Act I. _Eugen Onegin_ has been called from a wild life of pleasure to

his sick uncle, of whose property he takes possession after the uncle's sudden death. He has brought with him from the big city a profound satiety of all enjoyments and a deep contempt for the society of mankind in his solitary country seat. Here, however, he forms a friendship for a young fanatic, the poet _Lenski_. Through him he is introduced to _Larina_, a woman who owns an estate. Her two daughters, _Olga_ and _Tatiana_, correspond to the double nature of their mother, whose youth was a period of sentimentality in which she allowed herself to be affected like others by Richardson's novels, raved over Grandison, and followed the wild adventures of Lovelace with anxious thrills. Life later had made her rational, altogether too rational and insipid. _Olga_ now has become a cheerful, superficial, pleasureful silly young girl; _Tatiana_, a dreamer whose melancholy is increasing through reading books which her mother had once used. _Lenski_ is betrothed to _Olga_. _Tatiana_ recognizes at her first sight of _Onegin_ the realization of her dreams. Her heart goes out to meet him and in her enthusiasm she reveals all her feelings in a letter to him. _Onegin_ is deeply stirred by this love; a feeling of confidence in mankind that he had not known for such a long time awakens in him. But he knows himself too well. He knows that every faculty as a husband is departing from him. And now he considers it his duty not to disappoint this maiden soul, to be frank. He refuses her love. He takes the blame on himself, but he would not have been the worldly wise man if his superiority to the simple country child had not been emphasized chiefly on this account. But _Tatiana_ only listens to the refusal; she is very unhappy. _Onegin_ remains her ideal, who now will be still more solitary, in spite of it.