that that Impostor might be forthwith delivered into the Great Duke his Masters hands whom he would unmask and render him to the World in his native Complexion a mean Creature set up by the Malice of a discontented Priest And then concluded that in case the King and Kingdom of Poland shall decline those equitable demands they would create to them an Enemy one of the greatest Princes of the World And thus having sprinkled his desires with a mixture of some Threats he added Rich Presents which were distributed amongst the Ministers of State and indeed most of those in Credit about the King with an open hand so that there were very few but tasted of Muskovitish Bounty But all this state and charge amounted to nothing the Interest of the Jesuites added to the Authority of the Pope had rendered the King and his Council deaf to the applications of the Embassador It was therefore resolved that Demetrius should be assisted with fresh supplies in order to his Restauration which was considered as the only Basis upon which to lay the Foundation of a perpetual League between both Crowns and the only means to root out that Schism in Religion which hitherto had fomented their Quarrels their affection being swayed by their faith These Resolutions were kept secret as the Arcana Imperii for they did not judge it fit to come to an open Rupture till they saw what was like to be the Success of Demetrius his Arms. Their Answer therefore was that the King and State of Poland knew nothing at least took no notice of what was done in Muskovy and that those Tumults raised by Demetrius a Muskovian born and Aided by Muskovians or any other Voluntiers engaged in his designes did not at all infringe or so much as trench upon the League which they should be always ready to observe towards that Crown and Empire The Embassador being dismissed with this general Answer without effecting what he came for In the mean time the Armies in Muskovy were drawn within sight of each other equal in hopes and desires though not in numbers Demetrius upon the Enemies advance raised his Siege and having chosen his ground with respect to the number of his men wherein he was inferiour to Boris he was not without some hopes that some part of the Enemies Army would upon the closing come over to him having held an intelligence with some of their Officers to that purpose But there appearing so formidable a power of the Muskovites and but a handful of men with Demetrius those who had made him a promise of coming over to his side judged it more adviseable to adhere to their own The Armies were now drawn so neer each other that it was impossible to part without Engaging Demetrius therefore and the Palatine judging their safety depended upon their Courage received the Enemies Charge as men resolved to conquer or lie by it not onely sustaining but resisting the fury of their Enemies The Success was a while disputed with doubtful hopes till at last the Victory began to declare it self for the more numerous Force which powring in fresh supplies the Polonian was forced to shrink under the impressions of the multitude after they had given testimonies of great resolutions having fought it out with so great a pertinacie that the Victory cost Boris the loss of many of his men His General received several wounds and it was with much difficulty that the Enemy quitted the ground at last they were disordered and broke saving themselves by flight Demetrius having rallied some few of his Troops retreated to Ribscum and the Palatine returned into Poland to raise new Forces having left 8000 of his men upon the place with all his Cannon and Baggage The tidings of this Victory was carried to Boris the Great Duke by Bosmanno the Governour of Novogrod whom Boris received as his better Angel and the General having rendered him with an advantagious character caused him to be presented with a great Bason of pure Gold filled with Ducats of the same Mettal and all the Officers of the Army with Medals and increase of Pay The Borisians shewed more Courage in gaining this Victory than Conduct in improving it to their advantage wasting their time at the Siege of Krom whilst the Enemy had room without interruption to gather together their scattered Troops who had they been chased while their fears had been upon them must necessarily have fallen into the hands of the Conquerours and then the Garrisons had followed their Fate But the Great Dukes Army being fate down bâ—â—â—re Krom the place was defended againse them with so great a Courage that they despaired of taking it whereupon the greater part of the Army being reinforced with fresh men marched towards Ribscum in order to the scattering of Demetrius his Forces and the interrupting of his Levies He upon this defeat found the experience of those friends which had been made with his Successes not himself Many who had run in upon the fame of his prosperous March ran now from him as from a falling house that would in its own ruine involve those within it Yet was not he wanting to himself having his Courage cherished by two Cistercian Monks and two Jesuites who attended him especially the latter in all his adventures These inflame him to a perseverance with promises that the Issue would be Crowned with Success to him and confusion to his Enemies In the mean time the Borisians advanced towards him upon intelligence whereof he sent out his Horse to face them while he was drawing up his Foot Who had seen the great disproportion between both Armies the one of a vast Body of Horse and Foot fleshed with Victory a great Train of Artillery Carriages the other not exceeding 5000 effective men those abounding with wants most of them Raw and Undisciplined and the rest the remnant of a defeated Army might reasonably have guessed at the Success But the power of Fortune or rather of Providence in this juncture appeared beyond humane expectation Demetrius was in a strange Country no Counsel about him unknowing in Discipline preposterous in his Orders and not so much as a temptation left him to hope his Horse being advanced were opposed by those of the Enemy of whom upon the Charge they killed about 1000 which discouraging the rest they shrink and being pressed on by the Demetrians had not time to rally but were in disorder forced upon their own Foot breaking their Ranks and doing for Demetrius what his Army could never have effected He pursuing his Success had the slaughter of that great Body which not being able to make Head were cut down without any resistance And thus what began but in a light Skirmish ended in an intire Victory The Demetrians laden with spoils the whole Camp and Train falling into their hands returned in Triumph to Puttiwol where the Fame of this signal Victory spreading it self to their advantage Five good Towns with their Forts rendered
Auxiliaries giving out that he would plant the Kingdom with Colonies of strange Nations This fill'd the people with dreadful Apprehensions of his Tyranny and imbarked the Lords in the same prejudice to find themselves neglected in the administration of Justice and the same managed according to the appetite and fancie of the Poles To all this he gave the Jesuites publike Churches and dwellings and to all of that Perswasion the free Exercise of it He had indeed himself been brought up in the Romish Religion which might in some measure have warranted the Profession of it in his own Chappel though Henry the Fourth of France dispensed with his former Faith upon his accession to the Crown endeavouring thereby to cure the Jealousies of the people who are no way so fervently engaged as upon the the account of Conscience But Demetrius his publike despising of the Rites of the Greek Church and his so open endeavours to introduce that of the Latins abhorr'd by the people gave the first shock to their affections and then his Habit Garb and Gesture being wholly Forein the Commonalty who see but the outside and make their judgment by that conclude his Inclinations were so too But what wrought most effectually upon those that understood best was to discern a lightness in his Behaviour bearing no proportion with so exalted a Quality as he bore in the world little Gravity and less Judgment in the manage of publike Affairs measuring concerns of a different nature by the same Standard From this short-sightedness being but newly invested in the Royalty he denounced War against the Swedes and with the same vanity writ to King Sigismund that he would arm against the Turk and Tartar before he knew the Constitution of his own Empire or by what establishment an Army was to be maintained Demetrius being Crowned Emperour his next care was the matter of his Amours those Passions were still alive in him and he had so much of the Constancie of a Lover as to invite Marina to the participation of his Greatness Upon this consideration he dispatcht a splendid Embassy into Poland with a Present of the Jewels of the Crown of an inestimable value The Palatine of Sandomiria had indeed deserved well from him but the Nobility of Muscovy abhorred the thought that the Treasure of their Empire should be havocked away upon that Negotiation which no way quadrated with their Appetite however this concern fell out so far luckily for Demetrius that it respited his fate for the Conspirators having laid their designe to be put in execution some days after the dispatch of this Embassie held it advisable to delay it till that was over lest by quitting their hands of their Great Duke the Jewels of the Crown should fall short and stay in Sandomiria They therefore directed the Embassadors who were also privy to the Confederacie to make secret Articles with George Mniseck the Palatine Marina's Father before they made their Present of the Jewels to her that she should bring them with her for her Ornament to Musko There was at the same time dispatched an Embassador to the King and Commonwealth of Poland Athanasius Rosclovius the Treasurer was made choice of for this Employment who being admitted into the Kings presence did in the Name of his Master the Great Duke present his very hearty acknowledgments to the King and Nobility for the seasonable Aids he had received from them declaring that next under God he derived all his Enjoyments from their Succours and confessed that had he not been vigorously owned by them he must have wandered about the world the pity of his Friends and the scorn of his Enemies whilst an Usurper possessed the Throne due to his Birth and in which by their kindness he was seated in perfect peace And as a Testimony of his further Gratitude he had sent his Embassadors to establish a perfect Friendship and League Offensive and Defensive betwixt the Crowns which was to extend to all the Enemies of either Nation especially the common Enemy the Turk who by the advantage of misunderstandings amongst Christian Princes got ground upon Europe And that he might be the more naturally linked to the Kingdom of Poland than the Ceremony of a League could extend to he desired