that although Poland was never poor in talents of various kinds, yet
its literary contributions have aimed less at the advancement of
science in general, than to exalt the glory of the Polish name, and
thus have an immediate reflexive influence on the nation. In the same
spirit, the history of other countries has received little attention,
not excepting even ancient history. Poland indeed does not possess a
single distinguished work on foreign history; and their Gibbons and
Robertsons seem ever to have been absorbed in their own patriotic
interests. As writers of merit on universal history and its auxiliary
branches, we may mention Cajetan and Vincent Skrzetuski, count John
Potocki, Bohusz, Jodlowski, Sowinski. prince Sapieha, count Berkowski,
and above all Lelewel.[54] Several of his works have been translated
into French and German. The German version of his History of the
discoveries of the Carthaginians and Greeks (Berlin 1832), was
accompanied by an introduction from the celebrated Ritter.
The Polish language, the purity of which at the beginning of the
present period was an object of particular attention, has in our own
century been the subject of numerous learned inquiries; some of which
have added considerably to the light thrown in modern times by
Slavic-German scholars upon the Slavic languages and Slavic history in
general. Linde, besides several other philological and historical
writings, has enriched Slavic literature with a comparative critical
dictionary in six volumes, which is considered as one of the standard
works of the language. G.S. Bantkie, the author of several historical
and bibliographical works of great merit in the Polish, Latin, and
German languages, has written a Polish grammar and Polish-German
dictionary. Rakowiecki prepared a new edition of the _Jus Russorum_,
introduced by a critical preface, and accompanied with many
explanatory notes. We must, however, take this occasion to remark,
that the Polish critics in general; even if in every other respect
qualified as sagacious and impartial judges, are by no means
infallible on subjects which have any relation to their own country.
The glory and honour of their own nation are always with them the
principal objects, to which not seldom the impartiality of a
scientific inquirer, and even historical truth, is unscrupulously
sacrificed. Maiewski wrote a book rich in ideas on the Slavi;[55]
bibliographical works, and books on the literary history of Poland
have been published by Chrominski, Sowinski, Juszynski, count
Ossolinski, Szumski, and more especially by Bentkowski.[56] Count
Stan. Potocki's works contain likewise a number of articles on Polish
literature. In the previous periods, all bibliographical works were
written in Latin.
The brilliant talent of the Poles for eloquence enjoyed, during the
early part of this period and before the dissolution of the republic,
the best possible opportunity for development, among the intellectual
struggles and combats occasioned by the political circumstances of the
country and the discussion of new political theories. The
constitutional diet of 1788-1791 exhibited a rich store of oratorical
talent. The names of the Potockis, Sapieha, Czartoryski, Kollantay,
Matuszewicz, Niemcewicz, Soltyk, Kicinski, and others, were mentioned
with distinction. The eloquence of the pulpit was of course much less
cultivated in a nation which lives chiefly in politics. Lachowski, a
Jesuit and court preacher of the last king, is by the Poles considered
as an eminent preacher; although according to German judges he was
shallow and voluble, and was surpassed by his cotemporary Wyrwicz, and
above all by Karpowicz. Prazmowski, Jakubowski, Woronicz bishop of
Warsaw, Szismawski, Szweykowski, Zacharyaszewicz, and others, were
esteemed as powerful preachers.
Besides the oratorical powers and the historical productions of the
Poles, the reputation of their modern literature rests chiefly on
poetry. Although the Polish poets adhered longer to the strict rules
of Boileau than the rest of Europe, and have only in the most recent
times chosen better models in the Germans and English,--without
however having been able to free themselves entirely from their French
chains,--yet the national genius of their language has sometimes
conquered the artificial restraints of narrow rules and arbitrary
laws. Naruscewicz, the celebrated historian, occupies also a
distinguished rank as a poet. He translated Anacreon and some of
Horace's odes; but wrote still more original pieces, odes, pastorals,
epigrams, satires, and a tragedy entitled 'Guido.'
The most distinguished poet under Stanislaus Augustus was count
Ignatius Krasicki, bishop of Ermeland or Warmla, and later of Gnesen,
the Polish Voltaire. His principal works are an epic under the title
of _Woyna, Chocimska_ or 'War of Chocim,' and three comic epics, one
of which, _Monachomachia_, ridicules the monkish system and exhibits
its absurdity in strong colours. He wrote this poem at the suggestion
of Frederic the Great, to whose _coterie_ of literary friends he
belonged. His great heroic epic is considered by his countrymen as a
standard work; while foreigners look at it as a valuable historical
poem indeed, but as utterly deficient in true epic power and original
invention. His smaller poems and prose writings are replete with wit
and spirit; to see a bishop writing erotic songs and satirical
epigrams was nothing extraordinary in his time. As a prose writer be
appears as one of the few who were not blind to the defects and
follies of their countrymen. Of his translations we mention
Macpherson's Ossian and Plutarch. He belongs so decidedly to his age,
i.e. to the age of the freezing, unpoetical, French influence, that
our time, with its higher standard for a true poet, can no longer set
a great value on his works.[57]
Trembecki, ob. 1812, as a lyric poet takes equal rank, according to
some Polish critics, with Krasicki. His chief poem, _Zofiowka_, which
has been translated into French by La Garde, is of that descriptive,
contemplative kind, which was fashionable in his day. He had more
imagination than other cotemporary Polish poets. Szymanowski, ob.
1801, a writer of pastorals, is distinguished for delicacy and
sweetness. As to the beauty of his diction his countrymen are the best
judges; but as for the character and real poetical value of his
productions, we doubt whether the sounder taste of our day would
relish the whole species so highly as was done at a time, when the
forms of society had reached the very summit of artificial perversion.
A certain longing after nature and its purity was the necessary result
of such a state of things; but even nature itself they were unable to
see, except in an artificial light. All the Polish productions of this
species, in the present period, savour strongly of the French school;
whilst the pastorals of the sixteenth century hover in the midst
between the bucolics of the ancients and the Italian and Spanish
eclogues.
There was the same decided influence of the French literature on
Wengierski, who died in 1787; although less in respect to taste than
to morals. Karpinski, also a writer of pastorals, approaches nearest
the Greeks, and is on the whole a poet of uncommon talent. His
original writings bear much more of a national stamp than those of
other poets of this period. His translation of Racine's Athalia is
considered as a masterpiece, and his version of the Psalms has not
been surpassed in any language. Another distinguished poet is
Dionysius Kniaznin, remarkable for a certain external freshness, which
imparts life to all his productions. He was educated in the college of
the Jesuits at Witebsk; and it was during his whole life a matter of
regret to him, that he "had lost the golden season of his youth, and
wasted the labour of sleepless nights on irksome trifles."
Notwithstanding this learned education, the author of the Letters on
Poland finds between him and Burns a kind of analogy. Kniaznin's
principal fame rests on a ludicrous heroic called the 'Balloon.' He
spent a part of his life at Pulawy, the estate of prince Czartoryski,
under the patronage of this nobleman; and is said to have become, like
Tasso, the victim of a passion for one of his lady patronesses.
The following are further regarded among their countrymen as poets of
the first rank, viz. Niemcewicz, Brodzinski, bishop Woronicz, and
Mickiewicz. Julius Niemcewicz is also known by his political fortunes
and influence, and is equally esteemed as an historian and for his
poetical talents. The eloquence which he exhibited in the diet of
1788-92, as the _nuntius_ or deputy of Lithuania, laid the foundation
of his fame. When his country was lost, after having fought at the
side of Kosciuszko and shared his fate as a prisoner, he accompanied
this great man to America, where he associated with Washington, whose
life he has since described. His eulogy on Kosciuszko is considered as
a masterpiece. His principal works are his historical songs, his
dramas, and his "Reign of Sigismund III." Whatever he writes evinces
more than common talents; as to which his friends only deplore that he
has scattered them so much, or, according to the expression of the
author of the Letters on Poland, that "his genius was too eager in
embracing at once so much within its potent grasp; and thus, instead
of concentrating his powers, lessened their brilliant beams, by
diffusing them over too wide a horizon." [58]
John Woronicz, bishop of Cracow, and afterwards of Warsaw, whom we
have named above as one of the most eloquent preachers, is equally
celebrated as a poet. His productions all have a character of dignity
and loftiness; and, with the exception of some religious hymns, are
devoted to the historical fame of his country. His "Sybil," in which
he conjures up in succession the ancient Polish kings from their
graves to behold the cruel state of their once triumphant country, and
the "Lechiade," an epic, which Schaffarik considers as the best Polish
production of this species, are his principal works. The inclination
of the Polish poets to celebrate and exalt their own country and the
heroic deeds of their ancestors, without even admitting the
possibility of rivalship on the part of any other nation, can easily
be accounted for; while to foreign critics the same poems, which
inspire Polish readers with patriotic enthusiasm, often appear pompous
and void of that simplicity, which is the true source of the sublime.
