of Russia, which
he worked out with considerable fullness, in five volumes. It was
published thirty years after his death, by command of Katherine II. It
is not history in the sense of that word at the present day, but merely
a very respectable preliminary study of materials; and the author's
expressions of opinion are valuable features, as setting forth the
spirit of the Epoch of Reformation. He is generally mentioned as a
historian, but far more important are his "Spiritual Testament" (Last
Will) and "Exhortation to his son Evgraff" (1733), and "A Discussion
between Two Friends as to the Advantages of Sciences and Schools"
(probably written 1731-1736). The Testament consists of a general
collection of rules concerning worldly wisdom, applied to contemporary
needs and views, though his son was already grown up and in the
government service, so that much of its contents are of general
application only, and were introduced to round out the work, and for the
edification of the rising generation. It is the last specimen of a class
of works in which, as has been seen, Russian literature is rich.

The first Russian who devoted himself exclusively to literature was
Vasily Kirillovitch Trediakovsky (born at Astrakhan in 1703), the son
and grandson of priests, who was educated in Russia and abroad. When he
decided, on his return from abroad in 1730, to adopt literature as a
profession, the times were extremely unpropitious. He had, long before,
during his student days in Moscow, written syllabic verses, an elegy on
the death of Peter the Great, and a couple of dramas, which were acted
by his fellow-students. In 1732 he became the court poet, or laureate
and panegyrist, and wrote, to the order of the Empress Anna Ioannovna,
speeches and laudatory addresses, which he presented to the grandees,
receiving in return various gifts in accordance with the custom of the
epoch. But neither his official post nor his personal dignity prevented
his receiving, also, violent and ignominious treatment at the hands of
the powerful nobles. His "New and Brief Method of Composing Russian
Verses" constituted an epoch in the history of Russian poetry, since
therein was first set forth the theory of Russian tonic versification.
But although he endeavored to create a distinct Russian style, and to
put his own system into practice, he wrote worse than many of his
contemporaries, and his poems were all below mediocrity; while not a
single line of them s