INTRODUCTION.

Few subjects can be more complacent to the philanthropist than to trace the forward march of mind; peculiarly complacent where its progress is neither slow nor doubtful; where the stream of light spreads widening more and more over the whole surface of society; and more delightful yet, where the first rays of twilight break out of the thick darkness of long and dreary barbarism, and the day advances with sure and steady steps. Such were the circumstances under which Russia presented itself to my contemplation. It had emerged, as it were instantaneously, from a night of ignorance, to occupy a situation in the world of intellect, not contemptible, even when compared with that of southern nations; but singularly striking as contrasted with the almost universal ignorance which pervaded the immense empire of the Tzars, before Peter the Great, the Russian Colossus, as one of their poets calls him, gave it the first impulse towards civilization⁠[1]⁠. The foundation is now laid, on which the proud edifice of civilization will be raised. The moral vis inertiæ is in action: and the immense political influence which Russia has acquired, and seems likely to maintain, will be less appalling, at all events, to the moralist, if not to the statesman, than if wholly unaccompanied by a spirit of literature; while, on the other hand, it is consolatory to remember, that every instance which Russia affords of the advance of knowledge, is a pledge that the blessings of freedom and good government, which follow in the train of intellectual distinction, cannot be for ever shut out.

Lomonosov⁠[2] is the father of Russian poetry. It did not advance from step to step through various gradations of improvement, but received from his extraordinary genius an elevation and a purity which are singularly opposed to the barbarous compositions which preceded him. He did more than any other writer to fix the standard of language, and wielded a then uncouth and unformed idiom with singular address and power. A natural sense of harmony and beauty, made sublimer by early contemplation of the prophetic and the poetical compositions of the Old Testament, did more for his own fame, and for the future literary reputation of his country, than could have resulted from the closest acquaintance with the great names of Greece or Rome. His style is singularly vigorous, and his works are distinguished throughout for their bold and impressive character. They have been collected into six volumes; and his name, as well as that of his rival Sumarokov, has already found its way, with some particulars of his life and writings, into our biographical dictionaries⁠[3]⁠.

Sumarokov, whose productions are very voluminous, and were once considered models of grace, beauty, and harmony, has been much neglected of late years. His dramatic compositions are, for the most part, gross and indecent; his contemptuous jealousy of Lomonosov, though so greatly his superior, is often most ridiculously intruding itself; but in one point of view, at least, he is entitled to respect and gratitude. He is the eldest of the Russian fabulists; the introducer of a species of composition, in which Russian poetry possesses treasures more varied and more valuable than that of any other nation. It is no mean praise to say, and it may be said truly, that Russia can produce more than one rival of the delightful La Fontaine. Of the dramatic writings of Sumarokov, the best is the tragedy Demitrĭj Samosvanelz, or The False Demetrius⁠[4]⁠, which has been translated into English.

Von Visin, who seems to have made Moliere his model, improved greatly upon Sumarokov. His two most celebrated comedies are Nedorosl, The Spoilt Youth, and Brigadir, The Brigadier⁠[5]⁠.

Kheraskov holds a high rank among the lyric poets of Russia. He died a few years ago. He was curator of the Moscow University. He published a collection of his poems, which he entitled Bakhariana, ili Neisviëstnĭj; Bachariana, or The Unknown; but his great work is Rossiada, ili Rasrushchenie Kasanij; The Russiad, or The Destruction of Kasan.

But of all the poets of Russia, Derzhavin is in my conception entitled to the very first place. His compositions breathe a high and sublime spirit; they are full of inspiration. His versification is sonorous, original, characteristic; his subjects generally such as allowed him to give full scope to his ardent imagination and lofty conceptions. Of modern poets, he most resembles Klopstock: his Oda Bog, Ode on God, with the exception of some of the wonderful passages of the Old Testament, “written with a pen of fire,” and glowing with the brightness of heaven, passages of which Derzhavin has frequently availed himself, is one of the most impressive and sublime addresses I am acquainted with, on a subject so pre-eminently impressive and sublime. The first poem which excited the public attention to him was his Felitza.

