162 CURIOSITIES OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE. 



some satires, that place him on an equality with Horace and Boileau. 

 This was a brilliant prelude, but it was not from the gilded halls of the 

 palace, that the creator of Russian poetry and prose was destined to 

 spring ; it was from beneath the humble roof of a peasant's hut. 

 Michel Vassilievitch Lomonassof (1711-1765) became the father of 

 Russian literature, by bringing back the language to that purity from 

 which it had departed, by a too servile imitation of its foreign models, 

 by composing a grammar and a treatise on eloquence, by laying down 

 the rules of versification, and by giving the example of a simple, correct, 

 and elegant style, and, lastly, by offering to his countrymen a model of 

 beautiful verses and of every species of poetry from the Epopea to the 

 Idylle. His erudition was immense, for the period in which he 

 flourished ; his Ode to Peace, and his translation of the Psalms of 

 David, are justly admired. 



Soumaroknof (1718 1777) also attempted every species of poetry, 

 but it is to Melpomene that he owes his reputation, and he is justly con- 

 sidered as the father of the Russian drama ; it is true, that long anterior 

 to his time, dramatised scriptural pieces had been represented, as well as 

 German and Italian pieces, at the theatre of St. Petersburg ; but, till he 

 appeared, there existed not a single national comedy or tragedy. It will, 

 therefore, be easy to conceive the sensation caused in 1750 by the first 

 representation of Khoref, which was played at a private theatre. Feeder 

 Volkof (1729 17^4), the son of a merchant, and director of the first 

 company of Russian players, brought out this tragedy, and his talent as 

 an actor powerfully contributed to its success. The .Empress Elizabeth 

 sent for Volkof and his companions to court, in order to play before her 

 this tragedy, and so delighted was this princess with the production, 

 that she erected a national theatre of which the poet became director, 

 and Volkof the first actor ; they brought out successively, Hamlet, 

 Sinaf et Truvor, the pretender Dimitrii, Zemira, and other tragedies, as 

 well as some comedies by Soumarokof, the best of which may be seen 

 in the French translation of Papadopoulo. 



Michel Matveievitch Cherashof, Necolai Nikititch Popofskiv-Petrof, 

 and Trediakofski succeeded him, the first (17331807) elicited for a 

 long time the admiration of his contemporaries, by two epic poems, 

 the Rossiade and Vladimor, and his tragedy of Pojarskoi ; but he 

 out-lived his reputation. Popofsky, the translator of Pope's Essay on 

 Man, died young. Petrof (1736 1799) is celebrated for his translation 

 of the JEueid and for his Odes. Tredeakofski rendered the most emi- 

 nent services to the national literature, by his translations, and by natu- 

 ralizing the Greek and Roman metres. His Telemachus, in verse, how- 

 ever, proved a failure. 



If the reigns of Elizabeth and of Ann were illustrated by some 

 splendid efforts of genius ; if owing to their imperial patronage litera- 

 ture advanced from its state of infancy, it was under the reign of the 

 great Catherine that it attained its full blown maturity. A host of great 

 writers distinguished this period, while the Empress, ardent in the 

 encouragement of talent of every species, saw her effort crowned by the 

 glory of her country, which was reflected upon herself: it is under this 

 reign that were published, the Russian histories of Prince Khilkqf and of 

 Tatichtchef; it was to please their imperial mistress, that Prince Catcher- 

 batof, Boltine, and Golikof, composed theirs ; in short, it was Catherine 



