sequently two new ones, those of Kharkoff and Kazan, were | established in 1804-5. The universities were intrusted with the organization and direction of all the schools in their respective districts. A gymnasium, or higher school preparatory for the university, was established in every government; and a school preparatory to the gymnasium, in every circle, besides many primary or parochial schools. The instruction in the university of Dorpat and its department is given in German, which is the official language of the Baltic provinces comprehended in that department. Polish was left to the university of Vilna and its department, which extended over all the provinces dismembered from Poland. Besides the schools established in consequence of the general plan of public education, many other important institutions of that kind were founded in several parts of Russia; such as the Lyceum at Tzarskoye Selo, in 1811, which has produced several distinguished authors of the present day; the Lycée Richelieu, at Odessa, in 1817; the gymnasium of Yaroslaf, founded by Demidoff in 1805; the Lyceum of Krzemieniec in Volhynia; and some commercial schools, &c. A great number of learned and literary societies were also established in the capitals and other towns of Russia. hommie' of the French fabulist. They have passed through several editions, and a splendid edition, with a French and Italian translation, was published by Count Orloff, at Paris, in 1825. Nicholas Gnedich (born in 1784) is the author of a very successful translation, in hexameter verse, of the Iliad.' He also translated several tragedies from modern authors, of which Shakespere's King Lear' is the most remarkable. Prince Peter Viazemski (born in 1792) occupies a distinguished place among Russian authors by his epistles and satirical poems, which are written in elegant verse, and display much imagination and true feeling. The few literary essays which he wrote in prose are among the best in the Russian literature. Viazemski lived for some time at Warsaw as a Russian employé. He became intimate with the first literary persons of Poland, and in conjunction with several of them formed a plan for establishing a connection between the Polish and Russian literature by means of reciprocal translations. Circumstances however prevented the execution of this project. Prince Alexander Shakhovskoy (born in 1771) made metrical versions of several tragedies from the French, and wrote, both in verse and prose, a great number of comedies and vaudevilles, many of which are very popular. Alexander Pushkin is undoubtedly the first poet of Russia: his character has been given in another place. [PUSHKIN.] Pushkin was, on his mother's side, grandson of a black called Annibal, who was the son of a groom of Peter the Great, and rose in the Russian service to the rank of a lieutenant-general of engineers. Pushkin, who, with a white complexion, had the features of a negro, was proud of his African origin, and frequently made allusion to it in his poems. The Russian language, which had made great progress in the last ten years of the eighteenth century, attained under this reign a high degree of perfection. Its prose was chiefly formed by the writings of Karamsin, who began to replace the Latin and German construction into which the Russian authors had generally forced their national language, by periods approaching more to the French. But although his style is far more easy and agreeable than that of his predecessors, it often contains foreign turns, and the style of the school of imitators which he created was corrupted by so many Gallicisms, that it frequently appeared to be French written with Russian words. A reaction was produced, chiefly by the work of Admiral Shishkoff, on the Basilius Jookowski (born in 1783) was educated at Mosantient and modern Russian style, in which he violently cow. He was employed in a department of the civil serattacked those absurd innovations; but although there is vice, but in 1812 he entered the army as a volunteer. He much sound criticism in his observations, his zeal for the was afterwards appointed professor of Russian literature at purity of the national language is sometimes extravagant. the university of Dorpat; then nominated teacher of the This work, which caused a great sensation, created two Russian language to the grand-duchess, the present emopposite parties in Russian literature-that of Moscow, press; poet laureate, and finally tutor to the grand-duke which consisted of Karamsin's imitators, and that of St. Alexander, crown-prince of Russia. His poetical reputaPetersburg, which adhered to the ideas of Shishkoff, and the tion was established chiefly by a very successful imitation animated contest which has been carried on between of the German ballad of Leonora,' by Bürger. He transthem has greatly contributed to the improvement of lated with equal success several poems from the German, the Russian style. The school of Karamsin became French, and English, and among them Gray's Elegy in purified from its foreign idioms; and even the style of its a Country Churchyard,' Schiller's Jeanne d'Arc,' and founder, in his great work the History of Russia,' is far Byron's Prisoner of Chillon.' His original poem, the superior to his early productions. The labours of the Rus-Bard in the Camp of the Russian Warriors," which he sian Academy, which was re-organized in 1816, have also wrote during the campaign of 1812, amidst the turmoil of tended to improve the language, the rules of which are de- warfare, presents an animated picture of the life of a camp, termined by the grammar of that