426 



VOLANUS, ANDREAS. 



VOLNEY, COMTE DE. 



43d 



some stanzas addressed to Gaston of Orleans in 1614, Voiturc printed 

 nothing in his lifetime ; but his French writings were collected after 

 his death, and published at Paris iu a quarto volume in 1650, by hia 

 nephew M. Ktieuuo Martin de Pinclesne ; and they have since been 

 often reprinted. They consist of letters, poems, and a portion of a 

 prose romance entitled ' L'Histoire d'Acidalis et de Zelide.' His 

 Latin verses were first added in an edition of his works published at 

 Paris, in 2 vols. 12mo, in 1729. He is also said to have written easily 

 and correctly in the Italian language, as well as in French and Spanish. 

 In his own day, aud for a long time after, Voiture was universally 

 regarded as the model of grace and spirit in writing ; the inclination 

 of more recent criticism has generally been to depreciate him, per- 

 haps unduly. Voltaire remarks (' Siecle de Louis XIV.') that he was 

 the first example in France of what is called a bel-esprit ; but that 

 his writings have scarcely any other merit He admits however that 

 that sort of merit was theu extremely rare ; aud he adds that some 

 of Voiture's verses are very fine, though those deserving to be so 

 styled are but few. The Abbo de Castres (' Sieclea Litte'raires ') 

 allows that some of his letters may still be read with pleasure, but 

 not the whole continuously. He complains that the wit is too am- 

 bitious and manifestly elaborate, as well as lavished with such pro- 

 digality as to dazzle and fatigue more than to please. The writer's 

 constant affectation, the Abbe" conceives, is such as to deprive him of 

 all the charm of nature and variety. On the other hand our owu 

 Pope, in a finished encomium on Voiture, sent along with a copy of 

 his works to his friend Miss Blount, has said 



" His easy art may happy nature seem ; 

 Trifles themselves are elegant in him." 



De Castrea admits nevertheless that Voiture does not merit all the 

 contempt which it had come to be customary to express for him ; and 

 that few writers furnish more examples of fineness and delicacy of 

 thought. Boileau was au ardent admirer of Voiture, and has cele- 

 brated him as the great example of elegance of style in the preceding 

 age. He must indeed be regarded as one of the reformers of French 

 poetry which he had the taste to seek to restore to the simple and 

 cordial style of Marot from the pedantry and affectation into which it 

 had subsequently degenerated ; adding at the same time a polish and 

 comparative exactness till then unexampled. He may in this way be 

 considered as the founder of the style which was afterwards carried 

 to perfection by La Fontaine. We had certainly nothing so good of 

 the same kind in English poetry till Prior appeared. In his prose, 

 his wit is often very brilliant and happy, and the diction is probably 

 more flowing and regular than that of any preceding French writer. 

 A conclusion to Voiture's unfinished romance has been written by the 

 Sieur des Barres : it first appeared by itself at Paris in 1677 ; and it 

 may be seen in an edition of his ' Lettres et autres CEuvres,' 2 vols. 

 12mo, Amsterdam, 1709, although the 'Biographic Universelle' says 

 it was first published along with Voiture's romance in the Paris edition 

 of 1713. There are at least two English translations of Voiture's 

 Letters: one entitled 'Letters of Affairs, Love, and Courtship, 

 written to several persons of honour and quality by the exquisite 

 pen of M. de Voiture ; Englished by J. D.' (i.e. J. Davies, as appears 

 from the dedication), 2 vols. Svo, London, 1657 ; the other, entitled 

 ' The Works of Monsieur Voiture, translated by Mr. Dryden, Mr. 

 Dennis, Dr. Drake, Mr. Cromwell, Mr. Cheke, Mr. Brown, Mr. Ozell, 

 Mr. Webster; the third edition, revised and corrected throughout by 

 the last edition printed at Paris, addressed to Miss Blount by Mr. 

 Pope,' 2 vols. 12mo, London, 1736. But this is one of Curll's lying 

 title-pages, and the book contains translations of only a very few of 

 Voiture's poems. Among the translations however is one attributed 

 to Pope, which could scarcely have been written by any one else 

 (' Verses occasioned by Mr. Durfy's adding an &c. at the end of his 

 name, in imitation of Voiture's verses on Neuf-Germain'). This trans- 

 lation of the letters does not seem to be so good as that by Davies. 

 Some of the beat of Voiture's poems, preceded by a short sketch of 

 his life, with several curious anecdotes illustrative of his character 

 and habits, may be seen in the 5th volume (pp. 193-258) of the col- 

 lection entitled ' Recueil des plus belles Pieces des Poe'tes Francais,' 

 6 tomes, 12mo, Paris, 1752. So lately as in 1806 there was published 

 at Paris, in 2 vols. 12mo, a collection entitled 'Lettres Choisies de 

 Voiture, Babac, Montreuil, Pelisson, et Boursault.' The letters are 

 preceded by a preliminary discourse and a biographical account of the 

 writers; both anonymous, but known to be, the former by M. 

 Vincent Campenon, the latter by M. Auger ; and several both of his 

 Letters and Poems are given in a 12mo volume, entitled ' CEuvres 

 Choisies de Marot, Malherbe, Voiture, et Segrais,' Paris, 1810. See 

 also the 'Liste Alphabe'tique des Auteurs,' prefixed to Richelet's 

 Dictionnaire ; and Baillet, 'Jugemens des Savans,' iv. 248-250. 



