Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/265

Rh Russian house of the sixteenth and seventeenth, centuries, and in this respect it is very interesting. The last restoration was made in 1858-59 and the Government has spent quite an amount of money putting it in order.

"It is four stories high, and built around a court-yard from which the rooms on the ground-floor are entered. In the basement are cellars for storing provisions, and on the floor above it are the kitchens, temporary store-rooms and the like. In the next story are the rooms where the prince lived; they include a reception-room, rooms for servants, several smaller rooms, and also some secret recesses in the walls where silver plate and other valuables were kept. The rooms are adorned with utensils of former periods, together with many articles of silver and other metals that belonged to the Romanoff family long ago.

"The upper storey is called the terem, a Word which is equivalent to the Turkish harem. The terem was reserved to the women and children but not so rigidly as is the harem among the Moslems. Beds, bedsteads, playthings, and articles of clothing are among the curiosities in the terem of Romanoff House. Among them are the slippers of the Czar and the night-gown of the Czarina, which are kept in a box at the foot of the bed according to the old custom.

"Romanoff House is in the Kitai Gorod, and from it we went to the Place where Peter the Great witnessed the execution of many of his rebellious streltzi, or guards. Perhaps you would like to hear the story?

"I believe we have already mentioned something about the strained relations between Peter and his sister Sophia, and how she plotted his assassination, from which he escaped by riding away in the night. Peter shut Sophia in a convent before going on his tour to Holland and England to learn the art of ship-building and obtain other information to aid him in the development of the Russian Empire. He distributed his troops in the best way he could think of, and confided the administration of attains to his most trusted officers.

"But even then he was constantly fearful of trouble. He knew the ambition of his sister, and the opposition that many of the old nobility had to his reforms, and he was well aware that many officers of the army did not favor his plans. Consequently, when news of the rebellion reached him at Vienna he was not entirely unprepared, and hastened homeward as fast as horses could carry him.

"The conspiracy included many nobles, officers, and others, together with the immediate advisers of his sister. The clergy were on the side of the conspiracy; they opposed the reforms, and preferred keeping things