the Kings permission to Marry a Lady his Vassal the Palatine of Sandomiria's Daughter His Obligations to her Father being of that nature that he knew not by what other means to contrive him a proportionable Recompence He had not only owned and received him in his Exile but engaged his Person and his Fortunes in his Quarrel and he could not stand acquitted to himself if he did not communicate to the Daughter of those Enjoyments which were derived to him by the kindness and Courage of her Father The King having fully heard the Embassador did with much Civility acknowledge the respect of the Great Duke in that Address that he wished him all happiness and did heartily congratulate the success of his Arms in the acquirement of his just rights Adding further that he did highly commend the pious resentments he was pleased to have for the sufferings of the oppressed Christians That he would willingly enter into a League with him against the Infidels but that without the consent of the Senate and Nobility of the Kingdom he could determine nothing of that Nature As to the Proposal of his Marrying the Lady Marina he should not only have his consent but his prayers also that God would render that Marriage auspicious to both Kingdoms by propagating between them a League of everlasting Friendship The King having expressed himself to this effect the Nuptials were within eight days after celebrated at Cracow in the presence of the King and a great number of the Nobility of Poland who were invited to this Royal Solemnity His Majesty delivered the Bride with his own hand to the Embassador exhorting that now she was to be transplanted into another Nation she should retain the Memory of her own Country and her Fathers house That she should do all good Offices betwixt both Nations and above all things that she should adhere to the Catholike Religion wherein she had been educated The Church-Ceremonies being finished his Majesty entertained the Bride at a Royal Feast Prince Vladislaus his Son the Princess of Sweden his Sister the Palatine of Sandomiria the Embassadors of Persia with all the Publike Ministers then at Court were invited to it where at the last Course those Jewels sent by Demetrius to his Marina and the Palatine her Father to the value of two hundred thousand Ducats were served up to the Table instead of Fruit which in so Illustrious an Assembly spoke the Magnificence of the Russ and satisfaction of the Bride to be courted at so valuable a Rate About the end of Jan. 1607 the Bride accompanied with the Embassadors of either Nation the Palatine her Father and Duke Constantine Wisnioweski and many other Persons of Quality and a splendid Train having
Pillage of it with all their Cannon and Baggage The Germans a Mercenary Soldatesque took pay in the Polish Army the rest of the Captives the Colours and other Ensignes of Victory were sent to the King at Smolensko who shewed them to the Besieged with what Military Pomp and Ostentation they could be exposed who were also invited to a Surrender after so signal and irrecoverable a loss but to no purpose for Sehin being of an intrepid Courage as if he alone would stay the declining fate of his Country did dare singly to resist the course of so many Victories Volviovius lay at Czarow with a Party of 8000 Zuis kians but terrified with this Success did upon the first Summons render himself and his Army to the Conquerors discretion Czarow being taken the Polish Army marched towards Musko whither the Sapihans having routed the Zuiskian Tartars at Troycze and a thousand Muskovites at Borowsko did also hasten The Russians broken with so many evils being vanquished at Clusinum at Troycze and at Borowsko and seeing the Poles approached their City and that the Demetrians did meditate a new Siege and finally being the Germans were revolted to the Enemy and that there was no appearance of repairing their ruined Troops did not know to what Saint to devote themselves or how to extricate themselves out of so many impending miseries At length after many and various agitations and consultations they fix upon an expedient of a very extraordinary nature for their deliverance In the first place they seize upon and depose their Great Duke Basilius Zuiski as the unhappy Author of all their miscarriages and infamous for his Misfortunes his Tyranny and his Sorceries with which they charged him and with a passion equal with that wherewith they had raised him to the Throne they pulled him down again and thrust him into a Cloyster giving at the same time out that they would elect Vladislaws King Sigismund's Son Great Duke in his stead proposing by this means that they should quit their hands of Demetrius whom they equally scorned and hated take away the cause of the War in one instant and compose their harrassed Country with such a Government that would immediately rescue them from all other pretensions They knew the Poles whom they naturally hated like emulous Neighbours would become secure by this Election and that they themselves having breathed a while and quit themselves of the War should be able either to elude the Election of Vladislaws or remove him as obnoxious to their Artifices by reason of his Childhood in due time They then proposed to themselves the choice of a Prince of their own Blood and Manners and the reverting of their Government into its antient Channel all which hapned as they did designe and their Counsels laid upon profound Reasons of State had a Success accordingly The Poles sway'd by a nearer Interest than that of Demetrius had no care of recruiting his Party but on the contrary prepared for the reinforcing of the City of Musko against his Attempts in order whereunto upon this bare Promise of chusing Vladislaws for their Great Duke Zalkievius sent Troops to their Aid to defend them against Demetrius and following himself with the whole Army he sate down on the East-side of the City Demetrius his Camp being on the other and a while after the Gates being set open for him he marched through the City and encamped with all his forces near Demetrius his Camp It was no hard matter for Zolkievius to debauch the Sapihans upon his engagement for the Publike Faith of the Kingdom of Poland to be given them for their Arrears so that they revolted unanimously to him Demetrius thus forsaken by them he confided most in retreated again to Caluga as an auspicious place for the shelter he had formerly received there His most faithful Friends as if they had been obliged to his Fortune not to him did in this disastrous juncture of his Affairs expose him to his own despair Zarucki that courageous Leader of the Dunensian Cossacks with Kasinowski Prince of Tartary his greatest Confidents did likewise leave him for a time submitting themselves with the rest to the will of the Conquereror The Muskovites being freed from Demetrius would have respited the Election of their new Duke but that there was no other choice now left them They had an Army in their Bowels resolved not to quit the City till they saw their Prince seated upon the Throne They therefore proceeded to the Election according to the usual Ceremonies causing him though absent to be Proclaimed and Fealty sworn to him as Great Duke and Emperour hiding all their secret aversions under the Mask of Joy and Acclamations and that they might remove all shadow of suspition from themselves they delivered the unfortunate Basilius Zuiski with his Brethren John and Demetrius into Zolkievius his hands who also engaged as likewise the great Officers of his Army to the Russians that the new Duke should speedily come to them conserve their Religion inviolable and maintain all the Priviledges of the Nobility and People And thus was the Government upon a sudden translated into new hands SECT IV. The Muskovites deal fraudulently with the Poles refusing to deliver Smolensko in Prince Uladislaws's Name Zolkievius lodges his Army in Mosko but being disgusted returns into Poland Demetrius is slain by his Guards The Russians revolt from the Poles and fight them in their Chief City Smolensko is taken and King Sigismund returns into Poland Zolkievius his Triumph Life and Death The Poles plunder the Ducal Treasury but being closely besieged in the Palace are forced to surrender King Sigismund returns but too late to the relief of Musko Marina and her Son are drowned being thrust under the Ice Zarucki is impaled Another Pseudo-Demetrius Who he was He gathers an Army but is delivered up by his own men Michael Federowicz is chosen Duke of Muskovy by whose Command this last Demetrius is hanged ZViski being thus laid aside and Vladislaws chosen in his place there was a splendid Embassy sent to King Sigismund still before Smolensko with an account of what they had done They were received with much Honour many prime Courtiers and all the Horse being sent to meet them Being introduced into the King's presence they humbly besought him in the name of all the Orders of Muskovy that he would be pleased to take them and their afflicted Country into his Royal protection They then sollicite the speedy dispatch of the Prince to them that in order to the compleating of their unanimous Election he might publikely be Crowned in the Royal City Great Duke and Emperour and that they might enjoy the comfort of his Presence and Protection They likewise brought with them the Conditions upon which he was to be received wherein the most considerable were That a General Amnesty and Act of Oblivion should be passed and all their Laws and Customs confirmed and established and that for the better settlement
