h
against them both, on a charge of treason, was read to them, and their
heads were cut off on the spot.

The news of this execution spread with great rapidity, and it produced,
of course, an intense excitement and commotion among all the Guards as
fast as it became known to them. They threatened vengeance against the
government for having thus assassinated, as they expressed it, their
chief and father. They soon put themselves in motion, and began
murdering, plundering, and destroying more furiously than ever. The
violence which they displayed led to a reaction. A party was formed,
even among the Guards, of persons that were disposed to discountenance
these excesses, and even to submit to the government. The minister
Galitzin took advantage of these dissensions to open a communication with
those who were disposed to return to their duty. He managed the affair
so well that, in the end, the great body of the soldiers were brought
over, and, finally, they themselves, of their own accord, slew the
officers who had been most active in the revolt, and offered their heads
to the minister in token of their submission. They also implored pardon
of the government for the violence and excess into which they had been
led. Of course, this pardon was readily granted. The places of
Couvansky and of the other officers who had been slain were filled by new
appointments, who were in the interest of the Princess Sophia, and the
whole corps returned to their duty. Order was now soon fully restored in
Moscow, rendering it safe for Sophia and her court to leave the monastery
and return to the royal palace in the town. Galitzin was promoted to a
higher office, and invested with more extended powers than he had yet
held, and Sophia found herself finally established as the real sovereign
of the country, though, of course, she reigned, in the name of her
brothers.

[1] The Russian form of these names is Foedor [Transcriber's note:
Feodor?] and Ivan.

[2] These celebrations were somewhat similar to the birthday celebrations
of England and America, only the day on which they were held was not the
birth-day of the lady, but the fete-day, as it was called, of her patron
saint--that is, of the saint whose name she bore. All the names for
girls used in those countries where the Greek or the Catholic Church
prevails are names of saints, each one of whom has in the calendar a
certain day set apart as her fete-day. Each girl consider