Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Pages ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA. 625
Demetrius. The death and character of Boris Godunof are thus delineated by an im-
partial hiftorian *.
The party of the pretended Demetrius increafed daily, and the Ruffians flocked to
him from all quarters. This circumftance, joined to the inaétivity of the Ruffian army,
had fuch an effe& upon Boris,-that, driven to defpair, he fwallowed poifont. He felt
the firft effects of the poifon at dinuer, and the fymptoms were fo violent, that he had
fcarcely time to enter into the monaftic order before he expired. According to the
Ruffian cuftom, he changed his name from Boris to Bogolep. His deceafe happened
on the 13th of April, or the 24th, according to the new ftyle, 1605, after a reign of
eight years and two months.
“It muft be allowed that his death was a great lofs to Ruflia; for if we except the
unjuftifiable means by which he raifed himfelf to the throne, and the cruelty with which
he perfecuted feveral illuftrious families, particularly the houfe of Romanof, he mult be
efteemed an excellent fovereign. Ambition and revenge were his principal vices: on
the contrary, penetration and fagacity, affability and munificence, political knowledge,
diligence in the adminiftration of affairs, afliduity in introducing into Ruflia the im-
provements of foreign nations, in a word, unwearied attention to promote the advantage
of his country, and the welfare of his fubjects, were con{picuous parts of his character.
We are apt to overlook the vices of a fovereign in confideration of his princely virtues,
and in this refpect Boris is entitled to our efteem. When we add to thefe confidera-
tions the long chain of calamities which fucceeded his death, his lofs could not but be
fenfibly felt.” 3
His remains were at firft depofited in the Imperial fepulchre at Mofcow ; but were
afterwards removed to the convent of the Holy Trinity ¢.
Cuap. VII. — Hiftory and Adventures of the Tzar who reigned under the Name of
Demetrius. — Seats himfelf on the Throne. — His Character — and Affaffination,
— Probably the real Demetrius.
_ AMONG the tombs in the cathedral of St. Michael I had occafion to mention that
of a child, called by the Ruffians Dmitri, or Demetrius, whofe intricated and contro-
verted hiftory was referved for a feparate narrative.
Ivan § Vaffilievitch II. left two fons ; Feodor who fucceeded to the throne, and De-
metrius, an infant, who was educated at Uglitz under the care of his mother the Tzarina
Maria Feodorofna, and in the eighth year of his age was faid to have been aflaffinated
* Muller, S. R.G. V. p. 247.
+ Captain Margaret fays, that hediedof anapoplexy. Etat de la Ruflie, p. 118.
t For the Hiftory of Boris Godunof, fee Muller, S. R. G. Vol. v. p. 27 to 249.
§ I had finifhed this chapter before the publication of L?Evefque’s Hiftoire de Ruffie. That ingenious
author has, in his account of the perfon who ftyled himfelf Demetrius, advanced many plaufible arguments
to fhew, that he was probably not animpoftor ; and though they appear to me unan{werable, and it is eafy
to perceive that he entirely leans to that opinion, yet he candidly concludes with afferting, ‘‘ Plufieurs ob-
jeétions que j’ai hazardées contre Pimpofture d’Otrépief me paraiffent d’une grande force, je n’oferai cepen-
dant déeider la queftion.”? See Hif. de Ruff. v. iii. p. 226 to 236. It may ferve, perhaps, as an addi-
tienal proof in favour of Demetrius, that two foreigners, who vifited Ruffia, both unbiaffed by national pre-
juaiess and without the leaft communication, fhould hold nearly the fame opinion upon fo intricate a
ubjet.
VOL. Vie :! 4L by
/
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