Sambore and Grodners provided they would not oppose him in his Conquest of the Empire sending him this answer That the King should deliver Cracovie to Demetrius and he might in return receive Warsovie from his Great Duke But she is now overwhelmed in another Deluge besides that of her grief And the brave though unconstant Zarucki who had adhered to her Fortunes falling likewise into the hands of the Great Duke was impalled shutting up the Tragedy of his Mistress by his own death And now the Competitorship upon the accompt of the Blood Royal seemed to have extinguished but as if to be Demetrius were to be immortal and that he had not been slain but rescued yet again an inconsiderable Scrivener by what inducement sway'd to it is unknown gave himself out to be Demetrius the Son of John Basilius and that besides his deliverance at Vglecz and Musko he had yet this farther Miracle of his preservation at Caluga The Fellow being of a ready Tongue and subtle got together some hundreds of men such whom the War had indisposed to any thing of labour And to these there flocked all the Vagabonds Bandites and idle persons the excrements of their late Dissentions that proposed to themselves any advantage from Rapine and Plunder His numbers being by this means increased to the bulk of a considerable Party he caused a Manifest to be published of his Birth and several Deliverances invited all his Loyal Subjects as he stiled them to that Obedience which they owed to him as Great Duke of Muskovy the only surviving Issue of John Basilius And to put the more countenance upon his Imposture he marched with his Force to Novogrod from thence to Jama and on to Iwanogrod where he was by the giddy multitude received honoured and owned as the undoubted Demetrius Great Duke of Muskovy Having proceeded successfully in this great Attempt he assumed yet more state and to give a becoming Reputation to his pretensions he dispatched an Embassy to Sweden to sollicite aids against the Treachery and ill-dealing of his Subjects who contrary to all Law Humane and Divine had set up another upon his Throne King Charles surprized with this Address could not satisfie his Wonder not ceasing to admire how that Demetrius who had been so often slain should now survive to demand his assistance But resolving not to be abused or imposed upon he dispatched Petreius as his Embassador to Iwanogrod with Letters of Credence and Power to conclude but first exactly to inform himself of the truth of all things And if he found this Person to be that real Demetrius who had been acknowledged Crowned and Sworn to at Musko then to give him all encouragement of Supplies for the regaining of his Rights and bringing his Subjects to their due Obedience Petreius being arrived at Iwanogrod could get no Audience from this new Duke for he being advertised that the Embassador had formerly seen the murthered Demetrius both in Poland and Musko would by no means admit of him into his Presence but pretending an indisposition in point of health referred him to his Council to treat with him and that he himself hoping he might in a few days be fit for business would ratifie the Treaty in Person The Swedish Embassador answered that the King his Master desired to enter into a strict League with the Great Duke and had therefore given him some particular Commands which he was to communicate to his Highness in Person but since it was not consistent with his health to receive him into his presence he being restrained by his Instructions not to entrust his Masters Secrets to any other would return for Sweden not doubting but if the Great Duke should think fit to send his Embassador thither but that the King his Master would be ready to comply with all his Honorable Designes and Desires And thus Petreius having ended his Negotiation left the place gathering from the refusal of Demetrius to admit him into his Presence and from other Observations made by him that he was only a fictitious Person who had assumed a Name and Title wherewith he had nothing to do But he having by this time got together a Force which might well enough bear the reputation of an Army took the Field and upon the 24th of June faced Pleschow a considerable place which being summoned in the Name of the Great Duke Demetrius was upon the point of surrendring when the Muskovitish Army advancing he made a hasty retreat leaving behind him his Cannon and most of his Baggage and being followed by them he hardly escaped to Iwanogrod The Russians having with so much ease and without a blow dispersed this new Army careless of prosecuting the success further retired Whereupon the Inhabitants of Plescow dispatched their Deputies to Iwanogrod with an humble offer to this Pseudo-Demetrius of their Town and Services as their Prince and Sovereign He over-joy'd with this unexpected Success went immediately away for Plescow with the Embassadors where he was received with all the imaginable demonstrations of Joy Honor and Obedience He transported with this Progress in his Affairs and not capable of improving the same to his advantage gave himself up to all manner of licentiousness and lust violating many of the Prime Citizens Wives and Daughters and proceeding from one degree of Debauchery to another he let loose the Reins to his Party who by his Example committed all manner of Insolencies and Villanies upon the people The Plescovites tired out and provoked with the barbarous behaviour of their Prince took Arms beat his Guards and forced him to fly the City for his safety The Cossacks seeing him thus forsaken of all resolved also to leave him but some of them more advised considered of seizing upon his Person whereby they might the better make their own peace He advertised of this Designe being well mounted clapped Spurs to his Horse and had undoubtedly escaped their hands but that he was overtaken by an Arrow out of a Cossack-Bowe which wounded him in the shoulder Hereupon he was taken and being bound hand and foot was sent to Pleskow and from thence to Musko where he was tied by a great Chain to one of the Gates remaining there an object of scorn and reproach to all the world until the Coronation of Michael Federowicz by whose Command this last Pseudo-Demetrius the fictitious Son of Jo. Basilius was hanged in publick This Mushrome after it had but peeped up expiring with shame and infamy THE END
Horses laid for them posted to Boris with the news of the execution of his Command and to receive their promised Salary The Tyrant upon the first advertisement labouring under the Impressions of his Joy received these Bloody Ministers of his will with no ordinary transport till the heat of that Passion being spent and reflecting upon what he had done as it is the Nature of Guilt and Treason never to think it self secure he thought likewise his Practices might come to light but being resolved these miscreants should not discover them he by the temptation of excessive rewards hired other Executioners to destroy and make away these four first Murtherers And that he might not be engaged upon new contrivances he designs the same Method for their Ruine which they had squared out for the death of the Prince in order whereto as Vglecz was Sacrificed to his destruction so Musko was put into flames for theirs The Town is fired in many places at once some hundreds of Houses buried in their own Ashes while these hated Traytors were though by unjust means punished with a just retaliation for their execrable Villany But to return to Vglecz As soon as the Fire was quenched and that the Citizens began to be Composed from their disorder a Rumor being spread that their Prince was Murthered they violently break into the Castle and finding what they feared to be true indeed their distraction being now heightened to Fury and Outrage they slaughtered all his Servants without distinction or enquiry supposing the carelesness and neglect of the Innocent no less culpable than the pernitious industry of the Guilty they thought happily to purge themselves from the stain of the Fact by their zeal in revenging it But in vain for Boris to clear himself if any durst suspect him and to signalize his pretended Passion to his Prince made use of this Irregular vengeance of the Citizens as an Argument of their Guilt and laying the Murther at their door because they had slain all those from whom inquisition might have been made concerning it without examining them at all he caused them to be proceeded against as Criminals Many of the chief amongst them were tortured hanged drowned Banished and exposed as examples of publique Justice while he the better to disguise his cruelty under the sence of so irreparable a loss vests himself and the whole Court in mourning And having dispatched Duke Basilius Zuisky with many prime Senators and Persons of Eminency with Orders to Celebrate his Obsequies with all the Funebrial Pomp and Honour imaginable he commanded that the very place of his Death as guilty in failing to protect him might not survive to be a witness to so great a loss but as Infamous be immediately razed and levelled with the ground Demetrius being thus removed Theodorus did not long survive him and 't is more than conjectural that his end was hastened by the impatience of Boris and the violence of a secret poyson However it was the Duke sensible of his weakness and the approach of his departure bequeathed the Government of the Empire to the conduct of the Lady Irena his Wife sister to Boris the Patriarch was appointed her Assistant and both of them by the dying Prince recommended to the Valour and Fidelity of the Great ones of his Kingdom Theodorus being dead and the Solemnities of his Funerals performed with all becoming Ceremonies and Circumstances his Dutchess did readily ascend the Throne but afterwards having some time toyled under the weight of so Great an Empire whether out of unwillingness to fustain so Great a Burthen or as is more probable to secure the succession in her own House by transferring it upon her Brother she declares her resolutions to quit so unequal a Charge And accordingly yeilds up the Ensigns of her Authority into the hands of the Nobles giving out that for the Repose of her Soul she would Sequester her self from the Turmoyls of this World into the Retirement of a private Life This news being spread amongst the people did infinitely perplex them for though they might have some reluctancy against the Government of a Woman or that the servility of their Nature might at other times render them patient of any Yoke yet they wisely considered it more safe to submit to one than many Tyrants Boris in the mean time laid his trayns at distance chusing rather to have the Government devolve upon him by necessary Consequence than rudely to break in upon it cherishes by his secret Agents and Emissaries the mutinous Temper of the People who without an head were become uneasie to themselves as well as others This subtile States-man had in the interim withdrawn himself from all publique business to the retirements of a Countrey-house All things in this State had a tendency towards confusion some not daring others not willing to lay hold upon the Government and indeed all the prime Ministers being raised by his Favour not secure in the Counsels of each other were emulous who should first conduct him to the Throne In order whereto they attend him with their Submissions and Addresses that he will take upon him the protection of a distracted State The people transported by the apprehensions of their Ruine seconded the Nobility with their Importunities The Clergy whose safety consisted in the Peace of the Empire brought in their Supplications The Nuns quitted their Cloysters and instead of praying for their exquisite Artist offer up their Prayers to him as their Tutelary Saint or Angel The very Children as if swayed by a Supernatural Impulsion besieged him with Tears and Cries And what he denied to all these Sollicitations either apart or united supposing them to have a respect to him only not to themselves he grants as he declared to the necessity of his Country which being without a Head and no man willing to undertake the care he must offer violence to his own nature rather than expose so glorious an Empire as a prey to every Invader Who could all this while under so dark a Veil suspect him guilty of Poysoning his Sovereign and the Murther of his Prince to make way for his Crown presented to him several times in vain by all the Orders of the Empire But permitting himself at length to be overcome he protested that he had given that to their importunity and the love of his Country which he should for ever have denied to his own Honor and Greatness and the Advancement of his House to so Illustrious a Rank He confessed himself too weak for so great a Burthen but Courting the Aid of his Petitioners to his Assistance he promised his utmost Endeavours to answer the obligingness of so Unanimous and Honorable an Election wherewith they were pleased to signalize him above his Fellows And since they had marked him out for their Emperour he would no longer Question their Judgment but chearfully receive the Honour of that Trust which he would die rather than betray or relinquish but into
