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COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA. 823
arrangement of the work. The papers, which had been hitherto publifhed in the Latin
tongue, are now written either in that language or French; and a preface is added,
ftyled Partie Hiftorique, which contains an account of the proceedings, meetings, ad-
mifflion of new members, and other occurrences*. Of the Commentaries, fourteen
volumes were publifhed; the firft of the New Commentaries made its appearance in
1750, and the twentieth in 1776. Under the title of A@a Academia, feveral volumes
have been given to the public: and two are to be printed every year. ‘Vhefe tranfac-
tions abound with ingenious and elaborate difquifitions on various parts of fcience and
natural hiltory, which refle& great honour upon their authors; and it may not be an
exaggeration to affert, that no fociety in Europe has more diftinguifhed itfelf for the
excellence of its publications, particularly in the abftrufe parts of the pure and mixed
mathematics.
The academy is ftill compofed, as at firft, of fifteen profeffors, the prefident and
director. Each profeffor has a houfe and an annual ftipend from 200l. to 6ool. Be-
fide the profeffors, there are four adjuncts, who are alfo penfioned; they are at pre-
fent at the fittings of the fociety, and fucceed to the firft vacancies.
This general account of the eftablifhment, progrefs, and prefent {tate of the Aca-
demy, will be naturally fucceeded by a defcription of the library, the cabinet of natu-
ral hiftory, and the other curiofities, which { vifited feveral times during my ftay at
Peterfburgh:
The library owed its origin to 2,500 volumes which Peter the Great feized at Mittau,
in his Swedifh campaign; it was afterwards increafed by the bounty of that emperor,
and of his fucceflors, and kately enriched by the curious collection of Prince Radzivil at
Newitz, taken by the Ruffians in 1772, during the troubles of Poland. M. Bachmeifter
informed me, that fince this laft acquifition, the number of books amounted to thirty-
fix thoufand. The moft ancient MSS. are the Lives of the Saints, written in 1298,
and a Chronicle of Neftor, the earlieft hiftorian of this empire. ‘This chronicle, to-
gether with thofe of Novogorod, Plefcof, of the Ukraine, Cafan, and Aftracan, the
genealogical tables of the early greatdukes, from Vladimir the Great to the Tzar Ivan
Vaffilievitch, compiled in the 12th, 13th, 14th, and following centuries, convinced me,
that Ruffia is extremely rich, as well in documents relating to its more remote annals,
as to thofe of later times t. They are all written in the Sclavonian tongue. Among the
MSS. relating to the hiftory of Ruffia, muft not be omitted fixteen volumes in folio,
containing an acount of the negotiations of Peter’s minifters, from 1711 to 1716;
alfo thirty volumes of the official correfpondence of prince Mentchikof, from 1703 to
17173 thefe collections would ferve as good materials towards compiling an authentic
hiftory of Peter the Great, a work much wanted.
One MS. although of very modern date, is yet highly valued, on account of:
the auguft perfon by, whom it was written, and is preferved in an elegant box of bronze,
ilt. It contains the inftructions of the Emprefs to the committee delegated to form a
‘new code of laws; inftruCtions drawn up by herfelf, and written with her*own hand.
This MS. is always placed upon the table, whenever the members of the Academy hold
a folemn meeting.
Among feveral books, the librarian fhowed me a volume, containing the Aéts of
the Apoftles, and the Epiftles, which is curious, as being the firft book printed in
Ruffia {; it bears the date of 1564, and iffued from the prefs eftablifhed at Mofcow.
* AGa Pet. for 1771. P. I. t+ See Chap. 8:
$ Mr. Nichols informs us, that this book was ten years in the prefs, and that the names of the firft
printers were Ivan Hoderfon and Peter Timofioffson. See ‘* The Origin of Printing, 1776,” p. 288.
7 The
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