Academy, published for and contains some passages of wild and original poetry the last time in 1802. The imperial manifestoes and Jookowski has also earned the reputation of being one of the other public documents of importance issued since the best Russian prose writers by his tale called the Wood of accession of the emperor Alexander are written in a very Mary, and his translation of Don Quixote.' As a translator good style. Jookowski is unrivalled: he adapts his style to that of the original in such a manner that each of his translations appears to have been made by a different person. Notwithstanding the favours of the court, which had been poured upon him, Jookowski preserved great simplicity of manners, and that kindness of heart which induced his friends, before he had become the favourite of fortune, to inscribe under his portrait the following line of Gray John Dmitrieff (born in 1760) has done almost as much for Russian poetry as Karamsin did for prose. Dmitrieff began at an early age to write poems, several of which were printed in the Literary Journal of Moscow,' 1792 and 1793. His works, consisting of odes, epistles, satires, tales, epigrams, &c., have gone through several editions; they are written with great ease and elegance, are full of genuine wit, fine feeling, and good sense expressed in a very happy manner. His life was spent in public service, and he was minister of justice under the emperor Alexander. Vladislaf Oseroff, a general officer (1770-1816), created by his tragedies a new era in the dramatic literature of Russia, and threw into the shade all the dramatists who preceded him. Yet although his productions rise immeasurably above those of Soomarokoff and Kniajnin in artistic skill, animation and truth, and situations of high tragical interest, his versification is far from being perfect; it wants ease and harmony, and the structure is too artificial. Oseroff is still the first tragic writer in Russia, and a contemporary writer said that tragedy was born and died in Russia with Oseroff: his chief productions are- Edipus in Athens,' 'Demetrius Donskoy,' and 'Polyxena.' John Kriloff (born in 1768), librarian of the Imperial library at St. Petersburg, is the author of several successful comedies, but his literary reputation rests on his fables, which rival those of La Fontaine, and display all the bon 'He gave to misery all he had-a tear,' taken from his own translation of the poem. Constantine Batiooshkoff, born at Vologda in 1787, was educated in a private school at St. Petersburg, and served in the army in 1806-9. The severe wounds which he had received induced him to leave the service after the peace with Sweden in 1809; but he re-entered the army in 1812, and left it again in 1816. He was employed in 1818 at the Russian embassy at Naples. Soon afterwards he was attacked by a fit of melancholy, which baffled all medical skill: he tried in vain to counterbalance the effects of the malady by study and literary occupation. When he returned to St. Petersburg, his friends endeavoured to surprise him, by singing one of his finest compositions, accompanied by the harp. produced a powerful effect on Batiooshkoff, but the contrary of that which was expected; for his mind, instead of recovering, was completely destroyed. In 1836 he was still alive, but in a state of insanity. Batiooshkoff's talent was formed chiefly by the literature of Italy, which he studied This and imitated from his early youth. His poetry is distinguished by the great finish of his verses and their harmony, which sometimes remind one of the Italian language. No Russian author has shown so much delicacy, precision, and expressiveness of language as Batiooshkoff, both in .poetry and in prose. His chief productions are:The Dying Tasso,' an elegy, which may be considered the most classical production in the Russian language, by the depth and truth of feeling, and the eminent art of the composition. All his poetical productions have an elegiac characHe did not compose much; the best of his writings, besides that which we have mentioned, are the Russian Captive,' and the 'Phantom,' imitated from the French of Parny. His prose writings, on different literary subjects, are marked by talent and a moral tendency. ter. [tory of a chief of the Ukraine, nephew of the celebrated John Kosloff, born in 1780, received a good education, and spent a great part of his life among the fashionable circles of Moscow and St. Petersburg: when about forty years of age a severe illness deprived him of the use of his legs, and his consequent retirement from the world directed his mind to literary occupations and developed his talents. Kosloff was already thoroughly acquainted with the languages and literature of France and Italy, and he now devoted himself to the study of English literature. He was doomed to a still severer trial by the loss of his sight. Yet this accumu lation of misfortune broke not his spirit, but rather developed his poetical genius. He learnt German, notwithstanding his blindness, in a very short time. His memory was so powerful that he retained all that he ever read; and he translated Byron's Bride of Abydos' from memory. He composed and translated many small poems, which are cha-conspiracy. racterised by an extraordinary harmony of versification: the most remarkable are 'The Monk' and 'The Venetian Night.' | Alexander Voyeykoff, born in 1773, translated Virgil, and several poems of De Lille, and wrote a descriptive poem entitled 'Arts and Sciences,' as well as satires, epistles, and other minor poems. He is also known as one of the first literary critics in