the Assassinates killed supposing it to be him That since that escape he had been concealed in a Covent of Monks till a just ambition of getting his own had tempted him into the world to try what was to be done And to confirm all this putting his hand into his Bosome draws out a rich Cross of Gold beset with Diamonds which he said was the only Testimony of Royalty his Mother had left with him upon his escape Then casting himself at the Dukes feet he breaks forth into these Expressions Now Sir that I have discovered to you a Secret of that nature which no Rack could have extorted from me you are become Master of my life and fortunes neither have I thus exposed my self to your knowledge without designe it being equal to me to die as to wither and languish in this servile condition But if you will make good that confidence which first swayed me to put my self under your Protection refuse me not those favours which I have promised my self from your Justice and Vertue Let not the wickedness and evil consequence of the example receive countenance from so just a Prince but give your self the Honour of assisting me to cleanse my Throne from the usurpation of a Tyrant by so much the more Ignominious by how much he stands obliged to me as my Subject and Vassal And for your recompence besides the having performed so good an Act which brings with it its own rewards I shall think no acknowledgment too dear for you The Duke astonished at this discourse and at the same time reflecting upon former passages in the behaviour of his Servant which comparing with the seeming probability of his narrative and his meen in delivering of it besides the Rumour spread abroad that Demetrius was yet alive was at a loss how to behave himself but being divided in his resolution he made a kind of excuse to his Servant that not knowing his Quality he ought to pardon any miscarriage towards him and requesting him to stay where he was till he should send to him He left him very anxious what would be determined concerning him The Duke full of amazement and irresolution hastes to his Ladies Chamber to whom he repeated the whole story of his encounter with his Servant Hrisko The Dutchess according to the nature of Women much pleased with the novelty judged the matter very probable because not altogether impossible and then comparing all circumstances together she raises her likelyhood to a certainty that it could not otherwise be that she had ever observed in his very Face the marks of Greatness that he had ever aspired to noble Qualities that no Impostor could have dared under so young years to own so hazardous a discovery and that therefore it must be Demetrius and no other who had cast himself into their arms for Protection which by all Laws Divine and Humane they were obliged to afford him Thus having determined the matter care was had for his reception in a way proportionable to the Greatness of his Quality and the whole Court immediately disposed into a State fit to have received the Great Duke and Emperour of Muskovy that evening A train of Servants of all sorts with horses for the Saddle and Coach suitably accoutred were forthwith ordered and an Appartment in the most honourable part of the house was made ready with all imaginable State becoming so Great a Prince This being done the Duke having loaden twelve Servants with presents of the Richest things in his possession and most suitable for the occasion himself in Person ushers them with much Submission and Ceremony to his late Servant Hrisko conducts him to his Appartment humbly beseeching his Highness to receive those trifles as a testimony of his service and devotion to his interest declaring his resolution to contribute all his Powers for the setling him upon the Throne of his Fathers Demetrius being by this time reassured receives the Dukes Complement with a becoming Reservedness and Civility repeating to him his Engagements and that when it should please God to restore him to his Dominions he would give more effectual Testimonies of his resolutions never to forget so seasonable obliging Favours This extraordinary change in Wisnioweski's Court managed with so great Ceremonies in the view of the whole world failed not to justifie those Whispers scattered abroad by the Old Friers industry and gave a confirmation of those Rumours dispersed in the adjacent Kingdoms and Countries and what before could make no impression upon the faith of the Cossacks is now become an Article of it That Demetrius Son to John Basilius and right Heir to the Empire of Musko was alive and in safety But no man apprehended the report with more Terrour than Boris guilt and fear rendering even impossibilities conceivable though he knew not how to reconcile the present reports with those had been made unto him by his Assassinates and were confirmed by the Solemnities of the Princes Funeral but being of a present Courage and Judgement laid by his wonders to make room for his Industry and Conduct and wisely foreseeing what great disorders the Novelty might produce if not seasonably prevented He immediately posts away his dispatches with Presents to Wisnioweski besides an Offer of a perpetual League and several Castles and Towns upon the Borders convenient for him with a vast sum of ready Money upon condition he would dead or alive send him that Traytor and Impostor who presumed to abuse the world by assuming the name and person of Demetrius warily mixing his Courtship with some threats That Wisnioweski he hoped was too wise to be made a property to gratifie the Malice of any that should dare to interrupt his repose Wisnioweski was so far from being swayed by the Messages and Temptations of Boris that he became wholly confirmed in what he made some doubt of before and concluding that this seeming Hrisko was the true Demetrius he resolves to espouse his Cause and Interest In order whereto Boris having strong Forces upon the Borders the Duke with Demetrius took Coach immediately and with some Horse that he had in a readiness retires to Wisnioweski a strong Town of his farther in the Country being come thither he puts the Great Dukes Letters into Demetrius his hands who having perused them after some little pause cast himself at the Dukes feet and with interrupted words said to him Sir I am in Gods hands and in yours the Fortunes and Person of Demetrius are at your dispose but my Trust is in the Honour of your promises and that the temptations of this Usurper shall have no influence upon your Integrity Wisnioweski raised him up with much Humanity and Respect bids him be sure he would not depart from that faith he had already passed to him for all the Dominions in the world that he had therefore brought him to that place further out of his Enemies reach where he wished him to remain with his Attendants while himself
of the like upon his Posterity We have in this a lively Description of the peoples temper unconstant in their resolution violent in their love and equally so in their hate They in this juncture cast off all their gratitude to the memory of Boris their prosperity under his calm and wise Government his impartial distribution of Justice the many publike Buildings by him erected for the splendor and use of their City They had no remembrance left of his great industry and charges in providing Food for them in that more than Samaritan Famine which happened in his Reign in the years 1601 1602 1603. or finally no reflection upon the advantageous peace and repose which he had procured for them with their Neighbour-Princes But though they might be suspected to bury the memory of those things in the Grave of Boris yet the wonder was that they should so suddenly destroy their own Act in destroying him whom they had placed upon the Throne but two months before as a Soveraign of their own choyce contrary to the designe of the Nobility whom they forced to swear fealty to him vowing to live and dye in the defence of him his Mother and Sister now rendered the unhappy Objects of their boundless fury The Borisians being thus rooted out wherein the Citizens were equally cruel and diligent they dispatched their Deputies to Demetrius to render him their Submissions and to assure him that in obedience to his Letters they had destroyed the Family of the Gedanowes to a man That Fedro his Mother and Sister were in safe custody in order to his Majesties dispose and that not only their gates but their hearts were open too for his reception Demetrius upon this agreeable news advanced toward Musko with his whole Army such of the Lords as had not yet presented themselves to him met him upon the way and being come within a mile of the Town their Magistrates were there in their Formalities as a representative of the City with a tender of its Homage which he received according to the mode of that Nation in Bread and Salt They had also prepared a vast Present for him in Gold and Jewels which he received with a show of kindness And being now owned by all the Nobility and Orders of the Kingdom and well assured of the devotion of the people to his Interest he made his entrance into the Royal City in great State upon the 20th of June in the year 1605. Emperour and Great Duke of Muskovy and many other Provinces and King of Casan and Astracan The manner of this celebrious Cavalcade was thus The Polish Horse with their Launces presented had the Van Some thousands of Muskovites followed them in good order having in the midst of their Body the Coach of Demetrius drawn by six beautiful Horses with all his lead Horses nobly Sadled and Trapped with embroidery of Gold and Jewels After these came the Clergy with squared Ensignes born before them on which were Painted some Saint or other as our Lady St. Nicholas their Patron and the like The Patriarch brought up the Rear of these Spiritual Warriours and at some distance behind him was Demetrius himself mounted upon a goodly Milk-white Courser environed on all sides with the Lords and Gentlemen that made up his Train All the Bells rung for joy and all the Streets Windows tops of Houses and all other eminent places swarmed with multitudes of people who as he passed along fell upon their faces and then raising themselves up cried as one man Long live the