choly, because we should continually see death before us; it is error which conceals it, and extends the duration of happiness by persuading us that time is still our own. X. Cuvres du C. Stanislas Boufflers, membre de la ci-devant Académie Française. For the Emerald. SUMOROKOF. IN No. 13, of our first volume we gave the translation of a fable from the Russian poet Sumorokof. The knowledge we possessed of him was extremely small. He appears however to be a poet of no little consideration in the rising literature of his country, and his works have been received with considerable approbation on the French stage. We could hardly expect that the cold and dreary climate of Russia would produce those elegant and delicate trifles that could please the tender and fastidious taste of the French, who are educated in the school of politeness and charmed only with life and volatility. That Sumorokof could accomplish this in spite of national prejudice is an honorable evi Error is still more useful than agreeable; it is she who subjugates nations to the yoke by persuading them they are weaker than their masters; she establishes peace and union in societies and families, by concealing from one that he is despised, from another that he is hated, from another that he is deceived: all stations, all ages owe their felicity to her. But remark that the less she is opposed the more agreeable she will be found, and as a proof, observe the pure joy of those who abandon themselves to her direction, and the sadness of philosophy which combats against her. Be convinced also by the sweetest seasons of life, infancy and youth; in one we know nothing, in the other we are imposed on by every thing. Can we desire more here below, than a zest to all good and an antidote to all evil? we shall owe it to error. With one hand she enchants the rich who recline on purple, with the other she consoles the miserable who are stretch-dence of his ability. ed on straw. She is man's protecting fairy; happy or unhappy, she never abandons him: She rocks the cradle at his birth, strews, flowers in his path during life, and Russians has been hitherto very slow The progress of literature among the smiles upon him in his passage to and gradual. In power, in splendour, the tomb. There is nothing but in warlike achievements they perhaps error the infant kisses a bauble equal any other nation in Europe.-Butwith transport; the youth esteems it required all the commanding authorithe courtezan who corrupts him; ty of Peter the Great, and the fostering, the father of a family caresses chil- Catherine, to raise them from the state encouragement of the late Empress dren which are not his own; the of barbarism in which they had beenold man still talks of love; the do- involved for so many centuries. All the tard sows his park and draws the confined to the obscure annals of Nesliterature of the early ages is absolutely plan of a new abode. Without er- tor and Nikon, and it was not till the ror our whole life would be melan-beginning of the last century that The The following article adds to our information of the poet and the poe-try of his country. Sumorokof had no reason to complain, either of his country, or of the times in, which he lived. Elizabeth raised him, to the rank of brigadier in the army, and appointed. him manager of the theatre, with a pension of 1800 roubles. Catherine II, made him a counsellor of state, invested him with the order of St. Anne, conferred on him honours and wealth till his death, which, happened in 1777 · at Moscow, in 51st year of his age. ophanes Procopovitz, Archbishop of of the Empress, who commanded the Novogorod, first began to disseminate play to be performed before her, and en.. a taste for the sciences, and to encour-couraged the author to persevere in his age them by his example and protec- pursuits. In the following years he tion. To him succeeded in History, successively produced the tragedies of Kilcop and Prince Scherebatof. But Hamlet, Aristona, the false Demetrius, if we except the travels of the celebra- Zemira, and others; besides the comted Pallas, the Historical Researches of edies of the Judge, the Tutor, the EnMuller, and some other works upon vious man, the Imposter, &c. &c. and Natural History; no literary production three Operas. worthy of being noticed has distinguished Russia during the reign of Catherine II. Natural History and Mathematics are the only sciences which the Russians have contributed in some degree to advance and even those, however trifling, have been by the help of Germany; yet no country is so fortunately situated for rendering the sciences the most essential services. Natural and ancient history might expect from her the most astonishing discoveries.-The ru Notwithstanding all these advantages. ins of twenty cities attest that Tartary Sumorokof possessed too much of the and Mongrelia were once inhabited by genus irritabile Vatum,' to be happy. polished nations, and the monuments Blessed with talents the most uncomwhich are still discovering, would have mon, and endowed with superior acrealised the sublime conceptions of Buf- complishments, he had all those eccenfon, and Bailli; whole libraries have tricities, and defects which usually ac-. been discovered under the ruins of Alai- company genius.