The poet next to him in the favour of his contemporaries, Stan islas Trembecki (1735-1812) is Krasicki's equal in clearness and expressiveness of language, but otherwise inferior to him. Trem becki excels in his Fables and Epistles by perfection of phrase and melody of verse. The fiery satirist Kajetan Wegierski
who died in his prime after a youth of dissipation, was perhaps more deeply influenced than others by the French writers of the age, whom he loved to translate. The later poets of the period mark the transition from rationalism to romantic sentiment and include Francis Karpinski (1741-1825), and Francis Kniaznin (1750-1807).
Prose Writers of the 18th Century.—Bishop Adam Narus zewicz (1733-96), owes his chief title to fame to his ponderous history of mediaeval Poland, the first scholarly treatment of the subject. Stanislaw Staszyc (1755-1826), a liberal-minded priest, began his career with powerful pamphlets advocating political and social reform, and continued it after the partitions of Poland as a scientist and an organiser of research and industry. His fel low-reformer, Father Hugo Kollataj (I 750-1812), surpassed him as a political journalist and in his later work, as a philosopher.
It was for school theatres that Francis Bohomo lec wrote his comedies (1755-6o), based on French models, chiefly Moliere. At the same time, Waclaw Rzewuski (1706-1779), wrote tragedies from Polish history in the French classical style for the private theatre at his residence. But it was only with the foundation of the first public theatre in Warsaw in 1765 that Polish dramatic literature got a permanent footing; and the manager of that theatre, Wojciech Boguslawski, himself a popular playwright, is the real creator of Poland's theatrical tradition. It was for this theatre that Francis Zoblocki (1754-1821) wrote his satirical comedies, drawing for subject-matter on obscure French sources, but presenting Polish figures and Polish ways. The Dandy's Courtship (Fircyk w zalotach) is his masterpiece. The famous comedy The Return of the Deputy (Powrot Posla) by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (1757-1841), was written to help the cause of political reform. Niemcewicz himself, aide-de-camp to Kogciuszko, made his mark in many fields of literature. His Songs of Polish History (Spiewy historyczne) are still read and recited in schools. His Fables and Satires, comedies and tragedies belong to the r8th century, but by his translations of English ballads and romantic poems, as well as by his novels he heralds the coming of a new age. His Memoirs are a valuable chronicle of
the transition period.
Soon after the disappearance of the old Polish State the vitality of the nation was manifested not only by military effort during the Napoleonic Wars, but also by intellectual and literary achievements. The University of Vilna (which had received its charter in 1579) entered on a flourishing period soon after 1800: the great poet Mickiewicz came from the ranks of its pupils. In the South-Eastern part of the border lands, the Lyceum or public school of Krzemieniec in Volhynia displayed similar activities. In Warsaw itself a "Society of Friends of Learning" came into being in 180o, and a Dictionary of the Polish Language by Samuel Linde was among its many undertakings. Warsaw remained the capital of literary taste, and in the first decades of the century, the classicism of the former age still reigned there. It is represented by the poet and critic Kajetan Kozmian the author of Polish Georgics (Ziemi anstwo), and bishop J. P. Woronicz (1757-1829) who, in his didactic poem Sybilla, drew comforting conclusions from a phi losophical survey of Poland's history.
The strong didacticism of the classicist era also inspires the literary activities of Mme. Clementina Hofman (née Tanska), who produced the standard works of Polish educational fiction.
At the very end of its period classicism still gives Poland one great writer in Count Alexander Fredro (1793-1876) the author of the best Polish comedies. A soldier under Napoleon, he saw the masterpieces of French classical comedy in Paris and followed Moliere. His first piece, Pan Geldhab, a satire on nouveaux riches, was produced in 1821. He wrote about twenty other comedies, and then abandoned production for fifteen years. At his death, however, he left behind a number of further plays in ms. His best-known works are: Zernsta (The revenge), which satirizes the mania for litigation among country gentlemen; gluby panieriskie (Girlish Vows) ; Damy i huzary (Ladies and Hussars, Eng. trs. Noyes, 1925) ; Mqz i zona (Husband and Wife) ; Dozy wocie (The Life Interest) and Pan Jowialski (The old Story Teller). The comedies, mostly in verse, portray the Polish coun try gentry to which Fredro belonged.