Casimir Brodzinski, ob. 1835, was an eminent original poet, and an
excellent translator. His poetry is pervaded by a character of strong
and decided nationality, and Bowring says of him: "If any man can be
considered the representative of Polish feelings, and as having
transfused them into his productions, Brodzinski is certainly the
man." He translated Macpherson's Ossian; and first introduced Scott's
masterpieces into the literature of Poland. He may be considered as
one of the founders of the modern romantic school in Polish
literature.
Adam Mickiewicz, born in 1798, whose name belongs, perhaps, more
appropriately to the next period, owed his first reputation, as a poet
of eminent talent, to three small volumes of miscellaneous poetry,
first published in 1822-1828. A poetic tale, _Conrad Wallenrod_, a
scene from the wars of the Poles with the Teutonic knights, was
published shortly after.[59]
The series of Polish poets towards the end of this period, who have
manifested some talent, is too long to permit us to enumerate them
all; and even a complete catalogue of their names must not be expected
in these pages, which are devoted merely to an historical review of
the _whole_ literature, and to individuals only so far as they go to
form characteristic features of the physiognomy of the former. The
"Dictionary of Polish poets," published in 1820 by Juszynski,
describes the lives of not less than 1400 individuals, independently
of course of their poetical worth. We confine ourselves to presenting
some of the most distinguished names in addition to those
above-mentioned, viz. Gurski, a very productive and popular writer; L.
Osinski, still more esteemed as a critic: Molski, Tanski, Boncza
Tomaszewski, Okraszewski, Tymowski, Szydlowski, and Kozmian, the
author of a popular didactic poem.
The Polish literature of this time was particularly rich in
translations, which are approved by their countrymen, although they
perhaps will not satisfy the higher standard of German or English
criticism. This is due partly to the richness and pliability of the
language itself. Dmochowski, Przybylski, and Staszyc, translated
Homer; and the first also Virgil. Dmochowski's translations are in
rhymed verse; those of Przybylski, who also enriched Polish literature
with translations of the Paradise Lost, the Lusiad, and of many other
poems, are in the measures of the originals, and manifest both a
profound knowledge of the foreign languages, and great dexterity in
using his own. Staszyc has written valuable works on various subjects,
and enjoys a high esteem as a literary man and patriot. Felinski, the
translator of Delille and Racine, is considered as the most harmonious
Polish versifier. Hodani, Osinski, Kicinski, Kruszynski, have likewise
transplanted the productions of the French Parnassus into the Polish
soil; Sienkiewicz, Odyniec, and others, devoted their talents to the
English. Okrascewski translated the Greek tragic poets. Minasowicz,
the author of fifty-three various works, and Nagurczewski, translated
also several of the ancient authors; but according to the best
critics, with more knowledge of the classic languages, than skill in
the management of their own. Among all the distinguished poets
mentioned above, there is hardly one, who, besides his original
productions, did not likewise devote his talents to poetical
translations; in which Karpinski, Naruscewicz, and Krasicki, were
considered as eminently successful.
In the whole domain of poetry, there is no branch in which the Poles
manifested a greater want of _original_ power, than the dramatic. Here
the influence of the French school was most decided, and indeed
exclusive. We have seen above what pains were taken by the most
distinguished men of the nation, to establish a national stage; to
which they looked, not in the light of a frivolous amusement, but as a
school for purifying and elevating the national language and literary
taste, and also as a means of correcting vice by ridiculing it. In
this view several clergymen wrote for the theatre. The Jesuit
Bohomolec wrote the first original comedies in 1757; other comedies,
valuable as pictures of the time, were written by bishop
Kossakowski. Prince Czartoryski we have mentioned above as a writer of
dramas. Zablocki, Lipinski, Osinski, Kowalski, and others,
transplanted the French masterpieces to the Polish stage, or imitated
them. The actors, Boguslawski, Bielawski, and Zolkowski, wrote
original pieces. Tragedies, mostly on subjects of Polish history, were
written by Niemcewicz, Felinski, Dembowski, Slowacki, Kropinski.
Hofmann, and F. Wenzyk, whose "Glinski" is considered as the best
Polish production of this kind. The most popular comedies in recent
times are by count Fredro, who is called the Polish Molière. The
Polish stage is still richer in melo-dramas, especially rural pictures
in a dramatic form; of which Niemcewicz's piece, "John Kochanowski,"
is a fine specimen.
As it respects novels, tales in prose, and similar productions, the
literature of Poland has been much less overwhelmed with this species
of writing, in which mediocrity is so easy and perfection so rare,
than that of their neighbours the Russians. We think this can easily
be accounted for. They possess few, for the same reason that the
English are so rich in them. Domestic life, the true basis of the
modern novel, has no charms in Poland. The whole tendency of the
nation is towards public life, splendour, military fame; theirs are
not the modest virtues of private retirement, but the heroic deeds of
public renown. The beauty, the spirit, the influence of their women,
is generally acknowledged; but that female reserve and delicacy which
draws the thread of an English novel through three volumes, would be
looked for in vain in Poland. Niemcewicz, however, published in 1827
an historical novel, "John of Trenczyn," which is considered as a
happy imitation of Scott. Others were written by count Skarbeck. Among
the novels, which present a psychological development of character,
and a description of fashionable life, "The Intimations of the Heart"
is regarded as the principal work. It was written by the princess of
Wirtemberg, daughter of Adam and Isabella Czartoryski. Another
esteemed female writer is Clementina Hofmann, formerly Tanska.
The Poles, although from a feeling of pride and patriotism naturally
disposed to overrate the productions of their own literature, are far
from being deficient in critical judgment or in exalted ideas on the
theory of the beautiful. The count Stanislaus Potocki and Ossolinski,
L. Osinski, Golanski, and others, maintain a high rank in this
department.
Philosophy, as an abstract science, independently of its immediate
application to subjects of real life, has never found more than a few
votaries among the Poles. In the beginning of the seventeenth century,
Aristotle was translated into Polish by Petryci. For nearly two
hundred years, the teachers of philosophy in the Polish universities
stopped at Aristotle; and a few commentaries on his Ethics and
Politics composed the whole philosophical literature of Poland. In the
first years of our own century, Jaronski and Szianiawski made an
attempt to introduce the philosophy of Kant; but although the cause
appeared to be in the best hands, they met with little success.
Galuchowski, a German philosophical writer of merit, is a Pole by
birth;[60] as also Trentovski and Cieszkowski, followers of Hegel, who
prefer the German for their organ.[61]
For the study of polite literature and the Slavic languages during
this period, Warsaw was the principal seat; for philology and the
exact sciences, the university of Wilna. This learned institution had
taken special pains in respect to the necessary elementary books for
the study of the classical languages; and was distinguished by its
able professors Groddek, Bobrowski, and Zukowski. The former, a
scholar of high reputation, in addition to several philological works,
translated Buttman's Greek Grammar into Polish; the latter published
also a Greek and a Hebrew Grammar. In the oriental languages Senkowski
at St. Petersburgh is distinguished; and count Rzewuski at Vienna had
great desert in connection with the periodical work, _Fundgruben des
Orients_.
In consequence of the grand-duke Constantine's predilection for
mathematics, an undue share of attention, after the erection of a
kingdom of Poland under his administration, was paid in schools to the
exact or empirical sciences; _undue_ we call it, because on account of
its excess, the moral and literary pursuits of the pupils were
necessarily neglected. Mathematics, during this whole period, were
taught by several eminent men; by John Sniadecki, who is at the same
time considered as a model in respect to style and language; by
Poezobut, Zaborowski, Czech, Rogalinski, and others. In the same
departments the names of Twardowski, Polinski, and Konkowski, must be
honourably mentioned. Count Sierakowski wrote a classical work on
architecture; and the learned Polish Jew Stern is celebrated over all
Europe as the inventor of arithmetical and agricultural machines.
Count Chodkiewicz and Andrew Sniadecki are distinguished chemists.