-His character as an kitt, and amid the ruinous heaps which author, was that of sensibility borderskirt the Irtish. Thousands of manu-ing on peevishness, which would not. scripts in unknown languages, and many suffer him to submit to criticism, even others in the languages of the Chinese, where it was well founded; and the Kalmucs, and the Mantschoux, are per- excessive applause and flattery of his ishing in the mouldy deserted cabinets countryman, working upan dip of the Academy; had they remained un-naturally proud and vain, induced him der the ruins tiil a government less bar-to form the most extravagant opinion barous had brought them to light, they of himself, and of the particular line of would have been better preserved. literature in which he excelled. Lomonosof distinguished himself in several departments of literature, and ranks high as a poet; bit of all the native Russians likely to be known by other countries, the most extraordinary genius. was. Sumorokof,, who may be called the Shakespeare of Russia, and the founder of its drama. He was born at: Moscow in 1727, but received his education at St. Petersburg where he obtained the protection of Count Schovalof, the favourite of the Empress Elizabeth-An early admiration of the French drama, and particularly for the works of Racine, of whom he always spoke with enthusiasm, led him to devote his whole time to dramat ic studies. His first tragedy of Kor. ef,' was the only piece in Russia which was not a series of nonsense. The great success of Koref attracted the notice For the Emerald. DESULTORY SELECTIONS, AND ORIGINAL REMARKS. =. MANAGEMENT.. The following curious account from the correspondence of Sir Robert Walpole with the Cardinale de Fleury, gives a view behind the curtain in the administration of this original minister. "I am hard put to keep these folks. from fighting, not that they are fully de-. termined for war, but because I am in of clay clined to peace. Our English must al-Approach most unhappy, thy dwelling ways skirmish in the field of Mars, or on the benches of Westminster."-Again, "I pay a subsidy to one half the patliament to keep it within pacific boutids; but as the King has not money enough, and as those to whom I have given none declare themselves openly for war, it would be proper for Your Eminence to send me three millions tournois for lowering the voice of those who cry loudest. Gold is here a metal that has a prodigious effect in cooling hot blood and martial spirits, There is no impétuous warrior in the parliament, but a pension of two thousand pounds would make him exceeding gentle. Besides, if England declares herself, you will be obliged to pay in subsidies to powers for making the balance, without reckoning that the successes of war may be uncertain whereas by sending me money, you will purchase peace at the first hand." THE TOMB OF MY FATHERS. SURDUED by misfortunes, and bowed Till took that opak gladussa and ret come was gone; The blaze that shone bright in the hall was no more. [stone, A stranger was there with a bosom of And cold was his eyes as I entered his door.. dead, 'Twas his, deaf to pity, to tenderness [to spurn The falling to crush, and the humble But I staid not his scorn-from his mansion I fled, And my beating heart vow'd never What Home shall receive me! One O'er its gloomy recess, see the pine "Tis the tomb of my Fathers! The world is my foe, Alas, thou sole dwelling of all I hold dear, How little this meeting once augurð my breast! From a wanderer accept, oh my Fathers, this tear, Receive him, the last of his race, to your rest. LOVE, A CHILD. My mother, dear good creature says Can hurt a girl of spirit. I'm sure, the ev'ning before last, GOOD COMPANY. The language of the fashionable world like their manners is very dif ferent from general and accustomed forms. It was a good idea therefore, in one of our dramatists to put a dictionary in the hands of a principle character for the purpose of explaining the paradoxies to which fashion in opposition to common sense sometimes gives rise. The following definition might very well be added to his catalogue: "Any one on the list of Peerage: any Member of Parliament; Offcers of the Guards; Colonels of every description; any one who is And all my inheritance now is a grave.willing to lose, or has credit enoug 'Tis the tomb of my Fathers! The grey to be admitted to win an estate ; moistened walls, Leay: Declining to earth, speak aloud of de- Dowagers with good jointures; The gate, off its hinge, and half open- epicures with good receipts; pimps ing, calls, of ready talents; any one who can 1 THE EMERALD. TO A FRIEND ON HIS MARRIAGE. dress to the point of the mode, provided only that he exercise no visi- There is a tenderness and proble trade that is to say, any one priety in the following lines which who has