, and even the slender stock of knowledge which
he had possessed as a child, had vanished away. They broke off his
chains and removed him from his dungeon to a comfortable chamber. The
poor old man, dazzled by the light and bewildered by the change,
lingered joylessly and without a smile for a few weeks and died.
Immortality alone offers a solution for these mysteries. "After death
cometh the judgment."

The Christian bishop, Joseph, and Ivan Belsky, the regent, in cordial
cooeperation, endeavored in all things to promote prosperity and
happiness. Again there was a coalition of the Tartars for the invasion
of Russia. The three hordes, in Kezan, in the Tauride and at the mouth
of the Volga, united, and in an army one hundred thousand strong, with
numerous cavalry and powerful artillery, commenced their march. The
Russian troops were hastily collected upon the banks of the Oka, there
to take their stand and dispute the passage of the stream. By order of
the clergy, prayers were offered incessantly in the churches by day
and by night, that God would avert this terrible invasion. The young
prince, Ivan IV., was now ten years of age. The citizens of Moscow
were moved to tears and to the deepest enthusiasm on hearing their
young prince, in the church of the Assumption, offer aloud and
fervently the prayer,

"Oh heavenly Father! thou who didst protect our ancestors against
the cruel Tamerlane, take us also under thy holy protection--us
in childhood and orphanage. Our mind and our body are still
feeble, and yet the nation looks to us for deliverance."

Accompanied by the metropolitan Joseph, he entered the council and
said,

"The enemy is approaching. Decide for me whether it be best that
I should remain here or go to meet the foe."

With one voice they exclaimed, "Prince, remain at Moscow."

They then took a solemn oath to die, if necessary, for their prince.
The citizens came forward in crowds and volunteered for the defense of
the walls. The faubourgs were surrounded with pallisades, and
batteries of artillery were placed to sweep, in all directions, the
approaches to the city. The enthusiasm was so astonishing that the
Russian annalists ascribe it to a supernatural cause. On the 30th of
July, 1541, the Tartar army appeared upon the southern banks of the
Oka, crowning all the heights which bordered the stream. Immediately
they made an attempt to force the passage. But the Russians,
thoro