Matvei Gavrilovich Gavrilov

He was the son of a Cossack centurion. In 1771 he was admitted to the Gymnasium of Moscow University at the state’s expense and in 1777 he was promoted to student. His success in foreign languages (especially German) and Russian literature attracted the attention of the university officials, and upon graduation from the University he was appointed assistant teacher in the German class of the gymnasium. In 1796, with the title of associate professor of philosophy, he took over the classes of syntax and eloquence. He was an Ordinary Professor of Moscow University (1811), later Dean of the Department of Literature, Secretary of the Society for Russian History and Antiquities. He compiled several manuals for the study of the German language. From 1790 he published "Political Journal" (“Politicheskii zhurnal”) by order of Ivan Melissino. On Melissino's recommendation, he made an abridged translation of Joseph Freiherr von Sonnenfels’ "Initial Foundations of Police or Piety" (“Nachalnye osnovaniia politsii ili blagochiniia”) (1787), a popular handbook of political science.