Russia. Dionysius Davidoff, a general officer of cavalry, who distinguished himself in the partisan or guerilla warfare during The campaigns of 1812-14, is the author of many fine poems, which being generally written in the midst of the occupation of war, have something inimitably wild and original. Baron Delvig died very young, but left some beautiful songs, and the first attempt towards a history of the arts in Russia. Anna Bunin, born in 1774, in the government of Rezan, received a scanty education, but a natural love for literature overcame all the difficulties of her situation. She was 27 years old when she came to St. Petersburg, where she began diligently to study French, German, and English, as well as mathematics and Russian literature. She soon expended her little means of subsistence; but her first poetical essays, entitled 'The Inexperienced Muse,' were favourably received by the empress Elizabeth, the wife of Alexander, who granted her a small pension; and the poems which she published subsequently obtained such success as to give her competence and reputation. She had the misfortune to be attacked by cancer, which resisted the skill of the best physicians. Supported by the bounty of the emperor Alexander, she came in 1815 to England for medical advice, but without deriving any benefit from it. She returned, after a residence of two years in England, to St. Petersburg, where she continued to linger till death released her from her sufferings, which had lasted seventeen years. Although she was prevented by illness from actively pursuing her literary occupations, she translated twenty of Blair's 'Sermons.' Rileyeff displayed during his imprisonment and trial, as well as at his execution, a firmness of character which inspired his judges with respect; and he was, according to universal opinion, a victim to his sincere convictions. He was executed in July, 1826, with four other leaders in the Admiral Shishkoff, who was also president of the Russian Academy, and minister of public education, was distinguished as a prose writer. Besides the dissertation on the old and new Russian style, which has been already mentioned, he was the author of various literary works, and several relating to nautical science. Alexis Merslakoff, professor of literature at the university of Moscow, is undoubtedly the first literary critic in Russia. He has translated several works relating to the theory of literature, and has written original works on the same subject. The most remarkable are his lectures on literature, which were delivered at Moscow. Alexander Vostokoff is the author of a Slavonian grammar, and a dissertation on that tongue, which have gained him the reputation of being the first Slavonian scholar in Europe. Nicholas Grech is the author of a course of Russian literature, a Russian grammar, and a great number of minor compositions, which are inserted in the periodicals, The Northern Bee,' and The Son of the Fatherland,' which he had edited: he is now one of the first critics in Russia. Thaddeus Bulgarin, born in 1789, of an antient family in Lithuania, was educated at the military school of St. Petersburg. He served in the Russian guards during the French and Swedish wars; but in 1810 he left the Russian service, and having entered the Polish army of the grand-duchy of Warsaw, he joined the French armies in the campaigns of Spain, Germany, and France, till the peace of 1814. On his return to his native land, he published several compositions in the Polish language, but having gone to St. Petersburg on account of some law business of his family, he was induced by some of his early friends to try his talents in the field of Russian literature. His first attempts were successful, and he established, in 1823, a periodical called the Northern Archives,' which contained essays, historical, geographical, and statistical, and continued many years with great success. He is best known by his novelVeejighin, or the Russian Gil Blas,' which is a satire on Russian manners; but his pictures, although cleverly drawn, are often overcharged: it has been translated into several languages, and into English. The False Demetrius,' an historical novel, contains many good pictures of the manners and customs of Rileyeff acquired great celebrity in Russia and abroad Russia and Poland at the beginning of the seventeenth as the chief promoter of the conspiracy against the present century, and several well-drawn characters; but there is form of government in Russia, which ended in a fruitless perhaps too much of pure historical narration. Besides attempt on the accession of the present emperor, in the be-Mazeppa,' an historical novel, he has published Memoirs of ginning of the year 1826. Rileyeff was first known by translating from the Polish some of the historical ballads of Niemcewicz, and he also wrote similar compositions on subjects from Russian history. All these poems, like those of Niemcewicz are animated by a patriotic and liberal spirit. Rileyeff developed his political views chiefly in his tales Woynarowski' and 'Nalevayko. The first is a hisP. C., No. 1373. Among the remaining poets of the present period we may mention Panayeff, author of eclogues; Krukofski, author of some tragedies; Raich ; Katenin; and Viskovatoff, the translator of several foreign poems. We shall conclude with one who became celebrated by his talents, his daring spirit, and his tragical end. his campaigns in Spain, a large work on Russia, its geography, statistics, history, and literature, and many minor compositions. His works are characterised by great talent of observation, and much wit; and his style is excellent. Alexander Bestujeff (born in 1795) was educated in a military school, and served as an officer in the life-guards. Being implicated in the conspiracy of Rileyeff, he was deVOL. XXII.