espotic activity of their sovereigns, with a
wonderful rapidity.

The history of Russian literature has five distinct periods. The
_first_ period comprises an interval of more than nine centuries, from
the date of our first knowledge of the Russian Slavi, to the coming of
age of Peter the Great. A.D. 1689. This period would easily admit of
several subdivisions; and did we pretend in these pages to give the
reader more than a _sketch_ of literary history, we should perhaps
find it advisable to adopt them. This long period, however, both in a
comparative and an absolute sense, is so very poor, that, limited as
we are, a few words will suffice to give a general survey of it; and
so much the more, because the productions of this period are closely
connected with the history of the Old Slavic language, and have mostly
been already mentioned under that head.

The _second_ period extends from the coming of age of Peter the Great
to the accession of Elizabeth his daughter, A.D. 1741, which was the
commencement of Lomonosof's influence.

The _third_ period extends from Lomonosof, the creator of Russian
prose, to Karamzin, the reformer of it, who was born in 1765.

The _fourth_ period covers the interval from Karamzin to the accession
of the emperor Nicholas in 1825.

The _fifth_ period begins with the accession of Nicholas in 1825, and
continues to the present time.

Before however we begin our historical notices, a few words relating
to the characteristic features of the Russian language, may find a
place here. Three principal dialects are to be distinguished, viz.

1. The _Russian proper_, the true literary language of the whole
Russian nation, and _spoken_ in Moscow and all the central and
northern part of the European Russian empire. And here we will
mention the remarkable fact, that the peasant on the Wolga, on the
Oka, and on the Moskwa, speaks the same pure Russian which is heard in
the parlour and from the pulpit. Vulgar and corrupted branches of this
dialect, are those of Suzdal and Olonetzk, the last of which is mixed
with Finnish words.

2. The _Malo-Russian_, the language of the south of Russia, especially
towards the east. The principal difference between this dialect and
the Russian proper, consists partly in the pronunciation of several
letters; e.g. in that of the consonant [Cyrillic: character ghe],
which sounds in the latter like _g_ hard, but in the former like _h_,
as _hospodin_ instead of _gospodin