Russian reader must be cautioned not to confuse
Ivan III. (surnamed Velikiy, or the Great) with Ivan IV., the
Cruel, the latter of whom is to foreigners the most prominent
figure in the Russian history. Ivan III. mounted the throne in
1462, and his terrible namesake in 1534; the reign of Vassiliy
Ivanovitch intervening between these two memorable epochs.

The picturesque career of Lomonosoff gave materials for a romantic
biography of that poet, the work of Xenophont Polevoi, resembling, in
its mixture of truth and fiction, the "Wahrheit und Dichtung" of Goethe.

Among the considerable number of romances already mentioned, those
exhibiting scenes of private life and domestic interest have not been
neglected. Kalashnikoff wrote "The Merchant Jaloboff's Daughter," and
the "Kamtchadalka," both describing the scenery and manners of Siberia;
the former painting various parts of that wild and interesting country,
the latter confined more particularly to the Peninsula of Kamtchatka.
Besides Gogol, whose easy and prolific pen has presented us with so many
humorous sketches of provincial life, we cannot pass over Begitcheff,
whose "Kholmsky Family" possesses much interest; but the delineations of
Gogol depend so much for their effect upon delicate shades of manner,
&c., that it is not probable they can ever be effectively reproduced in
another language.

Mentioning Peroffsky, whose "Monastirka" gives a picture of Russian
interior life, we pass to Gretch, an author of some European reputation.
His "Trip to Germany" describes, with singular piquancy, the manners of
a very curious race--the Germans of St Petersburg; and "Tchernaia
Jenstchina," "the Black Woman," presents a picture of Russian society,
which was welcomed with great eagerness by the public.

The object of these pages being to invite the attention of British
readers to a very rich field, in a literature hitherto most
unaccountably neglected by the English public, the present would not be
a fit occasion to enter with any minuteness into the history of Russian
letters, or to give, in fact, more than a passing allusion to its chief
features; the translator hopes that he will be excused for the
meagreness of the present notice.

He will be abundantly repaid for his exertions, by the discovery of any
increasing desire on the part of his countrymen to become more
accurately acquainted with the character of a nation, worthy, he is
convinced, of a