1806. J 
youth were tran{ported with it, and ani- 
mated by the dance and the feng thofe fef- 
tivals which fprung from the profperity of 
their country. The traveller was not per- 
mitted to proceed, but was prefled to take 
part in the public merriment ; pleafure 
opened the heart of the happy hufoand- 
man, and he cheerfully divided the riches 
of his fields with him who had neither 
grapes to gather nor corn toreap. It 
cannot appear furprifing that the poet 
fhould diligently attend thefe  feftivi- 
ties ; neceflity taught him to reprefent 
in different ways the -bleflings of the God 
who prefided over the vintage. He knew 
how to intereft the animated circle of the 
vintagers, who themfelves became actors 
in thefe bacchanalian fcenes. ‘The more 
new and amufing they were, the more ge- 
neral was the intereft and the more abun- 
dant were the receipts. 
Thefpis, the firft who made a profeffion 
of thefe exhibitions, was both an author 
and an aétor. The praifes of the gods 
and heroes conftituted the groundwork of 
his crude ‘performances, which were noe 
thing but narratives ; the lively fallies, 
the freedom and pleafantry of which ex- 
cited unbounded mirth among the coun- 
try-people. The towns which Thefpis 
vifited with his cart and his aétors, tettified 
their fatisfaction, and applaufe was al- 
ways the pledge of more fubftantial ac- 
knowledgments. Az{chylus proceeded in 
the courfe marked out by Thefpis, but 
with rather more dignity. He introduced 
on the ftage feveral actors and fpeakers, 
and his plays caufed the ereétion of the 
firft theatre at Athens. 
There is fcarcely any nation whofe hif- 
tory does nat furnifa us with more or 
fewer details of the fame kind in the pro- 
gre(s and expanfion of its poetic faculties. 
The firft fruits of poetry have univerfally 
been the praifes of heroes, and the rhap{o- 
difts, or thofe who fung verfes in honour 
of heroes, were the firft actors. The 
Ruflians had poems and fingers of this de- 
{cription even before Chriftianity was in- 
troduced among them, or they were ac- 
quainted with the Greeks and Romans. 
The martial {pirit and natural gaiety of 
the Ruffians are fufficient, amid the failure 
of hittoric evidence, to induce the belief, 
that, in very remote ages, they had as 
many poems io honour of heroes, as many 
fongs of victory, as they, in the fequel, 
had buffoons and merry-andrews running 
about the country and diverting the 
people by their witticilms and their drolle- 
cies. Thefe new rivals of Ihefpis every 
LTiftory of the 
Ruffian Stages 
where met with the moft favourable recep- 
tion, and the joy manifefted by the people 
on their commencemeat amounted to a 
fpecies of madnefs. The peafant aban- 
doned every thing, that he miglit fee thefe 
farces ; fometimes abforbed in pleafure, all 
the faculties of bis foul were fearcely ful. 
ficient to enable him to hear the founds 
by which he was enchanted ; fometimes, 
tranfported with joy, he exprefied his rap- 
ture in the moft boiferous manner. . Thefe 
reprelentations were commonly exhibited 
from Chriftmas to the feftival of Epiphany. 
Ai poetic ardour fuddenly infpired thofe 
who thus employed their talents to abridge 
the long winter-evenings. Great volubi- 
lity, animated gelticulations, much extra- 
vagance in the plot of the tale, and grear 
prolixity in the recitation, were indifpen. 
fable qual-ties for every one who attempt- 
ed to amufe; but if to thefe he added ob- 
{cene geftures and exoreflions, his acting 
_was then perfect, and he was’ certain of 
obtaining univerfalapplaufe. ‘There was 
no fixed place for thefe reprefentations ; 
a paper-lantern fufpended to the roof, and 
the harmony of two hunting-horns, an- 
nounced to the paflengers that for a few 
copeks they might procure the pleafure of 
feeing a farce, which was\ready to begin 
whenever they pleafed. This kind of pa- 
rade is not at this day entirely banifhed 
from the Ruffian empire. 
‘Theatrical reprefentations were how- 
ever almmott as unknown in Ruffia as in 
Germany prior to the reign of Peter the 
Great. Thofe which were then in vogue 
were confined to rhetorical exercifes, in 
the form of dramas and comedies, which 
the mafters of feminaries inftru&ted their 
pupils to act. “The fubjects of thefe plays 
were ufually taken from facred hifory, 
like thofe of the tragedies which the Je. 
fuits and other orders devoted to the edu- 
cation of youth were accuftomed to teach 
their fcholars to reprefent at the end of a 
courfe, or at the conclufion of a year, 
They thought it perfectly juftifiable to 
take for models, as to the form, heathens 
fuch as Evuripidés, Sophocles, Plautus, 
and Terence ; but, far from thinking that 
the proper obje& of theatrical exhibitions 
was to form the minds ef youth, and to 
make them acquainted with their native 
land by the reprefentation of the man- 
ners and achievements of its great 
men, the purpofe to which it was conf{e- 
crated by the Greeks, fuperftition and 
ignorance perfuaded them that they could 
not lawfully felect any fubjetts exceptinz 
from the Bible, 
- Wirt 