Bogdanovich has obtained the title of the Russian Anacreon. His Dushenka (Psyche) is a graceful and lovely poem. I mean at some future time to give some extracts from this poem, with specimens of the Russian epics, and longer poetical compositions, which I hope to collect into one volume. He has also written several dramatic pieces.

Bobrov was well acquainted with the literature of the South of Europe, and has transfused many of its beauties into his native tongue. Our English writers especially have given great assistance to his honest plagiarism. His Khersonida, an oriental epic poem, is not so good as Lalla Rookh, but it is very good notwithstanding.

Kapnist has written on a variety of subjects—odes, songs, romances and translations.

The name of Kostrov closes the list of the most eminent among the deceased poets of Russia. He died, not long ago, in the meridian of his days. He had made an admirable translation of Homer, and was engaged in a version of Ossian, which he left unfinished: the conclusion has since been added by Gnœdich.

Of all the living writers of Russia, or rather of all the writers Russia ever produced, the most successful and the most popular is Karamsin. Derzhavin called him long ago “the nightingale of poetry,” but it is not to his poetry alone that he owes his fame. Standing on the summit of modern literature in Russia, he has been loaded with honours and distinctions, which, however, have not served to check his wonted urbanity, or to chill his natural goodness of heart. When a young writer, he was fond of imitating Sterne⁠[6]⁠; a very bad model, it may be added, since the peculiarities which characterize him are only tolerable because they are original. Karamsin’s style was then usually abrupt and unnatural, and its sentimentality wearisome and affected. But he has outlived his errors, and established his reputation on their subjection. His great undertaking, the Rossijskaje Istorije (History of Russia), is, without comparison, the first and best literary work which has been produced in the country it celebrates. It was received with loud eulogiums throughout the Russian empire; it has been translated into several European languages; and will probably long maintain a pre-eminent rank among Russian classics, and become one of the standard authorities of history⁠[7]⁠.

The peculiar excellence of the Russian fabulists has been mentioned. Sumarokov and Khemnitzer, Dmitriev and Krĭlov, are the most distinguished among them. Dmitriev, who is still living at Moscow, has published a great number of fables and ballads, besides translations from the Latin and other languages. His style is easy, harmonious, and energetic: some of his compositions have a sublimer character; his religious poetry is dignified and solemn; his elegies are tender and affecting.

Krĭlov holds an office in the Imperial library at Petersburg. He is well known to the bons vivans of the English club. His heavy and unwieldy appearance is singularly contrasted with the shrewdness and the grace of his writings. He stings like a wasp, and flies laughingly away, but always leaves his sting behind him. He has published one volume of fables, remarkable for their spirit and originality. He now employs himself in translating Herodotus, having, at an advanced period of life, first entered on the study of the languages of ancient Greece and Rome.

Zhukovskij has printed some poetical translations of distinguished merit from the German, French and English. Among these, his version of Gray’s elegy is entitled to particular praise. For the sake of comparison I give the epitaph.

This piece is one among very many translations from the English. The following verse from Goldsmith’s Edwin and Angelina will be perhaps recognised from its cadence alone.

His Liudmilla (an imitation of Leonora) is deemed more beautiful and forcible than the original itself. He has written on a variety of subjects, and is now engaged as a companion to the Grand Dukes.

I believe Batiushkov is now in Italy. He has published translations from Tibullus and other classics. His most celebrated composition is his Address to his Penates, which will be found in the present volume. As it introduces in a very agreeable manner the most eminent of the Russian poets, and contains some allusion to Russian manners, it will not, I hope, be without interest to the English reader.

There are many other names which the narrow limits of this volume will not allow to be introduced at length. Mersljekov’s translations from the Greek and Latin classics: those of Gnœdich, Knjezhnin, Milonov, Volkov and Bunina from different sources: Rodsjenkai from Addison, and many others, have produced an admirable effect upon the taste of the nation, and given noble examples for the imitation of Russian bards.

I can scarcely hope to satisfy those who are masters of Russian literature. I have not always satisfied myself; for, far from any feelings of self-complacency, to do full justice to some of the poets of Russia has been beyond the compass of my powers. In the instance of Bogdanovich, especially, the charm I have felt, I have not been able to convey.

