are pretty much in accord upon this pregnant point. Only ten years ago, the famous Kostomaroff published a learned essay entitled, Dve Russkiya Narodnosti,' Anglice, The Two Russian Nationalities,' in which some of the realities of the case were set forth with much historical and linguistic acumen. Indeed, whatever assertions to the contrary may have been advanced by politicians in the interest of Russian hegemony over the Slav, Russian scholars have never been remiss in acknowledging the conclusive character of the Turanic descent evidence handed down by history.

And why should they have acted otherwise? With so many strong points to give their national character worth and weight, the Muscovite race have no occasion to conceal the elements that have combined to produce them. If neither genuine nor unalloyed Slavs, Muscovites, with all their shortcomings, are yet clever, enterprising, enduring, courageous, and, as all the world is aware, have been eminently successful in very many respects. Nothing could be more erroneous than to regard the Muscovite or Finno-Tataric ingredient of the Russian Empire in its present Slavified aspect as inferior to the western or more purely Slavonic portion of the population. Though the two elements differ, either contains highly remarkable traits in its national character.

The Slavo-Russian-to-day called Little Russian,* because his country constitutes only one-fourth of the entire extent of European Russia-is a sensitive, excitable, and musical being, essentially sedentary, agricultural, and domestic. The Slavified Finno-Tatar, on the other hand, formerly called Muscovite, and to-day known as Great Russian, because his race extends over three-fourths of European Russia, is a clever, cold-blooded, calculating individual, who dislikes a settled life, varies agriculture with many an itinerant trade, and dearly loves to rove about as a pedlar or wandering mechanic, with the morrow's bread as uncertain as the road he treads in the pathless steppe. The Slavo-Russian marries for love; the Finno-Russian is married by his father, with the assistance of the mediating priest. The priest frequently acts as a paid agent, and the father and the priest, in estimating feminine worth, prefer bones that will stand labour to beauty that is only skin-deep. Slavo-Russian family life habitually displays tenderness and mutual consideration and care; in FinnoRussia the rustic wife and children are obliged to slave for the master of the house, and the sons remaining under the same roof with the father, even when married, the sons' wives too are subject

* The names of Great and Little Russia occur for the first time in the Treaty of Pereyaslav, concluded 1654 between the Grand-Duke Alexius of Muscovy and Bogdan Chmelnicki, to enact the incorporation of a portion of the Ukraine. See concluding note of this chapter.

to the dictation of the domestic patriarch. But while the Slavo-Russian is impressible and apt to waver and fret, the Finno-Russian is sturdy, confident, and adventurous; while the Slav sings, the Finno-Muscovite is either silent or indulges in caustical philosophy; while the one glories in innumerable ditties and ballads, the other, besides retaining the epical talent of the Finn, boasts the possession of some ten thousand proverbs, most of them shrewd and pointed, though many of them pessimistic and ill-natured. In the Finn the Slav's feeling is replaced by reasoning power; imagination by plain common-sense; amiable weakness by rough, stern strength. But for the distinctive characteristics of her Muscovite ingredient, Russia would never have attained the might she possesses.

The

Owing to their innate diversity, there is little love lost between the two Russian races. Slav dubs the Muscovite 'Katsap,' a term implying something harsh, rough, and at the same time. over-politic; the Muscovite, on his part, compliments the Slav as 'Kkokhol,' meaning to denounce him as irresolute, weak, and sly. The Slav every now and then complains that he has been forced by the Muscovites to relinquish the Uniate-Romanist creed, which he accepted under Polish rule, and reembrace Oriental orthodoxy, from which he was alienated centuries ago. The Slav occasionally grumbles at being placed under Muscovite officials,

with no sympathy for his sensitive temper, and no pity for his grievances and griefs. Last, not least, the Slav deplores that his language is officially tabooed, and may not even be put into print.

This is a sore point. In the centuries marking the advent of culture to those parts, Slavic Russian, as a literary language, was stifled by Polish, the idiom of the then owners of the land; at present, when Slavic Russia is the property of Finno-Russia, the linguistic eclipse of the inhabitants continues, though it emanates from a different quarter. FinnoRussian being, by the dominating race, declared the official and literary tongue of the empire, Slavic Russian, or, to use modern phraseology, Little Russian, has only at times been allowed to be printed at all. In the liberal period which inaugurated the era of Alexander II., the sunshine of freedom was shed upon Kieff, as upon every other part of the Empire. Being licensed for print, the Little Russian language in those days rapidly produced a promising historical and religious litera

ture.

In that halcyon epoch of Russian liberalism, Little Russian literature witnessed a perfect revival, and attracted considerable attention at home and abroad. Not a few of its productions were actually translated, or recommended for translation, into Great Russian. Books of sweet and passionate Popular songs and tales, the

poetry abounded.

phantastic heirlooms of a wildly imaginative race,

were numerously collected. Historical, linguistic, and philological inquiries displayed a noble partiality for patriotic and erudite research. But the fates, which had so long obstructed its growth, speedily reasserted their unpropitious influence upon Little Russian literature. In the interest

of national unity and Muscovite predominance, the independent literary resurrection of Little Russia was promptly put a stop to by the vigorous statesmen of St. Petersburg. The Slavic or Little Russians showing in their books and papers a decided inclination to assert a distinct nationality and to accentuate their dissimilarity to the Muscovites, the movement had to be stayed, and accordingly was stayed with a will. In 1859, in the first blush of the liberal era, M. Lavrovski had been actually permitted to discuss the independent nationality and speech of the Little Russians in the official reports of the Ministry of Public Instruction; in 1876, fifteen years later, Little or Slavonic Russian, the language from which the Great or Finno-Russian is mainly derived, was absolutely interdicted by Imperial decree. Since then Little or Slavonic Russian may not, as a rule, be printed. Indeed, it may hardly be read or spoken either, except by scholars or boors. Excluded from church, school, and court, it is equally prohibited in the theatre, the concert-room, and the editorial office. For private persons it is scarcely safe to