Sect. VI.] Russian Language, 321 



ractcr having then appeared in it. Since that 

 time it has employed nuicli of the attention of 

 learned men; grammars and dictionaries have been 

 formed, with many successive improvements; nu- 

 merous translations from other langiiages luive con- 

 tributed greatly to enrich and polish it; the ivus- 

 sian academy has long been diligently engaged in 

 its cultivation ; and writers of taste have done 

 much to confer upon it regularity and ornament. 

 Previous to the year 1707 tiie alphabet of this lan- 

 guage consisted of thirty-nine letters. In that 

 year it was newly modified, and reduced to thirty. 

 These are chielly made up of Greek and Roman 

 letters, together with some characters, to express 

 sounds, whicli are peculiar to the Sclavonian tongue. 

 Though the language of Russia is still imperfect, 

 it is said, by those who have studied it, to be re- 

 markably rich, harmonious, and energetic, and 

 well fitted for every species of composition *. 



Among the improvers of Russian style in tlie 

 last century the first place is due to Theophanes 

 Prokopovitch, archbishop of Novogorod, a gen- 

 tleman of learning and taste, wlio, during the 

 reign of Peter the Great, laboured much to pro- 

 mote among his countrymen a fondness for polite 

 literature, and especially to encourage the study 

 of their natiye tongue. He was followed by Lo- 

 monozof, a distinguished poet and historian. He, 

 as well as Theophanes, was a Russian by birth, 

 and is styled the '* great refiner" of the language of 

 his country. Next to him stands Sumorokof, a 



* Code's TravcU into Russia, &c. vol. ii, chap. viii> and al^o 

 Tooke's rieic of the Russian Empire. 



Vol. II. . Y 



