holic
faith; and by assuring the Pope that if he regained the throne of his
ancestors, his first care should be to recall his subjects to their
obedience to Rome, he succeeded in securing the patronage and the
blessing of the Pontiff. Sendomir, a wealthy boyard, not only espoused
his cause, and gave him pecuniary help, but promised him his daughter
Marina in marriage whenever he became the Czar of Muscovy. Marina
herself was no less eager for the union, and through Sendomir's
influence the support of the King of Poland was obtained.

News of the imposture soon reached Moscow, and Boris instantly
denounced Dimitri as an impostor, and sent emissaries to endeavour to
secure his arrest. In this, however, they were unsuccessful; and the
false Dimitri not only succeeded in raising a considerable force in
Poland, but also in convincing the great mass of the Russian
population that he really was the son of Ivan. In 1604 he appeared on
the Russian frontier at the head of a small but efficient force, and
overthrew the army which Boris had sent against him. His success was
supposed by the ignorant peasantry to be entirely due to the
interposition of Providence, which was working on the side of the
injured prince, and Dimitri was careful to foster the delusion that
his cause was specially favoured by heaven. He treated his prisoners
with the greatest humanity, and ordered his followers to refrain from
excesses, and to cultivate the goodwill of the people. The result was
that his ranks rapidly increased, while those of the czar diminished.
Even foreign governments began to view the offender with favour; and
at last Boris, devoured by remorse for the crimes which he had
committed, and by chagrin at the evil fate which had fallen upon him,
lost his reason and poisoned himself.

The chief nobles assembled when the death of the czar was made known,
and proclaimed his son Feodor emperor in his stead; but the lad's
reign was very brief. The greater part of the army and the people
declared in favour of Dimitri, and the citizens of Moscow having
invited him to assume the reins of power, Dimitri made a triumphal
entry into the capital, and was crowned with great pomp. At first he
ruled prudently, and, had he continued as he began, might have
retained his strangely acquired throne. But after a time he gave
himself up to the gratification of his own wild passions, and lost the
popularity which he really had succeeded in gaining. He disgusted