.
marriage between the tzar and Elizabeth, the archives are ■ -
entirely iilent; but in regard to the intended efpoufal of
lady Anne Haftings, they furniihed me with the following
curious particulars.
The firft hint of this match feems to have been fuggefted
by Dr. Robert Jacob a phyfician, whom Elizabeth in 15 8 1 ,
at the tzar’s defire, fent to Mofcow. Dr. Jacob, not unacquainted
with the ficklenefs of Ivan in his amours, and his
defire of contracting an alliance with a foreign princefs, extolled,
in the moft extravagant terms, the beauty, accom-
pliffiments, and rank of lady Anne Haftings, and actually in-
fpired the tzar with a ftrong inclination to efpoufe her, although
he had juft married his fifth wife Maria Feoderofna.
Dr. Jacob reprefented this lady as a niece of the queen, and
daughter of an independent prince; both which circum-
ftances being falfe fufficiently. feem to prove that he aCted
from his own fuggeftions, without the leaft authority from
Elizabeth. The tzar, fired by his defcription, difpatched
Gregory Pirfemlkoi, a Ruffian nobleman of the firft dif-
tinCtion, to England, to make a formal demand of the lady
for his wife: according to his inftruCtions, he was ordered,
after a conference with the queen, to procure an interview
with the lady, obtain her portrait, and inform himfelf of the
rank and fituation of her family : he was then to requeft
that an Engliih embaffador might return with him to Mofcow,
with full powers to adjuft the conditions of the marriage.
If an objection fhould be raifed, that Ivan was already
married, he fhould anfwer, that the tzar, having efpoufed a
fubjeCt, was at liberty to divorce h e r ; and if it was afked,
what provifion ffiould be made for the children by lady
U u 1 Anne