b o o k r e t u r n e d into Ruflia; was chofen in 1742 adjunct to the
, imperial academy ; and in the enfuing year member o f that
fociety, and profeflbr o f cbymiftry. In 1760 he was appointed
inipedtor o f the feminary, then annexed to the academy
; in 17 64 he was gratified by the prefent emprefs with
the title of counfellor of ftate ; and died on the 4th o f April
that year, in the 54th year o f his age.
Lomohozof excelled in various, kinds o f compofitions;
but his chief merit, by which he bears the firfi: rank among
the Ruffian writers, is derived from his poetical compofitions,
the fineft o f which are his odes. The firfi; was written in
i y 39, while he ftudied in Germany, upon the taking of
Kotfchin, a fortrefs o f Crim Tartary, b y marffial Munich.
The odes o f Lomonozof are greatly admired for originality
o f invention, fublimity o f fentiment, and energy o f language ;
and compenfate for the turgid ftyle which, in fome inftances,
has been imputed to them, by that fpirit and fire, which are
the principal charadteriftics in this fpecies o f compofition,
Pindar was his great model ; and if we may give credit to
a perfon * well verfed in the Ruffian tongue, he has fuc-
ceeded in this daring attempt to imitate the Theban bard,
without incurring the cenfure o f Horace+.
In this, as well as feveral other fpecies o f compofition, he
enriched his native language with various kinds o f metre,
and feems to have merited the appellation bellowed upon
him of, the Father o f Ruffian Poetry.
A brief recapitulation o f the principal works o f Lomonozof,
which were printed in three volumes odtavo, will
* L ’Evefque , w h o la y s o f h im , “ II eft L ’O d e de L om o n o fo f fit connoitre aux
“ peu t-ê tre le feul émule de Pin d a re .” RuiTes les véritab les reg ies de la harmonie,
“ piada rum quiftpiis ftu d e tæm u la r i,” & c . L e C le r c ,
ferve
p o e t s ; fi,,
ferve to ihow the verfatility o f his genius, and his extehfive c h a p .
knowledge in various branches o f literature. . vni' .
The firfi: volume, befide a preface on the advantages derived to the Ruffian
tongue from the ecclefiaftical writings, contains ten facred and nineteen
panegyrick odes,, and feveral oecafion al pieces of poetry.
The fécond comprifes an Efiay in Profe, on the rules for Ruffian poetry ;
tranllation of a. German Ode.j Idylls 5 Tamira and Selim, a tragedy De-
mophoon, a tragedy . Poetical Epiftle on rhe Utility of Glafs ; two cantos-
of an epick Poem, entitled Peter the Great ; a congratulatory copy of verfes ;
an Ode; tranllation of Baptift RoufTeau’s ode, Sur le Bonheur; Heads of a
Courfe of Leflures on Natural Philofophy ; certain palfages tranflated in
verfe and profe, according to the original, from Cicero, Erafmus, Lucian,
Ælia'n, Ammianus Marcellinus, Quintus Curtius, Homer, Virgil, Martial,
Ovid, Horace,and Seneca, which Ruffian tranflations were brought as examples
in his Le&ures upon Rhetorick ; laftly, defcription of the Comet
which appeared in 1744.
The third volume confifts chiefly of fpeeches and treatifes read before-
the academy ; panegyrick on the emprefs Elizabeth ; on Peter the Great •
treatife on the advantages of chymiftry ; on the- phænomenaofthe air occa-
fioned by the eletfirical fire, with a Latin tranllation of the fame ; On thè origin
of light, as a new theory of colours; methods to determine with preci-
fion the couffe of a veffel ; on the origin of metals by the means of earthquakes
; Latin difiertation on folidity and fluidity; on theTranfit of Venus,
jn 1761, with a German tranllation *.
Befide thefe various fubjeits, Lomonozof made no ineon-
fiderable figure in hiftory, having publiffied two fmalh
works relative to that o f his own country. The firfi, ftyfed
Annals o f the Ruffian Sovereigns, is a ffiort chronology o f
the Ruffian monarchs ; and the fécond is the Antient Hiftory
of Ruffia, from the origin o f that nation tö thè death o f
the greàt-duke Yaroflaf I. in 1034; a performance o f great
merit, as it illuftrates the moil difficult and obfeure period
in the annals o f this country.
Mr. Damafkin, who publifhed- this received from the emprefs a prelent of Ztioo-
complete edition of Lomonozof’s works, See Ruf.JBib. for 17.S0, p. 33S..
Alexander