Natural philosophy, although less studied, had able professors in H.
Osinski and Bystrzycki; natural history, more particularly botany and
zoology, in Kluk and Jundzill. Medicine, until the middle of the last
century, was in Poland exclusively in the hands of foreigners,
especially Germans and French [62] since then several gifted Poles
have devoted themselves to this science, although they have not yet
formed a national school. Lafontaine, body physician of the last king,
Dziarkowski, Perzyna, Malcz, and others, must be mentioned here. The
university of Wilna was the most celebrated school for medical
science.
Among the reflecting statesmen of Poland, in the second decennium of
our century, there began to be a great deal of attention bestowed on
national economy and its various branches; more especially on studies
connected with agriculture, as being the science most applicable to
the present wants of the country. Poland being the most extensive
plain in Europe, and for the most part of a very rich and fertile
soil, the Poles would seem destined by nature to be an agricultural
people. We cannot but observe here, that from this very circumstance,
the wretched state of the labouring classes is placed in a still more
striking light. The interests of agricultural science have been
promoted by different societies, and several able treatises on those
subjects have been published; although it does not appear that any new
theory or principles have been started. Of all the branches of moral
science, political economy has met in Poland with the most disciples.
Valuable statistical works on Poland in the Polish language have been
written by Staszyc, honourably mentioned above;[63] by Slawiarski, and
others. Swiencki in his 'Geography of ancient Poland,' Surowiecki in
his 'History of the Polish towns and peasantry,' give very valuable
statistical notices; and the 'Journey to Constantinople and Troy' by
count Raczynski, contains an exact statistical account of Podolia and
the Ukraine.
The science of law must ever have been in a melancholy state in a
country like Poland. Poland proper has always been governed by
_statutes_ and _constitutions_, sanctioned by the diet.
These were either founded on ancient usages, _consuetudines_, or
occasioned by particular circumstances. The towns were governed
according to the code of Magdeburg. In Lithuania the ancient
Lithuanian statutes, collected in 1529, prevailed and still prevail,
if not in collision with any intervening _ukase_.[64] In the other
provinces, the laws of the respective monarchies to which they are
annexed, are in force. Thus the different portions of Poland are
governed in accordance with seven different systems of law.[65] Under
the administration of the last king of Poland, which was so rich in
improvements; a general code of laws was also planned, and projects
were prepared by able statesmen and lawyers; but they were all
rejected by the diet of 1777. Under the Russian administration,
preparation was made from the very beginning for the introduction of a
new code; but the first project of a criminal code presented by the
council of state, was likewise rejected by the diet of 1820. A portion
of the civil code was accepted in A.D. 1825; but the complete code,
which was ready for publication in the year 1830, had not, so far as
we are informed, been introduced before the outbreak of the
revolution. The administration of justice in Poland is about as bad as
in Russia; being nothing but one great system of bribery and
corruption. Of the judges of the lower courts, two thirds are elected;
one third of these, and all the officers of the higher tribunals, are
appointed by the government. In former times the profession of a
lawyer, as well as that of a physician, was considered in Poland as
degrading and unworthy of a nobleman. These two professions were not
indeed prohibited by law, like that of traders,--for a nobleman who
retailed "by yards or by pints," legally lost his rank,--but custom
had made all those occupations which were the source of pecuniary
profit, equally the objects of contempt. There was even a time, "when
it was reckoned a matter of indifference for a nobleman _to understand
arithmetic_[66]." In modern times the ideas on this subject have of
course changed; the study of law is no longer despised, especially in
its necessary connection with the administration of justice.
Slotwinski in Cracow, Bantkie and Maciejowski in Warsaw, were esteemed
as teachers of law. We shall hereafter have occasion to mention the
valuable work of the latter on this subject. The Roman law, both civil
and criminal, was studied in the universities, as well as the law of
nature and nations; which latter, in the case of this unhappy country,
has been for more than seventy years so cruelly violated.
It is a singular fact, that although, down to the year 1818 when the
Russian government interfered to prevent it, foreign travel was one of
the favourite means of education among the Polish nobility, their
literature exhibits hardly any books of travels. A few were formerly
written in Latin or French; among the latter we mention John Potocki's
'Travels for the purpose of discovering Slavic antiquities,' Hamb.
1795. In more modern times count Raczynski has published the 'Journal
of his travels to Constantinople and the plain of Troy,' richly
embellished with illustrations, mentioned above.[67] A view of Great
Britain was given in 1828 by Ljach Szyrma, under the title _Anglia i
Szkocya_.
SIXTH PERIOD.
_From the Polish Revolution in 1830 to the present time_.
We have thus brought down the history of Polish literature to the year
1830; an epoch of glorious, although most melancholy moment in the
history of Poland. If the literature of a country could ever be
regarded completely _in abstracto_; if it was not in intimate
connection with the political fate and position of its country; we
would have commenced this period with the first combats of the
Romantic and Classical schools, that is, about fifteen years
earlier.[68] But while these fifteen years may be considered in some
measure as the time of the fermentation of that spirit, which broke
out in 1830; this latter year--with its melancholy attempts on the
part of Russia to crush all Polish nationality, by the annihilation of
their higher seats of learning and the spoliation of all their
libraries, as the principal means of cultivating it--forms only too
distinctly an epoch, not only in Polish history in general, but
specially in Polish literature.
The state of the country on the whole in the beginning of 1830 was not
unprosperous. The cruel wrongs inflicted on the Poles since 1815 were
all in express violation of a constitution, which met with the
approbation of Kosciuszko and the best of the nation. A noble
individual, or a high-spirited people, can more easily submit even
to unjust laws, than to arbitrary despotism. _Legally_ the Grand Duke
had no right to keep a single Russian soldier in Poland; by the terms
of the constitution they could be there only as foreign guests.
_Legally_ the press was free. _Legally_ Poland could have defended
herself by her charter against any arbitrary act of her sovereign or
his viceroy. It would seem, however, that even the repeated
infringements of the constitution, and the direct violation of the
laws by the government, did not contribute so much to induce the Poles
to insurrection, as the fierce and brutal behaviour of the Russian
generalissimo, and of the Russian civil and military officers high and
low, whose profligacy had long made them the objects of deep contempt.
The annals of Warsaw indeed present, during the Russian
administration, one of the most revolting pictures which history
exhibits. And the idea, that it owes its darkest shades principally to
the reckless despotism of one individual, serves only to make them
appear still darker.
The war, which called into exercise all the mental faculties of the
nation, put a stop of course to all literary activity; but even during
the more quiet period which immediately succeeded it--the quietness of
a cemetery--the dejected spirits of the nation, whose noblest sons an
interval of two years had rendered prisoners, exiles, or corpses, are
easily to be perceived in the results of their intellectual pursuits.
A small volume, containing three poems by Niemcewiecz and Mickiewicz
was printed in 1833 at Leipzig. It is the swan-like melody of the aged
poet; whilst the younger celebrates the exploits of his valiant
brethren. To the poems of the latter, (three volumes, Paris 1828.) a
fourth volume was added, containing the riper productions of his
manhood. The late vice president of Warsaw, Xavier Bronikowski,
published at the same time _Polnische Miscellen_ in the German
language at Nuremberg. A number of Polish literati were gathered at
Paris. A work, intended to contain about twelve volumes, with the
title _Souvenirs de la Pologne, historique, statistique, et
literaire_, was announced in that city; for the printing offices at
home were of course closed against the expression of all patriotic
feelings. The fifteen printing establishments at Warsaw issued in the
year 1832, from March to December, only sixty-three works.
The universities of Warsaw and Wilna were broken up; and the rich
libraries of these institutions were carried to St. Petersburgh. The
emperor declared openly, that it should be his aim to annihilate all
traces of _Polish_ nationality, and to metamorphose it into a Russian
people. Even the lower schools were in great part deprived of their
funds, and changed to Russian government schools. After some years of
utter privation as to all means of higher instruction, a new
university for the Poles was founded at Kief; of course on a Russian
model and in a Russian spirit. In a most consistent and energetic
manner the language and the national peculiarities of the country were
every where checked and persecuted; and attempts of every kind were
made to replace them by Russian customs and the Russian language. The
union of the Greek and Catholic churches was dissolved; and in that
way thousands were compelled to join the Russian church. In the higher
schools prizes were set forth for the best essays in the Russian
language; and in 1833 a law was made, that after 1834 no Pole could
hope for employment in the Russian service, without a complete
knowledge of the Russian language. In the White Russian provinces, so
called, that is in Lithuania, Podolia, and Volhynia,--countries which
formerly had been under Russian dominion, and are still inhabited by a
Lithuanian and Russian peasantry, while the nobility is Polish,--these
severe and arbitrary measures were surprisingly successful in respect
to the youth then in training; and the minister of the School
department, Ouwarof, in his report of 1839, expressed his satisfaction
in the strongest terms.
