166 Nations lately become ^Aiterary. [Cil, X^XVI. 



tratisdctidn'St M'hich amount, it is believed, to 

 nearly fifty volumes, aiid: which are full of valu- 

 able information both in literature and science ; 

 its members have done much, both in their oilicial 

 and private capacities, to diffuse almost every 

 branch of useful knowledge throughout the em- 

 pire. Perhaps no country can boast of having 

 produced, within the space of a few years, stich a 

 number of excellent publications on its internal 

 state, its natural history, its topography, and geo- 

 graphy ; and on the manners, customs, and lan- 

 guages of different nations; as have iissued from 

 the press of the academy. 



These exertions of Peter and Catharine werb 

 aided by some of their native subjects, wlio began 

 to perceive the importance of literature, ^nd to 

 form plans for the diffusion of it among the peo- 

 ple. It was in the reign of the former, that those 

 improvements in the Russian or Sclavonian lan- 

 guage commenced, which have since made such 

 honourable progress. To Theophanes Prokopo- 

 vitch*, archbishop of Novogorod, a man of learn- 

 ing and taste, and a native of Russiaj much ho- 

 nour is due, for labouring to promote among his 



* Theophanes Prokopovitch was born in Russia in 16SI:, and 

 died archbishop of Novogorod in 1736. After receiving as good 

 an ed«cation as his country afforded, he went to Rome, where he 

 resided three yeats, and where his literary and scientific acquire- 

 ments were greatly extended. He was profoundly learned, not 

 only in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew literature, but also in philoso- 

 phy and theology. He was the fjrst Russian divine who pub- 

 lished a regular systematic view of the doctrines of his church. 

 His principal work is composed in Latin, under the title of Chris- 

 fktnn Orthodoxa Theologia. His discourses are deemed classical 

 oerfcrraances. 



