text:  The number and extent of these observations he will of course confine within the narrowest limits consistent with his important duty of making his countrymen acquainted with the style and character of Russia's greatest poet; a duty which he would certainly betray were he to omit to explain the chief points indispensable for the true understanding not only of the extracts which he has selected as a sample of his author's productions but of the general tone and character of those productions viewed as a whole