Michel Jurgevitch Lermontov, the Russian poet, died on July 27, as the result of a duel in the Caucasus. His romance, "A Hero of Our Time," was the immediate cause of the duel. This poet was the Russian spokesman of the so-called Weltschmerz (world-sorrow) which had come into vogue with the "Sorrows of Werther." Following in the wake of Chateaubriand and Byron, Lermontov wrote epic poems in a pessimistic, cynical strain, without attaining quite the bitterness of spirit of a Byron or Heine, nor the melancholy lyric beauty of a Lenau or Leopardi. Pre-eminent, on the other hand, are his poetical descriptions of the scenery and wild national traits of the Caucasus, which furnished the background for almost all of his poems. Noteworthy among his epics are "The Circassian Boy," "Ismail Bey," "Valerik," "Hadshy-Abrak," and "The Demon." Under Czar Nicholas, Lermontov's works were forbidden in Russia. After having been banished to the Caucasus, for demanding revenge for Pushkin's death, the poet published his last brilliant epic, "Song of Czar Ivan Vasilyevitch," under a pseudonym. [Sidenote: German letters] [Sidenote: Prussian General Estates] In Germany, too, letters and arts were flourishing. In Vienna, Nikolaus Lenau (Baron Strehlenau) and his friend, Anastasius Gruen (Count Auersperg), were the leaders of a literary movement which found its counterpart in the so-called "Young German" movement of the north, where Ferdinand Freiligrath, Laube, Gutzkow, and Emanuel Geibel came under the ban of the German Bundesrath. The great political event of the year was the meeting of the first General Estates, convoked at Berlin. The new king's hostile attitude toward their popular demands for constitutional rights and larger liberties soon destroyed the hopes of liberal Germans for a change of spirit in the government of Prussia. A more material advance in civilization was assured by the opening of the first railway from Berlin to Magdeburg. [Sidenote: Cornelius] Peter von Cornelius, one of the leaders of the religious Catholic movement in art which had followed the classicism of the first decade of the century, was commissioned by the King to decorate the cemetery at Berlin. These decorations afterward, as well as the mural paintings in the Church of Saint Louis at Munich, proved to be his masterpieces. [Sidenote: Defence of Jellalabad] The British occupation of Afghanistan had continued since the last year. The expenses of the occupation were so heavy that economy was imperative. As soon as the British Resident cut down the subsidies paid to Shah Shuja the situation took a sinister turn. In October, Sir Robert Sale left Kabul with a brigade of British troops to reopen communications with Jellalabad, which had been interrupted by hostile mountain tribes. He got to Jellalabad only after a desperate struggle and heavy losses. His subsequent defence of that stronghold against the Afghans is one of the heroic traditions of British India.