which was the great object he had in view; but demanded that the
princess, who was a sister of the emperors, should first be sent to
him. The unhappy maiden was overwhelmed with anguish at the reception
of these tidings. She regarded the pagan Russians as ferocious
savages; and to be compelled to marry their chief was to her a doom
more dreadful than death.

But policy, which is the religion of cabinets, demanded the sacrifice.
The princess, weeping in despair, was conducted, accompanied by the
most distinguished ecclesiastics and nobles of the empire, to the camp
of Vlademer, where she was received with the most gorgeous
demonstrations of rejoicing. The whole army expressed their
gratification by all the utterances of triumph. The ceremony of
baptism was immediately performed in the church of St. Basil, in the
city of Cherson, and then, at the same hour, the marriage rites with
the princess were solemnized. Vlademer ordered a large church to be
built at Cherson in memory of his visit. He then returned to Kief,
taking with him some preachers of distinction; a communion service
wrought in the most graceful proportions of Grecian art, and several
exquisite specimens of statuary and sculpture, to inspire his subjects
with a love for the beautiful.

He accepted the Christian teachers as his guides, and devoted himself
with extraordinary zeal to the work of persuading all his subjects to
renounce their idol-worship and accept Christianity. Every measure was
adopted to throw contempt upon paganism. The idols were collected and
burned in huge bonfires. The sacred statue of Péroune, the most
illustrious of the pagan Gods, was dragged ignominiously through the
streets, pelted with mud and scourged with whips, until at last,
battered and defaced, it was dragged to the top of a precipice and