But Poland as a whole was far from giving satisfaction to the
government. There was indeed a certain stoppage of mental life, which
seemed to favour its views. Literary productions were few in
proportion to the former productiveness. In the year 1837, not more
than 118 books were published in the whole kingdom; and of these only
75 were Polish; the rest in Hebrew. The press and all other organs of
public feeling were under the strictest control. Yet the very topics,
which were chosen by the literati for their researches and
commentaries, proved best of all that the love of their country was
not extinguished. The history of Poland became more than ever a chosen
study. Private libraries and archives were searched for materials; and
detached parts of the past, and single branches of history, were made
the subjects of a closer examination and research, than had ever
before been devoted to such topics among this active and restless
people. One of the most important works, issued immediately after the
revolution, was Prof. Maciejowski's History of the Slavic
Legislatures.[69] It was well received by the numerous German and
Slavic scholars, who devote themselves to similar pursuits; but they
soon found that it did not fully satisfy the claims of the deeper
criticism of our days. It has come finally to be considered rather as
a preparatory work, which was shortly afterwards partially completed
by another production of the same author: "Contributions to the
History of Slavic events, literature, and legislation." [70] A work by
J. Hobe, "On the Slavic rights of inheritance," appeared about the
same time; also, a publication of the oldest Slavic documents relating
to law by Prof. Kucharski.[71]
As valuable monographs must be mentioned, the history of queen Barbara
Radzivil, from sources hitherto unknown, by M. Balinski, who wrote
also a history of Wilna; the biographies of the Hetmans, by Zegota
Pauli; a history of Posen, by Lukaszewicz; of Lithuania, by Th.
Narbutt: of Poland in the first half of the sixteenth century, by
Maraczewski; historical and topographical descriptions, relating also
to language and manners, by Przezdziecki and by Kraszewski. We may
also notice here the History of the Latin Language in Poland, by Dr.
Macherzynski; a book considered as a mine of erudition and useful
knowledge. To it is annexed a list of all the different editions of
the Classics published in Poland. We learn from it that Cicero's works
have been edited there, either complete or in particular portions, not
less than forty-five times; first as early as A.D. 1500, at Cracow.
Horace also has appeared eight times, first in 1521; Ovid four times,
first in 1529; Virgil six times, first in 1642.
The publication of early chronicles, for the purpose of rendering them
more accessible to the public, was continued. That of Lemberg was
edited by D. Zubrzycki in 1844; that of Cracow, by Macynski in
1845.[72] Archæological researches have continued to excite an
interest. The dust of centuries has been shaken from many a valuable
document; and there have been published in succession, A. Grabowski's
Historical Antiquities of Poland,[73] the Antiquities of Galicia by
Zegota Pauli,[74] and a work on Polish Archaeology by count Eustace
T.[75] Here belongs also the Collection of important historical
Documents, edited in 1847;[76] and a series of numismatic
publications, by Lelewel, who wrote in exile, by Poplinski, by Ig.
Zagorski and E. Rastawiecki, and above all by count E. Raczynski.[77]
The patriotic exertions of this nobleman, who has caused many a
valuable old manuscript to be printed; and who has never seemed to be
afraid of any sacrifice, when the promotion of science and literature
is concerned; deserve the highest praise, and ought to serve as a
model to others of noble name.
Church history also, a department hitherto entirely neglected, in
Poland, has begun to receive some small degree of attention in the
present period. Joseph Lukascewicz wrote a history of the Bohemian
Congregations in Poland,[78] in 1835; and in 1846 a history of the
Helvetian (Calvinistic) Confession in Lithuania. Count Valerian
Krasinski, who found a home in England, has likewise published a
history of the Reformation in Poland, in the English language.[79]
The history of recent times cannot be expected to be written in
Poland; where the pen is chained, even if the mind keeps itself
unfettered. The republic of Cracow, until about ten years ago, enjoyed
a certain degree of liberty. It could have become the asylum of Polish
literature and science; but it became only too soon the battlefield of
political passions and combats. Some of her scholars however kept
themselves entirely aloof from the strife. Macherzinski's and
Muczkowski's learned works, already mentioned above; a history of
Polish Literature by Wisznewski; and a new Polish Dictionary, by
Trajanski; were the immediate results.
New works of travels have been written by Kraszewski and Holawinski;
the former describing the South of Russia, and the latter his
pilgrimage to the Holy Land; both were published in 1845. A book of
travels on Siberia, a land so seldom chosen for a tour of pleasure,
had preceded them.[80]
Modern history, we have said, cannot be expected to be written in
Poland. This remark leads us at once to the literature of Polish
Emigrants, as it is generally called, which has sprung up in Paris.
Since the revolution of 1830, this capital has been the principal seat
of Polish literary activity. One of the first works of importance
published there was Maurice Mochnacki's History of the Polish
insurrection; which excited among his own countrymen a new and
passionate feud. Mochnacki's name had been favourably known as the
author of a work on the Polish literature of the nineteenth
century;[81] and as the able editor of several periodicals. His
political misfortunes, however, and especially the circumstance that
he had been compelled to appear alternately as the tool of the grand
duke Constantine, and as the victim of his hatred, made him a subject
of distrust to his countrymen, although he had fought with bravery in
the revolution. He died in France when not yet thirty years old. His
scattered writings were published in 1836 by A. Jelowicki, one of the
patriotic family of that name; who had been deeply implicated in the
revolution, and lived as fugitives in Paris. A printing office,
which they have founded there, serves for the publication of Polish
works.
Another work on the recent events was written by Wratnowski, who
published a history of the insurrection in Volhynia, Paris. 1837. An
animated picture of the time, which appeared three years ago under the
title, "Representation of the national spirit in Poland." by
Ojczyczniak,[82] exhibits strong passions in the author; a glowing and
certainly not unnatural hatred against the great powers; but a still
more violent one against his _democratic_ countrymen, to whom he
imputes the perdition of the good cause. A history of the Polish
insurrection, published by S.B. Gnorowski in the English language.
Lond. 1839, is written in the same violent and prejudiced spirit.
The Slavic press in Paris has been especially productive in
periodicals; all of them replete with passion and hatred against their
oppressors; some of them conducted not without talent. The _Revue
Slave_, the _Mlada Polska_, (young Poland), the _Cronika, Emigracyi
Polskiej_ (Polish Emigrant's Chronicle), and the _Polish Vademecum_
edited by N.U. Hoffmann, may be named here. From the latter we learn,
that, from 1831 to 1837 among the Polish emigrants in France, _nine_
died in duels and _fourteen_ by suicide.
Joachim Lelewel, whose _literary_ activity belongs rather to the
preceding period, while that now under consideration was partly the
result of his _political_ career, lives still at Brussels, where he
has recently published (1849) a work on the civil rights of the Polish
peasantry. He attempts to demonstrate, that the oppression and the
debased condition of this class came upon them along with the
introduction of Christianity; and represents the Romish clergy, whose
advantage it was to keep up this state of things, as the principal
enemies of the peasantry. Lelewel's writings have wielded a more
decided influence in Poland than those of any other modern author. The
tendency of all his historical investigations, even when apparently
without any such design, has been since the very beginning of the
Russian dominion to undermine their power; and the great ability with
which he contrived to veil hints, to disguise remarks, and to follow
out under a harmless mask a certain and fixed purpose, had earned him
twenty or thirty years ago the name of the "Jesuit of history."
It remains now to give a general survey of the progress of Polish
_belles-lettres_ during the last twenty years; and also of those mixed
publications which excite a general interest. Here we must not omit to
mention Witwicki's the "Evening Hours of a Pilgrim," [83] a book
which, in a sprightly style and a peculiarly interesting way, gives a
good deal of information as to the literary and mental condition of
Poland, and the much-lauded revival of letters during the reign of
Stanislaus Poniatowski.
