b o o k feems particularly to excel. ' The fubje<ft is extremely inte-.
«— ,— i refting to the Ruffians ; and the poet has artfully availed
himfelf of the popular belief by the introduction of faints
and martyrs for the machinery o f his poetn.
Mr. Le Clere informs us, that this poem, while it contains
ieveral ftriking paffages o f great beauty, is in many parts
deficient in harmony ; a defect, he adds, which the author,
by retouching and corredting, is capable o f removing.
Mr. Kherafkof has not in theprefent reign* failed o f acquiring
the rewards due to his extraordinary talents; having been
fucceffively appointed vice-prefident o f the college o f mines,
counfellor o f ftate, and curator o f the univerfity o f Mofcow.
Lomonozofis a rare, and perhaps a fingle inftatiee o f any
Ruffian o f low degree, who was not an ecclefiaftick, that has
attained, from fo mean a condition, to great eminence in literature.
But it is probable, that fuch examples will foon ceafe
to be uncommon; fince the fchools, inftituted by Catharine
in every province o f her wide-extended empire, will facilitate
the acquifition o f learning among the lower clafs o f people ;
fince the zeal for inquiry is fpread among the natives ; and
honour and promotion are known by experience to be the
certain attendants on literary acquifitions. Indeed, fuch is
the fpirit with which the emprefs protedls and encourages
learning, that fcarcely any work o f merit makes its appearance,
for which the author does not in it m 11 y receive ibme
mark of diftindtion or liberality.
In order to fpread a tafte o f literature among herfubjefe,
Catharine appointed, in 1768, a committee to order and fu-
perintend tranflations o f the clafficks, and the belt modern
authors, into the Ruffian tongue; and allowed ^1000 per
annum towards defraying the expence o f fuch undertakings.
The
The following is a lift o f the tranflations which had made CHAP-
their appearance before the 8th o f July, 1774 *. ,
Homer’s Batrachomyomachia ; Characters of Theophraltus ;' Ælian ;
Herodlan; Diodorus Siculus; Terence; Cicero De Finibus j Csefar’s Commentaries
; Three Epiftles of Ovid ; his Metamorphofes in .pro* ; Tacitus de
Moribus Germanorum ; Paterculus; Valerius Maximus ; Stritter’s Memorise
populorum dim adDanuiiuniincoJfntium e Script. Byzan. Rifi.eruU- Muller’s
Account of the Ancient Inhabitants of Ruffia; iGmelin’s Travels through
Ruffia; Pallas’s Travels through Ruffia; His Pruffian Majefty’s Treatife on
the Reafon for making and repealing Laws ; Montefquieu\Conf,derations fur
U, m deur et k decadence des RomainsJ his Lyfsmaque, Dialogue de- Sylla et
dEucraty Efed fur If.Gm^ and Temple, J e Guide; Dimfdale^s Treatife on
Inoculation ; Chalotais fur l'Education ; Hiilory and Treatifes of the Atn-
flerdam Society for recovery of Drowned Perfons ; The Ottoman Empire;
Republick of Ragufa, Great-Britain, Portugal, Kingdom of Pruffia, from
Bufchmg’s Geography ; Voltaire’s Candide; a Dialogue o f St. Evremond
between three perfons of different fentiments ; various articles from the Encyclopedic;
Jdfti’s Foundation of- the Power and Happinefs of States- ■
tali,ere De la.maniéré de négocier avec Us foùvemins-, Reuffeàff-s Abridgement
o fSt. Pieyrds Projet ..d'une paix perpétuelle; St. Real’s Conjpirationdes
la République,de- Venice ; Vertot’s Revolutions Romaines ;
Mably s Riftotre Grecque ;_,Chinefe Refle&ions from the Manffiur tongue ;
Vjiiblç Worl.d i Lambert’s Traité de l'Àmiti'e ; Taffo’s JerufakmmeLibe-
rata- Gulliver’s Travels ; Jofeph Andrews; Jonathan Wild the Great;
me ia.; of the Ventriloqulfts ; Gëllërt’s Bètfcbwefler ; the Art of bèing poi
l L' tter8 uP°n' feveral Phyfical- and Philofophical Subjects ; Macquer’s
ymt ry.; the Duty, of an Officer ; Dictionary of the French Academy ;
vn the advantage, of-inftruaing Youth in Claffical Literature; Roliin’s
Belles Lettres ; Bell’s Journey through Ruffia.
This lift mentions 83 books, the tranflations whereof
V^ ^ ln ^Crpreis ; 78 o f which tranflations were making ;
63 which the committee propofed to .bc-tranllated.
* See R u ff. B ib . fo r 17 7 5 , p . 74..
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