VISIN, DENIS IVANOVITCH. 



VITALIANUS. 



420 



menta with which Paris has of late years been adorned. Several of 

 the finest fountains in Paris, including those of St. Sulpice, the Place 

 Louvois, Gaillou, and Moliere, were executed from his designs. The 

 Tomb of Napoleon I. is also by him, and is his grandest work of the 

 kind, but he also designed the monuments of Marshals Soult, St. Cyr, 

 Suchet, Lauriston, and those of some other generals and eminent 

 men. He was likewise called upon to design innumerable triumphal 

 arches and other temporary structures for fdtes and occasions of 

 public rejoicings and ceremonies, and his taste and fertility of invention 

 were generally admired. He also designed several hotels and private 

 residences. But the work with which his name will be most per- 

 manently connected is, perhaps, the completion of the Louvre, and 

 its conuection with the Tuileries. The Emperor Napoleon III. having 

 decided on completing this the favourite project of the first Napoleon, 

 M. Visconti was directed to prepare the necessary plans, and these 

 having met with the emperor's approval, the first stone of the new 

 works was laid on the 25th of July 1852. The dperatious were 

 pressed forward with the greatest vigour, but Visconti did not live to 

 see this his greatest work completed. He died on the 29th of Decem- 

 ber 1853, having been struck with apoplexy, which is said to have 

 been brought on, or hastened, by over-exertion and anxiety. Visconti's 

 plans were carried out to completion under the superintendence of M. 

 Lefuel, who was appointed to succeed him, and on the 14th of August 

 1857, the vast undertaking was declared finished, and the junction of 

 the Louvre and the Tuileries was inaugurated with great pomp by the 

 emperor. Of course in such a work, the new buildings having to be 

 rendered uniform in their elevation with those already existing, there 

 was little room for originality, but it is admitted that Visconti has 

 overcome the difficulties arising from the peculiarities of the site, &c., 

 in a very masterly manner, and that he has by his additions, which, 

 while harmonising with the older portions, are more ornate and 

 sumptuous in style, rendered it one of the most magnificent royal 

 residences in Eurone. 



VISIN, or VON VISIN, DENIS IVANOVITCH, one of the most 

 eminent Russian writers of the 18th century, and in his own peculiar 

 walk the most eminent of them all, was born at Moscow, April 3rd, 

 1745, of parents in easy circumstances. Except in regard to moral 

 instruction, to which point his parents were very attentive, his early 

 education was a common one. He was sent first to the Gymnasium, 

 afterwards to the University of Moscow, and whilst studying there 

 was selected as one of the pupils to accompany the rector to St. 

 Petersburg, to be presented to Count Shuvalov (the founder and 

 patron of the establishment), as worthy of notice for their promising 

 abilities. Their reception was flattering, and the splendour of the 

 court and the more refined tone of the northern capital made a strong 

 impression upon Von Visin. The theatre more especially appeared to 

 him a region of enchantment, and he had' an opportunity of becoming 

 personally acquainted with Volkov [VOLKOV] and other leading actors 

 of that time, a circumstance that contributed to encourage his taste for 

 the drama. It was also his good fortune to meet with Lomonosov, 

 whom merely to have seen was an event in his life, and from him he 

 received some sound advice on the importance of pursuing his studies 

 systematically. On his return to Moscow, and while he still continued 

 at the university, he made his first essays in literature by translating 

 Holberg's Fables not from the original, but the German, and Terras- 

 sou's ; philosophical Romance of 'Sethos,' which were followed by a 

 version of Voltaire's 'Alzire' a writer whom he then as greatly 

 admired as he afterwards detested. Though these productions were 

 reckoned by himself among the indiscretions of his youth, they served 

 to make him known, and his Alzira more especially recommended him 

 to the notice of the minister Count Panin, who bestowed on him an 

 appointment in his own department, the duties of which were made 

 little more than nominal, in order that he might prosecute his literary 

 studies. Notwithstanding the apparent enviableness of a position that 

 seemed to give both present enjoyment and a brilliant prospect for the 

 future, Von Visin quarrelled with his good fortune, perhaps because it 

 had come too easily, and, in consequence of jealousies and misunder- 

 standings between himself and another protege" of the count's, quitted 

 his employment and his patron. After this precipitate step he seems 

 to have led for awhile a rather unsettled life, associating with com- 

 panions who were of very libertine principles, and of by no means 

 irreproachable conduct. From the ill-effects of their example he was 

 partly preserved by infirmity of constitution, and by his being subject 

 at that time to almost continual headaches ; and it was moreover his 

 good fortune to be reclaimed from such dangerous connections by an 

 intimacy which he shortly afterwards formed with an amiable family 

 at Moscow. 



Warned by the past and encouraged for the future, Von Visin began 

 again to apply himself to study, and became ambitious of not merely 

 succeeding as an author, but of enriching the literature of his country 

 with productions of an original and national character. On surveying 

 what had up to that time been done in the language, he perceived that 

 a wrong course had been pursued that instead of being allowed to 

 show itself at will, native talent had been both misdirected and 

 checked by imitation. The literature was in danger of becoming one 

 of mere routine ; epics, odes, tragedies, were all after established and 

 " approved models," and though correct as to mere pattern, they were 

 cold, colourless, and feeble. 



He accordingly determined to give his countrymen a specimen of 

 comedy not a drama of the kind at second-hand, but such as should 

 be, and should be felt to be, thoroughly Russian in every respect. 

