HUS

tutfc isnaW fergpUen. Maykoff acquired a repu-yipn ^y two burlesque poems, which were, however,notmlesa worthless cm that account"£i>iaslpun imitated the French in his tragediesand cpwdles, top closely indeed, but not withoutSint. §o'me comedies, in which lie has iaterwoyenrjuiyofth?’follies of the times in which he lived,maintained themselves upon the stage till thepresent time. He very much excelled Sumarokoff;and §ome, of his scenes, even now, are read withpleasure, although the language has proceeded so farm Improvement.

Kostroff deserves mention on account of histranslation of the first books of the Iliad into Alexan-drine verse, and of Ossian into prose. His languageis not without force. Bobroff, a wild genius, has leftbehind him a number of bombastic odes, and adescriptive poem, Tauria, a chaos, but which containshere and there some brilliant passages. Bogdano-nitscb, author of a poem called Psyche, in imitationof La Fontaine, is full of grace and originality, butdiffuse, and deficient in taste.

Oseroff belongs, if his language is considered, tothis period, although his poems appeared in thatwhiph followed. The plan of his tragedies is French,the language neither pure nor beautiful, but the ex-pression is often forcible, and the description of thepassions natural ; some scenes are really tragic;spine of his characters are well delineated and sup-ported.

Petroff was a true poet, but his language is rude;he had many brilliant ideas and striking images. Hecelebrated the victories of Catharine the Great in hisodes, His heroes were Potemkin and Romanzoff.His translation of the aEneid into Alexandrine verseis very unpolished in its language, but is full of power.—Lomonozoff also commences the series of prosewriters of this period. His eulogies upon Peter theGreat and Elizabeth contain few ideas, but muchrhetorical ornament. Both of these writing's areentirely different from those of his predecessors.They have very much improved the language, butstill have not given it a permanent form. The sameway be said of his scientific treatises upon electricityana metallurgy, of his Essay towards a Russian gram-mar, and of his Rhetoric, which contains many frag-ments ^translated from the ancients.

Wcissen wrote two comedies in prose, full ofgenuine humour, which describe in true colours someof the'absurdities of the age; both of these havemaintained themselves upon the stage. He alsowrote two very original satires, and some translationsfrom Montaigne and Terrasson.

Muravieff, the tutor of the Emperor Alexander,composed for his noble pupil several treatises uponRussian history, some dialogues of the dead, andsome fragments in the manner of the English Spec-tator, under the title of the Suburban. His style isnot wholly pure, neither has he a great command oflanguage j it is evident that he has formed his styleJrom the imitation of French writers; but he is full ofideas, and particularly rich in imagery'. When we readpis works, we feel that his mind is conversant with alltue beauty contained in ancient and modern litera-turc. A good heart, a pure mind, and a love ofwtue, are conspicuous in every thing he has written,ne was in advance of his age. But he had littleetject uppn his contemporaries, as he permitted buttw of his writings to be printed, and his works did

S I A. 521

not appear till long after his death. In general,it may be said,, that during this period the genius ofLomonozoff .gwakened. a, taste for literature in hisnation.. People .eagerly read every thing that wasprinted, particularly poetical productions. In Suma-roknffthqy saw a great tragic writer, and in the poemof Keraskoff, with all its defects, an Iliad. They feltthe bpautiful, but did not know how to distinguish itfrom what was miserable. Taste was in its cradle,and criticism still unborn. We may consider thisage as the awakening period of genius and poetry.Ip the last half of it, a man of genius made his ap-pearance, who belonged to no school, of an originaland peculiar mind, without high cultivation, butunique in his kind, and the true representative ofRussian poetry. This man was Derschawin. Hecelebrated the glory of the Russian arms during thereign of Catharine, as did Lomonozoff and Petroff;but while these were only eulogists of their sovereignand her generals, Derschawin celebrated them in thetrue spirit of a poet. He remained a philosophereven at the foot of the throne: his own characterappears in whatever he said of others : lie awakenedgreat and patriotic feelings, and at the same timedescribed nature with inimitable touches. His pro-ductions, however, are not the best models, but theyglow with a fire which kindles poetical sentiment.This period produced a great number of translations,particularly' from the French ; they are all, however,without merit as regards style, but they show thegeueral desire and love of the age for literature. Inthis age the great dictionary of the Russian academyappeared, projected according to an entirely newplan, and in which the etymological order of thewords is followed. This work furnishes great facili-ties for the study of the Russian language and liter-ature. The Russian academy, founded October the21st, 1783, has had great influence in directing theattention of authors to the pure elements of the lan-guage; several societies have likewise been formedfor the improvement of the language.

Finally, one man contributed greatly to the spreadof literary taste, who had himself but little learning,but a good natural understanding, a love for the sci-ences, and withal a happy talent for illustration. Thiswas Novikoff. He founded a typographical society,and edited a satirical journal, under the title of“ ThePainter,” which at that time was very much read, andopened to Karamsin a field for the exhibition of hisliterary powers.

In the third period, Karamsin is the representativeof prose, and Dmitrieff of poetry. The periodicaledited by the former, after his return from his travels,effected a decided change in the Russian language.He revealed to his countrymen the secrets of happydiction, clearness, beauty, and precision. The sameperfection which he gave to prose, Dmitrieff gave topoetry. Karamsin’s career as an author may be dis-tinguished into three epochs. The first began withhis editing the Journal of Moscow. In this publica-tion appeared fragments of his Letters of a travellingRussian, and bis Tales, which were afterwards pub-lished collectively. These productions exhibit genuinetaste, though they appear like the effusions of a youth.His remarks and notices of the writings of foreigncountries, which appeared in that publication, exoitedan interest in foreign literature throughout Russia,and developed the germ of true criticism. The secondepoch commenced with the publication of the Euro-