But perhaps the most interesting production of this period is Adam
Mickiewicz's course of Lectures on Slavic literature and the condition
of the Slavic nations, delivered in French at Paris, where he had
found employment as a professor in the College de France.[84] The deep
enthusiasm which pervades these lectures, the mental excitement by
which they would seem to have been dictated from beginning to end,
forbid us to consider them in the ordinary light of a mere course of
instruction on the subject to which they relate. But there is no other
work more full of ideas, or richer in thought; it is the reasoning of
a poet, and a poet's way of viewing the world. The one great
principle of these lectures again is _Panslavism_,--Panslavism
spiritualized and idealized; and therefore in a shape which can
inspire little fear to others in respect to their own nationality,
although it can never excite their sympathies. Mickiewicz still
idolizes Napoleon, and prophesies a revolution of the world; a new
revolution, a torch to illumine the world; he himself is "a spark,
fallen from that torch;" his mission is to prophesy to the world the
coming events "as a living witness of the new revelation," Although
these prophecies are not strictly political, we can see plainly, that
in the expectation of the prophet this new revolution will consist in
"the union of the _force_ of Slavic genius, with the _knowledge_ of
the West" (France); by which of course the intermediate Teutonic
principle must be crushed.
In purely poetical creations, this great poet shows his full power. In
a beautiful tale, _Pan Tadeusz_, "Sir Thaddeus," (Paris 1834,) which,
though in verse, may be considered as a novel, he very graphically
described the civil and domestic life existing in Lithuania
immediately before the war of 1812; and gave also further evidence of
his genius by several smaller poems. He is, however, not very
productive; a striking peculiarity of Slavic poets.
The principal poets of the modern romantic school in Poland, of which
Mickiewicz must be considered the founder, are the following:
A.E. Odyniec and Julian Korssak, both chiefly known by happy
translations from the English; but also not without creative power of
their own. Anton Malczeski is the author of a poetical tale,
_Maria_,[85] perhaps the most popular production of the Polish
literature. It is a touching family legend, traditional in the noble
house of Potocki in Volhynia; but transposed by Malczeski to the
Ukraine, and connected in that way with graphic descriptions of this
latter country. Malczeski lived a life of wild adventures; and died
young, not yet 34 years old, in 1826.
The Ukraine appears to be, on the whole, one of the favourite theatres
for the romantic school of Polish poets. Zaleski, Gosczynski,
Grabowski, all of them poets of more than ordinary talents, give us
pictures of this country, alternately sweet and rough, wild and
romantic. There must necessarily be some mixture of attractive and
repulsive elements here even for native poets; for the common people
are Russians, and hate the Polish nobility as their oppressors.
Nevertheless Thomas Padura, another of the young Polish school, chose
even the dialect of the Ruthenian peasantry for his songs. Another
Polish poet, who has selected the Ukraine for the theatre of most of
his tales, is Michael Czaykowski; he too is considered as standing at
the head of the novel writers of his country. His legends of the
Kozaks[86], his tales, _Wernyhora_[87], _Kirdzali_, the Hetman of the
Ukraine[88], etc. manifest a more than common talent.
To the poetical literature of the Polish emigrants belong further the
works of A. Gorecki, Garczinski, J. Slawacki, but, above all, of count
Ignatius Krasinski; not the same individual who wrote a history of the
Reformation in Poland in the English language[89]. He is by many of
his countrymen considered as their greatest living poet. Most of his
productions are enveloped in a certain mystical atmosphere, which
renders a commentary necessary in order to understand them. Two
dramatic poems, one called, in contrast to Dante, "The Undivine
Comedy;" the other, "Irydion," an illustration of Schiller's stern
apothegm, that "the history of the world is the judgment of the
world;" [90] are regarded as his most powerful productions[91].
Meanwhile this department of literature, in Poland itself, has taken,
in some of its branches, the same strictly national direction which
characterizes the Russian and Bohemian tendencies of modern times.
Many of the publications, which are reckoned under belles-lettres, are
nothing better than drawing-room productions, so called, meant to
satisfy the immediate wants of the reading world. Count Skarbek, J.
Krascewski, F. Barnatowicz (ob. 1838), K. Korwell, Szabranski, and
others, are popular novel writers. Among the poets we mention the same
Szabranski, Nowasielski, Zialinski, Alex. Groza, Burski, and, above
all, Lucian Siemienski and A. Bielowski. The latter, along with
Kamienski, is the translator of Schiller. Count Vinzent Kicinski
translated Victor Hugo; and Holawinski, Shakspeare. As successful
dramatic writers are named, the counts Fredro, Korzeniowski, St.
Jaozowski, etc.
Of an entirely national character are all the productions of Wladislas
Woicicki, who devoted his life principally to the study of the
antiquities of his country and its language. In 1838 he published an
interesting collection of old Polish proverbs[92]; several historical
tales, scattered in Annuals; a greater work, entitled "Domestic
Sketches:" and another on Polish Woman;[93] all of them illustrations
of Polish life and manners at certain times, and resting on an
historical foundation. A rich collection of traditions and popular
legends was published by the same scholar in 1839.[94] This important
national feature has at last excited some attention among the Polish
scholars. In 1838 a collection of the songs of the people in the
country adjacent to the Bug was published.[95] Another appeared in the
same year, prepared by the poets Siemienski and Bielowski (Prague
1838), with the title _Dumki_, i.e. Elegies,[96] being Polish
translations of Malo-Russian popular songs. The great and simple
beauty of this poetry of the Kozaks surprised the literary world. But
Woicicki and Zegota Pauli were the first who gave their attention to
the really Polish Lekhian popular songs, i.e. songs of the peasantry
in Masavia and Podlachia, the grand duchy of Posen, the territory of
Cracow, etc. of which, until then, the existence was hardly known.[97]
It would almost seem as if the Russian government, in placing all the
evidences of the mental activity of its Polish subjects under its
strictest guardianship, was ready to supply also the supposed want of
popular poetry. There was recently published at Warsaw a collection of
ballads, sixty-nine in number, devoted to the praise of all the
sovereigns of Russia, from Rurik to Alexander. These ballads are in
the popular tone, and were sold cheap.[98] What degree of popularity
they may have obtained, we are unable to say.[99]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: On the origin of these tribes, which seem to have been
kindred nations with the ancient Livonians, Esthonians, and
Borussians, many hypotheses have been started, but the truth has not
yet been sufficiently ascertained. It seems evident to us, that they
are not of Slavic origin; although this has been maintained by many
historians, who were misled by local circumstances. Even Schaffarik in
his Antiquities regards them as originally a Slavic race. See Parrot's
_Versuch einer Entwickelung der Sprache, Abstammung, etc. der Liven,
Letten, etc_. The Foreign Quarterly Review contains an interesting
essay on Lettish popular poetry, Vol. VIII. p. 61.]
[Footnote 2: Kopitar, in his review of Schaffarik's _Geschichte_,
declares this etymological derivation to be a mistake; without however
giving any other explanation of the name Lekh. _Wiener Jahrbücher_,
Vol. XXXVII. 1827. According to Schaffarik in his Slav. Antiquities,
_Lekh_, like _Czekh_, means a leader, a high officer.]
[Footnote 3: See pp. 36, 43.]
[Footnote 4: See Bentkowski's _Hist. literatury Polsk_. Warsaw 1814.]
[Footnote 5: The statistical information respecting the Russian-Polish
provinces is very imperfect, and contains the most striking
contradictions. Benken gives the number of inhabitants at four
millions; Wichmann in 1813, at 6,380,000; Arsenjef at seven millions.
According to Brömsen's _Russland und das rüssische Reich,_ Berl. 1819,
there are not more than 850,000 Poles among them, nearly all noblemen;
the lower classes are Russniaks and Lithuanians. In our statement of
the number of Poles in these provinces, we have followed Schaffarik.]
[Footnote 6: See above, p. 51; also, pp. 59, 60, n. 17.]
[Footnote 7: These statements seem to disagree with those of Hassel,
which rest on the authority of the returns of 1820. He states that
Austrian Poland has 4,226,969 inhabitants; Prussian Poland, 2,584,124.
The population of the former consists however of a large proportion of
Russniaks, and more especially of Jews; the latter has a similar
proportion of German inhabitants.]
[Footnote 8: Other private estimates make them not more than seven
millions.]
[Footnote 9: We doubt whether any but Slavic organs would be able to
pronounce the name of the place, to which the college of Zamose was
removed. It is written _Szczebrzeszyn_.]
