Pravdin then announces that the government has ordered him to take charge of the Simpletons' house and villages, because of Mrs.S.'s notorious inhumanity.

Vralman, whom Starodum recognizes as a former coach-man of his, mounts the box, and Starodum, Sophia, and Milon set out for Moscow, virtue reigning triumphant, and wickedness being properly punished--which, again, is an ideal point of view.
But the man who, taken as a whole, above all others in the eighteenth century, has depicted for us governmental, social, and private life, is Gavril Romanovitch Derzhavin (1743-1816).

His memoirs and poetical chronicle furnish the most brilliant, vivid, and valuable picture of the reign of Katherine II.

Moreover, in his own person, Derzhavin offers a type of one of the most distinguished Russians of the last half of the eighteenth century, in his literary and official career.

He presented a great contrast to his contemporary and friend, Von Vizin, in that, while the latter was a noteworthy example of all the best sides in contemporary social life, with very few defects, Derzhavin was an example of all the defects of contemporary life, and of several distinctly personal merits, which sharply differentiated him from others in the same elevated spheres of court and official life.