ls
is of course very small. That which most highly extols the merits and
exploits of the Russians is always considered as the best, and is most
patronized by the government and the nation. In Russia the _praise_ of
one's country and _love_ for it are regarded as synonymous ideas. The
literary journals, most of which are of a miscellaneous character, are
more in number, and are generally conducted with some critical talent.
Those of a purely scientific character are rarely sustained longer
than a few years; for instance, the very valuable Bibliographical
Journal, edited by P. Koeppen in 1825-26. The ephemeral race of
_Annuals_, those vehicles of superficial taste and knowledge, early
took broad possession of the Russian Parnassus. In the year 1839,
eight hundred and eighty different works were published in Russia; of
which seventy-three only were translations. The number of journals
and periodicals, which in general are quite thick pamphlets, amounted
only to fifty-three. In 1842 those latter had increased to one hundred
and thirty-nine; nearly three times as many as in the former year. Of
these 98 were in the Russian language, 22 in German, 8 in French, 1 in
Italian, 3 in Polish, and 3 in Lettonian.[48]

In a recent work on Russian literature, by F. Otto,[49] the Lexicon of
authors subjoined comprises about 250 names; and the English
translator speaks of having seen a list of nearly _twelve hundred_
more in the author's hands. We are compelled to regard this last
statement with some distrust; especially when we perceive, that among
the names printed in the Lexicon, at least _thirty_ are Germans and
Poles who wrote _on_ Russian matters, but not _in_ Russian. It is also
singular to find among Russian _authors_, not only the Grand-duke
Constantine of Kief, because he was a _patron_ of science, and first
caused the Old Slavonic Bible to be printed; but also even the old
traditional bard Bojan, mentioned in the ancient epic of Igor![50]

The recent movements in Europe have of course built up still higher
the Chinese wall which surrounds the Russian empire. Even in
anticipation of them, the government had been seized with a new shock
of fear; and attempted to shut out the intrusive new lights. This was
indicated by several strong and very unpopular measures; among which
we may here mention, that travellers in foreign countries were called
home, and the number of students at each university was suddenly
limited to _three hun