petitions of all and sundry who wished directly to communicate with the Tsar. Adjoining this room is a bedroom, once occupied by the unfortunate Tsarevich Alexis Petrovich. The oratory has two ikons which formerly belonged to the Tsar Alexis, as did also the cross. The belvedere reached by either of two separate staircases, was built by the Tsar Michael for the accommodation of his children, and in later reigns may have been used as a council chamber for the "duma" of the boyards. The Tsars Alexis and Theodore II. were brought up in the Terem; Peter the Great occupied it only occasionally, chiefly before his travels abroad, and his son Alexis was its last regal inmate. "The early Romanofs practically shared their rule with the Patriarch, and church services and pageants entered largely into their every day life. The Tsar would be awakened at about 4 A.M. and at once enter his oratory for private devotion; a quarter of an hour later he prayed before the ikon of the saint whose day it might be, and then sent one of his attendants to inquire as to the health of the Tsaritsa and, later, might himself attend her in the vestibule and accompany her to matins in one of the chapels of the palace. Boyards and others awaited his return for instructions in matters of state, and at nine o'clock the Tsar attended high mass either in one of the churches or cathedrals of the Kremlin, or upon _fête_ days wherever the ceremony was necessarily performed. Mass [Illustration: TEREM--THE THRONE ROOM] lasted about two hours, and afterwards the sovereign gave private audience to ministers until midday, when he took his first repast, ordinarily frugal to scantiness and eaten alone. During Lent the Tsar Alexis made but three meals each week, and ate fish but twice, on fast days taking only a morsel of black bread and a pickled mushroom; he drank either kvas or small beer: his devotions occupied five hours of each day, and often he prostrated himself more than a thousand times daily.