erably;
although the Russian has still some which could be amalgamated with
others, or entirely omitted. Whether the Old Slavic actually had, at
the time of Cyril's invention, so many different shades of sound, it
would be difficult to decide at present, after that language has
existed for so many centuries as a mere language of books.

Cyril, or, according to his baptismal name, Constantine, and Methodius
his brother, must be reckoned among the benefactors of mankind; for
it was they who procured for the Slavic nations, so early as the ninth
century, the inestimable privilege of reading the Holy Scriptures in a
language familiar to their ears and minds; whilst the sacred volume
yet remained, for centuries after, inaccessible to all the other
European Christians, the exclusive property of the priesthood. They
were born in Thessalonica, in the early part of the ninth century, of
a noble family; it does not appear whether of Greek or of Slavic
extraction. Macedonia, of which province Thessalonica was in the times
of the Romans the capital, was inhabited by many Slavi at a very early
period. Constantine, who obtained by his learning and abilities the
surname of the Philosopher, could have learned Slavic here, even
without belonging to the Slavic nation. As a flourishing commercial
city, this place was peculiarly favourable for learning languages; and
it was probably here too, that Constantine learned Armenian; for the
introduction of several Armenian letters into the Slavic alphabet
seems to prove, that this language was not unknown to him. When grown
up, his parents sent him to Byzantium, where he entered the clerical
profession.

It is reported that there came ambassadors from the Khazares, a
Hunnic-Tartaric tribe, to the emperor Michael, to ask for a teacher in
Christianity. On the recommendation of Ignatius, Constantine was
chosen for this mission, as being particularly qualified by his
eloquence and piety. On the road he stopped for some time in Cherson
on the Dnieper, where he learned the Khazaric language. The empire of
the Khazares extended from the Volga and the Caspian Sea, across the
Caucasian isthmus and the peninsula of Taurida, as far as to Moldavia
and Walachia. Several Slavic tribes were tributary to them; but about
the middle of the ninth century, at the time of Cyril's mission, their
power began to decline; their vassals became their enemies, and
gradually their conquerors; until towards the end of the