alty to the king consisted merely in an
understanding that he was to follow the banner of the sovereign in
case of war. But in fact, these feudal lords were more frequently
found claiming entire independence, and struggling against their
nominal sovereign to wrest from his hands the scepter.

Rostislaf was now far advanced in years. Conscious that death could
not be far distant, he took a journey, though in very feeble health,
to some of the adjacent provinces, hoping to induce them to receive
his son as his successor. On this journey he died at Smolensk, the
14th of March, 1167. Religious thoughts had in his latter years
greatly engrossed his attention. He breathed his last, praying with a
trembling voice, and fixing his eyes devoutly on an image of the
Saviour which he held devoutly in his hand. He exhibited many
Christian virtues, and for many years manifested much solicitude that
he might be prepared to meet God in judgment. The earnest
remonstrances, alone, of his spiritual advisers, dissuaded him from
abdicating the throne, and adopting the austerities of a monastic
life. He was not a man of commanding character, but it is pleasant to
believe that he was, though groping in much darkness, a sincere
disciple of the Saviour, and that he passed from earth to join the
spirits of the just made perfect in Heaven.

Mstislaf Ysiaslavitch, a nephew of the deceased king, ascended the
throne. He had however uncles, nephews and brothers, who were quite
disposed to dispute with him the possession of power, and soon civil
war was raging all over the kingdom with renewed virulence. Several
years of destruction and misery thus passed away, during which
thousands of the helpless people perished in their blood, to decide
questions of not the slightest moment to them. The doom of the
peasants was alike poverty and toil, whether one lord or another lord
occupied the castle which overshadowed their huts.

The Dnieper was then the only channel through which commerce could be
conducted between Russia and the Greek empire. Barbaric nations
inhabited the shores of this stream, and they had long been held in
check by the Russian armies. But now the kingdom had become so
enfeebled by war and anarchy, all the energies of the Russian princes
being exhausted in civil strife, that the barbarians plundered with
impunity the boats ascending and descending the stream, and eventually
rendered the navigation so perilous, that commercial communicat