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KRAFFT. ADAM. 



KRASZEWSKI, JOZEF IQNACY. 



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author. BOOM of the finest are prefixed to a truilation of the 



Cotton" Saturday Night* 



KRAFFT, ADAM, a celebrated sculptor and architect of Nu.rnberg, 

 where he wa* born about 1485 ; ha married in 1470. There are seve- 

 ral of hu performances itill extant in the city and churches of N urn- 

 barf, but the principal it the remarkable tabernacle in (tone, fixed 

 Sfshist on* of the columns of the choir of the church of St. Lawrence, 

 Loreoikirche. It is in the form of a square open Gothic spire, and is 

 64 feet high, the pinnacle being turned downward* like the crook of 

 MM crosier or an episcopal itaff, to avoid the arch of the church. The 

 dborium ia placed immediately upon a low platform which it supported 

 partly by the kneeling figure* of Adam Krafft and hia two assistants ; 

 the rail or baluster of the platform ia richly carved, and ia orna- 

 mented with the figures of eight saints. The whole tabernacle is also 

 profusely ornamented with small figures: in the round and bassi- 

 rilieri : immediately above the ciborium, on three sides, are repre- 

 sentations in basso-rilievo of ' Christ taking leave of hia Mother.' the 

 ' Last Supper/ and ' Christ on the Mount of Olives ;' high above these 

 are 'Christ before Caiaphas,' the 'Crowning with Thorns,' and the 

 ' Scourging ; ' above these is the ' Crucifixion ; ' and lastly, above that 

 ia the ' Kesurrection,' all in the round. This elaborate work was exe- 

 cuted by Knfft for a citizen of the name of Hans Imhof, and for the 

 small sum of 770 florins ; if the ordinary florin, about 701. sterling. 

 There is a print of this tabernacle in Doppelmayr's work on the artists 

 of Nurnberg. Recent writers have indulged in various conjectures 

 regarding the time and works of Krafft, but the circumstances of both 

 are still involved in their former uncertainty. He is supposed to have 

 died in the hospital of Schwabach in 1507. Sandrart has inserted the 

 portrait of Krafft in his ' Academy,' from the figure mentioned above, 

 under tho tabernacle. 



(Sandrart Teuiteht Academic, &e. ; Doppelmayr, ffuloriiche Nach- 

 rickt ran den Kiirnbergitchm Jtuntllern, Ac. ; Fureli, Allyemeina 

 A'unitler LejeiL-OH ; Nagler, Allgemcinet Kiinstler-Lcjrikon.) 



KRANTZ, ALBERT, was born at Hamburg about the middle of the 

 15th century. He studied at Rostock, where he took degrees, and was 

 made professor of philosophy and rector of that university in 1482. 

 He afterwards became a canon of the cathedral of Hamburg, was 

 beted syndic in 1489, and was sent by the Confederation of the 

 Hanseatic Towns on several missions to France and England. He died 

 at Hamburg in 1517. He is the author of eeveral historical works : 

 1, 'Ci.rpuica Regnorum Aquilonarium, Danite, Sueciac, et Norvegiao,' 

 printed in 1546; 2, 'Saxonia, sive de Saxonia gentia vetusta nrigine, 

 libri xii.,' 1520, with a Preface by Cisnerus ; 3, ' Wandalia, sive His- 

 toria <le \\andalorum vera origine, variia gentibus, crebra e patria 

 murratione, regnis item quorum vel autores fuerunt vel everaores, 

 libri xiv.,' 1519 ; 4, ' Historia Ecclesiastics Soxoniie,' 1548. All these 

 works have gone through several editions. 



KRASICKI, 1UNACY, a Polish poet of the first degree of eminence, 

 was born at Dubiecko, on the 3rd of February 1734, received his first 

 education at Lemberg, entered the priesthood, and afterwards spent 

 some years in Rome. On his return to Poland, he attracted attention 

 to his literary talents by bis contributions to the ' Monitor.' a series of 

 essays in imitation of the English 'Spectator,' published at Warsaw. 