VOLA'NUS, A'NDREAS, a Polish Protestant author, who acquired 

 great celebrity by his controversy with the Jesuits, and by whom he 

 was attacked with the most bitter violence. He was born in 1530, 

 in the province of Posen, but lived chiefly at Vilna, where he was 

 pastor of the Reformed church, and where he died in 1610, at the age 

 of eighty. Besides his controversy with the Jesuits, he wrote against 

 the Socimans, and had theological disputations with the Lutherans, in 

 which he displayed great talent and learning, but failed in his object, 

 \vhich was to bring about a union between the Augustan and the 



Helvetian confessions in Poland. Besides a great number of contro- 

 versial works which he published, and which had in their time a great 

 run in the country, as well as abroad, Volanus is advantageously 

 known as a political writer by his work 'De Libertate Politics seu 

 Civili,' Cracow, 1582. 



VOLKOV, PHEDOR GRIGORIEVICH, the founder of the 

 Russian theatre, and son of a merchant of Kostroma, was born Feb- 

 ruary 2nd 1729. He lost his father while young, and his mother 

 married again, but her second husband, Polushkin, a merchant at 

 Yaroslav, proved a kind stepfather to her children. He was more 

 particularly attached to Phedor, her eldest sou, and sent him to the 

 Zaikonaspassky Academy at Moscow to learn mathematics and German, 

 aud prepare himself for theological studies : but there Volkov was 

 thrown in the way of pursuits very different and far more congenial 

 with his disposition. It was the practice at that seminary for the 

 scholars to get up dramatic recitations and performances, acting some- 

 times religious pieces or mysteries, and sometimes comedies taken 

 from Moliere. Except that he displayed general cleverness, we are 

 not told what progress he made in his other learning, but in the 

 dramatic art he was no sooner a scholar than he showed himself to 

 be a master, and also made rapid proficiency in painting, music, 

 singing, and other accomplishments of that kind. The idea of his 

 studying theology was now given up, while that of his taking to the 

 stage as a profession did not suggest itself either to him or his friends, 

 because there was then no such profession no public stage in Russia. 

 He was therefore placed by his stepfather, in 1746, in the counting- 

 house of a merchant at St. Petersburg, with whom he soon became a 

 favourite, and who took him to see the Italian operas at the court 

 theatre. To say that Volkov was delighted would but coldly express 

 the rapturous enthusiasm with which he was seized ; nor was it at all 

 abated when he afterwards saw some of Sumarokov's pieces performed 

 or recited by the pupils of the ' Cadet Corps.' One of his first objects 

 was to become acquainted with some of the actors of the Court 

 Theatre, to make himself master of Italian, and to obtain a thorough 

 insight into all the business of the stage, with its machinery and 

 various appurtenances. Not least of all is it to his credit, that though 

 he was thus engrossed by his theatrical passion, he did not, distasteful 

 as they were to him, neglect his counting-house duties, or the affairs 

 which his stepfather had entrusted to his management. 



Whatever it might have cost him at the time, for this he was amply 

 rewarded by the affectionate reception with which he was greeted by 

 his worthy stepfather Polushkin and his whole family on his return to 

 Yaroslav. Instead of being lectured for hia theatrical passion, he was 

 permitted to get up a theatrical performance, after he had sufficiently 

 trained his brothers and some of their acquaintance, and a barn had 

 been converted into a stage with ' real scenes.' All Yaroslav was 

 invited, and all Yaroslav went away in raptures. which were more 

 than mere compliments, for some of the principal inhabitants imme- 

 diately set on foot a subscription to erect a permanent theatre, of 

 which Volkov was appointed architect, decorator, scene-painter, 

 machinist, manager, director of the orchestra, purveyor of novelties, 

 and dramatic writer. This was the first Russian theatre, the pro- 

 genitor of those magnificent and colossal edifices of which that country 

 can now boast. 



It was not long before the fame of the Yaroslav theatre reached St. 

 Petersburg, and the Empress Elizabeth wished to witness a performance 

 by the Yaroslav actors on her own private stage. They accordingly 

 repaired to Petersburg, and played before the empress Sumarokov's 

 drama of ' Sinav and Truvor.' Their success was complete, and the 

 whole company of youthful actors was retained, although several of 

 them were placed in the ' Cadet Corps,' in order to perfect their edu- 

 cation, and some were sent abroad to study the dramatic art and 

 improve their talents. 



In 1756 Volkov was ordered to proceed to Moscow, and establish a 

 theatre in that capital ; which commission he executed with so much 

 zeal and ability, that within the course of two years the stage was 

 there put upon a very respectable footing, both in point of talent and 

 of scenic representation. Standing high in the favour of the empress, 

 he enjoyed that of the court, and afterwards of her successor Cathe- 

 rine II., who would have conferred on him the rank of nobility, had 

 he not declined that distinction for himself, begging that it might bo 

 transferred to his married brother Gabriel. But he did not enjoy 

 Catherine's favour very long, for at the time of her coronation at 

 Moscow, on which occasion he was charged with the superintending 

 the arrangements of some part of the public festivities, he caught a 

 cold that was succeeded by inflammatory fever, which carried him 

 off, April 4th 1763. 



Volkov is said to have translated several pieces for the stage, and 

 also to have written some original ones ; but as none of them have 

 been preserved, or if in existence have not yet been brought to light, 

 his fame as a dramatist is only traditional. He also made a collection 

 of the biblical dramas of St. Demetrius, metropolitan of Rostov 

 (1651-1709), which he presented to Catherine, who bestowed them on 

 Prince Orlov, who was a great admirer of literary relics and antiquities ; 

 but what afterwards became of the manuscripts is not known. (Eid- 

 ziklopeditcheskii Lelcsticon.) 



VOLNEY, CONSTANTIN-FRANCOIS, CHASSE-BO2UF, COMTE 

 DE, was born February 3rd, 1757, at Craon in Anjou, where his father 



