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he turned to the surrounding populace, and thus addressed them: "Lest a false rumour should be spread amongst you as to the cause of my imprisonment, I will briefly unfold to you what I have done, and why I have been taken prisoner, and that you may learn from my example what kind of prince you have over you, and what every one of you can or ought to expect from him." With this commencement, he related to them the entire reason of his coming into Muscovy, as well as the promises which the prince had made, under the confirmation of written documents, and with the addition of his oath, and shewed how he had, in no respect, adhered to those promises. He then proceeded to state, that as he had been deceived in his expectations from the prince, he had wished to return to his own country, and for that reason he had been taken prisoner; since this injury was unjustly inflicted upon him, he should take no great pains to escape death, especially as he knew that it was alike the lot of all to die by the common law of nature. As he was a man of strong frame, and of an intellect which could turn itself to any subject, and whose judgment in council had great weight, and of ready wit, alike in matters of humour as in those of more serious moment, and evidently a man for all occasions, as the saying is, he had, by this versatility of genius, won for himself great favour and authority with all men, especially with the Germans amongst whom he had been brought up. He had routed the Tartars in the reign of King Alexander with a signal slaughter, nor since the death of Vithold had the Lithuanians ever gained so renowned a victory over the Tartars. The Germans designated Michael, in the Bohemian language, "Pan"; but as he, in the first instance, had followed the ritual of the Greeks, as a Russian, but afterwards left it to follow the Roman ritual, when in chains he again adopted the Russian form of worship, in order to soothe and mitigate the wrath and indignation of the prince against him. Many men of rank, at the time that