No one can be more alive than I am to the extreme difficulty of communicating to a foreign version the peculiar characters of the original. The grace, the harmony, the happy arrangement, the striking adaptation of words to ideas; every thing, in fact, except the primary and naked thought, requires for its perfect communication a genius equal to its first conception: and, in truth, there are but few instances of enduring and deserved reputation dependent only on successful poetical translations, unaided by the merits of distinguished original works.

One thing, however, is certain; I have intended no wrong,—I hope I have done no wrong, to the names and to the works I now introduce to my countrymen; I mean only to be an honest, conscientious interpreter. Many of the charms of their compositions have probably escaped me: their faults, I am afraid, are but too faithfully rendered; I have discovered many, but I dared not meddle with them.

The measure of the original has been generally preserved. This adhesion to one of the distinguishing characters of poetical composition has been made of late quite a point of conscience in Germany (a country which possesses a greater number of excellent and faithful translations than all the united world besides); and as far as the genius of the language will admit, I hope it will become so in England⁠[8]⁠. It would have been well if our early translators had been more honest and correct in this particular—their aberrations have given a sort of sanction to the wanderings of others. The future poets of Russia have excellent precursors to study, especially as regards the fidelity of their early versions.

A few words on the peculiarities of the Russian language will not, perhaps, be misplaced⁠[9]⁠.

The mother-tongue of nearly forty millions of human beings, and which in the course of thirteen centuries has undergone no radical change, is indeed entitled to some attention. All Russian grammarians claim for it an antiquity at least equal to that of the city of Novogorod. The oldest written documents that exist are two treaties with the Greek emperors, made by Oleg, A.D. 912, and Igor, A.D. 943. Christianity, introduced into Russia at the beginning of the eleventh century by Vladimir the Great, brought with it many words of Greek origin. The Tartars added considerably to the vocabulary during the two centuries of their domination. The intercourse which Peter the Great established with foreign nations, increased it still more; and of late years a great number of words have been amalgamated with it from the French, German, and English. It is now one of the richest, if not the richest, of all the European languages, and contains a multitude of words which can only be expressed by compounds and redundant definitions in any northern tongues. Schlözer calculates, that of the five hundred roots on which the modern Russ is raised, three-fourths of the number are derived from Greek, Latin, and German. Many are of Sans-crit origin, of which Adelung published a list in 1811⁠[10]⁠.

Printing was introduced into Russia about the middle of the sixteenth century. The oldest printed book which has been discovered is a Sclavonic Psalter, bearing the date Kiev, 1551; two years after, a press was established in Moscow. The Sclavonic alphabet, said to have been introduced by Cyrillus in the ninth century, consists of forty-two letters. The modern Russ has only thirty-five: those unknown to the English are as follows:

Letters. Sounds and Orthography adopted.

Ж⁠[11] zh.

Ф ph.

Х⁠[12] kh (guttural).

Ц tz.

Ч ch (as in chance).

Ш sh.

Щ⁠[13] shtsh, or shch.

Ы⁠[14] ĭ (dull i).

Ъ⁠[15] terminal.

Ь⁠[16] ditto.

Ѣ⁠[17] œ.

Ю⁠[18] iu.

Я je.

Besides these, there are several letters which seem almost identical as to sound.

Е and Э⁠[19] for e.

И — І⁠[20] — i.

С — З⁠[21] — s.

Of the above,

Щ appears a compound of Ш and Ч.

Ю —————————— І — У.

Я —————————— І — Е.

Ѳ (theta) and Ѵ (upsilon) form a part of the Russian alphabet, but are seldom used. h⁠[22]⁠, c⁠[23]⁠, x⁠[24]⁠, f⁠[25]⁠, w⁠[26]⁠, are wanting altogether.

The Russian language may be adapted to almost every species of versification. It is flexible, harmonious, full of rhythmus, rich in compounds, and possesses all the elements of poetry. From the following examples in different measures, some idea may be formed of its natural music.