Great Duke of Russia Thou art the right Sun and bright Morning-Star that now shines in Muskovy To which he replied God give you my Subjects Health and prosperity stand up and pray for me As he passed along he was shewed the Palace of Boris but he turned another way as loathing to behold that place where had been hatched all the Villanies against him and the Blood-Royal of Russia and declaring it his pleasure to have it defaced the willing people were not long in the execution of his Commands laying those goodly Fabricks in a moment level with the ground Demetrius being entered the Palace-Royal dismissed the Princes and Lords who trooped together into the Market-place where Bogdan Bielski made them an Exhortation to acknowledge the goodness of God for their Great Duke obliging them to be true and faithful to him That he was the undoubted Son of John Basilius and thereupon taking his Cross out of his Bosom with St. Nicholas his Picture upon it he kissed it and swore that their present Emperour was the right Demetrius and that to the day of his discovery he had been concealed and kept in the Bosom of St. Nicholas who had now restored him to them for the preservation of them and their Land Hereupon the whole people answered with joyful acclamations three times God save our Great Duke God give him health God punish all his Enemies and all those that fail in their Fidelities to him Demetrius being by this extraordinary Concurrence of his Affairs got upon the Throne assumed the manage of the Government into his own hands and having made it his study to understand the Interests of his Crown as it stood related to forain Princes upon the accompt of Traffick or any other considerations of State he informed himself what Embassadors were then in the Kingdom either at Court or upon their return he judged it advisable to signifie to them his happy Restauration And understanding that amongst others of other Princes that Mr. John Merrick Agent and Sir Thomas Smith Embassadors for the King Great Britain having received their Dispatches from Boris were upon their return homeward in order whereunto having finished their other Negotiations they were gone toward the Sea-side Demetrius sent this following Letter from the Camp at Thula to Mr. Merrick and a while after another with an Express by one of the Gentlemen of his chamber to the aforesaid Embassadors Demetrius his Letter to Mr. Merrick Dated the 8th of June 1605. WE Demetrius Evanowich Lord Emperour and Great Duke of Russia To John Merrick English Merchant We give hereby to understand that we are by the just Judgment of God and his strong Power as Duke and Sole Lord raised to our inheritance Throne and Empire of Uladomir Muskovy and all Russia Calling therefore to minde the Confederations and Amity which our Father Evan Vasilowich Lord Emperour and Great Duke of Russia held and kept with the Great Princes of Christendom We likewise are resolved to maintain and keep the same and in a more special manner to hold a more particular correspondence and friendship with your King James To this end we purpose to favour you his English Merchants with a greater measure of our Grace than heretofore you have enjoyed from our Predecessors So soon therefore as you shall have received these our Letters and finished your markets at the Port of St. Michael the Archangel our pleasure is that you hasten back
to Musko to behold the Majesty of our presence to which end we have commanded Post-horses to be prepared for you by the way and when you are come to Musko you shall Address your self to our Secretary Offenasis Ulassou Written in our Majesties Camp at Thula in the year of the World 7113. Sir Thomas Smith having received his dispatches from Boris and being in his way homeward was overtaken at Archangel by an Express from Demetrius with the following Instructions and Letters Demetrius Evanowich great Lord Emperour and Great Duke of all Russia hath commanded Savarela to repair to Volgoda and then to the new Castle of Archangel or any other place where he may overtake the English Embassador Sir Thomas Smith When he hath overtaken him Savarela shall send his Interpreter Richard Finch to the Lord Embassador with notice that the Great Lord Emperour and Great Duke Demetrius Evanowich Sole Commander of Russia hath sent one of his Courtiers unto him touching his Majesties Affairs and after about two hours respite Gavarela shall himself go to the said Embassador and deliver unto him his Majesties Message as followeth DEmetrius Evanowich Great Lord Emperour and Great Duke of all Russia and many other Kingdoms Lord and Commander hath commanded thee Thomas Smith English Embassador to certisie unto James King of England Scotland France and Ireland that We are by the just Judgment of God and his strong Power come and succeeded into the place of our Father and Predecessors as also the Throne of the Great and Famous Kingdom of Uladomir Musko and the Empire of Casan Astracan and Sibiria and of all the Kingdoms of Russia Moreover we calling to minde the Correspondence Love and Amity which was between our Father the Great Lord Emperour and Great Duke Evan Vasilowich of Famous Memory as also our Brother the Great Lord Emperour and Great Duke Fedro Evanowich Sole Commander of Russia and their Sister Queen Elizabeth Queen of England In the like manner we do purpose to have Entercourse and to be in love with your Lord King James and more than hath been in former times and in token of our said Love and Amity we do intend to favour all his Subjects within our Dominions and to give unto them more liberty than they have had heretofore And you his Embassador we have commanded to be dispatched without any delay or hinderance Therefore we would have you to notifie to your Lord King James our Majesties love and as soon as God shall grant the time of our Coronation to be finisht and that we are Crowned with the Imperial Crown of our Predecessors according to our manner and worthiness then we the Great Lord Emperour and Great Duke Demetrius Evanowich of all Russia Sole Commander will send our Messengers to salute each other according to the former manner As for those Letters which Boris Gedanow sent by you we would have you deliver them back again to our Courtier Gaverela and after the delivering of our Speeches to return him to the Emperour Vnderwritten by the Chancellour Offanafie Evanowich Ulascan These and some other publike affairs being dispatched Demetrius judged it very conducible to his establishment to have the Solemnities of his Coronation speedily performed the Celebration of which were therefore appointed to succeed upon the Kalends of September for 't is then that the Russians do as the Jews of old did begin their year But Demetrius impatient of delay in that material Circumstance would have it done upon the 29th of July after his enterance into Musko upon which day he was by the Patriarch crowned with the Imperial Diadem of those Kingdoms after which he caused the Corps of Boris to be taken up out of that Sepulchre wherein he had been interred being that belonging to the Royal Family and buried without Solemnity in a private Church-yard without the Town Before the Coronation 't was judged advisable that the supposed Mother of Demetrius who had for many years been shut up in a Monastery by Boris should be sent for to Court as a reputation to the Solemnity which by Demetrius his art was improved to the utmost for upon advertisement of her being within a League of the Town he went forth in Person to meet her and being come within view of her Coach he alighted from his horse and making his Addresses to her with all imaginable Humility she received him with great demonstrations of Affection She would have come out of her Coach but he would not permit it neither could she prevail with him to come up to her protesting that as she had given him life so would he pay it her back in his Obedience that the Crown of Russia was hers and should be only born by him the better to execute her Orders And with these and some other obliging entertainments of this kind she was conducted to the Palace Demetrius following the Coach on foot bare-headed till the Empress stopping declared that unless he would get up on horse-back she would accompany him on foot Being come to the Palace she was conducted into the usual habitation of such who were Widdows of the Royal Family where being alighted she embraced Demetrius with great passion acknowledging him before all the Lords and Courtiers present to be her Son begot by Duke John Basilius evidencing the same by many particular marks and tokens which gave great credit to the Impostor if it were one His stature and proportion had a resemblance to that of the true Demetrius his hair was black and hard like his with a mark upon his nose and the right hand as the Prince also had And though the Lady might well remember the features of her own Demetrius whom she had lost but seven years before and that this in reality was not he yet she wisely dissembled the matter it being grown too far for her to contradict and besides that she lay under a double obligation to him having not only enjoyed her liberty but the satisfaction of an entire Revenge by his means upon Boris and his Family However it was she treated him with all the demonstrations of a warm and sincere Affection while he honoured and reverenced her with a more shan filial Duty so great a tenderness appearing in their caresses that their Tears of Joy were attended with a deluge from the eyes of the Lords and all others upon the â—lace And to be thus owned by the Empress in the face of the whole World gave a greater confirmation to the reality of his Birth than all his other Testimoies together there being now no room â—eft to question his Extraction confirmed by the open declaration of her that bare him 'T is to this day a controverted point in Russia whether he was an Impostor or not Common fame since his misfortune seems to render him such and Petreius in his Chronicle of Muskovy hath a Jury of Arguments to confirm it But his Testimony is not to be believed but with caution he being employed in
