him as her son, and when Boris Godunoff suddenly died at this juncture, Dmitri was proclaimed tsar; he was received as such at Moscow, and crowned (1605). He returned to the peasants the freedom they had lost under Godunoff; but the people of Russia did not find in him the Russian tsar they expected to find. He was a mere instrument in the hands of the Poles, he married a Pole, and his Polish garrison exasperated the people of Moscow. A revolt headed by Prince Vassili Shouisky (1606-10) broke out. The impostor was murdered, and Shouisky proclaimed tsar by the boyars. But Russia did not recognise him. New impostors appeared and were supported by the revolted peasants, while bands of runaway peasants who had gathered during the preceding decades on the banks of the Don and Dnieper under the name of Cossacks ('free men'), invaded Russia, devastating the provinces, and robbing the nobles, the towns, and the wealthier peasants. Sigismund of Poland, taking advantage of the confusion, invaded Russia, and with the consent of the Moscow boyars proclaimed his son Vladislav tsar; but he preferred to have Russia for himself, and took possession of Moscow (1610). Shouisky was taken to Poland, where he died in a prison.

All this would appear difficult to explain, unless the following be taken into account. Russia by that time was receiving western civilisation from Poland, and the boyars were the first to accept it in appearance, imitating the extravagant life of the Polish nobles, ruining the peasantry, and aim- | ing at an oligarchy of nobles such as they saw in Poland. The great rising of the people of Russia, which began in 1601 under the banner of the false Dmitri, and continued during the next eleven years, was a rising of the toiling masses and small traders against the boyars. But this rising had, at the same time, opened Russia to Polish invasion, and left the whole territory-landlords and peasants alike at the mercy of predatory gangs of Cossack and Polish robbers. A reaction was inevitable, and it came from the cities supported by the church. A cattle-trader of Nijni-Novgorod, Minin, aroused his fellow-citizens to march for the delivery of Moscow, which was held by the Poles and besieged by the Cossacks. The same movement took place in all Russian cities, and their folkmotes (vetche) entered into agreements to levy militias and unite them into one army, and convoked a 'General Council of the Land,' composed of representatives of all classes, at Yaroslavl. Under the leadership of Prince Pojarskiy and Lapunoff they retook Moscow, drove the Poles out of Russia, and the council (Sobor), now moving to Moscow, was urged to elect a tsar. The boyars were inclined to elect a Swedish or Polish prince, but the lower orders and the clergy opposed this, and the Sobor elected Mikhael Romanoff (1612-45). The boyars finally acquiesced in the hope of maintaining the power under a sixteen years' old tsar; but the Sobor remained quasi-permanent at Moscow during the first ten years of Mikhael's reign, and all decisions were issued conjointly in the name of the tsar and of the Sobor. Mikhael Romanoff belonged to a family (the ancestors of which had emigrated in olden times from Prussia) which was very popular now in Russia. His father, the Rostoff metropolitan Philarete, who had been sent as an envoy to Poland, was kept imprisoned by the Poles; his uncles had died in prisons under Boris Godunoff; and his grandmother, who was the first wife of Ivan IV., had left a very good memory behind her.

The first years of the reign of Mikhael Romanoff were characterised by a general movement on the part of the Russian towns to crush the peasants' |

45

insurrection and to extirpate the bands of robbers. Peace was obtained from Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden by abandoning Schlüsselburg; but the war against Poland continued, notwithstanding a short armistice. The states-general convoked again (1632 and 1642), freely voted fresh subsidies, but no success was obtained, and the very existence of Russia was menaced when the revolts of the Cossacks of the Dnieper against the Polish nobles changed the face of affairs in favour of Russia.

