Vasily Andreevich, an eminent Russian poet, was born near Bielev, on the 29th of January 1783. He gave early indications of very superior talent, and added, at an unripe age, an excellent version of Gray's Elegy to the hundred and fifty already in existence in the Russian language. It was as lieutenant of the Moscow volunteers that he wrote his Minstrel in the Russian Camp, which was sung with the greatest enthusiasm by the whole of the Russian soldiers. Obliged to quit the army in 1813 by ill health, he retired to the capital, where he received a pension, and where his most popular poems and ballads were written. Among these is his Svielland, which is considered on all hands as his masterpiece, and his Ziudmilla, an imitation of Bürger's Lenora. While there can be no doubt as to the beauty and elegance of the poems of Zhukovsky, one had better not inquire too narrowly into their origin. Southey and Scott, and a good few English poets would have little difficulty in claiming their own at the hands of this polite Russian. But this is a pretty common fault with more Russian poets than Zhukovsky. Buoyed up by real merit, and by a more than ordinary share of court patronage, Zhukovsky might have lived to enjoy an honourable old age. He proceeded to Baden for the benefit of the waters, but he died on the 12th of April 1852. An edition of the works of Zhukovsky appeared in 8 vols. in 1835-37, which was augmented to 11 vols. in 1849, nine-tenths of which are either original poems or poetical translations. An English translation of his Svielland has been published by Sir John Bowring.