might be preserved from all maladies, that they might be strengthened to repel every enemy, and that the city might for ever remain the glorious heritage of Russia.  Having traversed the whole city and designated the places for the erection of churches, the tzar gave orders for the immediate rebuilding of the fortifications, and then, accompanied by his court, he took possession of the palace of the khan, over which now floated the banners of the cross.

It was thus that one of the most considerable principalities of the descendants of Genghis Khan fell into the hands of Russia.  Kezan was founded upon the ruins of ancient Bulgaria, and, situated upon the frontiers of Russia, had long filled the empire with terror.  Ivan immediately established a new government for the city and the surrounding region, which was occupied by five different nations, powerful in numbers and redoubtable in war.  An army of about ten thousand men was left to garrison the fortresses of the city.  On the 11th of October the emperor prepared to return to Moscow.  Many of the lords counseled that he should remain at Kezan until spring, that the more distant regions might be overawed by the presence of the army.  But the monarch, impatient to see his spouse and to present himself in Moscow fresh from these fields of glory, rejected these sage counsels and adopted the advice of those who also wished to repose beneath the laurels they had already acquired.  Passing the night of the 11th of October on the banks of the Volga, he embarked on the morning of the 12th in a barge to ascend the stream, while the cavalry followed along upon the banks.  The emperor passed one day at Sviazk and then proceeded to Nigni Novgorod.  The whole city, men, women and children, flocked to meet him.  They could not find words strong enough to express their gratitude for their deliverance from the terrible incursions of the horde.  They fell at their monarch’s feet, bathed his hands with their tears and implored Heaven’s blessing upon him.

From Nigni Novgorod the emperor took the land route through Balakna and Vladimir to Moscow.  On the way he met a courier from the Empress Anastasia, announcing to him that she had given birth to a son whom she named Dmitri.  The tzar, in the tumult of his joy, leaped from his horse, passionately embraced Trakhaniot, the herald, and then falling upon his knees with tears trickling down his cheeks, rendered thanks to God for the gift.  Not knowing how upon the spot to recompense the herald for the blissful tidings, he took the royal cloak from his own shoulders and spread it over Trakhaniot, and passed into his hands the magnificent charger from which the monarch had just alighted.  He spent the night of the 28th of October in a small village but a few miles from Moscow, all things being prepared for his triumphant entrance into the capital the next day.  With the earliest light of the morning he advanced toward the city.  The crowd, even at that early hour, was so great that, for a distance of four miles, there was but a narrow passage left through the dense ranks of the people for the tzar and his guard.  The emperor advanced slowly, greeted by the acclaim of more than a million of his people.  With uncovered head he bowed to the right and to the left, while the multitude incessantly cried, “May Heaven grant long life to our pious tzar, conqueror of barbarians and saviour of Christians.”