lavery.--Aristocracy.--Infancy
of Ivan IV.--Regency of Helene.--Conspiracies and Tumults.--War with
Sigismond of Poland.--Death of Helene.--Struggles of the
Nobles.--Appalling Sufferings of Dmitri.--Incursion of the
Tartars.--Successful Conspiracy.--Ivan IV. At the Chase.--Coronation
of Ivan IV.

Under Vassili, the Russian court attained a degree of splendor which
had before been unknown. The Baron of Herberstein thus describes the
appearance of the monarch when engaging in the pleasures of the chase:

"As soon as we saw the monarch entering the field, we dismounted and
advanced to meet him on foot. He was mounted upon a magnificent
charger, gorgeously caparisoned. He wore upon his head a tall cap,
embroidered with precious stones, and surmounted by gilded plumes
which waved in the wind. A poignard and two knives were attached to
his girdle. He had upon his right, Aley, tzar of Kazan, armed with a
bow and arrows; at his left, two young princes, one of whom held an
ax, and the other a number of arms. His suite consisted of more than
three hundred cavaliers."

The chase was continued, over the boundless plains, for many days and
often weeks. When night approached, the whole party, often consisting
of thousands, dismounted and reared their village of tents. The tent
of the emperor was ample, gorgeous, and furnished with all the
appliances of luxury. Hounds were first introduced into these sports
in Russia by Vassili. The evening hours were passed in festivity,
with abundance of good cheer, and in narrating the adventures of the
day.

Whenever the emperor appeared in public, he was preceded by esquires
chosen from among the young nobles distinguished for their beauty, the
delicacy of their features and the perfect proportion of their forms.
Clothed in robes of white satin and armed with small hatchets of
silver, they marched before the emperor, and appeared to strangers,
say his cotemporaries, "like angels descended from the skies."

Vassili was especially fond of magnificence in the audiences which he
gave to foreign embassadors. To impress them with an idea of the vast
population and wealth of Russia, and of the glory and power of the
sovereign, Vassili ordered, on the day of presentation, that all the
ordinary avocations of life should cease, and the citizens, clothed in
their richest dresses, were to crowd around the walls of the Kremlin.
All the young nobles in the vicinity, with their retinues, were
summoned.