s of mind and heart for which he is celebrated was remarkably
rapid. He was always Ivan the Terrified, and he became Ivan the Terrible
before he was old enough to have played a reasonably good game of
marbles, or to have become tolerably expert in the art of mumbling the
peg. Indeed, it seems that the young grand-prince was wholly insensible
to the joys of these and the other excellent sports in which ordinary
youths delight, and being of an ingenious turn of mind, he invented
others better suited to his tastes and character. One of these
pastimes--perhaps the first and simplest one devised by the youthful
genius--consisted in the dropping of cats, dogs, and other domestic
animals from the top of the palace to the pavement below, and
sentimental historians have construed these interesting experiments in
the law of gravitation into acts of wanton cruelty. Another of the young
czar's amusements was to turn half-famished pet bears loose upon passing
pedestrians, and it is the part of charity to suppose that his purpose
in this was to study the psychological and physiognomical phenomena of
fear. A less profitable way he had of accomplishing the same thing was
by throwing, or, as youthful Americans phrase it, "shying," stones at
passers-by, concealing himself meanwhile behind a screen. He cultivated
his skill in horsemanship by riding over elderly people, cripples, and
children. In short, his boyish sports were all of an original and highly
interesting sort.

Up to the age of thirteen Ivan was under the tutelage of a council, of
which the Prince Shnisky was chief, and it was this prince who
domineered over the boy and made a footstool and a football of his body.
At that age Ivan asserted his independence in a very positive and
emphatic way, which even the Prince Shnisky could not misapprehend. The
young czar was out hunting, accompanied by Shnisky and other princes and
boyards, among whom was Prince Gluisky, a rival of Shnisky's, who was
prejudiced against that excellent gentleman. At his suggestion, Ivan
addressed his guardian Shnisky in language which the latter deemed
insolent. Shnisky replied angrily, and Ivan requested his dogs to
remonstrate with the prince, which they did by tearing him limb from
limb.

Having thus silenced the dictation of Shnisky, the young prince became
the ward of the no less excellent Gluisky, and was carefully taught that
the only way in which he could effectually assert authority was by
punis