184 Poetry, 



track. Among these, the most conspicuous are 

 Count de Creutz, Count de Gyllenborg, Ma- 

 dame DE NoRDENFLYCHT, Count OxENSTIERNA, 



Kellgren, Leopold, Lidner, Torild, and seve- 

 ral others, whose writings abundantly testify, that 

 the Swedish language, notwithstanding its former 

 defects, is capable of exhibiting, under the hand of 

 a master, all that harmony, tenderness, and force, 

 which, when united, render the productions of 

 the poet so interesting. The labours of Kellg r en, 

 in particular, for a number of years past, to polish 

 and refine the versification of his country, are said 

 to have been eminently successful, and highly ho- 

 nourable to his character/ 



The poetry of Russia is almost wholly the 

 growth of the eighteenth century. Cantemir, 

 Ilinski, Frediatofski, and a few others, adven- 

 tured in this new field at a very early period of the 

 century; but they were rather rhymers than poets. 

 The first respectable poet in the Russian language 

 was Lomonozof, who wrote about the middle of 

 the century. His compositions are principally of 

 the lyric kind, which, for originality, energy of lan- 

 guage, and sublimity of sentiment, deserve much 

 praise. He was followed in this career of improve- 

 ment by Sumorokof, who is represented as the 

 founder of the Russian drama, and one of the most 

 successful refiners of the poetic language of his 

 country. To these succeeded a number of poets, 

 who all contributed something to improve the ver- 

 sification of this language; among the most distin- 

 guished of whom are Kheraskof and Karamsin. 

 The Rossiada of the former, as it has been greatly 

 admired by the author's countrymen, so its appear- 

 ance doubtless formed an important era in the pro- 

 gress of their poetic character. The various works 



j See Catteau's Vieiv of Stceden^ and Acerbi's Travels. 