no other means of liveli-entitles them to attention. They hood but his wits :-all, or any of combine nature with art, and the these, are men of fashion, and are smoothness of poetry with the sen comprehended under the general timents of affection. term of good company." NOBODY. The beau-monde, like the chance world of Descartes, is composed of a certain number of circles; all who live in these circles are the native and legitimate offspring and children of fashion: each of these, therefore, are somebody; but as by far the greatest part of his Majesty's subjects are excluded from this distinguishing privilege, they are marked with the general name of nobody. I received, a few days ago, a letter from a fashionable friend, in which was the following passage : "There is nothing, my dear, so dull as this dullest of all towns the streets, indeed, are crowded, but there is really nobody here. The playhouse was so full, and so warm with the odious multitude, that I had much difficulty to support it; but though I threw my eyes into every corner of the house, I saw nobody. The public mall is every day crowded; but the company consists of nobody. I have inquired the character, quality, &c. of the stranger we met at the Wells: I find she is very charitable, and much beloved in her sphere, but that she is nobody; I have therefore dropped the acquaintance.” ON thee, blest youth! a father's hand confers The Maid thy earliest, fondest wishes knew : her's; Each soft enchantment of the soul is [due. Thine be the joys to firm attachment As on she moves, with hesitating grace, She wins assurance from his soothing voice ; And, with a look the pencil could not fears! To thee she turns with surest, tend'rest claim; Weakness that charms, reluctance that endears! At each response the sacred rite re quires, From her full bosom bursts th' unbid den sigh: [spires: A strange mysterious awe the scene inAnd on her lips the trembling ac cents die. [play! O'er her fair face what wild emotions What lights and shades in sweet confusion blend ! Soon shall they fly, glad harbingers of day, [scend! And settled sunshine on her soul deAh! soon, thine own confest, extatic thought! That hand shall strew each flinty path with flow'rs ; And those blue eyes, with mildest lustre fraught, Gild the calm current of domestic bours! EPITAPH ON A MR. PECK, Here lies a peck, which some men say THE REMONSTRANCE. Soon as the glow of health return'd, To blighting sickness long a prey, Then, when to meet my love I fly, Ah! joy ne'er bade those tears to flow. What sorrow can thy bosom bear, THE NEFLY. That Mary to my soul was dear, Nor did I doubt the flame sincere Thy blooming cheek thy sparkling eyes, The beauteous wreek with grief! view'd And as the spark of love renew'd, PRIDE. GENERAL PAOLI. The following remarks at the conclusion of a biographical notice of this celebrated chief give a correct and summary view of his cha racter. Few foreigners, however distinguishland, as the late General Pascal Paoli. ed, have been so much caressed in Eng. By living in habits of familiarity with men of letters,his name and exploits acquired fresh, celebrity; and Boswell, Goldsmith, Jolmson, Macaulay, Barbauld, and Lord Littelton, although differing in almost every thing else, most cordially united in his praise. Abroad too, his reputation was greatly respected; and the eulogium of such a man as Rousseau, then in the zenith of his reputation, was alone sufficient to ensure reputation throughout the rest of Europe. While his laurels were still green, it was usual to compare Paoli to Timoleon, and Epimanondas; and it was appositely remarked by an English minister, that the same thing might have beêñ said of him, as had been formerly ut. tered by the Cardinal de Retz, in respect to the famous Montrose," that he was one of those men, who are no longer to be found any where, but in thé Lives of Plutarch." That the Corsican Chief, was a great man, cannot well be denied; but it is the opinion of those, who have enjoyed an opportunity of studying his character, that he was a politician rather than a soldier; that he shone in council more than in arms; and that the leading fea ture of his public conduct, was a certain degree of Italian Policy, which taught him to refine and speculate on every event. Among his countrymen he was adored; and to support his superiority, he made tise of those arts which have usually passed under the name of pious Boileau never dined with any of dispensably necessary for the governfrauds. These, perhaps, appeared inhis most intimate friends, without ment of barbarians! Accordingly, like being invited in particular, observ- Numa, he pretended to a direct coming, on this caution, that a certain munication with the Deity, and also pride of mind was the characteris-affected on all occasions, after the mantic of men of honour; but that aed by dogs, of a particular breed, which ner of the heroes of old, to be surroundpride of air and manner was the were indeed necessary to préserve him mark of fools and blockheads. from assassination. |