182 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



other on Wladimir the Great. He was con- 

 sidered the Homer of his time, but is now 

 never read. Among his contemporary poets 

 were Prince Dolgoruki, who wrote philosophic 

 odes and epistles, and Count Chvostow, the 

 author of some of the best lyric and didactic 

 poetry in the language. 



The first Russian poet whose name was 

 known beyond the borders of the empire was 

 Derzhavin, who was born at Kazan in 1743, 

 and after filling important civil posts under the 

 Empress Catharine, died in 1816. Many of 

 his most inspired odes were addressed to his 

 imperial patroness. His ode To God has been 

 translated into nearly all languages, and a 

 Chinese copy, printed in letters of gold, hangs 

 upon the walls of the palace at Pekin. The 

 prose writers of this period were Platon, Lew- 

 anda, and Schtscherbatow, who wrote a His- 

 tory of Russia. Under Alexander I., in the 

 commencement of the present century, Riis- 

 sian literature made rapid advances. Karam- 

 sin, who stood at the head of Russian authors 

 during this period, first freed the popular style 

 from the fetters of the classic school, and de- 

 veloped the native resources of the language. 

 Prince Alexander Schakowski wrote many 

 comedies and comic operas, and Zukowski, 

 following in the path of Karamsin, produced 

 some vigorous and glowing poetry. Count 

 Puschkin, one of the most celebrated Russian 

 authors, was born in 1799. His first poem, 

 published at the age of fourteen, attracted so 

 much attention that he resolved to devote him- 

 self to literature. An Ode to Freedom, how- 

 ever, procured him banishment to the south of 

 Russia, where his best poems were written. 

 His works are Russian and Ljudmilla, a ro- 

 mantic epic of the heroic age of Russia ; the 

 Mountain Prisoner, a story of life in the Cau- 

 casus ; the Fountains of Bdfctschissarai, and 

 Boris Godunoff, a dramatic poem. In his in- 

 vention, the elegance of his diction, and the 

 richness of his fancy, Puschkin excels all 

 other Russian authors. He was killed in a 

 duel in 1837. His contemporary, Baratynski, 

 who stood nearest him in talent, died in 1844. 

 Other poets of this period are Lermontow, 

 Podolinski, and Baron Delwig. Russian ro- 

 mance is not yet fairly developed. The first 

 names in this department are Bestuzew, who 

 suffered banishment in Siberia and met death 

 in theCaucusus, where his best work, Amaleth- 

 Bcg, was written, Bulgarin, author of Demetrius 

 and Mazeppa, Count Tolstoi, and Turgenieff. 

 The only histories written in Russia are his- 

 tories of Russia. The best of these which 

 aave been produced by the present generation 

 of authors are those of Ustrialow, Pogodin, 

 Polewoi, and Michailowski-Danilewski. 



POLISH LITERATURE. 



The Polish language has received a more 

 thorough development and boasts a richer 

 literature than any other language of Slavic 

 origin. It first reached a finished and regular 

 form in the sixteenth century, though a frag- 

 ment of a hymn to the Virgin remains, which 

 was supposed to have been written by St. 

 Adalbert, in the fifteenth century. The first 

 bloom of Polish literature happened during 

 the reigns of Sigismund I. and Augustus, 

 from 1507 to 1572. Michael Rey, the father 

 of Polish poetry, was a bold, spirited satirist. 

 He died in 1586, and was followed by the 

 brothers Kocmwiowski, Miaskowski, and Szy- 

 monowicz, who, for his Latin odes, was called 

 the Latin Pindar. Bielski wrote the Kronika, 

 a collection of Polish legends, and Gornicki, 

 secretary to Sigismund, a History of the Crown 

 of Poland. Orzechowski, one of the most dis- 

 tinguished orators of his day, wrote in the 

 Latin language, the Annales Polonia. 



After the commencement of the seventeenth 

 century, Polish letters declined, and as the 

 kingdom came under the ascendency of the 

 Jesuits, a corresponding change came over the 

 character of the literature. Kochowski, who 

 died in 1700, was historiographer to King 

 John Sobieski, and accompanied him against 

 the Turks. Opalinski, the Woiwode of Posen, 

 published in 1652 his Satyres, a lively and 

 characteristic work, and a number of Jesuit 

 historians undertook histories of the country, 

 in which few of them were successful. 



Through the influence of French authors, 

 Polish literature made another advance, at the 

 close of the first half of the last century. The 

 first poet who served to concentrate the scat- 

 tered elements of Polish poetry, was Krasicki, 

 who was born in 1734, and in 1767 was made 

 Bishop of Ermeland. He wrote a mock- 

 heroic poem, Myszeis (The Mousead), an epic 

 entitled Woyna Chocimska (The War of 

 Chocim), and many fables in verse. The 

 most prominent of the later poets are Godebski, 

 Wezyk, author of romances and dramas, Felin- 

 ski, author of Barbara Radzhrill, and Gen. 

 Kropinski, who wrote Ludgarda Tropinski, 

 who died in 1825, was the author of many ad- 

 mirable lyrics and idyls, and a tragedy called 

 Judyta. Niemcewicz, his contemporary, wrote 

 the Historical Lives of Poland, a History of 

 the reign of Sigismund III., and a romance, 

 Johann v. Tenczyn. The university of Wilna, 

 which in 1815 was the seat of Polish learning, 

 witnessed a revolution in the character of the 

 literature. Several young authors, with 

 Mickiewicz at their head, determined to free 

 themselves from the classic spirit of the lan- 

 guage, and imitate the later EngMsh and 



