14 
With the manner of treating thefe fub- 
jects they gave themfelves very little con- 
cern. The moft abfurd and ridiculous 
feenes, and the moft difgufting vulgarity, 
were introduced into them. The mofk 
facred myfteries of religion were repre- 
fented in a manner highly profane ; and 
the ecclefiaftics were fo convinced of the 
fimplicity of their pupils and the reft of 
the laity, as to imagine that they would 
not thence receive any unfavourable im- 
prefiions. The feminaries and {chools of 
the convents of Mofcow, Kiow, Novo- 
gored ,& c.,had they been better conduét- 
ed, might have become eftablifhments of 
the higheft utility te the propagation of 
knowledge in Ruffia ; but the monks of 
thofe times were contented to proceed 
with their age, inftead of outltripping it; 
either becaule they were unable, from the 
want of means, or they imagined it was 
not fit thatthe people fhould be too much 
enlightened. If the Bifhop Demetrius 
Rottowfky, inftead of caufing’ religious 
lays of his own invention to be pexform- 
ed in his epifcopal palace at Roftow, had 
compojed fome work on a fubject taken 
from profane hiftory, undoubtedly his na- 
tion, inftruéted by his example, would 
have foon developed the germ of its talent 
for the dramatic art, and would have dif- 
tinguifhed itfelf in that career without 
waiting to receive the impulfion from fo- 
reigners, The moft celebrated of Rof- 
towfky’s performances were, “ The Pe- 
nitent Sinner,”’ ‘* Efther and Ahafuerus,” 
‘© The Birth of Chrift, his Refurrection, 
and the Affumption of the Virgin Mary.” 
They were interlarded with allegorical 
epifodes. Wolkow, the firft performer 
the Ruffians had te boaft, aéted in them 
with great fuccefs. The Bishop Roftowf- 
ky died in 1709. The dramatic art was 
ftillin its infancy in Roflia, when France 
had already the mafter- pieces of Corneille, 
of Racine, of Molicre, and when Vol- 
taire already announced the dawn of his 
future greatnefs, The compofitions of 
the rt Kuffian drama‘it were exhibited 
till the middle of the Jaf century, not 
only in the feminaries, but Wolkow’s 
company likewife’ performed them with 
fuecefs at the imperial theatre. 
The French who repaired to Mofcow 
during the reign of the Czar Alexis, dif- 
fufed in Ruffia a pariaality for the drama. 
The polifhed manners and more refined 
tafe of thefe foreigners procured them a 
favourable reception from the Court. 
Mcft of Moliere’s comedics were tranflat- 
ed into the Ruffian language, and played 
with the former religious pieces net only 
ze 
LTiftury of the Ruffian Stages 
[March 1, 
by the f{cholars of the convent of Iconof- 
pafkoi, but. likewife at Court, ia a the- 
atre eftablithed by youthful amareurs, at 
whofe head was the Princefs Sophia, fitter 
of Peter the Great. The troubles which 
preceded and followed the acceflion of 
that monarch to the throne, feemed to 
have extinguifhed the love of theatrical 
exhibitions in Ruffia. There were no 
other actors at Mofcow than fome young 
furgeons, who, by means of folding- 
fkreens, converted the great hall of the 
hefpital into a theatre, and took delight 
in acting the mo& ridiculous Roffian 
plays, as well facred as profane. Bue 
fcarcely had Peter the Great created his 
new capital on the banks of the Neva,, 
when it was vifited by a company of Ger- 
man comedians, who drew together great 
crowds of fpeétators, though they repre- 
fented only the moft wretched plays. 
Siahlin relates that they one day anncunc- 
ed, by a bill, that they intended to exhi- 
bit, at night, a-piece truly admirable, 
and well worth feeing. Aliured by this 
promife, a great number of fpeétators af- 
fembled, but when the 2étors were juit 
ready to begin, they were obliged, by an 
order from the Emperor, to leave the 
theatre without opening their mouths. 
The curtain rofe amid the harmonious 
founds of the whole band of mufic, and 
the {peétators beheld a white wall, well 
lighted, on which thefe words were in- 
fcribed in large charaéters, ‘¢ To-day is 
the firft of April.’ This company was 
foon difperfed, and Peterfburg as well as 
Mefcow was again without a theatre. 
Meanwhile the want of dramatic exhi- 
bitions had become fo preffing, that fome 
of the attendants and the people belong. | 
ing to the ftables of the Czar, formed 
among themfelves acompany of amateurs, 
and exercifed their theatrical talents in a 
kind of hay loft, which they had embel- 
lified, and lined with ftraw-mats. Dur- 
ing the reign of the Emprefs Anne, fome 
Italians arrived, and exhibited comedies 
and ballets; but the company was fo 
weak, that one day an aétrefs being pre- 
vented from appearing by her very ad- 
vanced ftate of pregnancy, her part was 
filled by one of the male performers, an 
exchange which afforded the public no 
finall amufement. At length, in 1737, 
the firf Italian opera was aéted. Two 
years afterwards a company of German 
comedians was invited ; but on the death 
of the Emprefs, the following year, they 
again quitted the country. Some French 
actors were then engaged for Ruflia; but 
the fudden and numerous changes which 
took 
