What  they  wanted  most  was  a  plentiful  supply  of  good  arms  where-
with to  defend  themselves  and  attack  their  neighbours,  and  it  was
to  this  object  that  their  most  strenuous  efforts  were  directed.
As  early  as  1475  Ivan  III.,  the  grandfather  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,
sent  a  delegate  to  Venice  to  seek  out  for  him  an  architect  who,  in
addition  to  his  own  craft,  knew  how  to  make  guns;  and  in  due
course  appeared  in  the  Kremlin  a  certain  Muroli,  called  Aristotle  by
his  contemporaries  on  account  of  his  profound  learning.  He  under-
took "  to  build  churches  and  palaces,  to  cast  big  bells  and  cannons,  to

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INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS  AND  THE  PROLETARIAT     577

fire  off  the  said  cunnons,  and  to  make  every  sort  of  castings  very  cun-
ningly " ;  and  for  the  exercise  of  these  various  arts  it  was  solemnly
stipulated  in  a  formal  document  that  he  should  receive  the  modest
salary  of  ten  roubles  monthly.  With  regard  to  the  military
products,  at  least,  the  Venetian  faithfully  fulfilled  his  contract,
and  in  a  short  time  the  Tsar  had  the  satisfaction  of  possessing  a
''  cannon-house,"  subsequently  dignified  with  the  name  of  "  ar-
senal." Some  of  the  natives  learned  the  foreign  art,  and  exactly  a
century  later  (1856)  a  Russian,  or  at  least  a  Slav,  called  Tchekhof,
produced  a  famous  "Tsar-cannon,"  weighing  as  much  as  96,000  lbs.