Under Mikhael's son Alexei (1645–76) the work of modelling Russia into a state continued, and the local administration was entirely reformed. But the revolts of the people began anew, especially since serfdom was enforced by the law elaborated by the states-general of 1648, and the first half of Alexei's reign was marked by a series of popular revolts at Moscow, Nijni, Pskov, and finally in south-east Russia, under Stenko-Razin, when the runaway serfs and the free Cossacks of the Volga rose fiercely against Russia, hanging the landlords, and aiming at 'settling their accounts with the boyars in the Kreml itself.' At the same time came the great disruption (raskol) in the church. The patriarch Nikon was striving to acquire in the East the same supremacy as the pope had in the West. Being himself one of the richest serf-owners in Russia, he made a display of extravagant luxury in his life; he surrounded himself with a kind of ecclesiastical court which plundered the lower clergy; he built under Moscow a New Jerusalem,' and in processions went preceded by a 'Latin cross' (with one cross-bar only) like the pope. In short, he was considered 'Latin' (i.e. Polish) in all his arrogant behaviour. His attempt at completing the already undertaken revision of the sacred books, into which many errors had crept through illiterate copyists, became the signal of a revolt of the bulk of the nation against the state's 'Latin' Church. A popular church, having priests elected by the parishioners, and taking the 'old faith' for its watchword, was opposed by the people to Nikon's Church,' although its followers were pitilessly tortured and exterminated by the state. great subsequent risings of the peasants (Razin's, Pougatchev's, and many smaller ones) were therefore made under the cross with eight ends (three cross-bars) of the 'old faith.'

All

Nikon's attempts at subduing the tsar to his arrogant supremacy ended in his deposition and exile, and later on Peter I. abolished even the dignity of patriarch, substituting for it the Holy Synod. Alexei frequently convoked the statesgeneral, first to confirm his accession to the throne (1645), then to revise the existing laws and to compile (1648) a new code (Sobornoie Ulojenie), and next (1651 and 1653) to pronounce upon the annexation of Little Russia. Under Alexei Russia finally gained the mastery over Poland, and reconquered Smolensk; but her success was chiefly due to the revolt, under Bogdan Hmelnitsky, of the Orthodox Cossacks of Little Russia, who were terribly oppressed by their Catholic landlords. After seeing the impossibility of resisting Poland singlehanded, the Cossacks appealed for protection to Russia, and recognised her supremacy. This event decidedly turned the scales in favour of Russia in the long struggle between the two chief Slav powers. But in order to maintain her rights on the Dnieper Russia had now to sustain a war with Turkey, which continued till after the accession of Feodor (1676-82), when it was terminated (1681) by the treaty of Bakhtchisarai, by which Turkey gave up all claims upon Little Russia. After Feodor's death the states-general chose his half-brother Peter as tsar, but his halfsister Sophia, an able and ambitious princess (see PETER THE GREAT), succeeded in obtaining the

reins of power as princess-regent. She concluded peace with Poland in 1686, made two unsuccessful campaigns against the Tartars of the Crimea; and after an attempt to deprive Peter of his right to the throne, and, this failing, to assassinate him and his mother, she was forced to resign all power and retire to a convent. Nearly a thousand of her accomplices were executed; and Peter (1689-1725) ascended the throne as sole ruler, his half-brother Ivan being allowed to retain the title of tsar conjointly, and to appear as such at public ceremonies, but without any real authority.

The history of Peter I.'s reign is almost entirely his own biography, and it is given under his name, the following remarks being only intended to give a general view of the importance of his reforms.

