Sect. L] Bussia. 157' 



eoimtryinen a taste for polite literature. He not 

 only cultivated and endeavoured to extend the 

 influence of learning during his life, but likewise 

 left a legacy to be applied to the same object 

 after his decease. 



In this laudable zeal for promoting the lite- 

 rary interests of his country, Theophanes was" fol- 

 lowed by Lomonozof, who, it was before observed, 

 has been styled the great refnicr of the Russian 

 language*. ,His labours may be considered as 

 forming an era in the literary progress of his 

 country, and are always mentioned as having 

 been eminently conducive to this progress. 



During the short reign of Peter II, the acade- 

 my, and the general interests of literature, being- 

 neglected by the court, greatly declined. The sa- 

 laries of the professors were discontinued, and an 

 almost universal disregard to science prevailed. 

 When the empress Anne came to the throne, the 

 court again patronised the cause of letters and 

 science. She revived the academy ; enlarged the 



* Lomonozof was the son of a fishmonger at Kohnogori, in 

 Russia. He Was born in the year 1711, and died in 1764, in the 

 54-th year of his age. He was fortunately taught to read, an ac- 

 complishment by no means common among persons of such hum- 

 ble origin ,in Russia. His genius for poetry was fust kindled by 

 the perusal of the Song of Solomon, done into verse by Polotsky, 

 in a very rude and miserable manner. He fled from his father, 

 who would have compelled him to a. disagreeable marriage, and 

 took refuge in a monastery at Moscow, where he had an abun- 

 dant opportunity of indulging his taste for letters. He was after- 

 ■svards taken under the patronage of the Imperial Acad.-iity at 

 Peiershuri^, and proved one of the most distinguished literary 

 characters of the age. His works were collected after his death, 

 in three volume's octavo. ^ hdr, i\yb'^\,ii[ 



