XXXI. RELEASE 218 XXXII. “A ROSE AND A MYRTLE” 227 XXIII. PAVEL PETROVITCH AND THE ENCHANTER 237 XXXIV. A MYRTLE LEAF 243 XXXV. FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER 249 INTRODUCTION. _Gregory Petrovitch Danilevski was born at Danilovki, an estate in the government of Kharkov, on April 14th, 1829. He died last winter at St. Petersburg, on December 6th. His childhood over--it was spent partly on the estate of his grandfather, near Dontsov, partly on the estate of Petrovski--he became a student first of the Muscovite Institute for the nobility, afterwards of the University of St. Petersburg, leaving the latter, in 1850, as graduate in jurisprudence. In 1848, during his studentship, he was presented with a silver medal at the meeting of the Philological Institute for his composition on Poushkin and Kriloff._ _From 1850 to 1857 he served in the ministry of public instruction, at first under Noroff, afterwards under Prince Viazimski. During this period he visited Finland and the Crimea, and worked, by commission from the Archæological Society, on the archives of the monasteries of the governments of Kharkov, Koursk, and Poltava, and, at the suggestion of the historian Oustrialoff, wrote a description of the famous battlefield of the last-named place. In 1856, at the instance of the Imperial admiral, Constantine Nicolaievitch, he was sent to the south of Russia to write a description of the Sea of Azov, the Dnieper, and the Don. In the following year he resigned his official appointment. Thereafter, for twelve years, he lived at Petrovski, his own favourite estate in Kharkov, from time to time, however, paying visits to Poland, White Russia, Volhynie, and Podolia, and sailing down the Volga, Don, and Dnieper. Made in 1859 deputy of the committee of Kharkov for improving the condition of the peasantry, he was instructed four years later, by Golovinin, the minister of public instruction, to inspect and to report on the condition of 200 national schools in the government of Kharkov. During the first three years of the establishment of the rural police courts he served by election. Despatched to St. Petersburg in 1868 as a deputy by the government of Kharkov, he had the honour of being presented to the emperor. From 1867 to 1870 he held the post of honorary justice of the peace. Finally, in 1869, on the institution of the official organ, “The Government Herald,” he was appointed senior assistant to the chief editor. This post he occupied eleven years._