RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. Russian, a principal member of the Slavic family of languages, first became a written language in the time of Peter the great, till which period the Old Slavic—the language of the church—had been the only medium of literary expression, and had, in consequence, exercised an important influence on the Russian popular speech, as on that of other Slavic dialects. The Mongol conquest, and the preponderance of Polish elements in the western parts of the empire, have also in troduced into the Russian language a great number of Mongolian and Polish expressions; in addition to which, the efforts of Peter the great to give his subjects the benefits of western culture have enlarged the Russian vocabulary, especially in arts and industry, with numerous German, French, and Dutch words. The chief characteristics of Russian, as a language, are simplicity and naturalness. The grammatical connection of sentences is slight, and the number of conjunctions scanty. Perspicuity and expressiveness are obtained by the freedom allowed in the placing of words. Auxiliary verbs and articles there are none; while personal pronouns may or may not be used along with verbs. The vocabulary of Russian is very rich—foreign words being, so to speak, Russianized. The capability of the language for forming compounds and derivatives is so great, that from a single root not less than 2,000 words are sometimes derived. The purest and most gram matical Russian is spoken in the center, about Moscow. The oldest Russian grammar is that of Ludolf (Oxf. 1696); others are the grammars of the St. Petersburg academy (1802), of Gretsch (Pctersb. 1823; new ed., 1834), and of Vostokov (10th ed., Petersb. 1859). A Russian Grammar for Englishmen was published at St. Petersburg in 1822, and an other (by Heard) in 1827. The best dictionaries are those of the Russian academy (4 vols., Petersb. 1847), of Heym (1803-5), of Schmidt (Lps. 1815), Oldekop (4 vols., 1825), Sokolov (Petersb. 1834), Reiff (1862), and Paulovski (1859). There is an English-Rus sian grammar and dictionary by Constantiuoff (3 vols.).
The beginnings of Russian literature are contemporaneous with the introduction of Christianity by the missionaries Cyril (q.v.) and Method, who employed the Old Slavic church-tongue for literary purposes. To this earliest period belongs—besides the Praucla Ruskaja, a book on law—the noted history or chronicle of Nestorius. After the sub jugation of Russia by the Tartars, knowledge withdrew into the shelter of the moues .teries, whence proceeded several important historical works. During this period of foreign domination the Russian people seem to have sought consolation and hope in writing patriotic ballads and songs about their great hero-king, Vladimir—the Russian Charlemagne—the most celebrated of which is Igor's Erpedition against the Paola?' (Berl. 1855). When at length the country was freed from the oppression of the Mongols by Ivan I. in 1478, Russian literature received a fresh impulse, but so tardy, nevertheless, were its so circumscribed its achievements, that, up to the commencement Of the 18th c., the only notable names that can be mentioned are the metropolitan Makarius
(died 1564), who wrote Lives of the Saints, etc.; Zizania, the author of a Slavic gram mar (Wilna, 1596); and Matviejev (17th c.), who composed several historical and heraldic works. The czar Alexei Michailovitch (whose prime-minister Matviejev was) caused a valuable collection of Russian laws to be printed in 1644, and shortly after founded an academy at Moscow, in which grammar, rhetoric, poetry, dialectics, philosophy, and theology were taught. But from political causes the Polish element now began to predominate in Russian literature, and continued to do so, more or less, until the time of Peter the great, who made his native language the universal vehicle of communication in business and writing. He established schools and founded the famous St. Petersburg academy. During his reign, the metropolitans Demetrius (b. 1651—d. 1709) and Javorsksij (b. 1658—d. 1722); the archbishop Prokopovitch (1681-1736); Sellij (d. 1746); the national historian Tatishshev (1686-1750); the poets Kantemir; and the Cossacks, Klimovskij and Danilov; were the most distinguished supports of literature. The first to place on a firm basis the Russian metrical system was Trediakovskij (1703-1769). In the period that followed the death of Peter, the writer that exercised the strongest in fluence on Russian literature was Lomonossov, who first drew the lines of distinction sharply between Old Slavic and Russian,- and established the literary supremacy of the dialect of Great Russia. Among his successors, the poet Surnarokov (1718-1777) did great service in the development of the Russian drama; so did Kniashnin (1742-1791), whose pieces still keep their place on the Russian stage; while Wizin (1745-1792) ranks as one of the first prose writers of his age.—Some of his prose comedies are full of the most genuine humor. Other notable names in poetry, belonging in whole or part to this period, are Cheraskov, Oserov, prince MichaKovitch, Dol"oruki, Clivostov, Petrov, 13ogdanovicz, and Dcrzawin (q.v.), the first universally popular Russian poet. Prose literature, however, developed itself more slowly. Lonionossov was for a long time the model that was followed. Among the first to make a fresh reputation were Pluton, the metropolitan of Moscow, and Lewanda (1736-1814), archpriest of Kiev; who distin guished themselves from the mass of their bombastic brethren by the strength and vigor of their thinking; the historians Schtsherbatov (1733-1790), Boltin (1735-1792), and Muravicv (1757-1807). Still more important, in the same department, were the labors of the German, Gerh. Friedr. Muller, a native of Westphalia,.who in 1755 established ut St. Petersburg the first literary journal. Novikov (1744-4818) gave a powerful stimulus to the book-trade and to literary productivity, partly by his professional zeal, and partly by the publication of a satirical journal, entitled The Painter, which was widely read.