CHAPTER I
THE Russian Language—Early folk literature: Folk-lore—Songs—Sagas—Lay of Igor's Raid—Annals—The Mongol Invasion; its consequences—Correspondence between John IV. and Kurbiskiy—Split in the Church—Avvakum's Memoirs—The eighteenth century: Peter I. and his contemporaries—Tretiakóvsky—Lomonósoff—Sumarókoff—The times of Catherine II.—Derzhávin—Von Wizin—The Freemasons: Novikóff; Radíscheff—Early nineteenth century: Karamzin and Zhukovskiy—The Decembrists—Ryleeff.
ONE of the last messages which Turguéneff addressed to Russian writers from his death-bed was to implore them to keep in its purity "that precious inheritance of ours—the Russian language." He who knew in perfection most of the languages spoken in Western Europe had the highest opinion of Russian as an instrument for the expression of all possible shades of thought and feeling, and he had shown in his writings what depth and force of expression, and what melodiousness of prose, could be obtained in his native tongue. In his high appreciation of Russian, Turguéneff—as will often be seen in these pages—was perfectly right. The richness of the Russian language in words is astounding: many a word which stands alone for the expression of a given Idea In the languages of Western Europe has in Russian three or four equivalents for the rendering of the various shades of the same Idea. It is especially rich for rendering various shades of human feeling—tenderness and love, sadness and merriment—as also various degrees of the same action. Its pliability for translation Is such that In no other language do we find an equal number of most beautiful, correct, and truly poetical renderings of foreign authors. Poets of the most diverse character, such as Heine and Béranger, Longfellow
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