er of Pushkin; but the propriety
of avoiding more than an allusion to this sad story will be evident,
when we reflect that the poet's dying wish was, that the whole
circumstance should if possible be buried in oblivion. Respect, then, to
the last desire of a dying man! Respect to the prayer of great genius,
whose lips, when quivering in the last agony, murmured the generous
words, "Pardon, and Forget!"

The foregoing brief notice is presented to the English reader less in
the character of a complete biography of Pushkin, (a character to which
it has evidently no pretensions,) than as a kind of necessary
introduction to the translated specimens of his poetry, which it is
intended to accompany. For a perfect biography, indeed, of the poet, the
materials, even in Russia, are not yet assembled; nor, perhaps, has a
sufficient period of time been suffered to elapse since his death, to
render it possible to attempt a life of Pushkin, with any hope of
preserving that _distance_ and _proportion_, which is necessary for the
successful execution of a portrait, whether traced with the pencil or
the pen. The artist may be too near to his original in _time_ as well as
in _space_.

The general accuracy of the preceding pages may be depended on; the
materials were obtained from various sources, but principally from two
persons who were both acquainted--one intimately so--with Pushkin. We
should be indeed ungrateful, were we to let pass the present opportunity
afforded us, of expressing our deep obligations to both those gentlemen
for the assistance they have given us; and we cannot deny ourselves the
gratification of publicly and particularly thanking M. Pletnieff, rector
of the Imperial University of St Petersburg, not only for the kind
manner in which he facilitated the composition of these pages, by
supplying us with a copy of his own elegant and spirited critical sketch
of Pushkin's works and character (a short but masterly article,
reprinted from the "Sovremennik," or Contemporary, a literary journal of
which M. Pletnieff is the editor,) but for the many delightful and
intellectual hours which we have passed in his society.

THOMAS B. SHAW.

St Petersburg, February 5th/17th, 1845.

THE LAST HOURS OF PUSHKIN.

LETTER FROM JUKOVSKII TO SERGEI PUSHKIN, THE POET'S FATHER.

_February 15th/27th, 1837._

I have not till now succeeded in mustering up the courage to