xecuted with much zeal; but in what spirit this was
done, in a philological respect, we have mentioned above in the
history of the Old Slavonic literature, to which the labours of the
translators properly belong. Nikon, patriarch of Russia, ob. 1681,
carried on this work with the greatest activity; and besides this set
on foot a collection of historical annals.[15] The light of the
Reformation, which at that time spread its beneficent beams over all
Europe, and exerted particularly such a strong influence on Poland,
did not penetrate into the night of the Russian church; the gloom of
which, however, had always been mitigated by a spirit of meekness and
Christian charity. Still, we notice among the pulpit productions of
this time somewhat of the polemic genius of the age. It was not,
however, against the bold innovations of Lutherans or Calvinists, that
the clergy found occasion to turn their weapons, but against the
_Jewish_ heresy![16] A translation of the Psalms of David, Moscow
1680, deserves to be distinguished among similar productions. The
writer was the monk Simeon of Polotzk, author of the above-mentioned
spiritual dramas, and instructor of the Tzar Fedor. Still more
remarkable is the first attempt to translate the Bible into the
Russian language. Francis Skorina, the translator, likewise a native
of Polotzk, where the Polish influence was stronger than in any
other quarter, was a doctor of medicine; but the time had now come
when it began to be felt over all Europe, that the holy volume did not
belong exclusively to the clergy. Some parts only of his translation
have been printed.[17]

In the course of the sixteenth century, several printing offices had
been established in Russia, almost exclusively for the benefit of
theological works. Nearly all the historical writings were preserved
in manuscript; and have been first printed in modern times. The
awkward appearance of Cyril's alphabet seemed to add an unnecessary
difficulty to the diffusion of the knowledge of reading. Towards the
end of the seventeenth century Elias Kopiovitch made some improvement
in the appearance of the Slavic letters; it was however reserved to
Peter's reforming hand, to give to them a fixed and permanent shape.

SECOND PERIOD.

_From the majority of Peter the Great, A.D. 1689, to Lomonosof, A.D.
1741._

The history of the genuine Russian literature begins only with the
adoption of the language of the people for all civil writings.