-Q graded to the rank of a common soldier, and sent into the interior of Siberia. He was seen there by the German traveller Ermann, to whom he addressed, in French, an exceedingly clever letter, which contributed to obtain his pardon, and he was sent as an officer to the army of the Caucasus, where he was killed, in 1837, in a skirmish with the Circassians. Before his exile Bestujeff edited, with Rileyeff, the first Russian annual, entitled the Northern Star, in which he wrote a very clever sketch of contem porary Russian literature, and several little novels. After he was pardoned, he wrote several novels under the name of Marlinski. In these works he displayed an uncommon talent in describing romantic scenes of a wild character, a power which was developed by the excitement of a constant warfare with the Caucasian mountaineers, in which he spent the last years of his life. His last work is Amaleth Beg,' a novel, containing the story of a Circassian chief, and animated sketches of Caucasian scenery. The best Russian novelist is undoubtedly Zagoskin, whose works belong to that branch of the novel to which Scott has given celebrity. His Youri Miloslavski, or Russia in 1612,' which has been translated into English, contains an admirable picture of Russian manners in those troubled times, and some exceedingly well sketched characters. His Roslavleff, or Russia in 1812,' is considered inferior to the other work: perhaps being obliged to describe scenes relating to a modern event of so much importance, he could not free himself entirely from many personal considerations. The other novelists of Russia are Oushakoff, Dahl, Prince Odoyevski, Baron Korf, and Massalski, who also has written in Polish, The Russian literature is very rich in translations of foreign novels. The present literature of Russia is producing many historical works. Ustrialoff has written, by order of the government, a history of Russia for the use of schools. It is certainly an able production, but the fairness of its views may be doubted, as it is a kind of defence of the successive usurpations of Russia on Poland, Polevoy, a merchant of Moscow, published a history of Russia, in which he attacked many of the views that were adopted by Karamsin. Polevoy is well known as the successful editor of a literary periodical called the Telegraph. Polgodin has made some valuable researches into the period of the false Demetrius, the Annals of Plescov, &c. Berg (died in 1834) published a history of the reign of Michael Federovich (1832), of Alexey Michaelovich (1834), and of Fedor Alexeyevich (1835). Several other special histories relating to Russia have been recently published. The campaigns against the French and the Turks have furnished materials for several works, among which there is one on the war of 1812-14, which was written by a female who had served in that war. Great attention is now paid in Russia to the collecting of materials relating to the national history. A systematic collection of various accounts of Russia, by Artzibashoff, is now publishing at Moscow. A similar work, under the title of the Library of Foreign Authors who have written on Russia,' was begun, in 1837, at St. Petersburg, by Semenoff, who promises to furnish the translation of one hundred foreign works on Russia. Se veral learned men have made successful researches in foreign countries relating to Russian history. Many works on the geography and statistics of Russia have lately been published. The most important of these are the Military Geography of Russia, by Yasikoff, 1838; Coutributions to the Knowledge of the Russian Empire and the adjacent Countries of Asia,' is a very interesting work, which was commenced by the Academy of Sciences in 1830, and two volumes have appeared. The work on the Caucasian provinces, by Chopin, 1840, gives many new details on those countries. Many travels in different parts of Russia, as well as abroad, have been recently published. The study of the Oriental languages is much encouraged in Russia. Besides the Oriental Institute at St. Petersburg, where all the principal languages of the East are taught, and which possesses a splendid Oriental library, numismatic cabinet, and a printing establishment for Oriental publications, there are chairs of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish in all the Russian universities. The university of Cazan, being situated in a country partly inhabited by a Mohammedan population, and having a great intercourse with the East, is specially endowed with the means requisite for Oriental studies. There are chairs of the Arabic,* Per A Koran was printed in Arabic at St. Petersburg about the year 1820. sian, Turkish, Chinese, Mongol, Armenian, and Tibetan languages, as well as rich collections of Oriental books, manuscripts, and coins. There is also a painting press_for Oriental works, whence the celebrated History of the Tartars, by Abulgazi Khan, and other important works, have issued. The same university has a stipend for fourteen scholars, who devote themselves exclusively to the study of Oriental languages. The ecclesiastical seminary of Ir kutsk has a separate class for missionaries among the Mongolian tribes. Japanese is taught in the gymnasium of the same town, and a special school for the Chinese was established in 1835, at Kiakhta. Joseph Senkowski, a Pole, having completed his education at the university of Vilna, studied the