[Footnote 10: Zaluski and Minasovrez wrote verses with _counted_ not
_measured_ syllables, without rhyme; Przybylski's and Staszye's
translations of Homer are in hexameters. That rhyme is not natural to
the Polish language, is evident from the ancient popular poetry of the
other Slavic nations; which are all without rhyme. The author of the
work _Volkslieder der Polen_, assumes the absence of rhyme in some of
them as a proof of their antiquity. Of Slavic popular songs only those
of the Malo-Russians or Ruthenians are rhymed; and none of these lay
claim to great antiquity.]
[Footnote 11: This song, called _Boga Rodzica_, can be named a
war-song, only because the Poles used to sing it when advancing to
battle. It is rather a prayer to the Virgin, ending with a sixfold
Amen. In a poetical respect it has no value. It is printed in
Bowring's _Specimens of the Polish Poets_, p. 12; together with the
music, copied from a manuscript which is said to be from the twelfth
century. No translation is added. It is remarkable that this hymn is
still sung, or at least was so in the year 1812, in the churches of
the places where St. Adalbert lived and died, viz. at Kola and Gnesen.
Niemcewicz, who published it, states that he himself heard it at that
time at the latter place.]
[Footnote 12: See Schaffarik's _Geschichte der Slav. Sprache_, p.
421.]
[Footnote 13: A History of the University of Cracow was recently
published by Prof. Muczkowski, under the modest title: _Mieszkania i
postepowanie, etc_. i.e. 'On the dwellings and the conduct of the
Students of the University of Cracow in former centuries,' Cracow
1842. Vol. I. The work was planned for _ten_ volumes.]
[Footnote 14: _Aelteste Denkmäler der Polnischen Sprache_, Wien 1838.]
[Footnote 15: Dobrovsky's _Slovanka_, Vol. II. p. 237.]
[Footnote 16: His _Chronicon Polonorum_ was reprinted at Warsaw in
1824; together with Vincent Kadlubeck's _Res gestae principum ac regum
Poloniae_.]
[Footnote 17: Among these sects were the Unitarians, called also
Anti-trinitarians, modern Arians, and afterwards Socinians. They
called themselves Polish Brethren. Their principal school and printing
office was at Racow; several of their teachers were distinguished for
learning, their communities were wealthy and flourishing, and not a
few of the highest families of Poland belonged to them. The doctrines
of the two exiled Italians, Lelio and Fausto Socini, uncle and nephew,
found among them only a conditional approbation; most of them were
unwilling to receive Fausto, who developed his views more openly than
his uncle, into their community. Internal dissensions were the result,
and the establishment of new and smaller congregations. A disturbance
among the Students at Racow in 1638, gave to the Catholics and to the
other Protestants a welcome pretext for persecuting them; in 1658
their denomination was ultimately suppressed, and the choice left to
them between the adoption of the Roman Catholic religion or exile
within three years. A part of them emigrated to Germany, where they
were soon merged in other Protestant denominations; others went to
Transylvania, where the Unitarians, about fifty thousand in number,
belonged and still belong to the denominations acknowledged by the
state, and enjoy all civil rights. They have two high schools, at
Klausenburg and at Thoarda; but are far from being distinguished for
learning. See Meusel's _Staatengeschicte_, p. 555. Lubienieci
_Historia Reformationis Polanicae_, etc. etc.]
[Footnote 18: An enumeration of the Polish versions of the Bible may
be acceptable to the reader. The New Testament was first translated by
the Lutheran Seklucyan, who was a Greek scholar, and printed at
Königsberg 1551, three times reprinted before 1555. Afterwards for
Catholics by Leonard, from the Vulgate, reviewed by Leopolita, Cracow
1556. Of the Old Testament, the Psalter alone was several times
translated and repeatedly printed. The whole Bible was first
translated for the Catholics by Leonard, from the Vulgate, and
reviewed by Leopolita, Cracow 1561, reprinted in 1575 and 1577. Two
years later by an anonymous translator from the original languages,
for Calvinists, Brzesc 1563. Again from the original languages by
Budny, an Unitarian clergyman, 1570, reprinted in 1572. From the
Vulgate by the Jesuit Wuiek, Cracow 1599, reprinted at Breslau in 1740
in 8vo, and 1771 in 4to, with the Latin text. From the original
languages by Paliurus, Wengiersciua, and Micolaievius, for Calvimsts,
Dantzic 1632, the first Bible in 8vo, all the former being in fol. or
4to; reprinted at Amsterdam 1660, at Halle 1726, at Königsberg 1738,
1779, and at Berlin 1810, by the Bibie Society. See Ringeltaube's
_Nachricht von den polnischen Bibeln_, Danz. 1744. Bentkowski's _Hist,
liter. Pol._ Vol. II. p. 494. _Slovanka_ Vol. I. p. 141. Vol. II. p.
228. Schaffarik's _Geschichte der Slav. Spr_. p. 424.]
[Footnote 19: The Polish senate was not a body, the members of which
were elected for a certain term; as those not acquainted with the
Polish constitution might be disposed to believe. It was composed of
all the archbishops and bishops, the waiwodes and castellans, i.e. the
titled nobility, and the principal ministers of the king. It was thus
in some measure the organ of the government and of the clergy, in
opposition to the national representatives or the mass of the
nobility. This body was not established until towards the close of the
fifteenth century. Before 1466-70, every nobleman who chose, made his
personal appearance in the senate at the summons of the king; but
Casimir, the son of Jagello, in his frequent want of money and men,
repeated these summons so often, that the nobility found personal
appearance inconvenient, and selected in their provincial conventions
_nuntii_, to represent the nation, or rather the nobility; without
however giving up the right of personal attendance. The _nuntii_,
whose number was not fixed, were bound to appear, had the right to
grant or to refuse duties, and to act as the advisers of the king. In
1505 the law was passed, that without their consent the constitution
could not be changed. At the diet in A.D. 1652 it occurred for the
first time, that a single _nuntius_ opposed and annulled by his
_liberum veto_ the united resolutions of the whole convention. On this
example a regular right was very soon founded and acknowledged.
Deputies of cities were occasionally invited to the diet, but only in
extraordinary cases.]
[Footnote 20: Preface to Vuk's Servian Grammar, p. xxiii.]
[Footnote 21: See Schaffarik, _Geschichte_, p. 414, Bautkie's
_Geschichte der Krakauer Buchdruckereyen_.]
[Footnote 22: It was afterwards reinstated in the form of a large
gymnasium by one of chancellor Zamoyski's descendants, and removed to
Szczebrzeszyn. See Letter on Poland, Edinb. 1823, p. 95.]
[Footnote 23: See Schaffarik, _Geschichte_, p. 426.]
[Footnote 24: Whether Copernicus is to be called a Pole or a German
has been and is still a matter of dispute, and has been managed on the
side of the Poles with the utmost bitterness and passion. The Poles
have recently given expression to their claim upon him by erecting to
him a monument at Cracow, and celebrating the third centennial
anniversary of the completion of his system of the world, which took
place in A.D. 1530. Let the question respecting Copernicus be decided
as it may, Poland may doubtless lay claim to many other eminent
natural philosophers as her sons; e.g. Vitellio-Ciolek, who was the
first in Europe to investigate the theory of light, in the beginning
of the thirteenth century; Brudzewski, the teacher of Copernicus;
Martinus of Olkusz, the proper author of the new or Gregorian
calendar, which was introduced sixty-four years after him, etc.]
[Footnote 25: See Macherzynski's _Geschichte der Luteinischen Sprache
in Polen_, Cracow 1833. Dr. Connor in his History of Poland, 1698,
speaking of the following period, says, that even the common people in
Poland spoke Latin, and that his servant used to speak with him in
that language. See Letters on Poland, Edinb. 1823 p 108.]
[Footnote 26: De originibus et rebus gestis Polonorum, lib. XXX.]
[Footnote 27: _Psalterz Dawidow s modlitwami_, 1555.]
[Footnote 28: The Polish works of this poet, who is still considered
as the chief ornament of the Polish Parnassus, were first collected in
four volumes, Cracow 1584-90. After going through several editions,
they have recently been printed at Breslau, 1894, in a stereotype
edition. Bowring gives among his 'Specimens' some of the sweetest
pieces of Kochanowski.]
