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854 COXE’s TRAVELS IN RUSSIA’
Lomonozof excelled in various kinds of compofition ; but his chief merit is derived
from his odes. The firft was written in 1739, while he ftudied in Germany, on the
capture of Kotfchin, a fortrefs of Crim ‘Tartary, by Marfhal Munic. The odes of Los
monozof are greatly admired for originality of invention, fublimity of fentiment, and
energy of language, and compenfate for their turgid ftyle, by that fpirit and fire, which
are the principal charatteriftics in this fpecies of compofition. Pindar was his great
model; and if we may give credit to a perfon * well verfed in the Ruffian tongue, he has
fucceeded in this daring attempt to imitate the Theban bard, without incurring the cen-
fure of Horace ft. In this, as well as feveral other fpecies of compofition, he enriched
his native language with various kinds of metre, and merited the appellation beftowed
on him, ** The Father of Ruffian Poetry.”
A brief recapitulation of the principal works of Lomonozof, printed in three volumes
o&tavo, will fhew the verfatility of his genius, and his extenfive knowledge in various
branches of literature :
The firft volume, befide a preface on the advantages derived to the Ruffian tongue
from thé ecclefiaftical writings, contains ten facred and nineteen panegyric odes, and
feveral occafional pieces of poetry.
The fecond comprifes an Eflay, in profe, on the rules of Ruffian Poetry; tranflation
of a German ode; Idylls; Tamira and Selim, a tragedy; Demophoon, a tragedy;
Poetical Epiftle on the Utility of Glafs; two cantos of an epic poem, intitled Peter
the Great; a congratulatory copy of verfes; an Ode; tranflation of Baptifte Rouf-
feau’s ode, Sur le Bonheur ; Heads of a courfe of leétures on Natural Philofophy; certain
paffages, tranflated in verfe and profe, according to the originals, from Cicero, Erafmus,
Lucian, lian, Ammianus Marcellinus, Quintus Curtius, Homer, Virgil, Martial, Ovid,
Horace, and Seneca, which Ruffian tranflations were brought as examples in his Lec-
tures upon Rhetoric; laftly, defcription of the Comet which appeared in 1744.
The third volume confifts chiefly of fpeeches and treatifes read before the academy 5
panegyric on the Emprefs Elizabeth ; on Peter the Great; treatife on the advantages
of chymilti’y ; on the phenomena of the air, occafioned by the eleétrical fire, witha
Latin tranflation of the fame; on the origin of light, as a new theory of colours; mee
thods to determine with precifion the courfe of a veffel; on the origin of metals by the
means of earthquakes; Latin differtation on folidity and fluidity; on the Tranfit of
Venus th 1761, with a German tranflation f.
Befides thefe various fubje€ts, Lomonozof made no inconfiderable’ figure in hiftory,
having publifhed two {mall works relative to that of his own country. The firlt, ftyled
Annals of the Ruffian Sovereigns, is ’a fhort chronology of the Ruffian monarchs ; the
fecond is the Ancient Hiftoty of Ruffia, from the origin of that nation to the death of
the Great Duke Yaroflaf I. in 10543; a performance of great merit, as it illuftrates the
moft difficult and obfcure period in the annals of this country.
Lomonozof wasalfo an admirer of the arts; made fome proficiency in painting, and
diftincuifhed himfelf by copying in mofaic. The portraits of the regent Anne and Peter
the Third, done by Lomonozof in mofaic, are ftill preferved in the gallery at Orani-
enbaum,
* L’Evefque, who fays of him, “ IH eft peutsétre le feul émule de Pindare,””
+ « Pindarum quifquis ftudet emulari,” &c. L’Ode de Lomonofof fit comnoftre aox Ruffes les vérita-
bles tegles de la hatmonie. I e Clerc.
+ Mr. Damafkin, who publithed this complete edition of Lomonozof’s works, received from the Emprefs
a prefent of rool, Set Ruff. Bib. tor 1780, p. 338.
Alexander
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