Oriental languages at Constantinople and in Syria, where he resided for some time among the Maronite Christians. Senkowski is one of the most remarkable linguists of his time; he possesses not only a great knowledge of the languages of the East, but also a great familiarity with those of the West; he has published several well written things in the Polish (which is his native language), the Russian, and the French. He is now the chief editor of the Encyclopædical Dictionary,' to which he has contributed many valuable articles on Oriental subjects. His works display great learning, and a lively although somewhat satirical humour. Kowalewski, also a Pole. and a pupil of the university of Vilna, is now professor at Cazan. He is distinguished by his great knowledge of the Mongol languages, which he studied for several years among the native populations. He published, in 1838, very valuable extracts from the Mongol literature. | The most eminent Chinese scholar of Russia is father Hyacinthus Bichoorin, who was for seven years a pupil of the Russian mission at Pekin, and subsequently for seven other years at the head of that mission. His principal works are- Researches on Mongolia;' a History of the Calmucks,' 1834; and his Chinese Grammar,' which is considered to be the best that exists. There are also several foreign Orientalists of great eminence employed in Russia. Many scientific works have been recently published, and an Encyclopædical Dietionary has been commenced. This work seems to have been formed on too extensive a plan, as the fifteenth volume (thick 8vo., printed with small type in double columns) has only reached the beginning of the letter D, the fifth in the Russian alphahet. It contains many well written articles, particularly on Slavonian and Oriental subjects. It contains the most minute details relating to Russia, but many of the geographical articles are too elaborate for a work intended to be popular. This work when completed will make about fifty volumes. The publication has been suse pended, owing to the failure of the publisher. In 1839 there were fifty-three Russian newspapers and periodicals, many of which were devoted to literature and science in general, as well as some special branches, as, for instance, military art, agriculture, technology, mining, &c. The tendency of the present government is decidedly to destroy the provincial characteristics which are preserved in different parts of the Russian empire, and which had been respected under preceding reigns. We have in another place described the efforts of the Russian government to destroy the Polish language. [POLISH LITERATURE.] The German nationality of the Baltic provinces (Livonia, Esthonia, and Courland) had been scrupulously respected since their incorporation with Russia. All the official transactions were in German, and the public education, which was under the superintendence of the university of Dorpa, was conducted in the same language, whilst the Russian was only taught like any other foreign language. These privileges are now beginning to be gradually underinined by successive enactments respecting the public education in the Baltic provinces. Not only the acquisition of the Russian language has been imposed on all the pupils in the public schools, but no one can be admitted as a teacher in these schools who cannot show his ability in the Russian language; and those teachers who are already employed are enjoined to acquire a competent knowledge of the Russian. An Imperial ukase has decreed that from the 10th of December, 1845, no academical degrees shall be conferred by the university of Dorpat on individuals who shall not be able to show in a strict examination a complete knowledge of the Russian language. These measures are evidently preparatory steps for replacing the German language by the Russian in the public schools of the Baltic provinces. Many new regulations respecting the admission of pupils pelonging to the different ranks of society have been lately introduced, and the admission of serfs to the higher schools is stictly prohibited unless they have been previously emancipated. 6 phy. He also attempted to establish a system of phrenlogy. His work 'Quaestiones Librorum de Anima,' printed at Metz in Lorraine, 1501, contains the figure of a head with points indicating the seats of the various intellectual powers. He divides the brain into three compartments. the front, the middle, and the back; each of which is supposed to be the seat of different faculties, as apprehension, imagination, judgment, memory, &c. He admits however the existence of an immaterial intellect, or virtus divina, whilst the other faculties depend on material organs. A treatise by him, De Arte Memorativa,' was published at Cracow, 1504. John Stobnitzki, who succeeded John of Glogov in the chair of philosophy, published several treatises on metaphysics, and natural and moral philosophy, as well as on geography. Brudzewski, professor of mathematics at Cracow, published several works on astronomy before the year 1500, and had the honour of being the instructor of Copernicus. James of Kobylin, one of Brudzewski's disciples, wrote a work, celebrated in its time, entitled Déclaratio Astrologica,' and Martin of Olkusz, who terminated his studies at Cracow, 1459, became afterwards physician and astrologer of Mathias Corvinus, king of Hungary, and assisted Regiomontanus in the composition of his 'Tabulæ Directionum Planetarum.' Polish Language and Literature.