they instead of promising to come returned their Answer by way of expostulation that unless the same place were given them at the Great Dukes Table as his Embassadors enjoyed at Cracovia they begg'd his Pardon for not obeying him chusing rather to deny themselves the Honour of his Invitation than to receive it to the prejudice of their King and Commonwealth This Punctilio being argued in Council was opposed by the Russian Lords by all the Arguments they could devise but the Great Duke over-ruled the Point and would have the Foreiners gratified as those by whom he had ascended up to his Throne There happened during the Feast some passages of heat betwixt them the Poles giving themselves the liberty to reproach the want of Courage in the Russians as having imposed an Emperour upon them which Language being received with scorn had certainly been returned with severity upon the place but that having whispered together they chose rather to hasten their Designe and to Revenge all their Resentments together The close of the Feast was the beginning of the Affray for when all the world was steeped in Jollity giving themselves up to Dancing and Revels the very Guards being dismissed upon this occasion the Conspirators who had been kept waking upon other Designes had by break of day next morning possess'd themselves of the most considerable Parts and Avenues of the City and Basilius Zuiski placing himself in the Head of them with a Cross in one hand and his Sable drawn in the other led them on towards the Heart of the City He had caused the great Bell the common signal of Alarms to be toll'd and a confused Cry to be spread about the Streets that the Poles were in Arms upon a Designe of putting the whole City to the Sword The People being raised with this apprehension fell upon the Poles in their Quarters and destroyed them before they could wake to see their danger The tolling of the Bell with the greater noise of the people in the Streets had rouzed Demetrius who calling to them of his Bed-chamber to enquire the Cause of that Tumult they answer it must necessarily be some Fire Bosmanno being commanded to understand the true reason of it hastens to the window that looked towards the Streets and observed them full of armed men and asking the Cause of it at that unseasonable hour they cried they would speak with that Impostor the Great Duke who had betrayed them into the hands of the Poles Bosmanno hearing this and struck with the apprehension of the danger ordered such of the Guards as lay next at hand to be called to their Arms and to make good the Palace and going in to Demetrius My Lord said he it is now too late that you have the Experience of my Counsel the Conspirators are in Arms and the Treason at your Door Whilst Bosmanno was speaking a Gentleman of the other Party had pressed through some of the Guards half asleep and called to the Duke aloud Thou false Great Duke why comest thou not out to satisfie that demand of the people who are in the Streets expecting thee Bosmanno abhorring so great an Insolence snatcht a Sable which hung by upon the Wall and at one blow laid this bold man dead at his feet Demetrius flung himself out of Bed and covering his Body with what was next hand snatched a Halbard from one of the Guards with which going into the Anti-chamber where the Conspirators were entring with fury in his looks he flies upon them and put the forwardest to retreat but they pressing in the second time and some of them shooting at him he judged it advisable to withdraw whilst Bosmanno advancing up towards them desired they would please in a peaceable manner to signifie their desires and he would undertake to have them gratified Michael Tatisson one of the Ringleaders answered him Thou Son of a Whore dost thou take upon thee to prescribe Rules to the Nibility and people of Russia And drawing out a long Knife which hung by his side stab'd him to the heart wherewith he fell down dead before him upon the place The Guards being now no longer able to resist were kill'd as they appeared whiles the poor Duke retiring from Chamber to Chamber with some few of his Servants was at last come to such a place where there was no further passage he hurried on by his despair flung himself out of a Window forty foot from the ground His fall was so great that he vomited Blood with the crush of it but his fears making him strong he scrambled to his Guard of Muskovites in the Fortress The Conspirators in the mean time missing their prey made Booty of what else they found in the Palace and causing themselves to be guided to the Appartment of the Empress who had hid her self they asked for her but the frighted Ladies wanting courage to reply the old Lady Palatine of Samoc confident in the Prerogative of her gray-hairs told she was upon the noise fled to her Father's Lodgings They searched the Room and not finding her revenged their disappointments in such a vile sort of unclean Expressions as is not fit for any Language but the Russian to repeat and the Lords by this strange irruption transported in their very minds to all excess of Debauchery seized each of them upon one of the Ladies none escaping them but the old Lady Palatine who was spared upon the Priviledge of her wrinkles and another Lady that sate sick in a Chair till one of them observing some extraordinary motion about her lower parts pull'd her up where the poor affrighted Marina was discovered but with so great a Majesty in her Aspect that they her Enemies seemed more astonished than she and withdrew offering her no kinde of violence which is not the least Argument for the Dominion of Beauty able to subdue the Spirits of men when they are become savage The Conspirators having received some advertisement that Demetrius was retreated to the Fort for shelter they all made thither where after some confused attempts but greater threatnings to force the place that unfortunate Person was put into their hands They led him away in Triumph as the Spoils of War and the Rabble were not wanting to aggravate his afflictions by their reproachful Behaviour and Language to which he made no reply at all but seeing his stately Palace pillaged and stained with the Blood of his Servants and Friends and others of them hurried away to Prison and abused in his presence he could not resist to manifest his resentments by his Tears And to add yet to his misery they covered him with an old ragged Coat and so exposed him to publike view not without the scorn of mocks and taunts which none can have so great a sense of as he that had been possessed of so eminent a Grandeur And to leave nothing unattempted that might imbitter his Soul besides their justling him pointing their fingers at his eyes plucking him by
Friends to the enjoyment of this accustomed solace when these enraged Tartars broke in upon him and murthered him upon the place Neither did they escape Vengeance for Marina receiving this news with the most violent apprehension in the world and laying aside all respect to her Quality being transported with grief and rage she ran into the Streets calling to every person she met either to revenge the Murther of her Lord or by the same cruelty to do an act of Charity towards her in delivering her from that loathed burthen of her life The Cossacks inflamed by the Prayers and Tears of this great Lady fell with such fury upon the Tartars that they sacrificed two hundred of them to Demetrius his Manes Marina's grief and their own resentments This second Demetrius after his death was by all hands admitted to be an Impostor Most would have him to have been a School-Master in Socola a Town of Russia Alba and that he had been set up as a Property by the Poles the better to countenance their Designes upon Muskovy Others supposed him a Jew upon this Reason that there were found in his Closet some Hebrew and Talmudical Books the same being likewise affirmed by Michael Federowiez the succeeding Emperour in a Letter from him to Maurice Prince of Orange But whoever he was he was slain by these Tartars as we have related but did not die so entirely but that his Son was chose Great Duke by them of Caluga and Zaruckius with all his Forces addressed himself to the Russians offering them their aid upon promise that so soon as they should quit their hands of the Poles they should by the example of Caluga chuse this Son of Demetrius Great Duke and Emperour This being assented to this Son of Demetrius and Marina was in those Quarters considered as Emperor though many believed this yet a further Impostor for that Marina was supposed barren King Sigismund continued still the Siege of Smolensko which he judged ignominious and below him to abandon though while he opiniatred there he omitted more specious opportunities of prevailing elsewhere and by this delaying gave the Muskovites means to regain what by their Divisions had been extorted from them It was now the beginning of the Year 1611 when they began to take Arms under the Conduct of Lepanow a Great Lord of the Country who having made some private Levies appeared in the field first about Prezlaw from whence he invited and gained most of the Boyarians to his Party dispersing Messengers into all the Provinces to reproach the Poles of their breach of Faith in detaining their Prince from them complaining further that they had got their City of Musko by fraud and practice and that they kept the Zuiski's in Prison together with their Embassadors contrary to the Law of Nations Zarucki brought in his Force to this Party upon the Conditions before mentioned that young Demetrius should be received and declared Emperour and Great Duke so soon as they should have cleared their Country from the Poles the plague of it And Prosowecki another Great Lord raised another and greater Army about Novogrodock so that these Levies from small beginnings did by the inadvertencie of the Poles improve to that bulk that none of the Kings Forces scattered in the Country for the securing its Obedience durst look upon them they scarce sufficing to defend themselves He could not spare any of his Leaguer from before Smolensko having a great Line to man and the Enemy a strong Garrison in the Town his Army in Musko was little enough to keep the numbers in the City in subjection whose old aversion to the Poles was revived to so high a pitch that upon notice of Lepanow's being in Arms they conspired how to Massacre the Garririson consisting of 6000 Horse and 1000 Foot They wanted only Leaders not a will to this bloody action There were within the circuit of this vast City one hundred and eighty thousand houses a multitude of Inhabitants besides a great confluence of Strangers retired thither out of the neighbour-Provinces for Sanctuary to avoid the fury of a Civil War and many to assist the Conspirators as conscious of the intended Designe so that they only wanted a Head and Method for the carrying of it on Goziouski General of the Poles was not without his Intelligence of these Menés but chose rather to dissemble his notice being only intent upon his fortifying of Kitaigrod and Krimgrod which contain within their Walls the Dukes Palace with the Ware-houses of the wealthiest Merchants proposing to himself that he should be able to retire thither upon occasion Gariouski had scarce finished his Works when the Russians supplying by their malice what they wanted in conduct being carried on as it were by the weight of their number drawn together by the ringing of their Bells the third day after Palm-Sunday made a furious Assault upon the Enemy in their bosome The Poles opposed Despair and Discipline to their confused multitudes and were so successful in it as to kill 6000 upon the place without any considerable loss and prosecuting that advantage by firing that part of the City next them they destroyed multitudes of Houses Women Children Goods and helpless People by the aid of that raging