book wifidows of thefe dungeons clofed with brick, leaving to -
■ wards their top only a vacant fpace of a few inches fquare,
which admits fo little light, that the unfortunate inhabitants
have only a kind of twilight gloom. In the middle
of the area is the governor’s lioufe, and a final! wooden cottage,
wherein a. ft ate prifoner was confined. Further on we
entered through a portcullis-gate into the interior fortrefs,
which was built by George Danivolitch in the year 13 24 :
it is about 140 feet fquare, open at top, with ftone walls remarkably
high. Within we obferved a brick houfe of one
ftory, which reaches from one fide to the other, and contains
eleven rooms, each about feventeen feet by twelve. It is
■ ftill unfinifhed, the floors not being laid down, and has
never been inhabited. This houfe was built by order of the
late emperor Peter III. with fuch expedition, that it was begun
and brought to its prefent ftate in lefs than fix weeks; but
his depofition put an immediate flop to its progrefs. The
conftrutftion of fo large a building in fo feeure a place, and in
fuch a fmall fpace of time, has always been deemed a myf-
tery ; but there is every reafon to fuppofe that he intended it
for his confort the prefent emprefs, whom it is now Well
known he had determined to divorce and imprifon.
That mifguided and unfortunate prince came a few weeks
before his depofition to Schluffelburgh, to fee prince Ivan,
when he examined this houfe with great attention, and
feemed fatisfied with the expedition of the workmen *.
did not know that Ivan was removed to
Kexholm the, beginning o f June. Buf-
cbing, vol. V I . p. 531'.
See the account o f prince Ivan in Book
V . Chap. II. in the next Volume.
Several
* Bufching fuppofes that Peter con-
ftru&ed a houfe for prince Ivan in the fo r - '
trefs o f Schluflelburgh. This can mean no
other houfe than that defcribed in the conte
x t, which I am convinced was deiigned
for the emprefs j but Bufching probably
-s
Several ftate-prifoncrs of high rank have been confined in cfiA?-
this fortrefs.; amongft the-moft remarkable are the follow-'—
ing: Maria*, fiflerof Peter the Great; Eadociat firftwife of
the fame monarch, who-was here i mprifoned in one of the moft
gloomy cells. Count Piper, minifter to Charles XII. who was
■taken at the battle of Pultava, died here alter-a lingering captivity
. Birenduke of Gourland,favourite of the emprefs Anne,
and regent of Ruilia, here exchanged the pomp of palaces
for a loathfome dungeon ; and the ill-fated Ivan, after an
»M a r ia was,imprifoned upon fufpicion which- flie dreffed herfelf, for flie had no
’ d f being concerned with Alexey ; was again fervant to do the moft flaviih offices nor more
releafed, and died at Peteriburgh in 1725. than one cell for her perfon. See Letters
t Eudocia was married, in 16,89, t0 Pe- from a Lady in Ruffia, p. 46. From thence
te r the Great, then only in the rSth year o f {he was removed to the fortrefs o f Schluf-
. his a g e ; and was delivered o f Alexey in felburgh. Being releafed upon the aefcef-
•1690. Her oppofition to Peter’ s plans o f fion o f her grandfon Peter I I I . ,{he repaired ’
■ reformation, and herrepeated remonftrances to Mofcow, was prefent at his coronation
againft his incontinence, occafioned her.diT as well as that o f the emprefs Anne and
■vorce, which took place in 1696; when {lie expired in th e nunnery o f Devitz- where
-was compelled to affiimc the veil, and was flie held her court,-in 1731, in ,the cqth
^confined in a convent at Sufdai. During ’ year o f her a g e +.
:her refidence in that convent, flie is-reported This prine’efs, though certainly a wealt
to have contra died a connection with a ge- woman, perhaps was not fo guilty as file was
neral Glehof, and even to have entered in- reprefented by Peter. Mrs. Vigor, who faw
to a contrail o f marriage by .exchanging and converted with her at Mofcow in the
■rings with him. Encouraged by the.pre- year 1731, allures us, that' Glebof “ on
diflions o f the archbifliop o f Roftof, who,, «« derwent fuch repeated tortures as it was
from a dream, announced to her the death “ thought no creature could have borne '
■of Peter, and her immediate return to-court “ with great conflancy perfifliho in his
tinder the reign o f her fon Alexey, flie “ own and her innocence dnring°his tor
■re-affuroed her fccular drefs, and.was pub- “ ments. A t laft the czar himfelf came to
Uckly prayed for in the church o f the “ him, and offered him pardon if he would
convent under the name o f the -empreis “ confers. He fpir in the czar's face and
■Eudocia. Being brought to Mofcow in ,17 i-S, “ told h i i , he fliould difdain to fpeak to
and examined, flie was, by order o f her in- him, but he thought himfelf obliged to
human hulband, fcourged by two -nuns, “ clear his miftrefs, who was as virtuous a
-and imprifoned in the Convent o f New La- “ woman 'as any in the world;!’ &c. See
doga, without being fuffered to fee any one Ibid.,p. 44. See'Voltaire, Schmidt 8tc.
■■but the perfons who brought her ■ food,
'4 -Schmidt, Gen. Tab. in his Ruff. Gef,
4 A a impri