-The Polish language is considered to be more flexible and euphonic than the other Slavonian dialects. In conciseness of expression it can scarcely be surpassed by any other language. The nouns have a declension of seven cases, and the verb is equally well developed. The verb also has some delicate shades of distinction as to tenses and genders which do not exist in the Teutonic or Romanic languages. The juxta- | position of numerous consonants gives the language an appearance of harshness, but the consonants are softened in the pronunciation by melting them together. The Polish is the only Slavonian language which contains the nasal sounds like the French en, on, in, which are represented by the letters a and e, undermarked with a'. The Polish language can imitate with great ease the beauties of classical prose, but it has not the same facilities for poetry, as all the words have the accent on the penultimate syllable. It seems to have separated at an early period from the other Slavonian dialects, and owing to the predominance of Latin since the introduction of Christianity, its forms have been moulded into those of that language, although its original purity was not affected by the admixture of foreign words, except in the transient period of a corrupted taste. Of all the Slavonian dialects it comes nearest to the Bohe-learning and superior talents, which is proved by the numemian language. Literature.-Learning was introduced into Poland by Christian missionaries, and particularly by Benedictine monks. During the middle ages there were parochial schools in Poland, and the statute of the archbishop of Gnezno, A.D. 1237, ordered that no German masters should teach Latin in these schools, unless they knew Polish. The earliest literary productions that have come down to us are chronicles; and the earliest known annalist is the biographer of St. Adalbert, who is mentioned by Martinus Gallus. Gallus wrote his chronicle between 1110-1115, and is supposed to have been a Frenchman who had settled in Poland. Mathias, bishop of Cracow (died in 1166), wrote a chronicle, which was used in the composition of his Annals by Vincent Kadlubek, also a bishop of Cracow, who died in 1223. Boguchwal, bishop of Posnania (died in 1253), wrote the Annals of Poland to the year 1249, which were continued by Baszko Custos, of the same town, to the year 1273. There are several other annalists of the thirteenth and fourteenth century, but the most celebrated Polish author of that period is the well known Martinus Polonus, whose family name was Strzempski; he is the author of a chronicle of the popes and emperors. He was a Dominican monk, confessor to the pope, and was nominated archbishop of Gnezno, but died on his way to Poland, at Bologna, in 1279. All these chronicles were in Latin. The most antient monument of the Polish language is a hymn to the holy Virgin, attributed to Saint Adalbert (died in 1167). Dr. Bowring has given a translation of it in his specimens of the Polish poets. Some other songs and hymns belong to the same epoch. Vitellio, a Pole, about 1300, wrote a treatise on optics. At an early period the Poles resorted to the foreign universities, and chiefly to Paris and Padua. Casimir the Great laid the foundation of a university at Cracow in 1347, but it seems to have completely fallen into decay during the reign of Louis of Hungary (1370-82). In 1400, Vladislav Jagellon founded, according to the last will of his queen Hedvige, a university at Cracow. This learned establishment, which was honoured with the name of the daughter of the Sorbonne,' was at first engaged in teaching divinity and scholastic philosophy; classical learning began to flourish there only in the latter part of the fifteenth century. Gregorius of Sanok, who afterwards died in 1477, as archbishop of Leopol, first explained the text of Virgil. He also boldly attacked the scholastical philosophy, which he called somnia vigilantium. John of Glogov (died in 1509), a professor and canon of Cracow, became known through Europe by his works on different parts of the Aristotelian philoso • For some time it was customary to choose bishops from the professors of renowned for their learning, and several of them distinguished themselves at the council of Constance (1414-1419) Zbignier, bishop of Cracow (died in 1153), was celebrated for his learning and virtue by Eneas Sylvius Piccolomini, afterwards Pope Pius 111. the university of Cracow, a circumstance which made the Polish prelates King Casimir Jagellon (1446-1492) determined that every superior magistrate should be conversant with Latin and the sciences of that time. He intrusted the education of his children to Dlugosz, who may be considered as the first historian of Poland (1415-80). He was a man of great rous diplomatic missions in which he was employed. He collected the antient chronicles, and formed of them a whole system of history, supplying their deficiencies from different public and private records. His work reaches to the year 1480, in which he died, and it becomes much more detailed and displays better judgment towards the end than in the early part. His Latin is not better than that which generally prevailed at that period. As a proof of his industry we may mention that he learned Russian at an advanced age, in order to profit by the chronicles written in that language. He tells us with sincerity what he believes to be the truth, without sparing the clergy, and this is supposed to be cause why his work was printed so late (1615); it has been reprinted many times. After Dlugosz's death the education of the royal princes was continued by the Italian scholar Buonacorsi, better known under the name of Callimachus Experiens, who published some works in his adopted country. Augustan Era of Polish Literature.