than affairs of state. In
1547 he was crowned Tsar of Russia, and soon thereafter married
Anastasia of the house of Romanoff, whom he devotedly loved. As was
the custom, he surrounded himself with his mother's and his wife's
relations. So the Glinskis and the Romanoffs were the envied families
in control of the government. His mother's family, the Glinskis, were
especially unpopular; and when a terrific fire destroyed nearly the
whole of Moscow it was whispered by jealous _boyars_ that the Princess
Anna Glinski had brought this misfortune upon them by enchantments.
She had taken human hearts, boiled them in water, and then sprinkled
the houses where the fire started! An enraged populace burst into the
palace of the Glinskis, murdering all they could find.

Ivan, nervous and impressionable, seems to have been profoundly
affected by all this. He yielded to the popular demand and appointed
two men to administer the government, spiritual and temporal--Adashef,
belonging to the smaller nobility, and Silvester, a priest. Believing
absolutely in their fidelity, he then concerned himself very little
about affairs of state, and engaged in the completion of the work
commenced by Ivan III.--a revision of the old code of laws established
by Yaroslaf. These were very peaceful and very happy years for Russia
and for himself. But Ivan was stricken with a fever, and while
apparently in a dying condition he discovered the treachery of his
trusted ministers, that they were shamefully intriguing with his Tatar
enemies. When he heard their rejoicings that the day of the Glinskis
and the Romanoffs was over, he realized the fate awaiting Anastasia and
her infant son if he died. He resolved that he would not die.

Banishment seems a light punishment to have inflicted. It was gentle
treatment for treason at the court of Moscow. But the poison of
suspicion had entered his soul, and was the more surely, because
slowly, working a transformation in his character. And when soon
thereafter Anastasia mysteriously and suddenly died, his whole nature
seemed to be undergoing a change. He was passing from Ivan the gentle
and confiding, into "Ivan the Terrible."

Ivan said later, in his own vindication: "When that dog Adashef
betrayed me, was anyone put to death? Did I not show mercy? They say
now that I am cruel and irascible; but to whom? I am cruel toward
those that are cruel to me. The good! ah, I would give them the robe
and the