"With Ivan III., or Ivan the Great, in 1462, begins a more glorious period of Russian history. He was the Grand Prince of Moscow, and conquered Novgorod, Kazan, Perm, Tver, and other principalities. He married Sophia, niece of the Greek emperor Constantine XIII., on which occasion he adopted the double-headed black eagle as his standard, and was the first prince who claimed the title of 'Autocrat of all the Russias.' He was succeeded by his son Basil IV., in whose reign the empire was still further united, and the Tartars completely subjugated at Kazan. Basil was followed, in 1533, by his son Ivan IV., only three years old at his accession. During his minority the empire was torn by anarchy and civil war; but when Ivan was only fourteen years old, he seized the reins of power, and commenced the career of cruelty and tyranny, which gave him the name of the 'Terrible.' But he did more for Russia than any of his predecessors. He conquered Kazan again, which had asserted its independence during his minority, added Astrakhan, the Crimea, Siberia, and the country of the Don, to his empire. He encouraged commerce, and established a printing office in Moscow. He was a cruel tyrant, and caused the massacre of sixty thousand people in Novgorod, and thousands in Moscow and Tver. Finally he murdered his eldest son, and the only one who had the capacity to succeed him, with his own hand. His son Fedor, who came to the throne at his death, was weak in body and mind. His brother-in-law, Boris Godunoff, was an ambitious man, and sought to obtain the crown. He put out of the way several rivals and members of the imperial family, and finally accomplished his purpose in 1605; but his cruelty caused great dissatisfaction, and the people were ripe for revolt. At this time appeared in Poland a very remarkable impostor, claiming to be the Czarovitz of Russia, who was more successful than the pretenders that sought the crown of England. In carrying out his ambitious project, Boris Godunoff had procured the assassination of Dimitri, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, a lad only ten years old. A Polish prince, irritated by the negligence of a young man who had been in his employ but a short time, gave him a blow on the side of the head, which was accompanied by a very opprobrious epithet. "'If you knew who I am, prince,' replied the young man, with tears in his eyes, 'you would not treat me so, nor call me by that name.' "'Who are you, and where do you come from?' asked the prince. "'I am the Czarovitz Dimitri, son of Ivan IV.'