-The brilliant æra of Polish literature begins with the sixteenth century and extends to the early part of the seventeenth: it may be considered as commencing with the accession of Sigismund I., in 1508. It was during this reign that the human mind received a new impulse from the Reformation, and the translation of the Bible tended in Poland, as well as elsewhere, to improve the national language. Poland was well prepared for this revolution by the Hussite doctrines which had circulated there widely during the preceding century. Sigismund I. was of a tolerant disposition, and his answer to Eckius, the antagonist of Luther, who had sent him the book of Henry VIII. against that reformer, Permitte mihi ovium et hircorum rex esse,' shows his opinion on this then allengrossing subject. By an ordinance in 1539 he established the liberty of the press, but this permission was only required for the royal towns, as the privileges of the nobles prevented the king and the clergy from interfering with anything on their own estates. These privileges, which paralyzed the power of the clergy, facilitated the diffusion of the Reformation, as every noble who had embraced its doctrines gave the Roman Catholic church to a Protestant minister. Under the reign of his son and successor Sigismund Augustus, Protestantism made further progress, and the states, which assembled after his death in 1573, acknowledged the perfect equality of all Christian confessions. The translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular languages was the first general consequence of the Reformation, and Poland was no exception to this universal rule. Not only did Protestants make great efforts to spread the Scriptures, but the Roman Catholics, in order to counterbalance the influence of the Protestant versions, published their own. The first translation of the Scriptures into Polish was the New Testament, by Seklucyan, a Lutheran version, published in 1552 at Königsberg. It was followed by the New Testament of Scharfenberger, a Roman Catholic ver- | Grochowski, Miaskowski, and Klonowicz, are renowned for sion, Cracow, 1556; in 1561 appeared a Roman Catholic ver- the beauty of their verses. Szymonowicz or Simonides, sion of the whole Bible by John Leopolita, and in 1563 a who belonged to a burgher family of Leopol (1558), distinProtestant version was published at Brest in Lithuania; this guished himself not only by his beautiful Polish eclogues, last-mentioned Bible, being published at the expense of but acquired a European reputation by his Latin poems. Prince Radziwill, is also known under the name of the Justus Lipsius called him the Catullus of Poland. From Radziwillian Bible.' In 1566 a Socinian version of the his youth he was known to the great Zamoysk, who atNew Testament, by Falconius, appeared at Brest; and in tached him to his person, made him the tutor of his son, 1572 a version of the whole Bible at Zaslav in Lithuania, and liberally provided for his support. Pope Clement VIII., by Budny, a Socinian; this latter translation is considered who had been nuncio in Poland, held him in great esteem, exceedingly correct, but the notes which Budny added were and conferred on him the honour of a laurel wreath. His of such a character that he was expelled by the Socinians earliest works have gone through several editions; his from their congregation as an infidel. In 1577 there ap- Latin poems were collected and published at Warsaw in peared at Rakow a New Testament, by Czechowicz, a So- 1772, by the papal nuncio in Poland, Angelo Durini, who cinian; in 1599, at Cracow, the Bible, by Wujek, a Jesuit- bestows on him the appellation of the Latin Pindar. Zimothis edition, which was accompanied by a copious commen- rowicz (died in 1624, at the early age of 25) translated tary, is considered canonical. In 1606 appeared at Rakow Moschus, and wrote several original idyls. We may a New Testament by Smalcius, a Socinian; in 1617, at Cra- add to the Bucolic poets of that time Gawinski and Chelcow, the Bible, by Justus Rabe, a Jesuit; and in 1632, at chowski. Danzig, the Bible, by Paliurus, a Protestant. Thus Poland has eleven versions of the Bible and New Testament, which together have gone through more than forty editions. The chief productions of that period were polemical writings, which, although they did not immediately promote the national literature, contributed greatly to the general diffusion of knowledge by obliging the authors of those writings to severe study in order to answer the attacks of their antagonists. Schools were also generally established by the Protestants; but the most celebrated was that of Rakow, a Socinian academy, which was attended by students of different confessions, and had a reputation all through Europe. The principal theological authors of that period among the Roman Catholics are, Hosius, Novicampianus (Nowopolski), Kuczborski, but particularly the Jesuit Skarga, the most eloquent preacher of that country, and the author of several works against the Protestants, and Sawicki, also a Jesuit, who wrote under the assumed name of Cichovius. Among the Protestants, there were Turnowski, Gregory of Zarnowietz, Dambrowski, Volanus, and John Laski or Alasco, who was invited by Cranmer to assist at the Reformation of the Anglican church. The national language, having received a new impulse from the translation of the Scriptures, began to be generally cultivated. The first compositions were spiritual hymns and polemical and religious works. Nicholas Rey (15151568), having become a zealous Protestant, published a translation of the Psalms, a Postilla or explanation of several parts of the Scriptures, and other works of a religious as well as purely literary character; his style is now obsolete. John Kochanowski (1530-1584) received a superior education at Padua and Paris. On his return to his native country he was much patronised by the king and the first grandees he rejected all the brilliant offers of preferment both in the church and in civil employment, and settling on his paternal estate, devoted himself to literature. His poetry is still classical, and it breathes a particular sweetness.