 He was taken notice of by the king, Stanislaus Poniatowski, with 

 whom he became a special favourite, and to whom some of his first 

 poeuic, which contain delicate flattery in the guise of satire, are 

 addressed. By the king's favour he first became coadjutor to Ora- 

 bowski, bishop of Wannia, or, as the Germans name it, Krmeland ; 

 and m 1766, on Grabowski's death, succeeded to the see. At the diet 

 of 1768 he made use of his dignified position to endeavour to avert 

 the fast approaching ruin of Poland; but in 1772, on the first partition 

 of the country, his diocese became a part of Prussia, and he found 

 himself a subject of Frederick the Great. Krasicki was remarkable 

 for his cheerfulness in society and his flow of easy wit, which soon 

 made him a favourite with Frederick as it had with Stanislaus. When 

 the king told him one day that he hoped he would take him under 

 hu robes into Paradise, the bishop replied in allusion to the loss of 

 some of bis revenues that his majesty had cut his robes too short to 

 him any chance of being able to smuggle contraband a repartee 

 which has found its way into several English jest-books. Frederick 

 once assigned him, when on. a visit to Sans-Souci, the apartments 

 which bad been occupied by Voltaire, and told him that under such 

 circumstances be must surely be inspired ; and the bishop wrote in 

 those apartments his humorous poem of the ' Monachomachia,' or 



War of the Monks.' In 1795 Krasicki was raised to the archbishopric 

 of Ooesen. He died at Berlin, on the 14th of March 1801, and 

 twenty-eight years after, in 1829, his remains were removed to the 

 cathedral of his archbishopric. 



Krasicki wrote both in verse and prose, on a great variety of sub- 

 jects, though nothing, we believe, on theology. As a poet, he is in 

 Poli.h literature nearly what Pope is in English. " If he had written 

 nothing but his fables and satires only," said Dmochowski at the 

 beginning of this century, "be would still have been at the head of tho 

 poets of Poland ; " and the only Polish names that are placed above his 

 are of a subsequent period. His Fables, which are in eight books, 

 are of very different kinds : the first four are of a simplicity of style 

 end subject almost adapted to children ; in the other four, entitled 

 ' liajki Nowe ' (' New Fables'), be aims, with success, at a rivalry with 



Lafontaine and other great masters of the class. His ' Epistles ' and 

 Satires' are full of polished wit, less cutting than urbane; the 

 epistles addressed to Stanislaus Poniatowski are particularly happy. 

 The ' Mysseis,' or ' Mousiad,' is a burlesque poem on the old Polish 

 tradition related by Kadlubek of King Popiel, who, like Bishop Hatto 

 of the Rhine, was for bis inhumanity devoured by mice and rats. 

 His ' Mooachomachia,' already alluded to, and his ' Antimonacho- 

 machia,' arc two other burlesque poems, of which the former is highly 

 valued. He was less successful in the serious epic : his ' Wojna 

 Chocimska,' or 'War of Chocim,' which celebrates the exploits of 

 Chodkiewicz against the Turks, is not considered a masterpiece. 1 1 in 

 translation of ' Fingal,' and a few other of Ossian's poems in heroic 

 verse, rather detracts from than adds to his fame. As a prose writer, 

 his two novels, 'The Adventures of Nicholas Doawiodczynski,' in 

 which he aims at pointing out the faults of systems of education, is 

 much lees esteemed than his ' 1'an Podstoli,' in which he satirises tho 

 faults of his countrymen in the history of a country gentleman. This 

 work was a favourite with its author, who was projecting a continua- 

 tion of it at the time of his death, and is still we believe a favourite 

 with the Polish public. The remainder of hia prose works consist of 

 translations of Plutarch, &<x, and a general survey of the poetry of all 

 nations, which is remarkable for the very superficial acquaintance 

 shown by its author with the English and German authors whom he 

 has occasion to mention, and the extreme shallowness of his criticism. 

