E-text prepared by Hunter Monroe and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See http://www.archive.org/details/russiangentleman00aksauoft A RUSSIAN GENTLEMAN ———— _UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ 1 Vol. Demy 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._ net A RUSSIAN SCHOOLBOY 1 Vol. Demy 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ net YEARS OF CHILDHOOD BY SERGE AKSAKOFF Translated from the Russian by J. D. DUFF FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE LONDON: EDWARD ARNOLD ———— A RUSSIAN GENTLEMAN by SERGE AKSAKOFF Translated from the Russian by J. D. Duff Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge SECOND IMPRESSION London Edward Arnold 1917 All rights reserved ———— TO J. F. D. ———— TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE Serge Aksakoff,¹ the author of this Russian classic, was born at Ufa, in the district of Orenburg, on September 20, 1791. His father held some office in the law-court of the town, and his grandfather lived in the country as the owner of large estates, to which Aksakoff ultimately succeeded. His grandfather had migrated about 1760 from Simbirsk to Ufa, where the population consisted mainly of Tatars and a number of Finnish tribes—Mordvinians, Choovashes, and others. ¹ The name is pronounced Aksākoff, not Aksăkoff, and his birthplace is called by Russians _Oo-fá_, not _Yéw-fa_. Aksakoff was educated at Kazan, and entered the Civil Service in 1808. After serving in many different capacities—he was censor of the Press at Moscow for some years—he retired in 1839 and devoted himself exclusively to literature. He married in 1816; and his two sons, Constantine and Ivan, both played a conspicuous part in the public life of Russia. He died at Moscow, after a long and painful illness, on April 30, 1859. His high and secure place among Russian writers Aksakoff owes to three works—his _Years of Childhood_ and _Recollections_, which are autobiography, and his _Family History_, which is here translated under the title of _A Russian Gentleman_. This is his most famous work: his portrait of his grandfather is his masterpiece, and his descriptions of his parents’ courtship and marriage are as vivid and minute as his pictures of his own early childhood. He began to write this book soon after his retirement from the public service. Portions of it were published in a Moscow magazine in 1846; and the whole work appeared, with the addition of a short Epilogue, in 1856. He published _Recollections_ in the same volume; and _Years of Childhood_—which should have preceded _Recollections_—followed in 1858, the last year of his life.