To go back to Feodor Petrovitch. He is saturated with so-called “culture.” In his case it is in many respects not superficial at all. He knows exactly how to manage a starch factory, not only how to manage it, but how every part of the machine is made and worked. He has practical knowledge of agriculture; he is an excellent economist. Besides this he has travelled and understands English, German, and French; he is well acquainted with Dickens, Thackeray, Shakespeare, and Mrs. Humphry Ward, with Beaumarchais and Ibsen, and, of course, it goes without saying, after what I have related, that a thorough knowledge of the Russian classics is an absolutely indispensable part of “culture.” I happened to mention to Feodor Petrovitch that a discussion had lately been raging in the _Morning Post_ as to the comparative merits of modern and ancient literature and I asked him on what side the balance of opinion would fall if a similar discussion were to be held in Russia. “Russian literature at the present moment,” he said, “is leaping along with the force of a strong stream, but it is impossible to point to any one author of the younger generation who is worthy to take his place side by side with the older giants.” “But,” I asked, “with regard to those same giants, is the general opinion the same as what it was thirty years ago? For instance, do the younger generation admire Tolstoi, Tourgenieff, Gogol, and Dostoievski as much as their fathers did, or are there people who cannot read Gogol and Tourgenieff just as in England there are people who cannot read Dickens and Thackeray?” “The younger generation,” he answered, “have read all the classics; they find no difficulty in doing that, and of course it is difficult to generalise on subjects which are, after all, matters of taste; but I think you will find many Russians not only of the young generation who on reading or re-reading Tourgenieff are acutely disappointed.” “I have just read an interesting and admirably-written article in an English newspaper,” I answered, “in which it is said that as a psychologist pure and simple Tourgenieff is superior to Tolstoi--that he is a writer for the aristocracy of taste, not for the general public, and that not to know him is not to have penetrated into the best society. The author quotes Renan and George Sand to back him up, and says, moreover, that his artistic form is superior to that of Tolstoi, Daudet, and even Flaubert.”