the crust of foreign barbarisms, and still more by his
example than his precepts--which were pedantic--he displayed it in its
native purity, and left it as an instrument ready tuned for a great
player. He fought for knowledge, and did all he could to further the
founding of the University of Moscow, which was done in 1755 by the
Empress Elizabeth. This last event is one of the most important
landmarks in the history of Russian culture.

The foremost representative of French influence was PRINCE KANTEMIR
(1708-44), who wrote the first Russian literary verse--satires--in the
pseudo-classic French manner, modelled on Boileau. But by far the most
abundant source of French ideas in Russia during the eighteenth
century was Catherine II, the German Princess. During Catherine's
reign, French influence was predominant in Russia. The Empress was the
friend of Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Diderot. Diderot came to St.
Petersburg, and the Russian military schools were flooded with French
teachers. Voltaire and Rousseau were the fashion, and cultured society
was platonically enamoured of the _Rights of Man_. Catherine herself,
besides being a great ruler and diplomatist, was a large-minded
philosopher, an elegant and witty writer. But the French Revolution
had a damping effect on all liberal enthusiasm, for the one thing an
autocrat, however enlightened, finds difficulty in understanding, is a
revolution.

This change of point of view proved disastrous for the writer of what
is the most thoughtful book of the age: namely RADISHCHEV, an official
who wrote a book in twenty-five chapters called _A Journey from St.
Petersburg to Moscow_. Radishchev gave a simple and true account of
the effects of serfdom, a series of pictures drawn without
exaggeration, showing the appalling evils of the system, and appealing
to the conscience of the slave-owners; the book contained also a
condemnation of the Censorship. It appeared in 1790, with the
permission of the police. It was too late for the times; for in 1790
the events in France were making all the rulers of Europe pensive.
Radishchev was accused of being a rebel, and was condemned to death.
The sentence was commuted to one of banishment to Eastern Siberia. He
was pardoned by the Emperor Paul, and reinstated by the Emperor
Alexander; but he ultimately committed suicide on being threatened in
jest with exile once more. Until 1905 it was very difficult to get a
copy of this book. Thus Radishchev