[Footnote 29: The oldest edition extant of his Polish pastorals, was
printed at Zamosc, 1614, under the title _Sielanki_. They were last
printed, together with other eclogues, in the collection of Mostowski,
_Sielanki Polskie_, Warsaw 1805. There are some specimens of his
poetry in Bowring's work.]
[Footnote 30: This latter was honoured by his countrymen with the
title of the Sarmatian Ovid; but his pieces, according to Bowring, are
not only licentious, but also vulgar. See Specimen of the Polish
Poets, p. 29.]
[Footnote 31: The same individual has been mentioned as a Bohemian
writer; see above, p. 193.]
[Footnote 32, 33, 34: See above, p. 237, 238, n. 18.]
[Footnote 35: This work was first printed at Cracow in 1597, under the
title _Kronika Polska_. The first part of it was republished at Warsaw
in 1832, forming the sixth volume of the great collection of ancient
Polish authors published by the bookseller Galezowski.]
[Footnote 36: For more complete information respecting the writers of
this period, see Bentkowaki's _Hist. lit. Pol_ Vol. I. Schaffarik's
_Gechichte_, etc.]
[Footnote 37: We mean the direct male descendants of Jagello; for
descendants by the female and collateral lines occupied the throne
after Stephen Bathory. Poland had never been by law an hereditary
kingdom; but in most cases one of the sons or brothers of the last
king was elected.]
[Footnote 38: These _pacta conventa_, to which numerous articles were
afterwards added, not only limiled the king in his quality as king,
but even also as a private man, in a degree to which no freeman would
willingly submit. For example, he was not allowed to marry except with
the consent of the diet; and as each single nuntius had the right to
oppose and render void the resolutions of the united estates by his
_liberum veto_, the king could not marry whenever it occurred to any
one of them to withhold his consent. In 1669 it was resolved, that no
king should be allowed to abdicate.]
[Footnote 39: _Korona Polska_, Lemberg 1728-1743.]
[Footnote 40: In 1764; it was the first periodical ever published in
Poland.]
[Footnote 41: See page 227 above.]
[Footnote 42: The Polish serfs were indeed never regular slaves; but
merely _glebae adscripti_, i.e. they could not be sold separately as
mere things, but only with the soil they cultivated, which they had no
right to leave. They were not reduced even to this state before the
fifteenth or sixteenth century; for one of the statutes of Casimir the
Great allows them the privilege of selling their property and leaving
whenever they were ill treated. Of the present state of the Polish
peasantry, the author of "Poland under the dominion of Russia," (Bost.
1834,) says: "The Polish peasant might perhaps be about as free as my
dog was in Warsaw; for I certainly should not have prevented the
animal from learning, had he been so inclined, some tricks by which he
could earn the reward of an extra bone. The freedom of the wretched
Polish serfs is much the same as the freedom of their cattle; for they
are brought up with as little of human cultivation," etc. p. 165. And
again: "The Polish serf is in every part of the country extremely
poor, and of all the living creatures I have met with in this world,
or seen described in books of natural history, he is the most
wretched." p. 176.]
[Footnote 43: Lemberg indeed can hardly be called a Polish university.
All its professors are Germans, and the lectures are delivered in
Latin or German. It has only three faculties, viz. the philosophical,
theological, and juridical. For medicine it has only a preparatory
school, the course being finished at Vienna. Among the 65 medical
students of 1832, there were 41 Jews. The university had in that year,
in all, 1291 students. For the theological and juridical courses,
which, according to law, comprise each four years, a previous
preparation of two years spent in philosophical studies is required by
the government. Thus the regular course of an Austrian student lasts
six years. The same measures were taken to Germanize Cracow during the
Austrian administration; but when in 1815 Cracow became a free city,
it parted with all its German professors, and became again a genuine
Polish university.]
[Footnote 44: From the account given of the state of the Polish common
people in note 42 above, we must conclude that this number is very
small. Mr. Ljach Szyrma, the author of Letters on Poland, (Edinb.
1823,) says: "The lower classes, unfortunately, do not enjoy the
advantage of being proportionally benefited by the learning requisite
to their social condition. The parish schools are not sufficient to
improve them in this respect; and the village schools, upon which
their hopes chiefly rest, _are not numerous_."]
[Footnote 45: Witwicki in _Wieczory pielgrzyma_, Paris 1837.]
[Footnote 46: P. 254.]
[Footnote 47: His works, which have never been collected, are
enumerated in Bentkowski's History of Polish literature. Konarski was
the first who ventured publicly to assail the _liberum veto_.]
[Footnote 48: Nancy 1733.]
[Footnote 49: This celebrated library was transferred to St.
Petersburg at the dismemberment of Poland, and had not yet been
restored.]
[Footnote 50: The Czartoryskis may justly be called the Polish Medici,
from the liberal patronage which the accomplished members of this
family have ever given to talent and literary merit. Their celebrated
seat, Pulawi, the subject of many songs, and also of an episode in
Delille's Jardins, was destroyed by the Russians in the late war, and
its literary treasures are said to have been carried to St.
Petersburg.]
[Footnote 51: The title of the former work is _O wymowie i stylu_,
Warsaw 1815-16. Another work is _Pochwaly, mowy i rozprowy_, i.e.
Eulogies, Speeches, and Essays, among which are nine on Polish
literature, Warsaw 1816. Stanislaus Potocki was also the principal
mover in the publication of the splendid work _Monumenta regum Poloniæ
Cracoviensia_, Warsaw 1822. Stanislaus Kostka P. must not be
confounded with Stanislaus Felix P. his cousin, one of the most
obstinate advocates of the ancient constitution and its corruptions,
who sold his country to Russia.]
[Footnote 52: His complete works are to be found in the great
collection of count Mostowski, Warsaw 1804-5, 12 volumes. They
appeared in 1824 at Breslau in a stereotype edition, in six volumes.
Poetical works, Warsaw 1778.]
[Footnote 53: Lelewel is the author of quite a number of historical
productions of importance; and some others he published or translated.
A catalogue of his works cannot be expected here. The most celebrated
are his volume on the primitive Lithuanians (Wilna 1808); on the
condition of Science and Arts in Poland before the invention of
printing; on the Geography of the Ancients; on the Commerce of the
Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans; on the history of the ancient
Indians; on the discoveries of the Carthaginians and Greeks (Warsaw
1829), etc. Also a Polish Bibliography (Warsaw 1823-1826); Monuments
of the language and constitution of Poland, Warsaw 1824, etc.]
[Footnote 54: See the preceding note.]
[Footnote 55: _O Slawianach i ich pobratymcach_, Warsaw 1816.]
[Footnote 56: Bentkowski's _Historya literatury Polsk_. Warsaw 1814,
contains a catalogue of all works published on Polish literature, to
1814; sec Vol. I p. 1-73.]
[Footnote 57: Krasicki's complete works were published by Dmochowski,
Warsaw 1803-4. A stereotype edition appeared at Breslau in 1824.]
[Footnote 58: P. 221 Niemcewicz'a works have not yet been collected.
Of his _Spiewy historyene_, or 'Historical Songs,' Warsaw 1819,
Bowring gives some specimens. These songs were set to music by
distinguished Polish composers, especially ladies; and, on account of
their deep patriotic interest, have reached a higher degree of
popularity than any other Polish work. They were written at the
instigation of the Warsaw Society of Friends of Science. Besides his
two historical works, _Dzicie panowania Zygmunta III_, or Reign of
Sigismund III, Warsaw 1819, and _Zbior pamietnikow_, etc. a collection
of imprinted documents, Warsaw 1822; and his large historical novel
_Jan z Teczyna_, Warsaw 1825; Niemcewicz published _Leyba i Szora_, or
Letters of Polish Jews, Warsaw 1821, presenting an illustration of
their situation. His most recent production, an elegiac poem, was
published at Leipzig 1833. See below, p. 286.]
[Footnote 59: The fourth volume appeared at Paris; where also his
earlier poetry was reprinted in 1828 under the title _Poezye Adama
Mickiewicza_.]
[Footnote 60: Author of the work _Die Philosophie in ihrem
Verhaltnisse zum Leben ganzer Võlker_, Erlangen 1822.]
[Footnote 61: The first wrote _Grundlage der universellen
Philosophie_, Karlsruh 1837; the second, _Prolegomena zur
Historiosophie_, Berlin 1838.]
