reign. Feodor was but fifteen years
of age, a thoroughly spoilt boy, proud, domineering, selfish and
cruel. There was now a revolt in the army of the late tzar. Several of
the officers embraced the cause of Griska, declaring their full
conviction that he was the Prince Dmitri, and, they carried over to
his ranks a large body of the soldiers.

The defection of the army caused great consternation at court. The
courtiers, eager to secure the favor of the prince whose star was so
evidently in the ascendant, at once abandoned the hapless Feodor and
his enraged mother; and the halls of the Kremlin and the streets of
Moscow were soon resounding with the name of Dmitri. A proclamation
was published declaring general amnesty, and rich rewards to all who
should recognize and support the rights of their legitimate prince,
but that his opponents must expect no mercy. The populace immediately
rose in revolt against Feodor. They assailed the Kremlin. In a
resistless inundation they forced its gates, seized the young tzar,
with his mother, sister and other relatives, and hurried them all to
prison.

Dmitri was at Thula when he received intelligence of this revolution.
He immediately sent an officer, Basilius Galitzan, to Moscow to
receive the oath of fidelity of the city, and, at the same time, he
diabolically sent an assassin, one Ivan Bogdanoff, with orders to
strangle Feodor and his mother in the prison, but with directions not
to hurt his sister. Bogdanoff reluctantly executed his mission. On the
15th of July, 1605, Dmitri made his triumphal entry into Moscow. He
was received with all the noisy demonstrations of public rejoicing,
and, on the 29th of July, was crowned, with extraordinary grandeur,
Emperor of all the Russias.

The ceremonies of the triumphal entrance are perhaps worthy of record.
A detachment of Polish horse in brilliant uniform led the procession,
headed by a numerous band of trumpeters. Then came the gorgeous coach
of Dmitri, empty, drawn by six horses, richly caparisoned, and
preceded, followed and flanked by dense columns of musqueteers. Next
came a procession of the clergy in their ecclesiastical robes, and
with the banners of the church. This procession was led by the
bishops, who bore effigies of the Virgin Mary and of St. Nicholas, the
patron saint of Russia. Following the clergy appeared Dmitri, mounted
on a white charger, and surrounded by a splendid retinue. He proceeded
first to the church of Notre D