COOK
HI. u Upon his firft acceffion to the throne he was eafy of ao
i “ cefs, but he gradually became fufpicious of his fubjedts;
“ he had a foreign guard ; he often refufed audience to the
“ Ruffian nobility, when he admitted the Poles without re-
“ ferve. He feemed to fummon the privy, counfellors only
“ for the purpofe of turning them to ridicule. I f a Ruffian
“ lodged a complaint againft a Pole, he could never obtain
“ juftice, and infult was even added to injury. Probably this
“ infolence was the chief caufe of his fubfequent misfor-
tunes; and his fall would at leaft have been retarded, if he
“ had endeavoured to conciliate the affedtion o f the principal
nobles.
“ But the circumftance which principally contributed to
“ his lofs of popularity, was the little reverence which he
■“ profefled for the ceremonies of the Greek church. Upon
■** his firft arrival at Mofcow he entered the two cathedrals
“ with drums beating and trumpets founding; he paid no
“ refpedt to the clergy; he made no diftindtion between
xt fafts and feftivals ; would neither bow nor crofs himfelf
“ before the facred paintings ; he profaned the churches by
“ admitting foreigners at the time of divine fervice, and
Mi ftill more by the number of dogs which followed him
“ upon the fame occafion.
u He was not only fo much attached to the Poliih cuftoms
“ and drefs as to prefer them upon all occafions; but he even
■“ ridiculed the Ruffian manners, and in every inftance degreatly
mifreprefented. L’Evefque afferts,
with great appearance o f probability, that
thefe reports o f his incontinence were not
founded in truth, and particularly denies that
the prin cefs Irene was facrificed to his defires.
4* On a écrit, qu’elle avoit été refervée pour
** fervir aux plaifirs brutaux du bourreau
Ai de fa famille ; mais cette accüfatioo.
“ diitée par la haine, n’eft ni vraifemblable
** ni confirmée par l’ancienne chronique que
“ nous fuivons, et qui parait fidele. On
peut en croire que Dmitri fut un iinpof-
“ teur ; mais rien ne fait foupconner, qu’il
“ fut adonné à de fales débauchés.” V , III#
p. 202.
“ viated from the examples of the tzars his predeceftors. c h a e .
“ Inftead of ffiowing himfelf to the _people ieldom, and only, .
“ upon extrordinary occafions with a large retinue, he was.
<! accuftomed to traverfe the ftreets without any fuite but a
“ few fervants ; he commonly rode, and, as he was an ex~
“ cellent horfeman, he was generally mounted upon the
“ molt fiery fieeds; he hunted frequently ; he had mufick
“ at his repalts; he never ilept at mid-day ; he never bathed.
“ Thefe trifling circumftances were at that time regarded in
I fo ferious a light, that the omiffion of them .rendered him
“ the objedtof general hatred; and it was commonly reported,
“ that the perfon who could ihow fuch a diftafte for the cuf-
“ toms of his country, could never be defcended from the
“ race of its ancient fovereigns. It was an obvious inference^
“ to coniider the delpifer of his fubjedts as their enemy.
“ Under fuch circumftances his deftrudtion feemed inevit-
“ able * ; and yet near a year elapfed before any tumult
“ broke
wanting upon this and all other occafions
in ridiculing the ignorance and fimplicity o f
the Ruffians, which increafed the hatred
againft them and the fovereign who pro^
teited them. A wooden tower w;as aIfo~
conftru&ed near the city, which, upon a
certain day, was to be attacked- with a can'—
nonade and ftormed. After the aflaffinationt
o f Demetrius, Vaffili Shuiiki publicly af-
ferted in a- manifefto, that it was the iir-
tention of Demetrius to have taken the opportunity,
which the ftorming of this tower
prefen ted,, of maflacring many inhabitants
of Mofcow. The gates o f the city were to-
be fuddenly fhut ; the cannon to be fired
among the people ailembled upon the'oc-
cafion ; and thofe who- efcaped were to be-
hewn in pieces by the Coffacs and Stselitz^
At the fame time the Ruffian nobles were
to be murdered by the Poliih troops. This
account,, fo improbable in itfelf, is only
ftippoistedi
* Mr. Muller, in this place, relates an
account of a match with fnow-batls between
the Ruffian"foldiers and the Poles ;
when the latter were faid, at the command
of Demetrius, to have filled their fnow-balls
with fand and ftones, by which the Ruffians
(blaue Augen und blutige Koepfe bekamen)
received many black eyes and bloody heads.
Such abfurd accufations do not merit any
ferious refutation. Many other idle tales
are alfo gravely related againft him j and
indeed every circumftance o f his conduit
feems to have been malevolently interpreted.
Among the public diverfions which he gave
in honour of his marriage was a fire-work,
in..which a dragon was reprefented with
three heads fpitting out flames. Such a
fpeitacle, being uncommon in the country,
affrighted the Ruffians ; and i t was report-
that the tzar had contrived it on purpofe
to alarm his fubjeits. The Poles were not