Shall we now spend the night?

PRETENDER. Why, here, in the forest.

Why not this for our night quarters? At daybreak

We'll take the road, and dine in Rilsk. Good night.

(He lies down, puts a saddle under his head, and falls

asleep.)

PUSHKIN. A pleasant sleep, tsarevich! Smashed to bits,

Rescued by flight alone, he is as careless

As a simple child; 'tis clear that Providence

Protects him, and we, my friends, will not lose heart.

MOSCOW. PALACE OF THE TSAR.

BORIS. BASMANOV.

TSAR. He is vanquished, but what profit lies in that?

We are crowned with a vain conquest; he has mustered

Again his scattered forces, and anew

Threatens us from the ramparts of Putivl.

Meanwhile what are our heroes doing? They stand

At Krom, where from its rotten battlements

A band of Cossacks braves them. There is glory!

No, I am ill content with them; thyself

I shall despatch to take command of them;

I give authority not to birth, but brains.

Their pride of precedence, let it be wounded!

The time has come for me to hold in scorn

The murmur of distinguished nobodies,

And quash pernicious custom.

BASMANOV. Ay, my lord

Blessed a hundredfold will be that day

When fire consumes the lists of noblemen

With their dissensions, their ancestral pride.

TSAR. That day is not far off; let me but first

Subdue the insurrection of the people.

BASMANOV. Why trouble about that? The people always

Are prone to secret treason; even so

The swift steed champs the bit; so doth a lad