at last Boris, devoured by remorse for the crimes which he had
committed, and by chagrin at the evil fate which had fallen upon him,
lost his reason and poisoned himself.

The chief nobles assembled when the death of the czar was made known,
and proclaimed his son Feodor emperor in his stead; but the lad's
reign was very brief. The greater part of the army and the people
declared in favour of Dimitri, and the citizens of Moscow having
invited him to assume the reins of power, Dimitri made a triumphal
entry into the capital, and was crowned with great pomp. At first he
ruled prudently, and, had he continued as he began, might have
retained his strangely acquired throne. But after a time he gave
himself up to the gratification of his own wild passions, and lost the
popularity which he really had succeeded in gaining. He disgusted the
Russians by appointing numerous Poles, who had swelled his train, to
the highest posts in the empire, to the exclusion of meritorious
officers, who not only deserved well of their country, but also had
claims upon himself for services which they had rendered. These Polish
officers misconducted themselves sadly, and the people murmured sore.
The czar, too, made no secret of his attachment to the Catholic faith;
and while by so doing he irritated the clergy, he provoked the boyards
by his haughty patronage, and disgusted the common people by his
cruelty and lewdness. At last the murmurs grew so loud and
threatening, that some means had to be devised to quiet the popular
discontent, and Dimitri had recourse to a strange stratagem. The widow
of Ivan, who had long before been immured in a convent by the orders
of Boris, and had been kept there by his successor, was released from
her confinement, and was induced publicly to acknowledge Dimitri as
her son. The widowed empress knew full well that her life depended
upon her obedience; but notwithstanding her outward consent to the