The powers of the tsar, the duma of boyars, and the church have already been mentioned above; but since Ivan IV.'s time, and especially since the troubled times' of 1601-12, a new power had come into existence-viz. the Sobor, or statesgeneral. The Sobors consisted of representatives of either the whole land' or special classes -merchants or military-or the inhabitants of Moscow only, and they exercised a decided influence upon legislation. But even in Alexei's reign steps were taken towards centralising all powers in the hands of various boards (prikazy) corresponding to modern ministries, under the guidance of the tsar, and the Sobors were convoked less and less frequently. Peter I. totally destroyed the powers of the boyars and the church, and convoked the states-general but once, to condemn his sister Sophia. He proclaimed himself emperor, abolished the rank of patriarch, and introduced, instead of the duma and the Sobor, a senate, whose members he nominated himself. By transporting his capital to St Petersburg, a city of his own creation, he entirely freed himself from the interference of the boyars, the church, and the people of Moscow, which often made its voice heard by means of rebellions. He ruled with absolute power, supported by men of his own choice. All Russians became in an equal degree his own subjects, though class-distinctions continued to prevail in their mutual relations, and serfdom grew worse and worse, taking all the characters of slavery. Of a standing army under Peter's predecessors only the Stryeltsy (military settlements in the suburbs of the cities) and the Cossacks deserved the name. The former were abolished after their revolts in favour of Sophia, and the privileges of the latter were curtailed. A standing army, completed by recruiting, was introduced. The whole administration was reorganised upon German models, or on strongly hierarchical and centralised principles. A secret state police, endowed with extensive powers of imprisonment, torture, and exile, was introduced, and among its victims was Peter's only son, Alexei, convicted of having plotted with the old party against his father. He died under torture. The old taxes by household were superseded by capitation taxes, and formidably increased. Written procedure was introduced in the justice courts, stamp-duties were imposed. Faith was made a state affair, and attendance at church on Sundays and communion once a year was rendered obligatory.

Agriculture and industry were at a low ebb in the tsardom of Moscow. Civilisation and learning, which had been introduced during the federative period, had never recovered the shock they had received from the Mongol invasion. The education even of the higher classes was confined to reading and writing, and the first school for classics and theology only made its appearance during Feodor's reign. Fine arts were limited to architecture and painting (of sacred subjects) after

the Byzantine school. The first newspaper appeared (in Moscow), and the first theatre was established, during the reign of Alexei. The influence of the Mongols left deep traces on the domestic manners and habits of the Russians, among which was the low position of women in domestic life; those of higher rank were completely excluded from social intercourse with the other sex, and were condemned to pass a dull and dreary existence in their 'terems. Peter I. did his best to improve the state of affairs in all these directions. He organised the army, created mining and manufactures, chiefly for state purposes, imported improved races of cattle, traced and caused to be dug the canals which now are so important for Russia, created schools, chiefly technical, and introduced more social intercourse between the different classes of society, in which women were allotted a share. It must, however, be noted, that in the carrying out of his well-meant schemes he forgot the people for the state, and imposed upon the former the most terrible burdens. Thousands and thousands of his subjects perished in erecting St Petersburg and its fortress and in digging canals, not to say a word of the wars they had to maintain, and the revolts crushed with Asiatic cruelty.

The

In accordance with the terms of his will, his second wife, Catharine I. (1725-27) succeeded him; but the old or anti-reform party of the nobility supported the claims of the only son of the unfortunate Alexei, Peter II. (1727-30), who soon after obtained the imperial throne. reigns of both of these sovereigns were occupied with court quarrels and intrigues, Menschikoff (q.v.) during the former, and Dolgorouki during the latter, being the real rulers. On the death of Peter II. the privy-council, setting aside the other descendants of Peter I., conferred the crown on Anna, Duchess of Courland, the daughter of Ivan. Her reign (1730-40) was marked by the predominance of the German party at court, who, unchecked by the weak sovereign, treated Russia as a great emporium of plunder (see BIRON). Under their influence Russia restored to Persia her lost Caspian provinces, and was led into a most ruinous war with Turkey. Anna's successor was Ivan (1740– 41), the son of her niece, the Duchess of Brunswick, Anna Carlovna; but he was speedily dethroned by Elizabeth (1741–62), the daughter of Peter I., who deprived the German party of the influence it had so shamefully abused, restored the senate to the power with which it had been entrusted by Peter the Great, established a regular system of recruiting, abolished tolls, and increased the duties on imports. Russia gained by the treaty of Abo (1743) a portion of Finland, and took part in the Seven Years' War (q. v.).

