DERZHAVIN, GABRIEL ROMANOVITCH, the most distin guished lyric poet of Russia, was born at Kasen, 3rd July 1743. After completing his education in the Gymnasium of that city, be commenced the usual military career by entering, in 1760, the engineer service, io which the attention he gave to his mathematical studies soon obtained for him promotion. lie did not, however, rise to the grade of lieutenant until 1774, when he was sent with his corps to reduce the rebel Pugachev, on which occasion he displayed much bravery and address. lie continued to advance io military promotion but quitted the service on appointed, in 1784, a councillor of state, and afterwards governor and of Tambov successively. In 1791, Catharine bestowed on him the office of secretary of state ; in 1793 he was called to the senate, and the following year was made president of the college of commerce. Various other appointments followed, the last of which was that of minister of justice, in 1802: from which he retired the following year, on a full-pay pension. He died 6th July 1816.
It was during the busiest portion of his career, both military and official, that the finest of his odes were produced. Pre-eminent among these, and perhaps hardly surpassed by any similar composition in any other language, is his ' Oda Bog ;' or, Address to the Deity; a piece full of sublimity both as regards the ideas and expressions. Indeed,
elevation of conception and nobleness of sentiment, no less than great energy and mastery of language, are striking characteristics of Derzha yin's poetry ; and if occasionally more negligent than Lomonosov, it is because he is borne away by the intensity of his feelings. On the other hand, he manifests greater freshness, originality, and richness than his predecessor; and while he delights by the eloquence of his lyre, he elevates and purifies the soul by the moral grandeur of his strains. In the art of which he was so profound a master, he has shown himself no less able as a theorist and critic by his treatise on Lyric Poetry, printed iu the ' Tchenie v Besedm; a miscellany edited by a society for the cultivation of the Russian language. Besides the essay just mentioned, he wrote some other works in prose, among which is a Topographical Description of the Government of Tambov.' A collec tion of his works was first printed in 1810, in four volumes; to which was added another, shortly before his death.