_Polish Polish lan guage has received a more thorough de velopment 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 fragment of a hymn to the Virgin re mains, which was supposed to have been written by St. Adalbert, in the fifteenth century. The first bloom of Polish litera ture happened during the reigns of Sigis sound 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 Kochanowski, Miaskowski and Szymonowicz, who, for his Latin odes, was called the Latin Pindar. Bielski wrote the Kronika, a collection of Polish legends, and Gdrnicki, Secretary to Sigis mund, a History of the Crown of Poland. Orzechowski, one of the most distinguish ed orators of his day, wrote in the Latin language, the Aanales Poloniee.
After the commencement of the seven teenth century, Polish letters declined, and as the kingdom came under the as cendency of the Jesuits, a correspending change came over the character of the literature. .lioehowski, who died in 1700, was historiographer to King John So bieski, 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 au thors, Polish literature made another ad vance, at the close of the first half of the last century. The first poet who served to concentrate the scattered elements of Polish poetry, was Krasieki, who was horn in 1734, and in 1767 was made Bishop of Ermeland. He wrote a mock heroic poem, Atyszeis, (The MouseinI) an epic entitled troyna Chociaiska. (The War of Chocim,) and many fables in verse. The most prominent of the later poets are Godebski, Wezyk, author of re mimeos and dramas, Felinski, author of Barbara Radziwill, 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 ludyta. Niemeewiez, his contem porary, wrote the Historical Lives of Poland, a History of the reign of Sigis mund III., and a romance : Johann v. Tenczyn. The university of which in 1815 was the seat of Polish learn ing, witnessed a revolution in the charac ter of the literature. Several young 1111 [hors, with Miekiewicz at their head, de termined to free themselves from the classic spirit of the language, and imi tate the later English and German schools. From this time Polish fiction
took a freer, bolder and more varied form. Miekiewicz, born in 1798, published his first velum() of poetry in 1822. Banished to the interior of Russia, on account of political troubles, he wrote a series of sonnets which attracted the attention of Prince Galizin, under whose auspices his epic !me in, Konrad Ira/it/trod, was pub lishe 1 in 1828. 11e is now Professor of Shivic literature in the College of France. His polish epic of Pan TadellSZ first lip- , peared in Paris, in 1831. Among his con temporary authors, the most noted are Wyllie°, author of the drama of Lora ; Korsak, a lyric and elegiac poet ; Garez ynski, who vrote many fiery battle-songs ; and Czajkowski, a noted writer of Slavic , romances. The later prose writers of Poland are the histo:iesl Lelewel, and Count Plater. It is to be feared that Po lish literature will expire with the pres sent generation.
English Literature.—The English lan guage, like other composite modern tongues, such as the French and Italian, passed through several phases before reaching its present form and character. During the prevalence of the Anglo Saxon tongue, from the fifth century to the Norman conquest-, England boasted several authors, whose names and works have in part descended to us. The ven erable Bede, born in Northumberland, in 672, is distinguished for his scholar ship. He left. an Ecclesiastical history of the Angles, svhich forms the basis of early English history. The monk Cied men, who flourished in the seventh cen tury, wrote a paraphrase et' Genesis and some fragments which are supposed to have given Milton the first idea of " Para dise Lost." The song Beowulf, which belongs to the eighth et itory, is a spirited and stirring heroic. King Alfred's poems belong to the best specimens of Anglo Saxon literature. The Norman conquest introduced the French language and the literature of the Trouveres, while the Anglo-Saxon was left to the peasants and thralls, Out of these elements, howev the English language was gradually formed, and under the reign of Edward III., in the fourteenth century, was made the language of the court. It then as sumed a character which is intelligible to the educated English of the present day, and that period, therefore, may be considered as the first age of English lit erature.