Elizabeth's nephew and successor, Peter III. (q.v.; 1762), was a devoted admirer of Frederick the Great of Prussia. His first act on his accession to the throne was to order the Russian army which supported the Austrians against Prussia to join Frederick against the Austrians. Prussia, reduced to the last extremity, was thus saved from dismemberment. At home he abolished the prescriptions of Peter I. which imposed upon each noble the duty of entering the state's service; he abolished the secret state police, gave full liberty to the raskolniks, proclaimed an amnesty to the serfs who had revolted against their owners, and proposed to seize the estates of the convents-a measure which Peter I. did not dare to take, and which was partially accomplished subsequently under Catharine II. But he was disliked at the court, and his wife, Catharine II. (1762-96), easily dethroned him. He was arrested and murdered by Catharine's associates.

Under Catharine II. (q.v.) successful wars were carried on against Turkey, Persia, Sweden, and Poland, which largely extended the limits of the empire. The acquisition of the Crimea, which gave Russia a firm footing on the Black Sea, and the first partition of Poland, were two most important steps towards the consolidation of the empire. In home affairs the work of further centralisation was prosecuted. But, notwithstanding Catharine's friendship with the 'Encyclopædists' of France and the excellent ideas expressed both in her correspondence and in various 'Instructions' (nakazy), her reign was exceedingly oppressive for the peasants. The rights of the landlords over their serfs were extended; no less than 800,000 free peasants were distributed as serfs among Catharine's favourites; serfdom, abolished in Little Russia by Bogdan Hmelnitsky, was reintroduced there as well as among the Don Cossacks; and once again the whole state was shaken by the impostor Pugatchev, who, supported by the raskolnik Ural Cossacks, pitilessly hanged the landlords and officials in east Russia, ravaging the country under the assumed name of Peter III.

Catharine's son and successor, Paul I. (1796-1801), at first, through apprehension of the revolution in France, joined the Austrians and British against France, but soon after capriciously withdrew, and was about to commence war with Britain when his assassination took place. He gave freedom of worship to the Old Ritualists,' but recklessly turned free crown peasants into serfs for his favourites. He established a severe censorship of the press, prohibited the introduction of foreign publications, reorganised the secret police, and altogether treated his subjects in the most contemptuous way. A palace conspiracy put an end to his reign and life. His eldest son, Alexander I. (1801-25), was at the outset desirous of peace, but was soon drawn into the vortex of the great struggle with France, in which he played a prominent part. The character of his rule is sketched under his name, and an outline of the warlike operations-the great French invasion of 1812, the burning of Moscow, and the disastrous retreat is given in the article NAPOLEON. The Holy Alliance (q.v.) and the example of conservative policy set by Austria exercised a pernicious influence on the later part of his reign; and the higher classes, who had looked for the introduction of at least a portion of the liberal institutions they had seen and admired in western Europe, became so dissatisfied that, when his youngest brother, Nicholas I. (1825-55), from whom they had nothing to hope, succeeded, they broke out into open rebellion, which was speedily crushed. A full stop was now put to the intellectual development of Russia. Wars were declared with Persia and Turkey; and a long and deadly struggle commenced with the Caucasian mountaineers. The cession of Erivan and Nahitchevan by Persia, of the plain of the Kubañ, of the protectorate of the Danubian principalities, and of the free right of navigation of the Black Sea, the Dardanelles, and the Danube by Turkey only induced him to further prosecute his aim of conquering for Russia a free issue from the Black Sea in the Dardanelles. In 1830 he converted Poland (q.v.) into a Russian province; in 1849 he aided Austria in quelling the insurrection of the Magyars; and in 1853 he began a war with Turkey which became the Crimean War (q.v.), and in which, though the allies, Britain, France, and Sardinia, did not obtain any decided success, Russia suffered immense loss.

