The Princess Sophia, worn out with the agitations and dangers through which she had passed, and crushed in spirit by the dreadful scenes to which her brother had exposed her, now determined to withdraw wholly from the scene. She took the veil in the convent where she was confined, and went as a nun into the cloisters with the other sisters. The name that she assumed was Marpha. Of course, all her ambitious aspirations were now forever extinguished, and the last gleam of earthly hope faded away from her mind. She pined away under the influences of disappointment, hopeless vexation, and bitter grief for about six years, and then the nuns of the convent followed the body of sister Marpha to the tomb. CHAPTER IX. REFORMS. 1700-1701 Peter begins his proposed reforms--Remodeling the army--Changes of dress--The officers--New appointments--Motives and object of the Czar--Means of revenue--Mysterious power--The secret of it--Management of a standing army--Artful contrivances--Despotism _versus_ freedom--Policy of the American people--Standing armies--The American government is weak--The people reserve their strength--Peter's policy--The Church--Conservatism of the clergy--The patriarch--Ancient custom--The emperor on the procession--Emblems--Peter's reflections on the subject--Peter's determination--He proceeds cautiously--Contest with the bishops--Peter is victorious--Other reforms--Collection of the revenues--New revenue system--Manners and customs of the people--Mustaches and beards--The long dresses suppressed--Effect of ridicule--The jester's marriage--Curious sleeves--Mode of manoeuvring the sleeve--The boyars in the streets--Long trains of attendants--Peter changes the whole system--Motives of the Czar--Ultimate effect of his reforms As soon as Peter had sufficiently glutted his vengeance on those whom he chose to consider, whether justly or unjustly, as implicated in the rebellion, he turned his attention at once to the work of introducing the improvements and reforms which had been suggested to him by what he had seen in the western countries of Europe. There was a great deal of secret hostility to the changes which he thus wished to make, although every thing like open opposition to his will had been effectually put down by the terrible severity of his dealings with the rebels. He continued to urge his plans of reform during the whole course of his reign, and though he met from time to time with a great variety of difficulties in his efforts to carry them into effect, he was in the end triumphantly successful in establishing and maintaining them. I shall proceed to give a general account of these reforms in this chapter, notwithstanding that the work of introducing them extended over a period of many years subsequent to this time.