rd literature, and what were his best works.

11. In what way did he exert a strong literary influence?

12. What attention did the Court give to theatrical
representations at this time?

13. What new relations with Europe marked the reign of
Elizaveta?

14. When and where was Volkhoff's theater established?

15. What share had Sumarokoff in developing the Russian drama?

16. How did he protest against the abuses of his times?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

_History of Russia._ Alfred Rambaud. Vol. II., Chapter VI.

_The Story of Russia._ W. R. Morfill.

_Specimens from the Russian Poets._ Two volumes, Sir John
Bowring, contain many specimens from Lomonosoff to Zhukovsky
inclusive.

CHAPTER VII

SIXTH PERIOD, THE REIGN OF KATHERINE II. (1762-1796).

Under the brilliant sway of Katherine II. (1762-1796) literature and
literary men in Russia first began to acquire legitimate respect and
consideration in the highest circles--the educated minority, which ruled
tastes and fashions. Wealthy patrons of literature had existed even in
the Empress Elizabeth's day it is true; and a taste for the theater had
been implanted or engendered, partly by force, as we have seen. Western
ideas had made much progress in a normal way, through the close contact
with western European nations, brought about by Elizabeth's great
political genius, which had made St. Petersburg the diplomatic center
and law-giver; and Katherine's own interest in literature before her
accession to the throne had also had much to do with raising the
standard and the respect in which literature and writers were held, and
in preparing the ground for the new era. During her reign, life and
literature may be said to have come into close contact for the first
time. Katherine II. herself may be placed at the head of the writers of
her day, in virtue not only of her rank and her encouragement of
literature, at home and abroad, but because of her own writings. One of
her comedies, "O, Ye Times! O, Ye Manners!" is still occasionally given
on the stage. Her own Memoirs and her Correspondence with Voltaire,
Diderot, and others, furnish invaluable pictures of contemporary views
and manners. Her satires, comedies, and journalistic work and polemical
articles are most important, however, because most original. In 1769 she
began to publish a newspaper called "All Sorts of Things" (or
"Varieties"), to which s