The accession of Nicholas's son, Alexander II. (1855-81)-one of whose first acts was the conclusion of the peace of Paris (1856), by which Russia lost the right of navigation on the Danube, a

47

strip of territory to the north of that river, and the right of keeping a navy in the Black Sea-was the signal for a general revival of intellectual life in Russia. Public opinion broke the bonds of censorship and constrained the well-meaning but weak emperor to carry through the long-expected abolition of serfdom. It was abolished in 1861 after many hesitations. Corporal punishment was abolished and the judicial organisation was completely revised (1864). Unhappily the insurrection of Poland (1863-64) put an end to the reform period. The old serf-owners' party took again upper hand, and the last great reform, by which self-government (zemstvo) was granted to the provinces (1866), did not receive the importance which it formerly was proposed to give to it, as a preparatory step to constitutional government. Obligatory military service for all Russians was introduced in 1874.

The insurrection in Poland was suppressed with extreme severity; and in 1868 the last relics of Polish independence disappeared in the thorough incorporation of the kingdom with the Russian empire. The subjugation of the Caucasus was completed in 1859. Russian supremacy was established over all the states of Turkestan. In 1876 the administration of the Baltic Provinces was merged in that of the central government; but the autonomy of Finland was respected and even extended. In 1870, during the Franco-German war, Russia declared that she considered herself bound no more to the obligation of keeping no navy in the Black Sea, and in a conference at London in 1871 her claims were recognised. The misgovernment of her Christian subjects by Turkey, and her cruel suppression of incipient rebellion in 1876, led to a conference of the European Powers at Constantinople. Turkey rejected the proposals made by the conference with a view to the better administration of the subject provinces; and Russia, to enforce these concessions on Turkey, declared war in April 1877. At first the Russian progress was rapid; but the energy displayed by the Turks during the summer, and the resolute defence of Plevna by Osman Pasha from July till December, checked the progress of the Russian army. During the winter, however, she crossed the Balkans, and her vanguard reaching the Sea of Marmora, stood in view of Constantinople. The armistice signed in January 1878 was followed in March by the treaty of San Stefano; and after diplomatic difficuties that seemed for a time not unlikely to issue in war between Russia and England, a Congress of the Great Powers met at Berlin in June 1878, sanctioned the re-arrangement of the Ottoman empire explained under the article TURKEY, and the cession to Russia of the part of Bessarabia given to Moldavia in 1856, as also of the port of Batoum, of Kars, and of Ardahan. The growth of revolutionary discontent (see NIHILISM), leading to severe repressive measures, has been marked by several murders of high officials; and on March 13, 1881, Alexander II. was killed by the revolutionists. Panslavism (q.v.) has influenced Russian thought and policy to some extent.

The reign of Alexander III. has been characterised, in contrast to the liberal reforms of the last reign, by numerous reactionary steps; though strenuous efforts have been made to put an end to the colossal plundering of state money and appropriation of state lands common in the last half of the reign of Alexander II. The self-government of the zemstvo has been limited and put under the authority of the nobility: the justices of peace were abolished, and an attempt at reintroducing manorial rights has been made. The redemption taxes imposed upon the liberated serfs were slightly

reduced, and banks for facilitating the purchase of land by the richer peasants were created; a special bank for simplifying mortgages by the nobles was created with the support of the state. Literature was submitted to a most rigorous censorship, and education to a still closer supervision; public expressions of sympathy with the last reign's reforms have been severely repressed. Rigorous measures were taken against the Jewish population of the empire, leading to wholesale and compulsory emigration, and the autonomy of Finland has been curtailed-the ideal of the reign being a return to Nicholas I.'s views upon the centralisation of the state. The external policy is that of armed peace. See works on Russia, the land and people, by Sir D. M. Wallace (1877; new ed. 1888), Sutherland Edwards (1879), Geddie (1881), Morfill (1882), A. J. C. Hare (1888), Stepniak (from the Nihilist point of view, 188588), and Tikhomirov (1887). For history, see the articles on the principal Russian sovereigns, notably those on Peter I., Catharine I. and II., Paul, Alexander and II., and Nicholas; also the articles on Bagration, Barclay de Tolly, Gortschakoff, Kutusoff, Orloff, Potemkin, Suvarof, &c.; on Charles XII. of Sweden; and those on Nihilism, Panslavism, and Poland. And consult besides the Russian historians Karamzin, Soloviev, Kostomarov, Bestuzhef-Riumin, &c.; Rambaud, History of Russia (1878; Eng. trans. 1879; 2d ed. 1887); the shorter history by Morfill (1890); Sutherland Edwards, The Romanoffs (1890); and Howorth's History of the Mongols (1876–88).

