48 



RUSSIA 



reduced. Oppressive measures led to wholesale and 

 compulsory emigration of .lews, and the autonomy 

 of Finland was curtailed. 1'nder Nicholas ll'. 

 who succeeded in 1894, the administration lias In-en 

 somewhat more liberal. The French alliance has 

 been cherished, the Concert of Europe adhered t<> 

 not without hesitation, and effective intervention 

 brought to bear on China ; and in 1868 Manchuria 

 (q.v.) became mainly a Russian province, inter- 

 Bected by a branch of the great SiiH-rian railway, 

 and Tahenwan and Port Arthur Russian ports. 

 The Emperor summoned a conference of the powers , 

 in 1899, with the view of checking the increase of j 

 armaments. 



See works on Russia, the land and people, by Sir D. 

 M. Wallace (1877; new ed. 1888), Sutherland Kdwards 

 (1879), Geddie (1881), Morflll (1882). A. J. C. Hare 

 (1888), Stepniak (Nihilist, 1885-88), Tikhomirov ( 1887 ), 

 and Leroy-Beaulieu (trans. 1893-4 ). For history, sec the 

 articles on the principal Russian sovereigns, notably those 

 on Peter I., Catharine I. and II., I'aul. Alexander I. and 

 II., and Nicholas ; also the articles on Bagration, Barclay 

 de Tolly, Oortschakoff, Kutusoff, Orloff, Potemkin, 

 Suvarpf, &c.; on Charles XII. of Sweden; and those 

 on Nihilism, Panslavism, and Poland. And consult 

 besides the Russian historians Karamzin, Soloviev, 

 Kostomarov, Bestuzhef-Kiumin, &c. ; Rambaud. History 

 of Rutria (1878; Kng. trans. 1879; 2d ed. 1887); the 

 shorter history by Morflll (1890); Sutherland Edwards, 

 The Romano ft (1890); and Howorth's Hittorg of the 

 MonjoU ( 1876-88). 



Language and Literature. The Russian lan- 

 guage belongs to the eastern branch of the Sla- 

 vonic family. It is extremely copious, and 

 resembles ancient Greek in being both synthetical 

 and analytical ; thus it has seven cases, and yet 

 in no language are the prepositions used with more 

 delicate precision. It has lost the imperfect and 

 aorist, which are to be found in old Slavonic, but 

 has preserved the great Slavonic feature of the 

 aspects of the verbs. Although Russia was under 

 Mongolian rule for upwards of two centuries, yet 

 the Tartar words are few, and are employed only 

 for articles of dress and some other things of every- 

 day use. A few Latin and French words have 

 been incorporated, but the tendency at the present 

 time is to eject foreignisms as much as possible. 

 The language has great capabilities for forming 

 compounds and derivatives. There are many 

 dialects, but the predominant literary language 

 is that of Moscow. The first Russian grammar 

 was published at Oxford in lt>96 by Henrv Ludolf ; 

 in Russian may be mentioned tliose of Vostokov 

 (10th ed. 1859) and Buslaev, Historical tlruimiuir 

 of the Russian Language (1875). For understand- 

 ing the principles of Russian philology we must 

 betake ourselves to the great work of Miklosich, 

 Vergleichende trrumiitnfil; <l?r .v/<-/.v7/- Sprachen 

 (4 vols. 1879). The best dictionaries are those of 

 the Russian Academy ( Russe- Francais, Makarov, 

 1^74 ; new ed. 1892 ; Russian-English, Alexamlrov, 

 1879). In English there are Russian grammars by 

 Mortill (1889) and Riola (new ed. 1890). 



The earliest Russian literature consists of the 

 liilini, or legendary |x>ems, which were orally com- 

 municated till they were committed to writing in 

 modern time*. Tliesc are divided into c\ <],., 

 e.g. those of Vladimir, the princeof Kieff, of Nov- 

 gorod, and of Moscow. There are large collections 

 of them, and also of the xkn:ki. or |M>pular tales. 