[Footnote 62: See Dr. Connor's History of Poland, 1698. Even as late
as the close of the seventeenth century, the Poles were barbarians
enough to look upon the profession of a physician with contempt. They
had however in earlier times some very celebrated physicians, as
Martin of Olkusc, Felix of Lowicz, and Struthius, who was called to
Spain to save the life of Philip II, and even to the Turkish sultan
Suliman II.]
[Footnote 63: Page 278.]
[Footnote 64: This code is frequently called the code of Leo Sapieha,
the sub-chancellor of Lithuania, who in A.D. 1588 translated it from
the White Russian into the Polish language.]
[Footnote 65: See _Revue Encyclopédique_, Oct. 1827, p. 219.]
[Footnote 66: See Letters on Poland, p. 103.]
[Footnote 67: Breslau 1821. The same author published John Sobieski's
Letters, a work read throughout all Europe in its French translation
by count Plater and Salvandy. A whole series of _Memoirs_, among which
are some of great importance for Polish history, for instance those of
Passek, of Wybicki, of Kolontaj, etc. owe their publication to the
generous liberality of this true nobleman.]
[Footnote 68: We do not know exactly from what point the Polish
literary historians _after_ Bentkowski date the period of the present
literature; as we have not been able to get a view of Wiszniewski's
_Historya literatury Polskiej_, Cracow 1840. We are even not certain,
whether the works on literary history, which J.B. Rakowiecki and Prof.
Aloys Osinski were said to be preparing about the same time, have ever
appeared.]
[Footnote 69: _Historya prawodawstw Slowanskich_, Warsaw 1832-1835.]
[Footnote 70: _Pamietniki o djezach, pismiennictwie i prawodawstwie
Slowian_, Warsaw 1838. A German translation appeared in 1842, at St.
Petersburg: _Denkwürdigkeiten über die Begebnisse, das Schriftwesen,
und die Gesetzgebung der Slaven_.--The same author published more
recently a work on the ancient history of Poland and Lithuania:
_Pierwotne dzieje Polski i Litwy_, etc. Warsaw 1846.]
[Footnote 71: _Najdawniejsze pomniki praw Slowianskich_, Warsaw 1838.]
[Footnote 72: Muczkowski's valuable History of the University of
Cracow has been mentioned above, p. 232.]
[Footnote 73: _Starozytnosci historyczne Polskie_, Cracow 1840.]
[Footnote 74: _Starozytnosci Gallicyiskie_, Cracow 1841.]
[Footnote 75: _Rzut okana zrodta Archæologii Krajowej_, Wilna 1842.]
[Footnote 76: Published at the same time in French: _Meduilles de
Pologne etc._, Posen 1838; a splendid work.]
[Footnote 77: _Kodex diplomatyczny Polski_, Warsaw 1847.]
[Footnote 78: This is the appellation of the Lutherans in Poland.]
[Footnote 79: Historical Sketch of the rise, progress, and decline of
the Reformation in Poland, and of the influence which the Scriptural
doctrines have exercised on that country in literary, moral, and
political respects. By Count Valerian Krasinski. Vol. I. Lond. 1838.]
[Footnote 80: _Wiadamosci o Syberyi przcz J.K._ 1838.]
[Footnote 81: _O Literaturze Polskiey w wieku dziewietnastym_, Warsaw
1830; published a few days before the outbreak of the Revolution.]
[Footnote 82: _Wizerunki Duszy narodowej_, Paris 1847.]
[Footnote 83: _Wieczory pielgrzyma_, Paris 1837.]
[Footnote 84: This work appeared at the same time in German,
accompanied with a preface by the author, written expressly for the
German edition. The German title is _Vorlesungen über Slavische
Literatur und Zustände in den Jahren_ 1840-1844. 4 vols. Leipzig
1843-44.]
[Footnote 85: _Marya_, first published at Warsaw 1825; after wards in
several different editions, among which may be mentioned here one
prepared by Bielowski, Lemb. 1838; and one by Brockhaus and Avenarius,
Leipz. and Paris 1844. A beautiful German translation appeared in the
same year at Leipzig: _Maria_, aus dem Polnischen des A. Malczeski von
K.R. Vogel.]
[Footnote 86: _Powiesci Kosackie_, Par. 1837. A German translation by
Minsberg, Glogau 1838.]
[Footnote 87: Paris 1838; a German translation, Leipz. 1841.]
[Footnote 88: The two latter appeared at Paris in 1838 and 1841, and
were translated into French and German.]
[Footnote 89: See above, p. 290.]
[Footnote 90: "Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht."]
[Footnote 91: _Nieboska Komedya_, Paris 1835; ed. 2, 1837; Germ. _Die
ungöttliche Komödie,_ aus dem Polnischen von K. Batornicki, Leipz.
1841.--_Irydion_, Par. 1836. This latter has been twice translated
into German, Leipz. 1839, and Berlin 1846.]
[Footnote 92: _Starozytney wiessci z XI go XVI go i XVII go wieko_.
The author had published a similar work before. Polish proverbs have
also been collected by Knapski and Rysinski.]
[Footnote 93: _Zarysy domowe_, Warsaw 1841; and _Niewasty Polskie_,
Wars. 1844.]
[Footnote 94: _Klechdy, Starozytnye powviesci i podania ludu Polskigo
i Rusi_, Warsaw 1837.]
[Footnote 95: _Piesni ludu bielachrobatow, Mazurow i Rusiz nad Buga_,
Lemb 1838.]
[Footnote 96: _Duma, Dumka_, means _thought_, and is the name of the
elegaic, mostly historical, ballads of the Malo-Russian people.]
[Footnote 97: See more on this subject in Part IV.]
[Footnote 98: The title is _Spiewy historyczne Cesarstwa
Rossyiskiego_, i.e. Historical songs of the Russian emperors.]
[Footnote 99: The English reader will find further information on
Polish literature in Bowring's Introduction to his Polish Anthology,
Lond. 1827; in Ljach Szyrma's Letters on Poland, published in London;
and in an article on Polish Literature in the Foreign Quarterly
Review, Vol. XXV. No. 49. These are the only sources in the English
language with which we are acquainted.
In grammatical and lexical works the Polish language is very rich; but
the interest which the English have recently shown for the fate of the
Poles seems not to extend to their language. The following are the
principal works.
GRAMMARS: in German, Krumholz _Polnische Grammatik_, Breslau 1797, 6th
edit. _Auszug aus Kopczynski's Grammatik_, von Polsfuss, Breslau 1794,
Mrongovius _Poln. Sprachlehre_, Königsb 1794, and in several altered
editions, under different titles; last edition Danzig 1836. Szumski's
_Poln. Gramm._ Posen 1830. Vater's _Grammatik der Poln. Sprache_,
Halle 1807. Bantkie _Poln. Grammatik_ attached to his Dictionary,
Breslau 1808-1824. Szrzeniawa _Wortforschungslehre der polnischen
Sprache,_ Lemberg and Lemgo 1842-43. Poplinski _Polnische Grammatik_,
Lissa 1836; last edition 1840. Stostakowskiego _Polska Gramm_.
Trzemeszne 1846. Schieweck _Grammatik der. Polnischen Sprache,_
Fraustadt and Neustadt 1847. In French, Kopczynski _Essai d'une
grammaire Polonaise_, Wars. 1807. Trambczynski _Grammatique raisonnée
de la langue Polonaise_, new edit. Warsaw 1793.
DICTIONARIES, in German and French. The most useful are, Mrongovius
_Handwörterbuch der Poln. Sprachte_, latest edit. Danz. 1823. Troc
_Franz-poln.-deutsches Wörterbuch_ in several editions from 1742 to
1821. J.V. Bantkie _Taschenwörterbuch der Poln. Sprache_, (German and
French,) Breslau and Wars. in several editions from 1805 to 1819.
Slownik _Francusko-Polski, Dictionaire Polonais Français,_ Berlin and
Leipzig 1839-45. _Dict. Polonais-Francais,_ 2 vols. 18mo. Paris 1844.
J.A.E. Schmidt, _Nouveau Dictionaire portatif Francais et Polonais_,
Zerbst 1817. _Polnisch-Deutsches Taschenwörterbuch,_ von Jordan,
Leipzig 1845.--Standard works for the language are the etymological
dictionaries: G.S. Bantkie _Slownik dokladny iez. pol. i. niem_.
Breslau 1806, and Linde's _Slownik iez. pol_. Wars. 1807-14. For other
philological works, see Schaflarik's _Geschichte der Slav. Spr_. p
410.]
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