The mob is thoughtless, changeable, rebellious,

Credulous, lightly given to vain hope,

Obedient to each momentary impulse,

To truth deaf and indifferent; it feedeth

On fables; shameless boldness pleaseth it.

So, if this unknown vagabond should cross

The Lithuanian border, Dimitry's name

Raised from the grave will gain him a whole crowd

Of fools.

TSAR. Dimitry's? - What? - That child's? - Dimitry's?

Withdraw, tsarevich.

SHUISKY. He flushed; there'll be a storm!

FEODOR. Suffer me, Sire - TSAR. Impossible, my son;

Go, go!

(Exit FEODOR.) Dimitry's name!

SHUISKY. Then he knew nothing.

TSAR. Listen: take steps this very hour that Russia

Be fenced by barriers from Lithuania;

That not a single soul pass o'er the border,

That not a hare run o'er to us from Poland,

Nor crow fly here from Cracow. Away!

SHUISKY. I go.

TSAR. Stay! - Is it not a fact that this report

Is artfully concocted? Hast ever heard

That dead men have arisen from their graves

To question tsars, legitimate tsars, appointed,

Chosen by the voice of all the people, crowned

By the great Patriarch? Is't not laughable?

Eh? What? Why laugh'st thou not thereat?

SHUISKY. I, Sire?

TSAR. Hark, Prince Vassily; when first I learned this child

Had been - this child had somehow lost its life,

'Twas thou I sent to search the matter out.

Now by the Cross and God I do adjure thee,

Declare to me the truth upon thy conscience;

Didst recognise the slaughtered boy; was't not

A substitute? Reply.