Element The day following Gariouski commanded the Suburbs on the other side of the River Moscha to be burnt because that Strusius who was hastening to the relief of his Countreymen with his Regiment from Mosaisco was retarded there by the Inhabitants The City tamed thus by Fire and Sword rejecting the fault upon some few petitioned for pardon and had it without great difficulty the Poles not being in a condition to do more than secure their own Quarters though they had gained well to bring the Enemy to ask quarter of them It was neither compunction in the one nor kindness in the other that begat this calm for the Inhabitants upon the advance of Lepanow with Zarucki and Prosowecki with an Army of 100000 men joyned with them forcing the Poles into their Works where they were besieged save on one passage over the River which they kept open a long time and by which they got in their Provisions and made frequent Sallies with various Fortune and Success All this while King Sigismund lay immoveable at the Siege of Smolensko which dured longer than he had fancied but what was worse the Souldiers grew uneasie for want of Pay clamouring in such sort that he was in much dread of a Mutiny He had no Moneys neither did he know how to compass any without a Convention of the States of his Kingdom and this he was put upon to calm the Souldiers who were prevailed with to expect the determinations of that Assembly with patience But the King that no Objection might lie upon him for not having made all imaginable Attempts for gaining the place resolved upon a general Assault before he left the Leaguer to go to the Convention which he had appointed in
deditione accepta Smolensko Reipublicae restituta Basilio Zuiskio Magno Duce Moscoviae Et Fratre ejus Demetrio Militiae Praefecto Captivis jure Belli receptis Et in Arce Gostienensi sub custodia habitis ibique vita functis Humanae sortis memor Ossa illorum huc deferre Et ne se regnante etiam hostes Injusteque Sceptra parantes Justis Sepulturaque carerent IN HOC A se ad publicam Posteritatem Memoriam Regnique sui Nomen Extructo Trophaeo DEPONI JUSSIT ANNO A PARTU Virginis MDCXX Regnor ' POLONIAE XXXIII SUECIAE XXVI And this was the end of Basilius Zuiski who having by many extraordinary Actions raised himself to the Throne enjoyed it no more than his Predecessor either long or quietly He had to do with an unstable People hurried from one extreme to another and being of a jealous nature had recourse to Witchcrafts and Incantations endeavouring by the help of Sathan to preserve what he had gained by improving the violent humour of the giddy multitude And his Wizards furnishing him with Discoveries of the unfaithfulness of some about him or he pretending such Discoveries to gratifie his fears put many eminent Persons to death proposing to settle that Dominion by Blood and Fraud the same Arts whereby he had obtained it And his nature by frequent practises being hardened in cruelty he caused three of his most faithful Servants and Friends to be made away only because their names were Michael for he had been told by his Soothsayers that one of that name should Succeed him in the Empire which proved true for all his barbarous precaution which hurried him upon doing those horrid things that hardly any Story can parallel He would tear up the Wombs of great-bellied women and rip open the breasts of the mettledst Horses for the immature fruit of the one and the hearts of the other wherewith he used to make his Diabolical Infusions as well to charm the Poles whom he could not overcome as his Rebel-Subjects whom he could not bring to their Duty But no Magick is of power against the Providence of God which after a short turbulent Reign removed him from the Throne to a Prison where he ended his days The Method of our Tragick History doth invite us back to Musko to observe the actions of that place but Zolkievius whose Army we left there having in the succeeding course of his life rendered himself famous upon the account of many Enterprizes especially his unparallel'd Retreat at Cicora from the Turks a short digression as to his Affairs may not be wholly impertinent wherein I shall observe my accustomed brevity to relate only matter of fact and so return to where we left Stanislaws Zolkiewski the Sirnames of most of the Polish Nobility do end in ski a Person of an eminent extraction dedicated himself to Arms so soon as he was well able to wield them making his first Apprentiship under that Great Chancellour and greatest Captain that Poland hath produced for many Ages John Zamoyski who at the famous Battle of Byczin which decided the contest between Sigismund and Maximilian concerning the Crown in favour of the former had the Honour to Command the Right Wing of Zamoyski's Army to the defeating of that Enemy that opposed him in which encounter he received a sore wound in the Knee His Conduct in that Adventure raised him in short time after to the Preferment of being Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom during which Command he was employed against the Rebellious Cossacks whom after many doubtful Fights he reduced to his own Terms of delivering up their General a Plebeian but of great Conduct with three other of their Principal Officers into his hands He defeated the Swedes at Revel And afterwards being made General he did beat the Russians at Clusinum entred Musko forced Demetrius to quit his Siege and led away the Emperour Zuiski and his two Brothers Captive with him into Poland as we have formerly mentioned and likewise that he left the Army in Musko upon discontent by reason Sigismund refused to ratifie the Articles which Zolkievius by his directions had in his name sworn to Being 70 years of Age he was created Great Chancellor of Poland He repressed the Tartars in their Invasion at Orimin and a while after marched with his Army into Moldavia in aid of Gratian the Vayvod against the Turks that oppressed him to so great an extremity that he came in to Zolkievius but with six hundred Horse but so fatally negligent that he could give no account of the Enemies number or force even in his own County so that the General had nothing certain of them till he saw them cover the Campania about him with their numerous hoast He himself had encamped upon the Plains of Cicora determining in that place to attend their motion This was in Sept. 1620. The Tartars who had joyned with the Turks upon this occasion having taken some Christian Prisoners gained from them an account of the Christian strength which did not exceed 10000 effective men whereupon they drew up within view of them with an Army of double their number led by their Commander Cantimir Mursa A few hours after they were followed by Skinder Bassa General of the Turks and of the War who pitcht his Tents near those of his Confederates within view of the Christians The Poles contained themselves within their Trenches till a Squadron of Cossacks who had the out-Guard encountred that of the Tartars whom after a smart dispute they forced to a Retreat but being relieved by their own men they turned upon the Christians pursuing them up to their very Trenches where they also being seasonably reinforced opposed the prevailing Enemy with so great Success that having killed a great number they chased them into their Main Body but giving no Quarter did consequently take no Prisoners and so made no discovery of the Enemies strength in so much that Zolkievius making his computation by what appeared in view and finding his Army chearful upon the Success of that days Action resolved to put all upon the fottune of a Battle That night there came to the Turkish Camp Sultan Galga the Great Chams Brother with a fresh Army of 30000 choice Souldiers whereof Zolkievius had no knowledge and therefore in order to the determinations of the day before he drew out his whole Army early the next morning being the 19th of Sept. 1620. and ranging them in Battalia strengthened both Wings with Forts made of his Waggons and Carriages closed together on all sides and filled with Foot and Cannon so that the Enemy could make no advantage of their numbers to infest their Flanks Skinder Bassa on the other side seeing the Order of the Christians drew his Army into a Line of Battle placing only the Turks revolted Wallachians and Transylvanians in view the Auxiliary Tartars being placed out of sight and commanded not to stir till a Signal was given them to move which should be when the Christians
entred with a fury sutable to the constitution of their Affairs and forcing them back and upon those that followed made them contribute to their own disorders in such sort that not being able to rally they were repell'd with a great slaughter And having clear'd themselves from this violent storm they continued their march that evening alongst the Banks of the River for three Miles the enemy coasting them on the other side with an equal pace Octob. 5. The Tartars having got before them the day before lay directly in their way but they carrying with them the resolution of surmounting every difficulty and grown skilful in this new kind of March broke through all the resistance made against them though not without some disorder in their Rear occasioned by the fears of the Waggon-men which rendred them less exact and faithful in their charge But by the valour and conduct of Zemberg who commanded in that part the Enemy was repulsed and the disorder being repaired they performed a March of two Miles that day Octob. 