ct. The system
of education pursued within its walls is of the most complete nature,
partaking, as may be concluded from what we have said, of both a
scientific and literary character; and a single glance at a list of the
first course (of which Pushkin was a member) will suffice to show, that
it counted, among its numbers, many names destined to high distinction.
Among the comrades and intimate friends of Pushkin at the Lyceum, must
be mentioned the elegant poet, the Baron Delvig, whose early death was
so irreparable a loss to Russian literature, and must be considered as
the severest personal bereavement suffered by Pushkin--"his brother," as
he affectionately calls him, in the muse as in their fate. Nor must we
forget Admiral Matiushkin, a distinguished seaman now living, and
commanding the Russian squadron in the Black Sea. We could specify a
number of other names, all of more or less note in their own country,
though the reputation of many of them has not succeeded, for various
reasons, in passing the frontiers.

From the system of study, no less than from the peculiar social
character, if we may so express it, which has always prevailed in the
Lyceum of Tsarskoe Selo, we must deduce the cause of the peculiar
intensity and durability of the friendships contracted within its
bosom--a circumstance which still continues to distinguish it to a
higher degree than can be predicated of any other institution with which
we are acquainted; and we allude to this more pointedly from the
conviction, that it would be absolutely impossible to form a true idea
of Pushkin--not only as man, but even as a poet--were we to leave out of
our portrait the immense influence exerted on the whole of his career,
both in the world of reality and in the regions of art, by the close and
intimate friendships he formed in the Lyceum, particularly that with
Delvig. Few portions of poetical biography contain a purer or more
touching interest than the chapter describing the school or college
friendships of illustrious men; and the innumerable allusions to Lyceum
comrades and Lyceum happiness, scattered so profusely over the pages of
Pushkin, have an indescribable charm to the imagination, not less
delightful than the recital of Byron's almost feminine affection for
"little Harness," or the oft-recalled image of the Noble Childe's boyish
meditation in the elm-shadowed churchyard of Harrow.

During the six years which Pushkin passed at the Lyceum, (fr