THE QUEEN OF SPADES AND OTHER STORIES. BY ALEXANDER PUSHKIN. TRANSLATED BY MRS. SUTHERLAND EDWARDS. _BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED._ LONDON: CROOME & CO., 322, UPPER STREET, N. 1892 CONTENTS BIOGRAPHY OF PUSHKIN THE QUEEN OF SPADES THE PISTOL SHOT THE SNOWSTORM THE UNDERTAKER THE POSTMASTER THE LADY RUSTIC KIRDJALI THE HISTORY OF THE VILLAGE OF GOROHINA PETER THE GREAT'S NEGRO THE GYPSIES LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. "THE OLD MAGICIAN CAME AT ONCE" "SEATED BEFORE HER LOOKING GLASS" "PAUL AND LISAVETA" "THERE SHE SHED TEARS" "SHE TORE IT INTO A HUNDRED PIECES" "A FOOTMAN IN A GREASY DRESSING GOWN" "A STRANGE MAN HAD APPEARED" "ONE GLANCE SHOWED HER THAT HE WAS NOT THERE" "HERMANN STARTED AND FELL BACKWARDS" "HE SAW BEFORE HIM A QUEEN OF SPADES" "THE OFFICER SEIZED A BRASS CANDLESTICK" "HERE IS A MEMENTO OF OUR DUEL" "WE CLUTCHED OUR SWORDS" "HIS LIFE AT LAST WAS IN MY HANDS" "SILVIO! _YOU_ KNEW SILVIO?" "MASHA THREW HERSELF AT HIS FEET" "THE LOVERS MET IN THE PINE WOOD" "SHE BURST INTO TEARS" "A TIME OF GLORY AND DELIGHT" "IN THE IVY BOWER" PUSHKIN. Alexander Sergueievitch Pushkin came of a noble family, so ancient that it was traced back to that Alexander Nevsky who, in the thirteenth century, gained a great victory over the Swedes upon the ice of the River Neva, in token whereof he was surnamed "Nevsky" of the Neva. His mother, Nadejda Ossipovna Hannibal, was the grand-daughter of Abraham Petrovitch Hannibal, Peter the Great's famous negro. His father, Surguei Lvovitch Pushkin, was a frivolous man of pleasure. The poet was born on the 26th of May, 1799, at Moscow. He was an awkward and a silent child. He was educated by French tutors. A poor scholar, he read with eagerness whatever he could get in his father's library, chiefly the works of French authors. His brother states that at eleven years old Pushkin knew French literature by heart. This cannot, of course, be taken literally; but it shows under what influence he grew up. In October, 1811, he entered the Lyceum of Tsarskoe Selo. Among the students a society was soon formed, whose members were united by friendship and by a taste for literature. They brought out several periodicals, in which tales and poems formed the chief features. Of this society (the late Prince Gortchakoff belonged to it) Pushkin was the leading spirit. His first printed poem appeared in the _Messenger of Europe_ in 1814. At a public competition in 1815, at which the veteran poet Derjavin was present, Pushkin read his "Memories of Tsarskoe Selo." This poem, which contains many beautiful passages, so delighted Derjavin, that he wished to embrace the young author; but Pushkin fled in confusion from the hall.