want to upset everything: he is
the hope of the nation."

What the author has best shown in this novel is the degree to which
the high society of this time was, under its exterior gorgeousness,
barbarous and vulgar. A German girl, maid-of-honor to the wife of
Alexis, defines it in the following way: "Brandy, blood, coarseness.
It is hard to say which is most prominent,--perhaps it is
coarseness." The boyards[13] she describes as: "Impudent savages,
baptized bears, who only make themselves more ridiculous when they
try to ape the Europeans."

[13] Russian noblemen.

* * * * *

As is evident, these three works of Merezhkovsky belong to the
"genre" of the historical and philosophical novel which demands,
besides the power to call up past ages, a careful education and the
gift of clear-sightedness. And the novelist completely fulfills
these requirements. He knows his subject, he studies all the
necessary documents with the greatest care and follows every story
to its source; finally, before taking up his pen, he visits the
countries and the cities in which the stories take place. Thus, in
order better to understand Leonardo da Vinci, in order to live his
life, the author of "The Resurrection of the Gods" traversed Italy
and France from one end to the other, in the same way that he had
traveled all over Greece so that he could give us a more life-like
Julian. With the same care, he spent a long time reading Russian
historical documents in order to present the reader with a better
picture of the customs of the time of Peter the Great. The result is
a series of historical pictures, almost perfect in their accuracy.
If Merezhkovsky had no other merit than this faithful portrayal of
the past, his novels even then would be read with interest and
pleasure.

Some critics have remarked that the most glaring defect in his books
lies in their construction. His novels often disregard the laws
relating to this sort of literature, which demand the clever
grouping of the characters and events around a principal hero. It is
true that this unity and the sense of proportion absolutely
necessary for any sort of harmony are not to be found in his works.
The details predominate to the detriment of important facts; the
people of secondary importance are sometimes drawn better than the
heroes themselves, whose adventures are entirely unconnected. There
is a series of jumps from one situation to another, wit