bservances of the severest sort, and no doubt became a saint, in his
own estimation. He spent most of his time at prayers, allowing himself
no recreation except a daily sight of the torture of the prisoners who
were confined in the dungeons of the fortress. His guards were allowed
rather a larger share of amusement, and they wandered from street to
street during the day, punishing, with their hatchets, such disloyal
persons as they encountered. They were very moderate in their
indulgences, however, in imitation of their sovereign, doubtless, and it
is recorded to their credit, that, at this time, they rarely killed
more than twenty people in one day, while sometimes the number was as
low as five.

But a quiet life of this kind could not always content the czar.
Naturally, he grew tired of individual killings, and began to long for
some more exciting sport. When, one day, a quarrel arose between some of
his guards and a few of the people of Torjek, Ivan saw at a glance that
all the inhabitants of Torjek were mutinous rebels, and of course it
became his duty to put them all to death, which he straightway did.

Up to this time the genius of Ivan seems to have been cautiously feeling
its way, and so the part of his history already sketched may be regarded
as a mere preliminary to his real career. His extraordinary capacity for
ruling an empire upon the principles taught him by the Prince Gluisky
was now about to show itself in all its greatness. A criminal of
Novgorod, feeling himself aggrieved by the authorities of that city, who
had incarcerated him for a time, wrote a letter offering to place the
city under Polish protection. This letter he signed, not with his own
name, but with that of the archbishop, and, instead of sending it to the
King of Poland, to whom it was addressed, he secreted it in the church
of St. Sophia. Then, going to Alexandrovsky, he told Ivan that treason
was contemplated by the Novgorodians, and that the treasonable letter
would be found behind the statue of the Virgin in the church. Ivan sent
a messenger to find the letter, and upon his return the czar began his
march upon the doomed city. Happening to pass through the town of Khur,
on his way to Novgorod, he put all its inhabitants to death, with the
purpose, doubtless, of training his troops in the art of wholesale
massacre, before requiring them to practise it upon the people of
Novgorod. Finding this system of drill an agreeable pastime, he rep