this marriage contract was formed the marriage was
celebrated. Alexis was then about twenty-two years of age, and the
princess eighteen. The wedding, however, was by no means a joyful one.
Alexis had not improved in character since he had been betrothed, and
his father continued to be very much displeased with him. Peter was at
one time so angry as to threaten that, if his son did not reform his
evil habits, and begin to show some interest in the performance of his
duties, he would have his head shaved and send him to a convent, and so
make a monk of him.

How far the princess herself was acquainted with the facts in respect
to the character of her husband it is impossible to say, but every body
else knew them very well. The emperor was in very bad humor. The
princess's father wished to arrange for a magnificent wedding, but the
Czar would not permit it. The ceremony was accordingly performed in a
very quiet and unostentatious way, in one of the provincial towns of
Poland, and after it was over Alexis went home with his bride to her
paternal domains.

The marriage of Alexis to the Polish princess took place the year
before his father's public marriage with his second wife, the Empress
Catharine.

As Peter had anticipated, the promises of reform which Alexis had made
on the occasion of his marriage failed totally of accomplishment.
After remaining a short time in Poland with his wife, conducting
himself there tolerably well, he set out on his return to Russia,
taking his wife with him. But no sooner had he got back among his old
associates than he returned to his evil ways, and soon began to treat
his wife with the greatest neglect and even cruelty. He provided a
separate suite of apartments for her in one end of the palace, while he
himself occupied the other end, where he could be at liberty to do what
he pleased without restraint. Sometimes a week would elapse without
his seeing his wife at all. He purchased a small slave, named
Afrosinia, and brought her into his part of the palace, and lived with
her there in the most shameless manner, while his neglected wife, far
from all her friends, alone, and almost broken-hearted, spent her time
in bitterly lamenting her hard fate, and gradually wearing away her
life in sorrow and tears.

She was not even properly provided with the necessary comforts of life.
Her rooms were neglected, and suffered to go out of repair. The roof
let in the rain, and the cold win