The literary cultivation of its inhabitants has likewise
advanced; at first indeed with stops hardly proportioned to the
external progress of the empire; but now for more than a century, in
consequence of the despotic activity of their sovereigns, with a
wonderful rapidity.
The history of Russian literature has five distinct periods. The
_first_ period comprises an interval of more than nine centuries, from
the date of our first knowledge of the Russian Slavi, to the coming of
age of Peter the Great. A.D. 1689. This period would easily admit of
several subdivisions; and did we pretend in these pages to give the
reader more than a _sketch_ of literary history, we should perhaps
find it advisable to adopt them. This long period, however, both in a
comparative and an absolute sense, is so very poor, that, limited as
we are, a few words will suffice to give a general survey of it; and
so much the more, because the productions of this period are closely
connected with the history of the Old Slavic language, and have mostly
been already mentioned under that head.
The _second_ period extends from the coming of age of Peter the Great
to the accession of Elizabeth his daughter, A.D. 1741, which was the
commencement of Lomonosof's influence.
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