book t< a handfome p en fion : but the emperor did not feem to
— .approve 'the advice *.*
To this curious account I am enabled to add the following
authentick anecdote. Peter had not been long with
Ivan before he became difpiritedand fuddenly indifpofed ;
he accordingly quitted the room, and went out into the air.
“ I feel myfelf now,” faid he to one of his fuite, “ very much
“ refrelhed ; I was, indeed, exceedingly ihocked, and very
“ near fainting.” He then returned into the apartment,
and renewed his converfation with Ivan, with whom he itaid
near an hour.
Peter, it is faid, had even propofed to releafe Ivan from
his imprifonment: and as he had conceived an idea that,
perhaps, policy had induced the prince to counterfeit ide-
otifm, for the purpofe o f difcovering the truth, he ordered
a confidential perfon to remain for fome days in Ivan’s apartment.
This perfon foon perceived that his behaviour was
not the effedtof fimulation, but that he at times talked wildly,
.as i f he was really difordered in his underftanding: he would
frequently with raptures affert, that the .angel Gabriel appeared
to him in vifions, and brought revelations from hea-
■ven. Being aiked by this perfon why he imagined that he
had once been emperor, he replied, “ I was told fo by one
<( my o f guards, who looking ftedfaftly at me, burft fud-
•“ denly into tears; and upon my demanding the reafon, in-
“ formed me, that he, as well as the whole nation, had
“ formerly taken the oath of allegiance to me as emperor;
M and he then gave me the account o f my dethronement,
and of the acceffion o f Elizabeth.” .
P.eter, now fully convinced that Ivan’s underftanding was
fdiibrdered, foon relinquifhed all thoughts o f releafiug him ;
** S e eG c fc h ic h te des Rufliichen K a y fe r s Johann d e sD r it ie n . B u f .H . M . V I .p . 530. & feq .
7 and
•and foon afterwards .ordered him to be Lent by water to Kex- °hapholm,
a fortrefs fituated in a fin all ifland, Where the Voxen> <
flows into the lake o f Ladoga. He was conveyed acrofs that
lake in a fmall open boat; and, as the wind was boifterous,
and the water .extremely agitated, he at firft trembled with
fe a r ; but, in a fhort time, became-compofed, although there
• arofe a violent ftorm, which the watermen could fcarcely
weather. The waves, indeed, ran fo high, that the boat
was overfet near the Ihore ; and the prince, with the greateft
difficulty, was brought to land. In the month o f A-uguft
Ivan was again removed from the fortrefs o f Kexholm to
that of Schluffelburgh, by order o f the emprefs Catharine,
who had in this interval fucceeded to the throne. He W'as
conducted in a carriage', which breaking down near the village
of Schluffelburgh, he was led through the place covered
with a .cloak, and thus fettled again in his former habitation.
This unhappy ftate-prifoner w'as detained in the fame
-fortrefs until the time of his deceafe, which happened in the
morning o f the 5th f of July, 176 4 . The plain account
o f this melancholy event is as follows. Two officers, a captain
Vlafief and lieutenant Tchekin, were appointed -to.guard
Ivan, and for that purpofe were ftationed in his apartment.
In the fortrefs was a company, confuting o f near an hundred
foldiers ; o f whom about eight or ten flood centinel in the
corridore elofe to the door o f his room, and within the paf-
fage leading to i t ; the reft were pofted in the'guard-houfe,
at the gate, and in different parts o f the fortrefs, under the-
eommand o f the governor. At that time the regiment o f
Smoleniko was quartered in the village o f Schluffelburgh ;
and every week an hundred men relieved the guard in the
* JO.!Si 16th N. S. ' ( '
V°l. II. g fortrefs.