the dungeon and the
assassin's poignard silenced all murmurs. The young prince, Ivan IV.,
was now thirteen years of age. He was endowed by nature with a mind of
extraordinary sagacity and force, but his education had been entirely
neglected, and the scenes of perfidy and violence he was continually
witnessing were developing, a character which menaced Russia with many
woes.

The infamous Schiouskies sought to secure the friendship of the young
prince by ministering, in every possible way, to his pleasures. They
led him to the chase, encouraged whatever disposition he chanced to
manifest, and endeavored to train him in a state of feebleness and
ignorance which might promote their ambitious plans. The Kremlin
became the scene of constant intrigues. Cabal succeeded cabal. The
position of the triumvirate became, month after month, more perilous.
The young prince gave decisive indications of discontent. It began to
be whispered into his ears that it was time for him to assume the
reins of government, and he was assured that all Russia was waiting,
eager to obey his orders. The metropolitan bishop, either from a sense
of justice or of policy, also espoused the cause of the youthful
sovereign. It was evident that another party was rising into power.

On the 29th of December, 1534, Ivan IV. went with a large party of his
lords to the chase. Instructed beforehand in the measures he was to
adopt, he, quite unexpectedly to the triumvirate, summoned all his
lords around him, and, assuming an imperious and threatening tone,
declared that the triumvirate had abused his extreme youth, had
trampled upon justice, and, as culprits, deserved to die. In his great
clemency, however, he decided to spare the lives of two, executing
only one as an example to the nation. The oldest of the three, Andre
Schouisky, was immediately seized and handed over to the conductors of
the hounds. They set the dogs upon him, and he was speedily torn to
pieces in the presence of the company, and his mangled remains were
scattered over the plain.

The partisans of Schouisky, terrified by this deed, were afraid to
utter a murmur. The nobles generally were alarmed, for it was evident
that though they had escaped the violence of the triumvirate, they had
fallen into hands equally to be dreaded. Confiscations and other acts
of rigor rapidly succeeded, and the young prince, still too youthful
to govern by the decision of his own mind, was quite under the control