CURIOSITIKS OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE. J 63 



who inspired a great number of poets, whose productions are always read 

 with admiration. 



To this reign belongs Kostrof, (1796), author of a translation of the 

 Iliad, in Alexandrine verses, and of Ossian's poems. Hippolite Bog- 

 danovitch, (1743 1803), celebrated by his poem, the Douchenka 

 (Psyche) ; the sensation which this beautiful production excited in 

 Russia was extraordinary ; it went rapidly through several editions; in 

 fact, it would be difficult to find a Russian who can read, that has not got 

 by heart whole passages of the Douchenka. 



Khemnister, whose fables are still read with pleasure, even since the 

 appearance of those of Krylof-Ablessimof, author of the first national 

 Vaudeville, " Malnick, or the Miller," a faithful delineation of the 

 manners of the people. Denis Von Vessine, he published a series of 

 popular tales, written in a style of peculiar elegance, and two comedies, 

 " The Spoiled Child" and his " Brigadier," which place him far above 

 Soumarokof. 



Gabriel Derjavine, (1743 1816), the Russian poet par excellence, be- 

 longs also to the reign of the great Catherine, although he nourished also 

 under that of Alexander ; the highest offices of state were incapable of 

 diverting him from cultivating the muses, for which nature had pecu- 

 culiarly fitted him, by the originality and the inexhaustible fertility of 

 his imagination. His celebrated Ode to God (Oda Bog), breathing a 

 high and sublime spirit, full of divine inspiration, written with a pen of 

 fire, and glowing with the brightness of heaven, as it has been finely 

 remarked by his translator, has been successively translated into the 

 Japanese and Chinese languages. 



But the reign of Alexander was even more brilliant the number of 

 writers went on increasing, and Russia at length found her bard and her 

 historian. 



Vladislof Oserof, (1770 1816), by composing his Dimitrii Donskoi, a 

 tragedy, in five acts, and Fingal, in three acts, created new resources for 

 the scenic art in Russia; by his side may be placed Krioukofski, whose 

 tragedy, in verse, of Pojarskoi, is one of the most brilliant ornaments of 

 the Russian stage-. Vassili Kopineste, 1756 1823), who owed his repu- 

 tation rather to the success of his comedy " Jabeda," than to his tragedy 

 of Antigonus, and to the collection of Lyric poems that appeared at St. 

 Petersburg in 1806 : and lastly, Prince Chakhofshoi, the author of 

 several tragedies, comedies, operas, and vaudevilles, independent of his 

 <e Rape of the Pelisse," a mock heroic poem of singular beauty. 



Lyric poetry has been also cultivated with the greatest success by 

 many poets. 



Nickolai Karamzine (1756 1826) obtained, at an early age, a distin- 

 guished reputation by his lyrical compositions, but it was more particu- 

 larly in the service of Clio that he immortalized himself, and that his 

 influence on the Russian prose became decisive. 



Vassili Jonkofski, born in 1783, and to whose care the education of 

 the heir-apparent is at this moment confided, has treated with great suc- 

 cess several national subjects. His Minstrel in the camp of the Russian 

 Warriors, written on the eve of the battle of Taroutina, is decidedly the 

 most popular modern production in Russia. It breathes throughout a 

 martial ardour, a lofty patriotism, that went immediately to the hearts 

 of the Russian soldiery. His translations of Schiller merit the highest 

 praise. 



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