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The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Denis Fonvizin (1745–1792)
Fonvizin (von Wisin), Denis Ivanovich (fon-viz’in). A Russian dramatist, satirist, and epistolary writer; born in Moscow, April 14, 1745; died in St. Petersburg, Dec. 12, 1792. His fame as the Molière of his country arises from the merit of two comedies, ‘The Brigadier’ (1766) and ‘The Minor’ (or ‘Mother’s Favorite Son’: 1782), ridiculing certain peculiarities of Russian character. A burlesque, ‘Court Grammar,’ and mock “correspondence” of a facetious sort, add to his renown.