60 



RUSSIA (LANGUAGE AND LITERATIMIK). 



the three IIUMI in the fiery furnace, excited the 

 highest applause. The Scluvoniiin-Russiaii dramas 

 of the iiiiHik Simeon of Polotsk (1(328 1680) may 

 be considered as an improvement, on the others. 

 These were acted in the time of Feodor III., first 

 in the convent, and afterwards at court. Amateurs 

 may find his Nebuchadnezzar, and bis Lost Son, 

 printed in the eighth volume of the old Russian 

 library, and most of his other productions in man IN 

 script", in the library of the Synod, at Moscow. 

 The first foreign comedy translated into Russian was 

 .Muliere's Mcdeciii malgrc lui (Physician in spite of 

 Himsclh, which was performed by the czarina 

 Sophia Alexiowna, and the ladies of her court. 

 The Poles served as models, particularly in poetry; 

 and the translation of the Psalms of David (Mos- 

 cow, 1680), by the above-named Simeon of Polotsk, 

 deserves to be mentioned. As early as the seven- 

 teenth century, instances of versification can be 

 produced, which endeavoured to imitate the Greek 

 peculiarity of long and short syllables; but they 

 had no permanent effect. Even the restriction of 

 verses to a particular number of syllables, was con- 

 sidered too stiff and unnatural ; and, to the present 

 day, there remains in their poetry (which, exhibits, 

 for the most part, the national peculiarities) a free 

 and unrestrained style, which neither requires lines 

 aqual in their number of syllables, nor assonance, 

 nor rhyme, but rests upon crtain laws of accen- 

 tuation. 



II. Peter the Great endeavoured to advance lite- 

 rature by technical aids. For this purpose he 

 patronised the press, and, in 1704, himself invented 

 a set of written characters for the Russian language, 

 which, being similar to the Roman characters, 

 might make the communication and interchange of 

 thoughts with the rest of Europe more easy. With 

 this character the first Russian newspaper was 

 printed, in 1705, in the ecclesiastical press at 

 Moscow. The ukase press was established in 1711, 

 and from it, in 1714, proceeded the first St Peters- 

 burg gazette. Translations of foreign works, for 

 the most part German, were intended to excite a 

 love of reading; and He hoped, by means of the 

 young Russians, whom he sent abroad to travel, to 

 convince his people of the advantages of education. 

 At his death, he left fifty-one schools for the people, 

 fifty-six schools for the garrisons, and twenty-six 

 other institutions for the children of the clergy, 

 which, however, had little perceptible influence 

 upon the great work of civilization. It was, how- 

 ever, less attachment to ancient usage, that opposed 

 the effect of his labours on a people very suscepti- 

 ble of impressions, than the artifices of the state 

 officers, to whom the public improvement was, fre- 

 quently at least, an object of little importance. 

 (See Academies.") The academy of sciences, from 

 1725, promoted the scientific direction which intel- 

 lectual cultivation had taken, because the want of 

 a national literature had not yet been felt. Estab- 

 lishments for the promotion of knowledge and edu- 

 cation increased daily by imperial liberality, and 

 Catharine II., by the patronage which she bestowed 

 upon the arts and sciences, greatly contributed to 

 the advancement of her nation. The endeavour to 

 rival foreign countries became general, and those of 

 the nobility and public officers who were capable 

 of intellectual enjoyment, gave themselves up to it 

 with such zeal that Paul I. became alarmed, and 

 ordered the communication with foreign countries 

 to be stopped. Alexander I., in the first years of 

 bin reign, established literary institutions and popular 



M-hools, took care that the clergy should be more 

 thoroughly educated, and patronised talent with 

 imperial liberality. Sopikoff, in his Essai d Biblio- 



phie liuaxc (St Petersburg, 1813 1823, in 6 



vols.), has enumerated, alphabetically, 13,249 ori- 

 ginal works and translations published in Russia, in 

 the Sclavonian and Russian languages, from the 

 establishment of the press (in 1553) to 1823. 

 Since the year 1820, in which alone 3400 works 

 appeared, among which nearly half were transla- 

 tions (more than 800 from the French, and 483 

 from the German), the annual number has very 

 much decreased. In 1824, only 264 works were 

 published, most of which were translations, parti- 

 cularly historical and geographical works, poems, 

 and romances. 



III. Poetry. With all the imitation of the 

 cal forms of foreign countries, the national son 

 has always maintained an honourable rank, and 

 celebrates love and war, games, church festivals, 

 and banquets. Among the older ones, those of the 

 Cossack Semen Klimoffskij (who died in 1725") are 

 much esteemed: a collection of such as yet enjoy a 

 high reputation, is to be met with in Ostolopoff's 

 Dictionary of ancient and modern Poetry (St 

 Petersburg, 1821'), in which the names of Dmi- 

 trieff, Neledinskij-Melezkij, Karamsin, and Shu- 

 koffskij, are distinguished above all others. Since 

 the Russian prosody became more settled by means 

 of Kn'as Constantine Demetrius Kantemir (q. v., 

 who died in 1744), every kind of poetry has been 

 attempted, from the dithyrambic to the madrigal. 

 The popular songs of the Russians, which are 

 preserved among the common people, belong to 

 the time of Peter the Great and the empress 

 Elizabeth, who herself wrote verse. The lyric 

 department has been particularly successful. We 

 must likewise mention the philosophic odes and 

 epistles of the prince Ivan Michailowitsch Dolgor- 

 ucki (who died in the year 1823), under the title 

 of the Existence of my Heart. Poetical tales, for 

 which the old traditions furnish many materials 

 have been written by Sumarokoff, Kriloff, Batjus- 

 chkoff, Dmitrieff, and Sbukoffskij. The Russian 

 theatre was first established in 1758. In this year, 

 there was a private theatre erected at Yaroslav, 

 which was soon transferred to the royal' residence, 

 and, in consequence of the predilection of Catha- 

 rine II. for the drama, soon won the favour of the 

 people. Sumarokoff wrote the first regular tragedy, 

 and was succeeded by Kniashjnin. The most dis- 

 tinguished dramatic writer, Wladimir Oseroff, has 

 had the honour of having his works often translated. 

 His (Edipus (Petersburg, 1805), his Dmitrij the 

 Donian, his Fingal, and the Rosloff of Kniashjnin, 

 are considered the most important specimens of 

 tragic literature. Knia'shjnin has also accomplished 

 much in comedy. The genius of the Russians, so 

 sensible to the ridiculous, and so capable of imita- 

 tion, would lead us to expect a rich harvest in 

 comedy, if the readiness with which they adopt 

 every thing foreign did not check the productive* 

 ness of native talent. The opera in a court, which, 

 like the Russian, delights in splendour, must natu- 

 rally excite a lively interest. The first, written by 

 Sumarokoff, was performed at St Petersburg in 

 1764; and, since that time, there have continually 

 been authors in this department of the drama. In 

 didactic poetry, Keraskoff's Fruits of the Sciences 

 formerly were in much repute. At the present 

 time, the fables of Dmitrieff, Chemnitzer, and 

 Kriloff have gained many admirers. Of Kriloff's 