6. They still advanced and like a wedge of Iron divided their passage through the numerous Squadrons of the Enemy who clouded their very sight with their showers of Shot and Arrows but seeing they could make no impression upon them they burnt up and destroyed all their grass and forrage in their way whereby they were extremely incommodated and by reason whereof and their often Skirmishes they were that day able to march but one Moldavish Mile The Poles still followed the Banks of the River Tire with a designe to gain Mohilow a safe Retreat after their tedious March They were constrained to avoid the nearest way thither as mountainous boggy besides great Woods in it which would obstruct them in the manner of their motion chusing for the sake of a more even passage to go about by such a way as brought them within a Mile of their desired Harbour The Camp was in perfect order and the Enemy tired with a repetition of fruitless Attempts and labours had forborn to press upon them being content to wait on their motion by a few Scouts only The Poles about the evening of this seventh day of their March continued their Journey according to their former Method and meeting in their Passage with some Barns stored with great quantities of Hay and Corn many of them but without order ran to the Bait to supply themselves with Provisions for their well-nigh-starved Horses In the mean time the Van of the Camp began to march without calling in their Forragers or giving notice as they ought and used to the Rear of their motion The Rear for want of the accustomed Signe being thus separated from the Main Body was seized on by a sudden horror and pannick fear which having laid hold on some was like Wild-fire carried through all Their apprehensions were various but all upon the account of fear heightned by the darkness and imaginary noises concluding their Van was cut off and that the Sword was at their Throats The same plague being spread over the rest of the Army infected the whole in a moment with its contagion whereupon the Carters Waggon-men Pedees and Servants imploy'd about the Carriages unloosed the Horses to serve themselves by flight upon them so that the whole Fabrick and Machine of the Camp being dissolved they could move no further There was yet another cause at least contributary to these Evils Upon the departure of Gratian and other Fugitives from the Camp at Cicora the Raskality of the Army with a mixture of Souldiers robbed and plundered their Tents and Lodgings whereof the Officers in that juncture durst not be over-inquisitive but being got on the Banks of the River Tire they began to speak of it and Koninkspolski the Lieutenant-General had that very evening improvidently enough let fall some threatning expressions concerning it The number of the guilty being many they began to think of their proper safety and the avoiding that punishment which if they stood to it would fall upon them they therefore in great numbers fled away from their friends as well as their foes These wretches having begun a Tumult upon this occasion the same was seconded by the dividing of the Camp as is before declared The confusion was so great that Zolkievius and the chief Officers about him could not be heard the variety of noises with the apprehension of the danger and the darkness of the night rendring the Army deaf to all his Commands and Orders The Tartars being by their Scouts advertised of these Tumults failed not to hasten thither and working upon the advantage given them by the Poles prepared to it by their own fears fell in among them with shouts and terror Zolkievius had Commanded that for the better safety of the Quarters and encouraging of the Souldiers all men should quit their Horses and march on foot wherein himself was the first example which was the reason that so many of the Chief Commanders fell and were taken in that encounter for when the Rout was become so universal that all resistance was to no purpose they perished upon the place for want of Horses to carry them off except such as escaped by swimming and so got away Zolkievius his Son with his Nephew and Strusius the two former being weak of their Wounds and forsaken by their Coachmen were made Prisoners and presented to the Tartarian Galga Zolkievius had before taken an eternal Farewel of his Son and then having made a short Confession to his Ghostly Father was lost in the confusion but found dead next morning upon the skirts of the Camp some say he caused himself to be killed by one of his Followers a Cossack chusing rather to perish with his Army than fall into the Enemies hands or survive his own glory But the Wounds in his Sword-hand on his Face and Breast and a Tartarian laid dead along by him seem to declare that he was killed fighting However it was Skinder Bassa caused his Head to be cut off and fixed upon a Pike exposing it for that day to the view of his whole Army and afterwards to be sent to the Grand Seignior his Master as a Testimony of his Victory The Lieutenant-General Corecki the young Zolkievius with the other Prisoners of Quality were sent to Constantinople where after a three years imprisonment they were ransomed and returned to their own Country And thus like a Ship after a long voyage sunk in the harbour Zolkievius having through all the accidents of his Life proceeded regularly from the Quality of a private Souldier to the Supreme Command of an Army was raised by his own Virtue to those Honours which rendered him eminent in those parts of the World Neither was there any thing wanting to compleat his Glory besides the Success of this Retreat which was reduced to that point that there wanted but two hours space to render him eminent amongst the most illustrious Captains of Antiquity It is held of all hands
that the most difficult part of Military Service is in the right conduct of a Retreat and it may be judged hard measure to deny Zolkievius the Honour of having acquitted himself well in that particular since he had brought it within view of the Harbour but as the Honour of the Success would have been entirely his had he prospered so his Memory must be patient of this Cloud drawn over the lustre of it by the failing of some mean Officer in omitting to give the Signal of his March But here did he fall and was laid upon the Bed of Honour in the extremity of his Age refusing to live when he could not do it gloriously Skinder Bassa either grown uneasie by the accession of this Victory or that some Great Ones at Court were unworthily emulous of his Glory had contracted many Enemies near the Grand Seignior who upon all occasions did him ill offices but finding that Infection to work slowly they corrupted some of his nearest Servants who by the Infusion of Poyson in his Drinks destroyed him suddenly so that he did not long survive the unfortunate Zolkievius being in this more unfortunate that he died in the quality of a Criminal and that no certain account can be given of him but that he died in the year 1620. And having by this digression given the Reader a short survey of this great Action which wanted only one moment more of Success to render it the most glorious that any Age had produced we will return to the continuation of our History where we left which was the condition of the Polish Garrison in the Palace of Musko who being grown weary with their unprofitable strivings had taken a rise from their ill Pay to propose Terms for their dismission Their General Goziowski used all his Arts to quiet them and having the Treasure of the Empire in his possession he resolved to Sacrifice that to their Avarice There was amongst other things in the Treasury a Statue of our SAVIOVR of the bigness of a man weighing C C C lib. of massive Gold which the Souldiers mangled into parcels not making their dividend so exactly by Rule but that every one got what he could Basilius Zuiski in his short Reign had destroyed the Twelve Apostles being composed of the same Mettle and largeness And this part of the Polish Army despairing of relief were become careless of that Representation of Christ which by the practice of the Church of Rome they were used to worship Their General having by this and other dividends out of the Treasury appeased though not satisfied his Army for the present though what by an equal estimate mighâ— have sufficed all they bargained for but aâ— part of their Recompence he was industrious in all his other Contrivances for their satisfaction as well as safety Hâ— caused counterfeit Letters to be broughâ— him from the King of Poland with Promises of a powerful relief in short time and that his Souldiers might not be disused to beat the Muskovites he made frequent advantageous Sallies upon them There was in that part of the City which had been wasted by the fire a house in which the Magazine of Salt had been laid up which having escaped the fury of that merciless Element was become a considerable Commodity to both Parties It lay more under the Command of the Poles than the City but Gariowski because he would have somewhat for his Army to do forbore to bring it in to his Garrison but as he had daily use for it this gave his men constant imployment for what between their own wants and those of the Enemy they had perpetual Skirmishes wherein for the most part they came off with the advantage but that the wasting of their men was an incurable evil for which they had no remedy Gariowski made use of all his Arts and had recourse to yet other Finesses he laid a train for the destruction of Lepanow the Russian General by causing Letters to be dispersed in his name into the several Provinces requiring them to Massacre all the Dunensian Cossacks in their Quarters as designing a Revolt and too passionately promoters of the interest of Demetrius to which they had always adhered One of these Packets being put into Sidorus his hand he was General of the Cossacks so terrified him that believing what he feared and too sensible of the danger he resolv'd to prevent it in order whereto having consulted the Principal Officers in so weighty an affair they all concluded to anticipate their own Fate by Lepanow's fall and immediately thereupon mutined their Souldiers transported with the apprehension of their imaginary peril whereupon Lepanow running to appease the Tumult being no way warned of his own danger was overpowred and slain upon the place The General being thus removed the Muskovites gave the Command of their Army to Trubecius who being more wary of the Artifices of Gaziowski which by this time had taken air caused some of his Emissaries who were found tampering afresh with the Cossacks to be seised upon and to render the cheat more publike had them put to death with exquisite Torments And after the Kings departure from Smolensko applied himself so vigorously in prosecution of the Siege pressing so hard upon the Poles that he shut them up close within their Fortifications And now they were out of all hope of any relief and so closely pent up that they began to want every thing necessary for their subsistance They endured these hardships seven full weeks after which time they were delivered by a Miracle on the 15th of August as one of their Priests had foretold Before they were reduced to this narrow compass they had sent all their Boys and Servants out to the number of betwixt three and four thousand upon a Party for forrage These by the time of their return found all the Avenues shut up At first they were upon thoughts of retiring and shifting for themselves until detained with the shame of abandoning their Masters without attempting their relief they took new courage and resolutions to endeavour to force the Passage Being thus animated having some Souldiers amongst them they drew up into as large a front as they could extending their Wings to a great distance and advancing up within sight of the Leaguer upon that side where the Moska runs put themselves into a posture to pass it which they did without opposition and were received into the Fortress with the acclamations of the Besieged and the congratulations of their Masters The Russians had been surprized with this unexpected relief as they termed it and having had no room left in their apprehensions for the exercise of their courage concluded that the whole force of Poland was at their backs which obliged them to quit their Trenches on that side of the Town and leave an open and uninterrupted Passage for the Boys to enter at The Besieged taking the opportunity of their Enemies fears made a seasonable Sally whereby they