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COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA: 859
endure to fee with patience this noble and much-efteemed art, which had been confe-
crated by Homer, Virgil, and other great men, profaned by perfons without judgment
or abilities. ‘Thefe pretenders, he would fay, fhock the public with their nonfenfe in
rhyme, and clothe their monftrous conceptions in the dre{s of the Mufes. The public
recoil from them with difguft and averfion; and, deceived by their appearance, treat
with irreverence thofe children of heaven, the true Mufes.”’ .
The examples,of Lomonozof and Sumorokof have tended to diffufe a fpirit of poetry,
and a tafte for polite learning, among the Ruffians, and they are fucceeded by a nume-
xous band of pocts*. Of thefe I fhall only mention one writer, who has diflinguifhed
himfelf by compofing the firft epic poem in the Ruflian tongue.
Michael Kherafkof, a perfon of a noble family, has excelled in feveral fpecies of cont.
pofition, His works are, a poem on the Utility of Science, feveral tragedies and
‘comedies, Pindaric odes, anacreontics, fables, idyls, and fatires, a romance called
Ariadne in Thebes, Numa Pompilius, a poem, in four cantos, in honour of the naval
victory over the Turks at the battle of Tchefme. But the piece by which he has ac-
quired the greateft fame, is an epic poem in twelve cantos, called the Rossrapa, writ.
ten in Jambic meafure of fix feet in rhyme. The fubje&t is the conqueft of Cafan by
Ivan. Vaflilievitch I. or, as the author has expreffed himfelf, ‘I fing Ruilia delivered
from the yoke of barbarians; the might of the Tartars laid low, and their pride
humbled: I fing the flrifes and bloody conflis of ancient armies; Ruffia’s triumph,
and Cafan’s fubjection.”’ ‘This work is greatly admired by the natives, and may juftly
be confidered as forming an epoch in the hiftory of their poetry. The general plan
feems well difpofed; the events follow each other in a rapid but orderly fucceffion;
and the imagination of the reader is kept alive by frequent fcenes of terror, in which
~ the author feems to excel. ‘The fubject is extremely interefting to the Ruffians; and
the poet has artfully availed himfelf of the popular belief, by the introduction of faints
and martyrs for the machinery of his poem. Le Clerc informs us, that this poem,
while it contains feveral ftriking paflages of great beauty, is in many parts deficient in ,
harmony ; a defect, he adds, which the author by retouching and correcting, is capable
of removing.
Kherafkof has not failed of acquiring the rewards due to his extraordinary talents ;
having been fucceflively appointed vice-prefident of the college of mines, counfellor of
ftate, and curator of the univerfity of Mofcow.
Lomonozof is a rare, and perhaps a fingle inftance of any Ruffian of low degree,
not an ecclefiaftic, who attained to great eminence in literature. But probably fuch
examples will foon ceafe to be uncommon ; fince the {chools, inftituted by Catharine
in every province of her wide-extended empire, will facilitate the acquifition of learning
among the lower clafs of people; fince the zeal for inquiry is {pread among the na-
tives, and honour and promotion are known by experience to be certain attendants on
literary acquifitions. Indeed, fuch is the {pirit with which the Emprefs proteéts and
encourages learning, that fcarcely any work of merit makes its appearance, for which
the author does not inftantly receive fome mark of diftinction or liberality.
To fpread a tafte of literature among her fubjeéts, Catharine appointed, in 1768,
a committee to order and fuperintend tranflations of the claflics, and the beft modern
-authors, into the Ruffian tongue; andallowed roool. per annum towards defraying
the expence of fuch undertakings f.
With
* Many of thefe are enumerated by Mr. Le Clerc, Hift, Mod. p. 78—98.
The following is a lift of the tranflations which had made their appearance before the 8th July 1774.
See Ruff. Bib. for 1775,P: 74+
oy Homer’s
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