Language and Literature.-The Russian language belongs to the eastern branch of the Slavonic family. It is extremely copious, and resembles ancient Greek in being both synthetical and analytical; thus it has seven cases, and yet in no language are the prepositions used with more delicate precision. It has lost the imperfect and aorist, which are to be found in old Slavonic, but has preserved the great Slavonic feature of the aspects of the verbs. Although Russia was under Mongolian rule for upwards of two centuries, yet the Tartar words are few, and are employed only for articles of dress and some other things of everyday use. A few Latin and French words have been incorporated, but the tendency at the present time is to eject foreignisms as much as possible. The language has great capabilities for forming compounds and derivatives. There are many dialects, but the predominant literary language is that of Moscow. The first Russian grammar was published at Oxford in 1696 by Henry Ludolf; in Russian may be mentioned those of Vostokov (10th ed. 1859) and Buslaev, Historical Grammar of the Russian Language (1875). For understanding the principles of Russian philology we must betake ourselves to the great work of Miklosich, Vergleichende Grammatik der Slavischen Sprachen (4 vols. 1879). The best dictionaries are those of the Russian Academy (Russe-Français, Makarov, 1874; new ed. 1892; Russian-English, Alexandrov, 1879). In English there are Russian grammars by Morfill (1889) and Riola (new ed. 1890).

The earliest Russian literature consists of the bilini, or legendary poems, which were orally communicated till they were committed to writing in modern times. These are divided into cyclese.g. those of Vladimir, the prince of Kieff, of Novgorod, and of Moscow. There are large collections of them, and also of the skazki, or popular tales. The earliest manuscript which has been preserved of anything which can be said to be distinctly Russian is the codex of the Ostromir Gospels, written at Novgorod in the years 1056-57 by the deacon Gregory, for Ostromir the posadnik of Novgorod. After this we get sborniki, or collections of miscellaneous works, such as those compiled for the Grand-duke Sviatoslav, and some sermons by Luke, bishop of Novgorod, and others. With the

so-called chronicle of Nestor begins the series of Russian annalists. Nestor is supposed to have died about 1114. We have also chronicles of separate parts of Russia, such as Novgorod, Kieff, Pskov, and Volhynia. There is also the Poüchenie, or book of instruction, of Vladimir Monomakh, and the prose-poem called The Story of the Expedition of Igor' (Slovo o Polku Igorevé). The original manuscript of this production was burned in the fire at Moscow in 1812. Important are the Russian legal codes, the Russkaya Pravda of Yaroslav in the 12th century, and the sudebniks of Ivan III. and IV. In 1504 the first Russian book was printed at Moscow. To the reign of Ivan IV. (the Terrible) belongs the Book of Household Management,' assigned to the priest Sylvester. We also have the Stoglav, or book of church regulations, issued by Ivan in 1551. At the beginning of the 17th century we have the chronicle of Sergius Kubasov, and towards the close of the same century the interesting work of Kotishikhin on Russia, which was discovered in manuscript in 1840. To the same period belong the writings of Ivan Krizhanich, who is generally reputed to be the father of Panslavism, and the poems and plays of Simeon Polotski (1628-80), who was the tutor to the children of the Emperor Alexei. In the reign of the latter monarch the Russians got back Kieff, which had long been in the hands of the Poles, and thus the culture of the West became accessible to them. With Polotski may be said to terminate the first period of Russian literature with its Byzantine influence.

