"Isn't John's name connected with the Church of St. Basil at Moscow?" Fred asked.
"Yes," answered Frank; "it was built in his reign, and is considered one of the finest in the city. When it was finished John sent for the architect and asked if he could build another like it.
"'Certainly I could,' the architect replied, with delight.
"Thereupon the monarch ordered the architect's eyes to be put out, to make sure that the Church of St. Basil should have no rival.
"Whether he was a kind husband or not we have no information, but he certainly was very much a husband. He had one Mohammedan and two Russian wives; and at the very time he sought the hand of Elizabeth, Queen of England, he proposed to marry the daughter of King Sigismund of Poland. What he intended doing if both offers were accepted we are not told, but it is not likely that bigamy would have had any terrors for a man of such ungovernable temper as he seems to have been.
[Illustration: ALEXIS MICHAILOVITCH, FATHER OF PETER THE GREAT.]
"At his death his son and successor, Feodor, fell under the influence of Boris Godounoff, his brother-in-law, who assumed full power after a time, and renewed the relations with England which had been suspended for a while. Godounoff obtained the throne by poisoning or exiling several of his relatives who stood in his way or opposed his projects. Feodor is believed to have died of poison; he was the Czar from 1584 to 1598, but for the last ten years of this period he had practically no voice in State affairs. With his death the House of Rurik became extinct."
"Does the House of Romanoff, the present rulers of Russia, begin where that of Rurik ended?" the Doctor asked.
"Not exactly," was the reply, "as there was an interval of nineteen years, and a very important period in the history of the Empire. Several pretenders to the throne had appeared, among them Demetrius, who is known in history as the 'Impostor.' He married a Polish lady, and it was partly through her intrigues that Moscow fell into the hands of the Poles."
"A butcher or cattle-dealer of Nijni Novgorod, named Minin, gathered a small army under the belief that he was ordered by Heaven to free his country from the invaders. He persuaded Prince Pojarsky to lead these soldiers to Moscow, and together they started. Their force increased as they advanced, and finally they expelled the Poles and redeemed the capital. The names of Minin and Pojarsky are very prominent in Russian history. Monuments at Moscow and Nijni Novgorod commemorate the action of these patriotic men, and tell the story of their work in behalf of their country.