 The earliest manuscript which has l>een preserved 

 of anything which can be said to lie distinctly 

 Russian is the codex of the Ostromir Gospels, 

 written at Novgorod in the years 1056-57 by the 

 deacon Gregory, for Ostromir the posadnik of Nov- 

 gorod. After this we get sbornixi, or collections 

 of miscellaneous works, such as those compiled for 

 the Grand-duke Sviatoslav, and some sermons by 

 Luke, bishop of Novgorod, and others. With the 



so-called chronicle of Nestor begins the series of 

 Russian annalists. Nestor is supposed to have 

 died about 1114. \Ve have also chronicles of 

 separate parte of Russia, such as Novgorod, Kieff, 

 Pskov, and \ olhyiiia. There is also the 1'uuchenie, 

 or book of instruction, of Vladimir Monomakb. and 

 the prose-poem called ' The Story of tlie Kxpedition 

 of Igor" (Hlovo o Polku fgorevf). The original 

 manuscript, of this production was burned in the tire 

 at Moscow in 1812. Important are the Russian 

 legal codes, the Russknii:i J'rnnta of Yaroslav in 

 the I'Jth century, and the sudebnil:* of Ivan III. 

 and IV. In 1504 the first Russian book was 

 printed at Moscow. . To the reign of Ivan IV. (the 

 Terrible) belongs the ' Book of Household Manage- 

 ment,' assignee to the priest Sylve-ter. \Ve also 

 have the tstoglav, or book of church regulations, 

 issued by Ivan in 1551. At the beginning of the 

 17th century we have the chronicle of Sergius 

 Kubasov, and towards the close of the same cen- 

 tury the interesting work of Kotisliikhin on Russia, 

 which was discovered in manuscript in 1840. To 

 the same period belong the writings of Ivan 

 Krizhanich, who is generally reputea to be the 

 father of Panslavism, and the poems and plays of 

 Simeon Polotski (1628-80), who was the tutor to 

 the children of the Emperor Alexei. In the reign 

 of the latter monarch the Russians got back Kiel!", 

 which hail long Iteen in the hands of the Pole*, and 

 thus the culture of the West became accessible to 

 them. With Polotski may be said to terminate 

 the first period of Russian literature with its 

 Byzantine influence. 



The second period was to l>e commenced by 

 the reforming measures of Peter the Great j and 

 Russia now began to look to the West for her 

 models. He established schools, and founded 

 the celebrated Academy of St Petersburg. The 

 first Russian poet of the new era was Antiokh 

 Kantemir (1708-44), who wrote -..me good satires 

 in the style of Pope and Boileau. But the writer 

 that exercised the greatest influence on Russian 

 literature was Michael Lomonosov, who established 

 the supremacy of the dialect of Great Russia, He 

 was an indefatigable worker in many branches of 

 learning, and earned his chief laurels in natural 

 science. Trediakovski (1683-1769) did something 

 for Russian versification, but was hardly more 

 than a poetaster. Basil Tatistchev (1686-1750) 

 laid the foundations of historical writing, as 

 opposed to the mere chronicler, and Snmarokov 

 (171S-77) those of the drama. A real national 

 comedy was created by Denis Von Visin (174."' '.'-< 

 and Kniazhnin also wrote plays with ability. 

 Michael Kheraskov (1733-1801) composed two 

 large epics, the Rossiadn in twelve Ixxiks, and 

 Vlnilimir in eighteen, but they have now almost 

 sunk into oblivion. The Iitmhrnkii of Bogdnnovieh 

 (174.'i 1H<)3) was at one time very popular. With 

 Kheninitser begins the series of Russian fabulisi-. 

 Gabriel Derzhavin (q.v. ; 1743-1816) w. -is ihe great 

 poet of the age of Catharine. He celebrated her 

 glories in many spirited ode>. Piose literature 

 was more slow in developing itself. An elegant 

 style can hardly be said to have existed Iwforc (he 

 time of Nicholas Karam/in (q.v. ; 1766-1826), 

 renowned for his history of Russia. On the 

 accession of Alexander "I. literature advanced 

 rapidly. Tin- founder of the romantic school of 

 poetry was IJa-il /hukovski. who, although lie 

 wrote hut few original pieces, was beneficial to his 

 countrymen by his translations ficun F.nglisb and 

 Herman. Other poets of the period were Ihnitricv 

 and liatinshkov. The most brilliant author, how- 

 ever, of the new school was Alexander Pushkin 

 (i|.v.), the greatest poet whom Russia has yet 

 produced, wno has leu some charming narratives 

 in verse, and other works. The fables of Ivan 



