around a stick of
box-wood; and, after putting in two brilliant black stones as eyes,
two leeches as eyebrows, and two rows of pearls as teeth, put honey in
his mouth, and entreat him "to eat and to speak." In another ballad,
of a more serious description, "George's young wife" loses at once in
battle her husband, her brideman (_paranymphos_, in Servia a female's
legitimate friend through life), and her brother. The gradations of
the poetess in her description of the widow's mourning are very
characteristic, and give no high idea of conjugal attachments in
Servia.

For her husband, she has cut her hair;
For her brideman she has torn her face;
For her brother she has plucked her eyes out.
Hair she cut, her hair will grow again;
Face she tore, her face will heal again;
But the eyes, they'll never heal again,
Nor the heart, which bleedeth for the brother.

After having thus attempted to point out to the reader what we
consider as the _general_ characteristic features of Slavic popular
poetry, we proceed to add a few remarks on the _distinguishing_ traits
of the different nations of the Slavic race individually, so far as
our limits permit.

And here it is among the nations of the EASTERN STEM that we must look
for our principal harvest. We follow the same order as in the former
parts of this work.

The RUSSIANS have very few ballads of high antiquity; and, even in
this small number, hardly any one has reference to the heroic prose
tales, which are the delight of Russian nurseries.

The Russians have indeed nursery tales (_skazki_) of all descriptions;
and we have often heard, that, during the first decennium of the
present century, still many an old-fashioned country squire, many a
country gentlewoman brought up among her female slaves like an
oriental princess, were in the habit of having themselves lulled to
sleep by them. They are almost invariably told in the same words; and
as much as possible with the same intonation of voice. One
_Skazkochnik_, or _Skazkochnitza_, adopts this manner from another.
The traditions of Vladimir and his giant heroes are the favourite, but
not the exclusive subjects of these tales. They are also printed and
sold separately; with a coarse wood-cut on the upper part of every
page, representing the scene described, and the back of the page
empty. We are told that they are mostly got up by "Deacons," a class
of the lower clergy, in their leisure hours. It is probable th