 The result was most successful : the ' Brigadier' (written and first per- 

 formed in 1764, though not printed till nearly twenty years after- 

 wards) conferred on him immediate popularity. Nevertheless he 

 showed himself in no hurry to obtain a second triumph of the kind, 

 for it was not until eighteen years afterwards that he produced his 

 second piece, the ' Nedorosl,' or Spoiled Youth. In fact he seemed 

 well content to live upon the fame of his ' Brigadier,' and the reputa- 

 tion it acquired for him both at court and with the public. He did 

 not indeed lay aside his pen, but employed it chiefly in translating 

 from the French, and among other things Barthdlemy's 'Amours de 

 Charite* et de Polydore,' and Bitaube"'s ' Joseph.' 



In 1777 he visited France for the benefit of his health ; and his resi- 

 dence at Paris seems to have greatly abated his admiration of the French 

 people, and more especially of French philosophers. Only six letters 

 of his correspondence from that capital, with Counts Panin and Orlov, 

 have been preserved, a circumstance the more to be regretted because, 

 besides being interesting in themselves, they are superior specimens of 

 style ; and in fact Von Visin was by far the best Russian prose- writer 

 of the last century. Restored to health and cured of his French pre- 

 dilections, he returned to St. Petersburg, where, after passing some 

 time in inactivity, he produced, in 1782, his second and still more suc- 

 cessful comedy, the ' Nedorosl.' This piece seems now an exaggerated 

 picture of manners, even in Russia itself; yet that such is the case is 

 rather an honour than a reproach to Vou Visin, for by correcting the 

 extravagances to which his satire was applied, he himself has destroyed 

 the verisimilitude of his own picture. The ' Nedorosl ' was his last 

 dramatic production, for he seemed disposed to take Potemkin's com- 

 pliment on the occasion as serious advice. " Denis," said the prince to 

 him, after the first representation, " there is now nothing left for you 

 to do but go home and die, since, were you to live for ever, never again 

 would you write anything half so good !" That celerity of composi- 

 tion and fertility of invention which distinguished Lope de Vega, 

 Goldoni, and many other dramatic writers, were certainly not pos- 

 sessed by Von Visin ; and, as has been further remarked by his critic 

 Prince Viazemsky, his talent was rather that of a powerful comic 

 satirist than that of a dramatic genius. Though he continued to 

 write from that time, he produced nothing of importance chiefly 

 miscellaneous pieces for various journals, which would now be for- 

 gotten, but for the interest which they derive from the author's name. 

 From this remark however must be excepted one production of per- 

 manent value, his ' Ispovied,' or Confessions, a sort of autobiography, 

 from which it appears that he had long renounced the principles 

 which he had imbibed at his first outset in life, and patiently sub- 

 mitted, as to salutary chastisement, to the affliction of almost uninter- 

 rupted ill-health. He again recovered however in some degree, and 

 once more applied to his literary occupations. His very last pro- 

 duction of all was another comedy, entitled the ' Hofmeister,' which 

 only the day before his death he put into the hands of Derzhavin and 

 Dmitriev, who are said to have agreed with him that it was still better 

 than his former ones. Nevertheless we are told that the manuscript 

 was lost, and could never afterwards be traced anywhere so very 

 strange a story, as to be scarcely credible. Von Visin died October 1 

 (13), 1792, at the age of forty-seven. Of his complete works two 

 editions have since been published; yet it must be owned that 

 although he did much for the literature of his country, it lies within a 

 very small compass, and all the rest that he did does not appear to 

 correspond to his reputation. 



VITALIA'NUS, a native of Signia, succeeded Eugenius I. in the 

 see of Rome, A.D. 657. He sent envoys to Constantinople to signify 

 his election to the Emperor Constaus II., called by some Constantine, 

 who received them favourably and confirmed the privileges of the 

 Roman See, and sent back the envoys with presents to Rome. Ari- 

 bert I., son of Guntwald of Boioaria, and nephew of Queen Theude- 

 linda, was at the time king of the Longobards, but the duchy of Rome 

 bore allegiance to the Eastern empire, and was included in the admi- 

 nistrative jurisdiction of the exarch of Ravenna. About 6t!3 the 

 Emperor Constans landed at Tareutuin with a large force, invaded the 

 duchy of Beneventum and laid siege to that town, whose duke, Grim- 

 wald, had gone to Pavia, where he had by treachery seized the crown 

 of the Longobards. Grimwald, who had left his son Rouiuald as duke 

 of Beneventum, upon hearing of the invasion of the Byzantines 

 hastened to relieve Beneventum, when Constans was obliged to raise 

 the siege and withdraw to Naples, from whence he repaired to Rome. 

 Vitalianus went at the head of his clergy to meet the emperor outside 

 of the walls, and conducted him to St. Peter's Church. Constans after- 

 wards visited the Lateran and the other principal churches of Rome, and 

 after remaining twelve days in that city he returned to Naples. But 

 before he left Rome he ordered the principal monuments of the city to 

 be stripped of their bronzes, and other ornaments, and the Pantheon 

 among the rest, not sparing even the external bronze covering of the 

 dome. The booty was shipped for Syracuse, whither Constans 

 repaired, and where he intended to fix his residence. Most of the 

 bronzes were afterwards seized by the Saracens when they plundered 

 Syracuse. 



In the year 666 a controversy took place between Vitalianus, and 