The second period was to be commenced by the reforming measures of Peter the Great; and Russia now began to look to the West for her models. He established schools, and founded the celebrated Academy of St Petersburg. The first Russian poet of the new era was Antiokh Kantemir (1708-44), who wrote some good satires in the style of Pope and Boileau. But the writer that exercised the greatest influence on Russian literature was Michael Lomonosov, who established the supremacy of the dialect of Great Russia. He was an indefatigable worker in many branches of learning, and earned his chief laurels in natural science. Trediakovski (1683-1769) did something for Russian versification, but was hardly more than a poetaster. Basil Tatistchev (1686-1750) laid the foundations of historical writing, as opposed to the mere chronicler, and Sumarokov (1718-77) those of the drama. A real national comedy was created by Denis Von Visin (1745–92) and Kniazhnin also wrote plays with ability. Michael Kheraskov (1733-1801) composed two large epics, the Rossiada in twelve books, and Vladimir in eighteen, but they have now almost sunk into oblivion. The Dushenka of Bogdanovich (1743-1803) was at one time very popular. With Khemnitser begins the series of Russian fabulists. Gabriel Derzhavin (q.v.; 1743-1816) was the great poet of the age of Catharine. He celebrated her glories in many spirited odes. Prose literature was more slow in developing itself. An elegant style can hardly be said to have existed before the time of Nicholas Karamzin (q.v.; 1766-1826), renowned for his history of Russia. On the accession of Alexander I. literature advanced rapidly. The founder of the romantic school of poetry was Basil Zhukovski, who, although he wrote but few original pieces, was beneficial to his countrymen by his translations from English and German. Other poets of the period were Dmitriev and Batiushkov. The most brilliant author, however, of the new school was Alexander Pushkin (q.v.), the greatest poet whom Russia has yet produced, who has left some charming narratives in verse, and other works. The fables of Ivan

RUSSIA LEATHER

Krilof (1768-1844) have always enjoyed considerable reputation among the Russians. A clever writer of comedy was Griboyedov, killed at Teheran in 1829. Since the death of Pushkin the Russians have had Michael Lermontoff (q.v.; 1814-41), author of the Demon and some graceful lyrics, and Nicholas Nekrasov, who died in 1877. There are many minor poets; thus Koltsov (1809-42) wrote some of the most national lyrics which have appeared in Russia. Among novelists, the Russians have produced Zagoskin and Lazhechnikov, who imitated Scott; but the foundation of the realistic school among them was begun by Nicholas Gogol (q.v.), one of the most powerful writers of his country. Dostoieffsky (q.v.) and Pisemski, who died in 1881, were also celebrated as novelists; but the first to gain a European fame was Ivan | Turgenief (q.v.), who died in 1883. Count Leo Tolstoi (q.v.), though two months older than Turgenief, survived him; he is the author of 'War and Peace' (Voina i Mir) and other wellknown works. It is in romantic fiction that the Russians have gained their greatest laurels. A celebrated political writer was Alexander Herzen (q.v.), who died at Paris in 1870. Great attention has been paid in Russia to the collection of the national songs (bilini), tales, folklore, and proverbs; and among them the works of Sakharov, Ribnikov, and Afanasiev are especially to be mentioned. In history the Russians have produced some eminent names: Karamzin was followed by Ustrialov and Pogodin; and later we have the great work on Russian history in upwards of 28 volumes by Sergius Solovieff, which he did not live to complete, and the still unfinished production of Professor Bestuzhef-Riumin. The Russians have produced few writers on philosophy. In philology we have the names of Vostokov, Sreznevski, and Buslaev.

See Reinhold, Geschichte der Russischen Literatur (1886); P. Polevoi, Istoria Russkoi Literaturi v ocherkakh i biographiakh ('History of Russian Literature in Sketches and Biographies,' 1872); Talvi, View of Literature of the Slavonic Nations (1850); Courrière, Histoire de la Littérature Contemporaine en Russie (Paris, 1875); and Morfill, Russia (1890).

