Russia and Turkey in the Nineteenth Century #232168

The kingdom of Novgorod was overturned by invading Tartars, and little more was heard in Europe Of Muscovy until in the sixteenth century, when Captain Sir Richard Chancelor, seeking the Northeastern Passage, wandered into the White Sea, and was thence conducted to the bar baric court of Ivan the Terrible. That formidable monarch received Chancelor at Moscow, seated on a very royal throne, having upon his head a diadem of gold his robe was all of goldsmith's work, in his hand he bore a crystal sceptre, garnished and beset with precious stones, and his countenance was no less full of majesty. Upon one side of his throne stood his chief scrivener, and upon the other the great commander of Silence, or court usher, in costly dresses of cloth of gold. Around the chamber were seated his council of one hundred and fifty noblemen, upon high seats, all clad as richly.