Opening the text

Anthology of Russian literature from the earliest period to the present time, volume 1 (of 2) : $b From the tenth century to the close of the eighteenth centuryWiener, Leo

General

Anthology of Russian literature from the earliest period to the present time, volume 1 (of 2) : $b From the tenth century to the close of the eighteenth century

Name: Anthology of Russian literature from the earliest period to the present time, volume 1 (of 2) : $b From the tenth century to the close of the eighteenth century
Author: Wiener, Leo

Wiener, Leo

Russia -- Literary collections; Russian literature -- Translations into English

The Princess Dolgorúki was the daughter of Count Sheremétev, who was
 intimately connected with the reforms of Peter the Great. In 1729 she
 was betrothed to Prince Iván Aleksyéevich Dolgorúki, the favourite of
 Peter II.; Feofán Prokopóvich performed the ceremony of the betrothal,
 and the whole Imperial family and the most distinguished people of
 the capital were present. A few days later Peter II. died, and Anna
 Ioánnovna ascended the throne. Dolgorúki was banished to Siberia, and
 she married him in order to follow him into exile. They passed eight
 years in the Government of Tobólsk, when her husband was taken to
 Nóvgorod and executed. For three years she remained in ignorance of
 his fate, when the Empress Elizabeth permitted her to return to St.
 Petersburg. In 1758 Princess Dolgorúki entered a monastery at Kíev,
 and ten years later she wrote her _Memoirs_, at the request of her son
 Michael. In 1810 her grandson, the poet Dolgorúki (see p. 422), had
 these _Memoirs_ printed. The Princess Dolgorúki has become a synonym
 for a devoted Russian woman, and she has frequently been celebrated
 in poetry, especially by Rylyéev, Kozlóv and Nekrásov. There is also
 an English book treating of her life: _The Life and Times of Nathalia
 Borissovna, Princess Dolgorookov_, by J. A. Heard, London, 1857.


FROM HER “MEMOIRS”

My mind totters when I recall all that has befallen me after my
happiness which at that time appeared to me to be eternal. I did not
have a friend to teach me that I ought to walk more warily on the
slippery road of pleasure. My Lord! What a threatening storm arose
against me, and what calamities from the whole world befell me! Lord!
Give me strength to tell of my sufferings, that I may describe them for
the information of the curious and the consolation of the afflicted
who, thinking of me, might be consoled. I have passed all the days of
my life in misery, and have experienced all: persecution, exile, want,
separation from my beloved one,--everything that one can think of. I do
not boast of my endurance, but will boast of the mercy of the Lord who
has given me so much strength to bear all that I have borne up to now.
It would be impossible for a man to endure such strokes, if the power
of the Lord did not strengthen him from on high. Consider my bringing
up, and my present state!

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Anthology of Russian literature from the earliest period to the present time, volume 1 (of 2) : $b From the tenth century to the close of the eighteenth centuryWiener, Leo

General

Anthology of Russian literature from the earliest period to the present time, volume 1 (of 2) : $b From the tenth century to the close of the eighteenth century

Wiener, Leo

Russia -- Literary collections; Russian literature -- Translations into English

The Princess Dolgorúki was the daughter of Count Sheremétev, who was
 intimately connected with the reforms of Peter the Great. In 1729 she
 was betrothed to Prince Iván Aleksyéevich Dolgorúki, the favourite of
 Peter II.; Feofán Prokopóvich performed the ceremony of the betrothal,
 and the whole Imperial family and the most distinguished people of
 the capital were present. A few days later Peter II. died, and Anna
 Ioánnovna ascended the throne. Dolgorúki was banished to Siberia, and
 she married him in order to follow him into exile. They passed eight
 years in the Government of Tobólsk, when her husband was taken to
 Nóvgorod and executed. For three years she remained in ignorance of
 his fate, when the Empress Elizabeth permitted her to return to St.
 Petersburg. In 1758 Princess Dolgorúki entered a monastery at Kíev,
 and ten years later she wrote her _Memoirs_, at the request of her son
 Michael. In 1810 her grandson, the poet Dolgorúki (see p. 422), had
 these _Memoirs_ printed. The Princess Dolgorúki has become a synonym
 for a devoted Russian woman, and she has frequently been celebrated
 in poetry, especially by Rylyéev, Kozlóv and Nekrásov. There is also
 an English book treating of her life: _The Life and Times of Nathalia
 Borissovna, Princess Dolgorookov_, by J. A. Heard, London, 1857.


FROM HER “MEMOIRS”

My mind totters when I recall all that has befallen me after my
happiness which at that time appeared to me to be eternal. I did not
have a friend to teach me that I ought to walk more warily on the
slippery road of pleasure. My Lord! What a threatening storm arose
against me, and what calamities from the whole world befell me! Lord!
Give me strength to tell of my sufferings, that I may describe them for
the information of the curious and the consolation of the afflicted
who, thinking of me, might be consoled. I have passed all the days of
my life in misery, and have experienced all: persecution, exile, want,
separation from my beloved one,--everything that one can think of. I do
not boast of my endurance, but will boast of the mercy of the Lord who
has given me so much strength to bear all that I have borne up to now.
It would be impossible for a man to endure such strokes, if the power
of the Lord did not strengthen him from on high. Consider my bringing
up, and my present state!

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Anthology of Russian literature from the earliest period to the present time, volume 1 (of 2) : $b From the tenth century to the close of the eighteenth century

Anthology of Russian literature from the earliest period to the present time, volume 1 (of 2) : $b From the tenth century to the close of the eighteenth century

No reviews yet