monarch persisted in his plan, and entered upon the
long journey. He buried his child by the way, and returned overwhelmed
with grief. But he encountered a greater calamity than the death of
the young prince, in bad advice which he received from Vassian, the
aged and venerable prince of Kolumna.

"Sire," said this unwise ecclesiastic, "if you wish to become a
monarch truly absolute, ask advice of no one, and deem no one wiser
than yourself. Establish it as an irrevocable principle never to
receive the counsels of others, but, on the contrary, give counsel to
them. Command, but never obey. Then you will be a true sovereign,
terrible to the lords. Remember that the counselors of the wisest
princes always in the end dominate over them."

The subtle poison which this discourse distilled, penetrated the soul
of Ivan. He seized the hand of Vassian, pressed it to his lips, and
said,

"My father himself could not have given me advice more salutary."

Bitterly was the prince deceived. Experience has proved that, in the
counsel of the wise and virtuous, there is safety. There was no sudden
change in the character of Ivan. He still continued for some years to
manifest the most sincere esteem for the opinions of Sylvestre and
Adachef. But the poison of bad principles was gradually diffusing
itself through his heart. A year had not passed away, ere Ivan was
consoled by the birth of another son. In the meantime he devoted
himself with ardor to measures for the restoration of tranquillity in
Kezan. A numerous army was assembled at Nigni Novgorod, with orders to
commence the campaign for the reconquest of the country as soon as the
cold of winter should bridge the lakes and streams. The Tartars had
made very vigorous efforts to repel their foes, by summoning every
fighting man to the field, and by the construction of fortresses and
throwing up of redoubts.

In November of 1553, the storm of battle was recommenced on fields of
ice, and amidst smothering tempests of snow. For more than a month
there was not a day without a conflict. In these incessant engagements
the Tartars lost ten thousand men slain and six thousand prisoners.
One thousand six hundred of the most distinguished of these prisoners,
princes, nobles and chieftains, who had been the most conspicuous in
the rebellion, were put to death. Nevertheless these severities did
not stifle the insurrection; the Tartars, in banditti bands, even
crossing the Volga, pillaging, m