b o o k appealed to the teftimony o f his mother,, who refided in the
neighbouring convent o f Viefuovitikoi. T h e firmnefs and
conliftency o f his affeverations made a confiderable lmpref-
fion upon many o f the Ruffian foldiers, who peremptorily
declared, that they would proteCt h im from all injury, unlefs
Maria Feodorofna formally renounced him as her fon. On
this unexpected declaration, Vaffili Shuiiki, accompanied
with fome Ruffian nobles o f his party, f fp g g g l to the convent,
and returned inftantly with the following anfwer
' from that princefs ; « T h a t the real Demetrius was flam at
U Ugiitz I that the perfon who at prefent allhmed his name-
U Was an impoftor ; and that ffie had been conftrained by
“ menaces to acknowledge him as her fon.” Upon the delivery
o f this meffage, t h e unhappy monarch was inftantly
Sacrificed to the fury o f his enemies. Neither was their vengeance
appeafed by his death, but extended even to his inanimate
corpfe; it was pierced with repeated wounds, ftnppe
naked, and expofed for three days in the ftreets to the infults
o f the p o p u l a c e i t was then depofited in the public charne -
houfe, and afterwards * reduced toafhes, from a notion that
the earth would be polluted, b y the interment o f fo unholy
a body. ,
T h e affirmation o f Demetrius was followed b y a general
tum u lt: the houfes o f all the foreigners wer.e pillaged,, and
not only the Poles, who fell into the hands o f the people, but
even many Ruffians who wore the Polifh-drefs, were mai-
. t I t fe e™ , by other, a c c o s t s , that the-
body was firft buried without the city , and R . G . - - P i . ¡.ites ci The people
that the multitude flocked in crouds to the 0f an obfeure
place. ‘ ‘ The common people believed that -dug up h'9 titio„ 0f barba-
“ mu lick was heard in the night, and that gray ,. burnt the body,
“ fneffrcs were feen hovering about the “ T itle s upon him,, they burnt t
o p l a c e wheie lie was buried? For thefe “ and fe tte red the aihesm the a n - P- 5
“ reafons the body was dug up, and fliot
facred. Though this ftate of anarchy lafted only ten hours, CHAP-
yet more than two thoufand perfons loft their lives. The
dreadful fcene was finally clofed by the election of Vaffili
Ivanovitch Shuiiki to the throne of Ruffia. Manifefto$ *
were immediately publiffied, in which the new tzar juftified
his conduCt, and detailed the hiftory and adventures of his
predeceffor, whom he pronounced an adventurer, whofe real
name was Grifka Otrepief. He afcribes to him an intention
of extirpating the principal Ruffian nobility, and of introducing
the Roman catholic religion into Ruffia ; he accufes
him of holding a correfpondence with the pope for that pur-
pofe; he infinuates that he had even promifed to cede the
provinces of Smolenfko and Severia to the king of Poland ;
he reprefents him as an heretic and a forcerer; he difplays,
in the moil odious colours, his averfion to the manners and
euftoms of the Ruffians, his attachment to foreigners;
and expatiates with much art upon every part of his character
which might excite the public hatred and abhorrence.
A few days afterwards a manifefto appeared in the name of
the tzarina Maria Feodorofna, in wffiich ffie apologizes for
having owned the impoftor for her fon, and again acknowledges
that the real Demetrius was affaffinated at Uglitz;
that the impoftor, upon their firit interview near Mofcow,
hrft accofted her alone t, and threatened her and her family
"with the moft cruel torments, i f ihe refufed to recognize him
as her offspring.
* Mr M u lle t found thefe manifeftos in M a rg a re t, on the co n trary , who was p ro -
* * 6 6 * ° f T ille l <lm' S. R , G» 3 47*. b ab ly prefent at this interview, fays exprefs-
■ i i ; ' . ' , 'y , “ aprts conferences d ’,in qu a r t d h e u r ,
v„ U o S 3 Seredet ohne dafs jemand “ prifmee des ions les nobles it de ccux de
_ n den Boiaren, oder ändern L eu ten , da- “ la viH e ” S t c .p , tzci
hey % H docrfen. S. R , G . vol. V . p , 367.,