of
translation. He then published them, with the original, in the year
1825. The perfect harmlessness and _naivete_ of this author has made
him also a favourite of the government; and when, twelve years ago, he
celebrated his seventieth birthday, honours and distinctions of all
kinds were accumulated on his head.

As dramatic poets, Shakhofskoi, Chmelnitzky, Gribojedof,[35] and
Ozerof, must be mentioned; the first three chiefly as writers of
comedies; the last as the author of a very popular drama entitled
_Gore ot Uma_, Miseries of Intellect. While it cannot be doubted that
the Russians have a decided talent for the comic, both as writers and
as actors, it is still a fact that they have never produced a single
tragedy of great power. Ozerof, who wrote quite a number of them,
belongs more in spirit to the preceding period; during which the
French was the only acknowledged model. The success he met with can
be explained only by the want of competitors.

No form of poetry has found more favour in Russia than the historical
novel. It was cultivated to some extent at this time; but the flower
of this branch falls more properly within the following period. A
voluminous novel, entitled _Bursak_ by B. Nareshnoi, belonged to
another species. It was written with a good deal of harmless humour,
somewhat in the style of Le Sage's Gil Blas. It narrated the history
of a _Bursarian_, or scholar of one of the monastic seminaries in
Malo-Russia; and is full of adventures, lively descriptions of
manners, and amusing incidents.[36]

The literature of translations continued to occupy very many pens.
Here must be mentioned: Gnjeditch's version of the Iliad; Merzljakof's
translation of Tasso's Jerusalem; Wojeikof's AEneid; Martynof's
translation of several ancient classics, etc.

To foreigners, the travels of the Russians by sea and land offer the
most interesting and instructive part of their literature. The most
distinguished of their well known expeditions have indeed been
conducted by Germans, as Krusenstern, Kotzebue, Bellinghausen,
Wrangel; some however by Russians, as Golovnin, Lazaref, and others;
and the results of all of them contribute to the honour of Russia, and
are laid up in the temple of her literature. The regions of
Malo-Russia, the Caucasus, and Taurida, of which comparatively little
was known, were explored by Muraviev-Apostol, Glinka, Bronefsky, and
others; and described by them in valuable volumes. An account of