2493: oration of Lomonofsoff: 209 
the close of this oration; and it wasthat unaffected piety, which 
trying occasions never fail so excite in a great mind, that gave to 
the whole that dignified humility, which constitutes the surest, ba« 
sis of true pathos in composition - 
In reading this little performance, I have often been at a lofs whethet 
mest to admire the orator, or the hero who forms the subject of the 
ration. When I view the son of the poor fifherman of Archangel, 
without teachers, without books, surrounded by men little better 
informed than the fithes they caught; when I see him tofsed from 
hand to hand, through a vast vicifsitude of scenes in the lowest 
spheres of life, which had no common resemblance but the diffi 
culties that they all equally presented against the acquisition of 
knowledge. When I see that man.at last bursting through the 
gloom like the sun in the firmament, and delivering an oration 
fraught ‘with a variety of the most important knowledge in scien- 
ces and arts, my veneration for the man is little fhort of idolatry. 
I bend myself before thee illustrious Lomonofsof: Thy genius I ad- 
mire; but it is the rectitude of thy mind, and the mild beneficence 
ofall thy views which I adore. When fhall a gemius arise to do 
_ thy memory justice! Lomonofsoff alone was capable of esti- 
mating the genius of Peter; for he also had overcome impofsibili- 
ties. The record of the actions of Peter remain; and these, to 
the discerning mind will ever prove his best eulogium. The 
writings, of Lomonofsoff are preserved. In future times, these 
- will turnith a copious subject for admiration to persons yet unborn! 
I bend before thee illustrious Lomonofsoff! It is impofsible to say 
how much I venerate thy name! 
ORATION. 
! 
Ix celebrating the most sacred unction and corona- 
tion of our most gracious sovereign,* we see, heare 
* This was Elizabeth the youngest daughter of Peter the great, by 
Cathrine his belaved queen. From the death of Cathrine in the year 
4727, tiil the accefsion of Elizabeth in the year 1742, the Rufsian 
empire had been exposed to a variety of distrefses under the cruel sway 
of the imperious Biron, (of whose wonderful history a thort abstract 
is given, Bee vol. 6 p. 13s.) and other intriguing statesmen and favou~ 
tites, under a rapid succefsion of weak princes, till at length by a well 
concerted effort, the partizans of Elizabeth effected a revolution, with- 
Gut bloodfhed in ome night, by which the infant Joha was set aside, 