 A nearly complete edition of Kra>icki's works was published at War- 

 saw in 10 vols. in 1803-4, under the editorship of Dmochowski; a 

 new edition of the whole in one double-columned octavo, which was 

 issued at Paris in 1830, is perhaps the neatest extant specimen of 

 typography in the Polish language. 



KRASINSKI, COUNT VALERIAN, was a native of the ancient 

 Polish province of White Russia, and was descended from a noble 

 family. The branch to which he belonged embraced at an early 

 period the Protestant faith, to which he adhered. He received a supe- 

 rior classical education, and while yet a young man was appointed 

 chief of that department of the ministry of public instruction in tho 

 kingdom of Poland which was charged with the superintendence ot 

 the various classes of dissenters. He was zealous in his endeavours 

 to promote instruction among them, and especially exerted himself in 

 the establishment of a college at Warsaw for the education of Jewish 

 rabbis. In order to lessen the expense of valuable works, especially 

 those on scientific subjects, he was the first to introduce stereotype 

 printing into Poland, and this was not accomplished without a con- 

 siderable diminution of his own income. When the Polish revolu- 

 tionists of 1830 had proclaimed the throne of Poland vacant, and 

 organised a national government, with Prince Adam Czartoryski as 

 president, a diplomatic mission was sent to England, of which Count 

 Valerian Krasinski was a member. When the Russian armies in 1831 

 had overpowered the revolutionary movement of his countrymen, he 

 was still in England, where he then became, with many others of his 

 countrymen, a penniless exile. After having instructed himself in tho 

 English language, he attached himself to literature at a means of 

 support, and became the author of several valuable works. He resided 

 in London during the first twenty years of his exile, and during the 

 last five in Edinburgh, where he died December 22ud, 1855. He was 

 a man of varied learning, and possessed extensive information, espe- 

 cially on all matters connected with the Slavonic races. His conversa- 

 tion was instructive and his manner elegant, and ho was admitted to 

 the best society. 



His most important works ore the following : ' The Rise, Progress, 

 and Decline of the Reformation in Poland,' 2 vols. 8vo, 1839-40; 

 ' Punslavism and Germanism,' 12mo, London, 1843 ; ' Lectures on the 

 Religious History of the Slavonic Nations,' 8vo, London, 1849 ; 'Sketch 

 of the Religious History of the Slavonian Nations,' 8vo, Ediub., 1851 ; 

 'Montenegro and the Slavonians in Turkey,' 8vo, Edinb., 1853 ; 'A 

 Treatise on Relic*, by J. Calvin, newly translated from the French 

 Original, with an Introductory Dissertation on the Miraculous Images 

 of the Roman Catholic and Ruaso-Greek Churches,' 8vo, 1854. Ho 

 published also some smaller works and pamphlets on recent political 

 subjects, especially on those connected with the restoration of Poland. 



KRASZEWSKI, JOZEF IGNACY, the most voluminous of Polish 

 authors, and one of the most voluminous in Europe, was born at War- 

 saw, on tho 26th of July 1812, received his earlier education at Wilua, 

 and afterwards improved it during travels abroad and by private study 

 at home. Living on his estate at Omelno in Volhynia, he has devoted 

 himself to literary activity, and with very striking results. In 1853 

 his novels amounted to upwards of a hundred volumes, and he still 

 shows no signs of exhaustion. In the ' Bibliografia Krajowna,' or 

 monthly list of Polish publications, which was commenced by Klu- 

 kowski and Rafalski in January 1856, we observe in the first number 

 DO less than five novels by Kraszewski, one of which had previously 

 appeared in the 'Gazeta Warszawska,' and the others in the 'Dzienuik 

 Warszawski,' so that he appears to keep two newspapers supplied. Of 

 his novels, which are very popular in Poland, the best are said to be 

 ' The Magic Lantern,' and ' Under Italian Skies.' Of his poems, 

 ' Anafielaa, a Story of the Traditions of Lithuania,' and ' Satan and 

 Woman,' are the most popular ; the former is in three substantial 

 octavo volumes. He hss also written numerous volumes of travels, 

 ' Recollections of Odessa,' &c., and a ' History of Wilua,' in 4 vols., 



