names are absolutely undecipherable, being apparently composed of an alphabet in spasms made up into words of poly-syllabic length. It is difficult for one not of the Eastern Church to write justly of Russian Ecclesiasticism; an alien, however carefully he may observe, is liable to obtain faulty impressions and make erroneous deductions; so to me any criticism seems an impertinence. I have tried to present its artistic phases fairly, but am conscious that the ninth chapter is the least satisfactory of all that I have written. For the rest, my task has been easy: I have had but to examine, compare, and judge the work of others and from their stored treasures make my selection. I have produced little that is really original: others have delved amid ruins for vestiges of the earlier Moscow; have unearthed ancient monuments; transcribed illegible manuscripts; ransacked archives, measured walls, calculated heights, weighed bells and counted steps; formed theories and found evidence to support them; so have rendered my labour light and pleasant. I regret that I, who at best am but an intelligible interpreter, cannot acknowledge more particularly the hundred and more authorities from whom I have drawn; in the same inadequate, general fashion I must thank many friends, English and Russian, for the kindly interest they have taken in the work and the intelligent assistance they have rendered me in its compilation. For direction to valuable sources of information, and other services, I am conscious of particular indebtedness to the Rev. F. Wyberg, of the English Church, Moscow, and to Mr V. E. Marsden, the correspondent of the _Standard_ there--either of whom might have written a much better book about the town they know so well. The object of this volume I shall consider to be achieved if its perusal gives to anyone pleasure equal to that its compilation has brought me; or awakens even a few readers to a greater interest in Moscow, and a better understanding of the Russian people. WIRT GERRARE. [Russian poetry in cyrillic letters] _White-walled and golden-headed, Beautiful, bizarre, The pride of all the millions Ruled by the Russian Tsar: The cradle of an Empire, Shrine of a great race, With Europe's noblest cities Moscow holds its place!_ V. E. M. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE _Introduction--Pre-Muscovite Russia_ 1 CHAPTER II _Origin and Early History_ 11 CHAPTER III _Moscow under the Mongols_ 21 CHAPTER IV _Moscow of the Princes_ 37 CHAPTER V _Ivan the Terrible_ 47 CHAPTER VI _The Troublous Times_ 80