Not one of his subjects was more faithful in religious observances than was this "torch of orthodoxy"-- who frequently called up his household in the middle of the night for prayers.

Added to the above pious petition for mercy to his victims, is this reference to Novgorod: "Remember, Lord, the souls of thy servants to the number of 1505 persons--Novgorodians, whose names, Almighty, thou knowest." That Republic had made its last break for liberty.

Under the leadership of Marfa, the widow of a wealthy and powerful noble, it had thrown itself in despair into the arms of Catholic Poland.

This was treason to the Tsar and to the Church, and its punishment was awful.
The desperate woman who had instigated the act was carried in chains to Moscow, there to behold her two sons with the rest of the conspirators beheaded.

The bell which for centuries had summoned her citizens to the _Vetche_, that sacred symbol of the liberty of the Republic, is now in the Museum at Moscow.