The article is devoted to the problem of theory and practice of foreign education of pre - revolutionary Russia. The paper studies the place and meaning of foreign languages in educational process of the institute of the noble maidens in the second half of the 18 th century. As the methodological basis of the study f systems and history approach is used. The main methods of the research are the analysis of the historical sources, archival material, psychological and educational literature. As a result of our work the following ideas have been established: the development of methods of teaching foreign languages, forms and methods of teaching foreign languages in the institute of the noble maidens in the second half of the 18 th century: as well as the interaction of education and educational components in the subject “Foreign languages”.