judge.
Only, the cart doth stand there still.

We have seen that Lomonosoff began the task of rendering the modern
Russian language adaptable to all the needs of prose and verse; and that
the writers who followed him, notably Karamzin, contributed their share
to this great undertaking. Pushkin practically completed it and molded
the hitherto somewhat harsh and awkward forms into an exquisite medium
for every requirement of literature. Alexander Sergyeevitch Pushkin
(1799-1837), still holds the undisputed leadership for simplicity,
realism, absolute fidelity to life, and he was the first worthy
forerunner of the great men whose names are world-synonyms at the
present day for those qualities. Almost every writer who preceded him
had been more or less devoted to translations and servile copies of
foreign literature. Against these, and the mock-classicism of the French
pattern, which then ruled Europe, he waged relentless battle. He
vitalized Russian literature by establishing its foundations firmly on
Russian soil; by employing her native traditions, life, and sentiment as
subjects and inspiration, in place of the worn-out conventionalities of
foreign invention. The result is a product of the loftiest truth, as
well as of the loftiest art.

His ancestors were nobles who occupied important posts under Peter the
Great. His mother was a granddaughter of Hannibal, the negro of whom
Pushkin wrote under the title of "Peter the Great's Arab." This Hannibal
was a slave who had been brought from Africa to Constantinople, where
the Russian ambassador purchased him, and sent him to Peter the Great.
The latter took a great fancy to him, had him baptized, and would not
allow his brothers to ransom him, but sent him, at the age of eighteen,
abroad to be educated. On his return, Peter kept his favorite always
beside him. Under the reign of the Empress Anna Ioannovna he was exiled
to Siberia, in company with other court favorites of former reigns; and
like them, returned to Russia, and was loaded with favors by Peter's
daughter, the Empress Elizabeth. His son was a distinguished general of
Katherine II.'s day. Pushkin, the poet, had blue eyes, and very fair
skin and hair, but the whole cast of his countenance in his portraits is
negro. His father was a typical society man, and in accordance with the
fashion of the day, Pushkin was educated exclusively by French tutors at
home, and his first writings (at the age of ten) were in Frenc