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630 COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
Having in Poland betrothed himfelf to Marina, the daughter of the Palatine Mnifchek,
he difpatched a fplendid embafly to demand her in marriage, The efpoufals were per.
formed at Cracow, and the bride having made her entry into Mofcow, accompanied
’ with a large fuite of Poles, was lodged in a nunnery until the folemnization of the nup-
tials: during this interval he difturbed the devotion of the holy fifterhood with repeated
feafts, concerts, and balls, whereby he excited public horror, as a violator of religious
difcipline. By this infatuated behaviour he indamed the difaffeCtion of his fubjects to
fuch a degree, that a regular confpiracy was concerted againft him. The leader was
Prince Vaflili Ivanovitch Shuifki, the fame perfon who had owed his life to the lenity of
Demetrius, and on whom this aét of clemency ha‘! no other effect than to render him
more cautious in his fubfequent machinations againft his benefactor. Demetrius fre-
quently received intimations from different quarteis of a proj: Cted infurreCtion ; the po-
pular odium betrayed itfelf by the moft alarming fymptoms; perfons were heard ex-
claiming in the ftreets, “The Tzar is an heretick, worfe than a Turk, and not the fon
of Ivan Vaflilievitch.” But, either from a natural magnanimity that braved all danger,
or from the incon fiderate levity of his character, he was inienfible to all thefe prognottics;
and by obftinately perfevering in his unpopular conduct, feemed almolt to vite de-
flruction.
The infurreétion broke out early in the morning on the 17th of May. The confpi-
rators fecured the principal avenues of the city; the great bellin the Kremlin, the com-
mon fignal of alarm, was tolled; anda confuled cry was fpread among the people, that
the Poles were preparing to maffacre the inhabitants. Vaflil: Shuifki, who fecretly in-
flamed the public difcontents, led the way to the palace, bearing a crofs in one hand,
and a fabre in the other, accompanied by avaft multitude armed with the firft weapons
which chance prefented. This party, having overpowered the guards, bur{t open the
gates of the palace, and rufhed towards the royal apartment. Demetrius, awakened b
the tumult, {ummoned the few guards who were immediately about his perfon, and fal-
lying, without a moment’s deliberation, again{t his affailants, hewed down feveral of the
foremoft: being foon overborn by numbers, he attempted to retreat into the interior
part of the palace; but, clofely prefled by his purfuers, precipitated himfelf from a
swwindow into a court, and diflocated his thigh with the fall.
Being difcovered in this deplorable condition, he was re-conveyed to the palace, and
brought before Vaflili Shuifki, who loaded him with reproaches for hisimpoiture. Not
cufationsdo not merit ferious refutation. Many idle tales arealfo gravely related againft him; and indeed every
circumftance of his condu& was 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 {pitting out.
flames. Such a fpectacle being uncommon in the country, affrighted the Ruffians; and it was reported
that the Tzar had contrived it on purpofe to alarm his fubje¢ts 1 he Poles were not wanting upon this
and all other occafions to ridicule the ignorance and fimplicity of the Ruffians, which increafed the hatred
again{t them and the fovereign who protected them. A wooden tower was alfo conftruéted near the city,
which, upon a certain day, was to te attacked with a cannonade and ftormed. After the affaffination of
Demetrius, Vaffili Shuifki publicly afferted in a manifefto, that Demetrius intended to take the opportunity,
which the ftorming of this tower prefented, of maflacring many inhabitants of Mofeow. ‘The gates of the
city were to be fuddenly fhut, the cannon to be fired among the people, and thofe who efcaped to be hewn
in pieces by the Coflaes and Strelitz, and the Ruffian nobles to be murdered by the Polifh troops. This ac-
count, fo improbable in itfelf, is only fupported by the fuppofed confeffion of two Polifh nobles, to whom
Demetrius is faid to have revealed it a day or two before his affaffination ; but we may more juftly believe it
to have been a calumny, invented by Vailili Shuifki, to render the memory of his rival more odious. See
S. R. G. Vol. v. 342—346.
difmayed
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