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Marpha, a rich and influential woman, the widow of a posadnik, and who was enamoured of a Lithuanian chief, conceiving the romantic design of bestowing her country as a marriage dower upon her lover, exerted all her power to kindle the enthusiasm and assist the project of the citizens. Her hospitality was unbounded.
The Princess Sophia, worn out with the agitations and dangers through which she had passed, and crushed in spirit by the dreadful scenes to which her brother had exposed her, now determined to withdraw wholly from the scene. She took the veil in the convent where she was confined, and went as a nun into the cloisters with the other sisters. The name that she assumed was Marpha.
Marpha, the ambitious widow, who had stirred up the revolt and sought to attach Novgorod to Lithuania, had never been molested; and even the principal persons who were most conspicuous in resisting his authority at the outset were suffered to remain unharmed.
"'Hearken, Márpha Isákovna, if thou wilt, I will give thee thy liberty, and send thee into another town. "'Another town ... another place ... God hath willed it so, without thee! "'I would send thee to Báyjetzkoi-Verkh. "''Tis true, that was our country. If I could but die in my native land!
The surrender of the liberties of the republic was complete. On taking possession of the city, Ivan seized upon the person of the popular Marpha, and sent her and seven of the principal citizens as prisoners to Moscow, confiscating their properties in the name of the state.
The prisoner is Márpha, the lady of Novogorod, who, by her courage and her wealth, had laboured to preserve its independence. "Here the Great Prince rapped with his staff at a grating; at the knock there looked out an old roman, who was fervently praying on her knees.
Last November a travelling pedlar was killed on a path close by; while this year more than twenty head of cattle have been killed by tigers and panthers at Marpha and near by. This is a very serious loss to the people, who depend entirely upon their cattle for ploughing, etc.
Of course, all her ambitious aspirations were now forever extinguished, and the last gleam of earthly hope faded away from her mind. She pined away under the influences of disappointment, hopeless vexation, and bitter grief for about six years, and then the nuns of the convent followed the body of sister Marpha to the tomb.
Dickson Price, who had a narrow escape from a panther in 1905, thus described the occurrence Owing to the stricter preservation of the jungles round Marpha, beasts of prey appear to have greatly increased in number the last year or so.
"Márpha Borétzkaia coughed, and her face grew livid; she applied the end of her veil to her lips, but it was instantly stained with blood, and Iván remarked this, though she endeavoured to conceal it. "'I am sorry for thee, Márpha, said the Great Prince in a compassionate tone.
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