Russia Leather. See LEATHER, p. 551. Russniaks. See RUTHENIANS. Rust. Neither malleable iron, nor steel, nor cast-iron can be exposed to a moist atmosphere for more than a brief time without becoming rusted. But malleable or wrought iron, being nearly pure iron, rusts rather more readily than either of the others, which essentially contain a certain proportion of carbon (see IRON and STEEL). In a paper read before the Iron and Steel Institute in 1888 Professor Crum Brown explains the chemical processes involved in the rusting of iron. He says that, when a drop of rain falls on a clean bright surface of iron, for a short time the drop remains clear, showing the bright surface of the iron through it. But soon a greenish precipitate forms in the drop, and this rapidly becomes reddish brown. The brown precipitate (peroxide of iron or rust) does not adhere to the iron, but is suspended in the water, and becomes a loosely adherent coating only when the water has evaporated. He further states that iron remains quite free from rust in an atmosphere containing oxygen, carbonic acid, and water vapour (all present in a normal atmosphere except water vapour, which is rarely absent) as long as the water vapour does not condense as liquid water on the surface of the iron. Owing to the hygroscopic character of rust, when it once forms on iron the rusting process will continue in an atmosphere not saturated with water vapour. In other words, the iron in this case will continue rusting in an atmosphere in which a piece

of clean iron will not rust, because liquid water will condense on rust when it will not on bright iron. The fact that under ordinary atmospheric conditions the rusting process, when once begun, continues, has been long known. It follows that it is much easier to prevent the first formation of rust than to stop the process.

It is customary to coat with oil paint all kinds of ironwork which are to be exposed to the weather, and this is usually a sufficient protection. But paint is liable to scale off, so that it is necessary to recoat the iron at longer or shorter intervals. A light iron fence, for example, would not long escape destruction by rusting if it were not frequently painted. It is, however, usual to 'galvanise' wirework and thin sheets of iron, as the zinc coating retards oxidation. A coating of tin also protects the surface of iron from rusting, but it would appear that for this purpose it cannot be so much relied upon as zinc. Japanning (q.v.) is another way of preserving iron. The iron and steel plates forming the sides of ships receive four or five coats of a paint composed of red lead and boiled linseedoil to protect them from the corrosive action of seawater, and the sides of these ships are generally repainted after a long voyage. Some of our lighthouses have water-tanks constructed of iron which is not only galvanised, but is also painted with three coats of this red lead paint above the zinc coating. The patent paints depend for their efficiency on the red lead and boiled oil in them. Unlike the peroxide, the magnetic oxide of iron forms an adherent coating to the metal, and only when it is detached can water gain access to the iron beneath it. In 1878 a patent (No. 1280) was taken out by G. & A. Bower for a process of producing a thin film of magnetic oxide on iron articles to protect them from rusting, but the colour of this oxide, which somewhat resembles that of the metal itself, is not attractive. In the comparatively dry atmosphere of occupied rooms the bright surface of iron or steel objects will often keep many years without rusting. Where such objects are care should be taken to keep away from them all volatile corrosive acids, such as nitric, hydrochloric, or acetic acid, or bleaching powder (chloride of lime). Polished surfaces of iron are often coated with tallow mixed with a little white lead for their temporary protection while they are being conveyed from place to place, but this sometimes fails to keep away rust. more recent and better plan is to coat the bright iron with some varnish soluble in naphtha or paraffin-oil-Brunswick black, for example. A mixture of common rosin with a little pure olive-oil and spirits of turpentine has also been found to be a good preservative in such cases. Iron immersed in an alkaline solution does not rust unless it is very dilute. Very delicate steel instruments are often protected from the action of moist air by placing them in drawers or cases along with chloride of calcium or lime hydrate, but as these substances absorb moisture and swell they require to be occasionally looked at. When bright iron or steel objects are already partially rusted, the rust, if not very deep into the metal, may be rubbed off with paraffin-oil, which contains no oxygen. Should this fail, a rub with fine emery will be necessary. Iron rust stains on linen or cotton are usually removed either with oxalic acid or binoxalate of potash (salt of sorrel). The fabric should be well washed after treatment with any of these substances.

A

Rust, the common name of Trichobasis rubigo vera, a parasitic fungus of the natural order Pucciniai, which preys upon the leaves, glumes, and stalks of cereals and other grasses. It has been supposed to be a mere condition or stage of