ame, where a Te Deum was chanted, and
where the new monarch received the sacrament. He then visited the tomb
of Ivan IV., and kneeling upon it, as the tomb of his father, implored
God's blessing. Perceiving that the body of Boris Gudenow had received
interment in the royal cemetery, he ordered his remains, with those of
his wife and son, all three of whom Dmitri had caused to be
assassinated, to be removed to a common churchyard without the city.

Either to silence those who might doubt his legitimacy or being truly
the son of Ivan IV., he sent two of the nobles, with a brilliant
retinue, to the convent, more than six hundred miles from Moscow, to
which Boris had banished the widow of Ivan. They were to conduct the
queen dowager to the capital. As she approached the city, Dmitri went
out to receive her, accompanied by a great number of his nobles. As
soon as he perceived her coach, he alighted, went on foot to meet his
alleged mother, and threw himself into her arms with every
demonstration of joy and affection, which embraces she returned with
equal tenderness. Then, with his head uncovered, and walking by the
side of her carriage, he conducted her to the city and to the Kremlin.
He ever after treated her with the deference due to a mother, and
received from her corresponding proofs of confidence and affection.

But Dmitri was thoroughly a bad man, and every day became more
unpopular. He debauched the young sister of Feodor, and then shut her
up in a convent. He banished seventy noble families who were accused
of being the friends of Boris, and gave their estates and dignities to
his Polish partisans. A party was soon organized against him, who
busily circulated reports that he was an impostor, and a conspiracy
was formed to take his life. Perplexities and perils now gathered
rapidly around his throne. He surrounded himself with Polish guards,
and thus increased the exasperation of his subjects.

To add to his perplexities, another claimant of the crown appeared,
who declared himself to be the son of the late tzar, Feodor, son of
Ivan IV. This young man, named Peter, was seventeen years of age. He
had raised his standard on the other side of the Volga, and had
rallied four thousand partisans around him. In the meantime, Dmitri
had made arrangements for his marriage with Mariana Meneiski, a Polish
princess, of the Roman church. This princess was married to the tzar
by proxy, in Cracow, and in January, 1606, with a num