During this whole later period,
the Polish language and literature exerted a decided influence on the
Russian; and some writers began to use the dialect of White Russia, an
impure mixture of the two,[11] while the pure Russian was despised as
merely fit for vulgar use. The Malo-Russian also, or Ruthenian
dialect, was, by the influence of the Polish language, cultivated
before the pure Russian; which last began, only in the latter half of
the seventeenth century, to shake off these chains and acquire for
itself an independent form.
The first germs of dramatic art were likewise carried from Poland to
Russia. In Kief, the theological students performed ecclesiastical
dramas; and travelled about during the holidays, to exhibit their
skill in other cities. The scenes which they had to repeat most
frequently, were the three Children in the fiery furnace, and Haman's
execution. The tragedies of Simeon of Polotzk, in the Old Slavic
language, had great success in the middle of the seventeenth century.
Their renown penetrated from the convents to the court; where they
were performed before Tzar Fedor, the predecessor of Peter.[12] His
minister, Matveyef, the Slavic Mecaenas of his time, and himself a
writer, invited the first stage-players to Russia; and at his
instigation, the first secular drama, a translation of Moliere's
"Medecin malgre lui," was played before the gratified princesses and
their enraptured maids of honour.
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