* He translated the Psalms, the Phænomena' of Aratus, the third book of the Iliad,' and Vida's poem on Chess. Among his original productions several lyrical poems, but particularly his elegiac lines on the death of his young daughter, are beautiful. He wrote several occasional poems, satires, and the first drama in Polish, on the Greek model, with chorusses. The subject was the dismissal of the Greek ambassadors who came to claim Helena from the Trojans. He also wrote various fragments in prose, and four books of Latin elegies, as well as other poems in the same language, all of which are much admired. His brother Andrew Kochanowski translated the 'Eneid,' which was published in 1590; and Peter Kochanowski made a translation of the Gierusalemme Liberata' of Tasso, and the ‘Orlando' of Ariosto. Szarzynski, a young man (died in 1581), who left some sonnets, hymns, and a translation of a few Psalms, is only second to Kochanowski. Valentine Brzozowski, a Protestant clergyman, published (1554) the first Polish collection of sacred hymns set to music. Mathias Rybinski, also a Protestant clergyman, published a translation of the Psalms which was adopted by the Protestant congregations of Poland. His son John Rybinski wrote some beautiful descriptive poems, one of which is Spring.' Zbylitowski was the author of the Village,' a didactic poem on rural economy, besides ether productions chiefly of a satirical character. ⚫ Some of his poetry has been translated into English by Dr. Bowring, The Latin poets of that period, besides J. Kochanowski and Simonides, are the following:-Krzycki, archbishop of Gnezno, and primate of Poland, distinguished himself in diplomacy; and when king Sigismund I. acknowledged as sovereign duke of Prussia, under the suzerainty of Poland, Albert of Brandenburg, the last grand-master of the Teutonic order, who had become a Protestant, Krzycki wrote a pamphlet in defence of that transaction, which was the first legal recognition of the secularization of a Roman Catholic religious order by its conversion to Protestantism. It was therefore no wonder that the clergy said that his pamphlet was more politic than Catholic. Krzycki corresponded with many eminent scholars of his time, but particularly with Erasmus, who bestowed extraordinary praise on his accomplishments, and particularly on his Latin poetry, which is compared by all competent judges with the best productions of antient Rome. Dantiscus, son of a burgher of Danzig, rose by his services to the episcopal dignity of Varmia, was employed principally on diplomatic missions, and became such a favourite of Charles V. that he was the only foreign ambassador who accompanied him to Spain after the battle of Pavia, A.D. 1525. He diedi in 1548, at 83 years of age, and left several Latin poems which were much commended by contemporary scholars, and particularly by Erasmus. Janicki, the son of a peasant (1516-1543), was educated by the liberality of Krzycki, and gained a great reputation when only ten years old. He remained a long time at Padua, and in other parts of Italy, and when he was only twenty years old, Pope Clement VII. crowned him with a laurel wreath. His poems are compared by many Polish and foreign authors with those of Tibullus and Catullus: they were collected and published at Leipzig by Böhm, in 1755, with the following title: Janitii Poloni Poetae Laureati Poemata,' &c. The best of them are of an elegiac character. The poems of Casimir Sarbiewski are well known to every lover of Latin literature, and he is universally admitted to be the first modern Latin poet. The other Latin poets of that period are Malinski, Szamotalski, Marszewski, and Kobylinski. We must not omit mentioning a remarkable person, the particulars of whose life are unknown to us, but it appears that he lived for some time at Venice, and was a great friend of Aldus Manutius. His facility of making verses seems to have been extraordinary. He published a program in which he offered to answer on Candlemas-day, 1584, in the church of St. Paul at Venice, in verse, any question that was addressed to him on divinity or Aristote lian philosophy. He published at Venice, in Latin, a laudatory poem on Zamoyski, surnamed the Great, to which are appended six dithyrambs in the following languages: on Gideon, in Hebrew; Epaminondas, in Greek, Fabius Maximus, in Latin; Gran Capitan Hernando Gonzales de Cordoba, in Spanish; Marco Antonio Colonna, in Italian; and John Tarnowski, in Polish. The same period produced many eminent prose writers in the Latin as well as in the native language. The most deservedly celebrated of them is Andrew Modrzewski, who was born in 1506. He early embraced the opinions of the Reformers, although he never publicly joined any of the Protes tant confessions which were established during his lifetime. In 1534 he went to Wittemberg, where he completed his studies under the direction of Melanchthon, whose friend ship he fully possessed. After having resided in several parts of Germany, he returned to his country, and having |