ADONICS OF FIVE SYLLABLES.

TROCHAICS OF SEVEN AND EIGHT SYLLABLES.

IAMBICS OF SIX AND SEVEN SYLLABLES.

DACTYLICS OF SEVEN AND EIGHT SYLLABLES.

ALEXANDRINES.

HEXAMETERS AND PENTAMETERS.

Rimes are either masculine or feminine; the former have the accent on the last syllable, the latter on the penultimate:

Masculine. Feminine.

iskál lobóiu

stál krasóiu

tzár póru

tvár góru⁠[33]⁠

The productions of the Russian press are no index to the national cultivation. The great majority of that extensive empire are yet little removed from the uncivilized and brutish state in which they were left by the Ruriks and the Vladimirs of other times. Unfortunately, society has few gradations; and there is no influence so unfriendly to improvement, no state of things so hopeless, as that produced by a domestic slavery built upon the habits of ages. In Russia, the next step from absolute dependence is nobility; at least, the intermediate classes are very inconsiderable. The strength, the intelligence, the public and the private virtue, of our middling ranks, which serve so admirably to cement the social edifice, are there wanting. All sympathy is partial and exclusive. In this country, the spirit of information, wherever elicited, rapidly spreads over and glows in every link of the electrical chain of society. It mounts aspiringly, if it have its origin among the less privileged orders; and it descends through all the beautiful gradations of rank, when it has its birth in the higher circles: it is diffusive—it is all-enlightening. But in Russia, however bright the flame, it is pent up, it cannot spread. The noble associates with the noble: the slave herds with the slave; but man has no communion with man. No spot is there, whether sacred to science or to virtue, in which the “rich and poor” may “meet together,” equalized though but for a moment, as if the common Father were indeed “the Maker of all;” and assuredly the Russian nation can make no striking progress in civilization till the terrible barriers which so completely separate the different ranks are destroyed. The million, uninstructed and unambitious, will, it is to be feared, be long held in the fetters of vassalage. The personal interests of the ruling few are too clearly, too fatally opposed to the melioration of the subject many, to allow any thing to be hoped for from these Lords of the soil. There are, it must be confessed, active minds, generous energies, at work; but where is their influence seen? To lead such an immense nation through the different stages of improvement, to rational and permanent liberty, were indeed an object worthy of the most aspiring, the most glorious ambition. It were an achievement not to be hailed by the blast of trumpet, nor the roar of artillery; (the world, recovering from its drunken infatuation, is well nigh weary of the unholy triumphs which have been thus celebrated;) it were an achievement which would hand down the name of him who should effect it to future ages, linked with the gratitude, the virtue, the happiness, of successive and long enduring generations.

I must not, however, be misunderstood. The language of despondency, as to the progressive improvement and ultimate civilization of Russia, would be unwarrantable and insincere. If, in the vassalage which depresses and degrades the most numerous class in that country, we look in vain for any redeeming circumstance, to create or to encourage the expectation of a speedy and considerable change; still there is little fear of active opposition to the progress of truth and knowledge, among the immense majority of the people; that is, among the hereditary slaves. They are an inert, unintellectual mass, who, though they will not probably make sufficient advances, under the present system, to bring about any very perceptible improvement themselves, will certainly be little disposed to take any measures in support of an arbitrary system, or to offer any resistance to those changes whose benign effects they would so speedily feel. But, as far as they are concerned, improvement must follow, rather than lead to, any important melioration. A middle class, as yet neither numerous nor powerful, is withal growing up in Russia; by and by, they will form the link between the oppressor and the oppressed. The pride of the first will be brought down; the ambition of the last will be excited. Bosoms will begin to glow with hope and ardor, which are now frozen beneath the wintry touch of bondage; and Russia, full as she is of the materials out of which great minds are formed, may yet perhaps take her stand in intellectual eminence among the nations of Europe, at no distant period.

For the interesting notices at the close of this volume I am indebted to my illustrious friend Von Adelung. Thus to thank him is the least return I can make.

J. B.

FOOTNOTES:

RUSSIAN ANTHOLOGY.