These biographical essays were published about a hundred years ago as a separate book in the “Life of Remarkable People” series carried out by F. F. Pavlenkov (1839–1900). Written in a then-new genre—poetic chronicle and historical-cultural research—these texts still retain their informational and energy-psychological value. Intended “for ordinary people,” for the Russian provinces, today they can be recommended not only to bibliophiles, but to the broadest reading audience: for those who are completely unversed in the history and psychology of great people, and for whom these subjects are a profession.