that his wife, a noble and spirited lady, the
daughter of the Emperor of Byzantium, could with difficulty prevail upon
him to forego the humiliating usages which had hitherto attended the
reception of the Mongol envoys. It had been customary on the part of the
grand princes to go forward to meet the Tartar minister, to spread a
carpet of fur under his horse's feet, to hear the Khan's letter read upon
their knees, to present to the envoy a cup of koumiss, and to lick from
the mane of the horse the drops which had fallen from the lips of the
negotiator: and these disagreeable customs Ivan would have complied with
but for the successful remonstrances of the Princess.

Kazan presented the most alluring point of actual attack. The horde that
had established that city subsisted by predatory excursions, and even the
other bands of the barbarians were not unwilling to witness the descent
of the Russians upon one of their own tribes that had acquired so much
power. The project was favored by so many circumstances that, although
his policy was evidently at this period to preserve peace as long as he
could, he was tempted to make a general levy, and to assemble the whole
flower of the population for the purpose of driving out of his dominions
the bold invaders who had intrenched themselves within the walls of a
fortified town. This was about 1468. At that very time the army of the
Golden Horde, inspired by some sudden impulse, was advancing into Russia.
It appears, however, that the multitudes assembled by Ivan were so
numerous that the Khan's troops retired upon the mere rumor of their
approach; so that the display of his resources had all the effect he
desired, and he won a signal victory without striking a blow. The old
Russian annalist dwells, with some pomp of words, upon this bloodless
triumph, and, in the true vein of hyperbole, says that the Russian army
shone like the waves of the sea illuminated by the sunbeams. We take the
expression for all it is worth, when we estimate the force as having been
more numerous than that of the Tartars.

It does not appear that Ivan was yet prepared, even with this great
armament, to risk his future objects by any hostile collision, so long
as such an extremity could be averted by intrigue; for in the following
year, when the anticipated march against Kazan was at last commenced,
he suddenly paused in the midst of his course, although the result was
almost certain. Were it of much consequ