place at the conferring of the academical degree.) It was on this
occasion that Pushkin was publicly saluted _Poet_, in the presence of
the Emperor, by the aged Derjavin--the greatest Russian poet then
living, and whose glory was so soon to be eclipsed by the young student
whom he prophetically applauded. It is impossible not to be affected by
the sight of the sunset of that genius whose brightest splendour is
worthily reflected in the sublime ode, "God"--one of the noblest lyrics
in the Russian, or, indeed, in any language--thus heralding, as it were,
the dawning of a more brilliant and enduring daybreak; even as in the
northern summer the vapoury evening glow melts imperceptibly into the
dawn, and leaves no night between.

This event, so calculated to impress the vivid and ardent imagination of
the young poet, has been most exquisitely described by himself in the
literary journal, "Sovremennik," (The Contemporary,) vol. viii. p. 241.

On quitting the Lyceum, in October 1817, Pushkin entered the civil
service, and was immediately attached to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. Young, noble, cultivated, possessed in the highest degree of
those talents which are certain to enchant society, he plunged, as might
naturally have been expected, with all the ardour of his African blood,
into the pleasures and amusements of the capital. His success in
society, and the eagerness with which he was welcomed every where, might
easily have been foreseen, particularly when we keep in mind the
universal hospitality which distinguishes the higher classes of Russian
society, and the comparative rarity in this country of literary
celebrity, which tends to render merit of that nature certain of a
respectful, if not exaggerated appreciation. "The three years," to quote
the words of one--himself a personal friend of the poet's--who has
succeeded in seizing with admirable fidelity the principal features of
Pushkin's intellectual physiognomy, "the three years which he passed in
St Petersburg, after quitting the Lyceum, were devoted to the amusements
of the fashionable world, and to the irresistible enchantments of
society. From the splendid drawing-room of the great noble down to the
most unceremonious supper-table of a party of young officers, every
where Pushkin was received with exultation, and every where did he
become the idol of the young, who gratified both his vanity and their
own by the glory which accompanied his every step."

The