Ada's favorite ancestor, Prince Vseslav Zemski (1699-1797), was a friend of Linnaeus and author of Flora Ladorica (1.6). His son, Prince Peter Zemski (1772-1832), was a Governor of Bras d'Or, "an American province in the Northeast of our great and variegated country" (1.1). Ada who adores violets and who calls Violet Knox (old Van's secretary, 5.4) 'Fialochka' would certainly know and love Viola Labradorica (alpine violet):
 
 
In his essay Dmitriev (1937), written for the centenary of the poet's death, Hodasevich quotes Dmitriev's fable Repeynik i fialka (The Burdock and The Violet, 1824) as a good sample of Dmitriev's poetry:
 
РЕПЕЙНИК И ФИАЛКА

Между репейником и розовым кустом
Фиялочка себя от зависти скрывала;
Безвестною была, но горести не знала:
Тот счастлив, кто своим доволен уголком.
Between a burdock and a rose bush
the little violet [Fiyalochka] hid herself from envy;
she was obscure, but knew no grief:
happy is he who is pleased with his corner.
 
A friend of Pushkin, Prince Peter Vyazemski (1792-1878), is the author of Dom Ivan Ivanovicha Dmitrieva ("The House of Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev," 1860), a poem in Alexandrines. Hodasevich's essay on Vyazemski, written for the fiftieth anniversary of the poet's death, is entitled Shchastlivyi Vyazemski ("Happy Vyazemski").  Hodasevich's second book of poetry was entitled Schastlivyi domik ("The Happy Small House," 1914). Its title was borrowed from Pushkin's poem Domovomu ("To the House-Spirit," 1819). Pushkin is the author Domik v Kolomne ("The Small Cottage in Kolomna," 1830), a narrative poem in octaves. Vyazemski appears in Canto Eight of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. Dmitriev is mentioned the drafts of EO (Eight: Two: 5).
 
In a letter of Sept. 19, 1818, to Alexander Turgenev Dmitriev (1760-1837) calls young Pushkin "a beautiful flower of poetry that will not fade soon" (EO Commentary, vol. III, p. 142). See also my post 'Fialochka in Ada' (Dec. 12, 2013).
 
Alexey Sklyarenko
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