Background
Nikolai Petrovich Brusilov was born on September 19 (30), 1782 in the village of Skuratovo, Orel Province (today the Orel Region, Russian Federation). He came from a noble family. His father was a second major.
Nikolai Petrovich Brusilov was born on September 19 (30), 1782 in the village of Skuratovo, Orel Province (today the Orel Region, Russian Federation). He came from a noble family. His father was a second major.
In 1790, Nikolai Petrovich entered the Page Corps. He did not complete his studies, and in 1796 was entitled to the Moscow Grenadier Regiment.
Since 1798, Nikolai Petrovich served on the Expedition on State Revenues. He published his first literary work in 1800, it was a translation of the Louis-Sébastien Mercier's play Guadalupe Resident. From 1803 to 1806 he worked for the Main Board of schools. In 1803 he published novels Trinkets or Some Works and Translations, The Elder, or the Turn of Fate, Poor Leander, or the Author without Rhetoric, My Journey, or The Adventures of One Day, as well as the translation collection The Fruits of My Leisure. In works of this period, there were elements of N. Karamzin's sentimentalism (Nikolai was inclined to melodramatization of the plot), Voltaire's satirical philosophy, as well as of European Sternism. The author himself spoke about his work very critically, believing that his talent is very modest.
In 1804, Nikolai Petrovich became a member of the Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences, and Arts. Since 1805, he published the Magazine of Russian Literature, which became the voice of society. This magazine also published works by I. Pnin, A. Benitsky, K. Batyushkov, and others.
In 1806, Nikolai Petrovich resigned, leaving literary activity: his last work, Credulity, and Cunning was published in the same year. Having left the service, he was almost immediately elected to a new position: the Orel nobility appointed Brusilov the chief of police.
In 1808, Nikolai Petrovich moved to Saint Petersburg, where he worked for the Secretary of State accepting applications to the highest name. He was considered an honest official who never took bribes. Some say that it was Brusilov who authored a number of articles on history and numismatics, written under a pseudonym, and published in the Bulletin of Europe in 1811. In 1812, Nikolai worked on the book Historical Experiments, which was never published.
From 1821 to 1834, Nikolai Petrovich served as Vologda civil governor. During his service, he wrote a statistical review Experience of describing the Vologda province, in which he collected geographical and ethnographic materials. For this work, he was elected an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1834, Nikolai retired with the rank of acting state councilor and moved to Saint Petersburg. In retirement, he wrote the book Memoirs, where he described the court life under Catherine II.
In some of his works, Nikolai Petrovich advocated alleviating the situation of peasants, but one cannot say that he was against serfdom.
