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Excerpt from Russian Pictures Drawn With Pen and Pencil Russia received its first strong impulse from Peter the Great, at a time when the printing press was already an active force, when the wall that had surrounded 'Muscovia' had been considerably breached, and when intercommunication with the rest of Europe, by sea and by land, had become comparatively easy and free from danger. It is therefore as in a glass hive that the Russian bees have ever since been toiling under the guidance of gifted and ambitious rulers to build up the colossal fabric we view to-day with an amazement which is not unmingled with disquietude, when only the area of the modern Russian Empire presents itself for consideration. The foreign criticism and animadversion to which Russia has been liable since the days, more especially of its great Reformer, have not been produced by racial or religious prejudice. They have been the natural consequence of the great position which Russia acquired so late in her political life, in the eyes and under the keen observation of states that had long been more or less solidified and advanced in the spirit and the form of their civilization and government. Hence, so far from being a terra incognita, Russia, especially that part situated in Europe, has been the subject of such numerous literary productions that it is well nigh impossible to say, or to depict, anything by pen and pencil that will not appear to a large class of readers to be more or less a réchauffé of other travellers' notes and artistic labours. Nevertheless, the hope is not forbidden that the book produced in these circumstances may not only please the eye of the reader into whose hands it falls, but also, by giving him accurate, if somewhat scanty, information about the history, peoples, lands, and cities of Russia in both Europe and Asia, add something to the interest he may already take in the subject. In short, the work may be introduced to its readers somewhat appropriately in the words of an English writer at the end of the seventeenth century: ''Tis true, this relation will not afford the same variety of beautiful structures, gardens, statues, and other niceties as that of Italy; nevertheless, the more remote the manners, religion, and policy of the Muscovites are from other nations of Europe, the more abstruse their history and surprising in the event, among a nation guided for the most part merely by instinct, and consequently hurried on from one extreme to another, the more, I say, they may deserve our particular observation at this juncture of time.' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
