CURIOSITIES OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE. 161 



the eloquence of Vassian, Archbishop of Rostof, of Photius, Metropolitan 

 of Moscow and of some other prelates. 



It was under the reign of Ivan IV., Vassilivitch, that letters again 

 dawned on the literary horizon of Russia the printing establishment 

 with which he enriched Moscow, contributed but inconsiderably to it ; 

 but he founded several schools, and laid the foundation of a brilliant 

 futurity. To the Romanofs it is, however, that this empire owes its 

 regeneration. They commenced by some feeble attempts in the drama, 

 such as dramatizing the history of the Bible, in order to have them 

 represented by the young Semenarists of Kief, during their holidays. 

 Simeon de Polotsk, hieromonaki and preceptor of Faedor Alexeievitch 

 (1628-1680), especially distinguished himself in this style of composition, 

 and the Princess Sophia Alexeievna caused several of them to be 

 represented by the young nobility of the court. His Neboukadnazar and 

 his prodigal son are much celebrated. 



Poland, the very language of which it is at present the detestable 

 policy of the Russian government to extirpate, served as a model to the 

 Russian writers, and from this moment, we find in Russia an attempt at 

 metre, based upon the rules of the prosody of the ancients, the translation 

 of Moliere's "MedecinMalgre Lui/' Uric was aphenomenon that occurred 

 shortly after ; Sophia ordered it to be immediately represented, which 

 was followed by an attempt to naturalize several other French pieces. 

 In fact, it was at this period that Nourished Dimitri, Metropolitan of 

 Rostof (1651-1709), who greatly improved the Russian prose, and 

 whose style was then considered as a model of purity and elegance. 



The reign of Peter the First, marks the commencement of the second 

 period, already remarkable in its origin ; this new literature at the 

 expiration of a century, had made the most rapid progress. The impulse 

 proceeded from the Czar himself, he stimulated the ambition of his 

 countrymen into a rivalry with foreigners, whose productions he widely 

 circulated, and caused to be published a great number of Russian trans- 

 lations of foreign works, principally French. By simplifyng the alphabet, 

 and encouraging the language of the vulgar at that period, even so 

 different from the Sclav onian used by men of letters, he placed literature 

 within the reach of a greater number of individuals, while he deprived 

 at the same time, the clergy of their monopoly. By founding an 

 academy and several schools, he diffused a taste for letters, while 

 growing talent was sure to find in him a munificent protector. In 

 these labours he was powerfully seconded by the Archbishop Theophani 

 Procopovitch (1681-1736), who has been justly styled the Maecenas of 

 the reign of Peter the Great. A prose writer, and a poet, this prelate 

 established more especially his literary reputation, by the funeral oration 

 which he delivered at the death of the Czar, a discourse which has 

 constituted him the father of the pulpit eloquence of his country. 

 Three men flourished at the same period, who carried Russian litera- 

 ture, of which they were the first great masters, to a high degree of 

 splendour. 



Prince Antiochus Kantemir (1700-1744), the son of a hospodar of 

 Moldavia, and himself Russian ambassador at London and Paris, was 

 one of the most distinguished men of his age, and would, without 

 doubt, have covered himself with glory, had not a premature death 

 abridged his honourable career. Independently of a vast number of 

 translations, he left behind him some odes, some fables, and particularly 



M. M. No. 80. M 



