from Sweden and Germany, during the reign of Catherine ; and was at once taken up by the literary world, then led by Novikof. The greater part of the distinguished scholars and statesmen under Alexander, Karamzin among them, were interested in it, and spread through the country the philosophical works which deluged Europe.
The French Revolution now broke out ; and Catherine, becoming alarmed at the rapid spread of the new philosophy, ordered the lodges closed, had the suspicious books seized, and Novikof tried and condemned.
But the new doctrines assumed greater force under Alexander, who encouraged them. The infatuation for this mysticism spread among all
intelligent people. The state of mind of the upper classes has been faithfully depicted in the character of Pierre Bezushof, in "War and Peace," the historical novel of Leon Tolstoï. (See the chapter which describes Pierre's initiation into Freemasonry.) This condition of mind is not peculiar to the Russians. All Europe was obscured by it at the end of the eighteenth century ; but in Russia it found free scope in the unsettled and confused state of affairs, where the thinking mind struggled against the influx of rationalism, while unwilling to accept the negative philosophy of the learned class. On this account, among others, the reign of Alexander I. presents a curious subject for study and contem-
