POLISH LITERATURE. Compara tively nothing is known of the Polish lan guage previous to the 15th century. No literary remains in Polish have come down to us previous to that time. For the 15th century itself we have only the 'Florian Psalter,' 'The Song of the Virgin Mary' (Bogorodzico), 'Queen Sofia's Bible,' Jadwiga's Prayer Book,' and some Polish sentences in court de trees and town documents. But we have for that period the first Polish grammar, by Jacob Parkosz (+1455), in which the first attempt was made to stabilize the language. Whatever literary activity existed in Poland previously and for some time afterward, found its expres sion through the Latin language. The oldest author, who wrote in the first half of the 12th century, was Martin Gallus, the chronicler. Cholewa (+ 1166) wrote the mythical history of Poland in the form of a dialogue; Kadlubek (12th and 13th centuries), Bogufal, Baszko, Polak, Janko of Czarnkow were historians be fore Jan Dlugosz (1415-1480), the most famous of all the Polish historians. From the 13th century on there were many scientists in Po land, such as the physicist Ciolek, the humanist Gregory of Sanska, the astrologer and medical writer Glogowczyk, and many others who wrote in Latin. There was also a considerable num ber of famous preachers, such as Laskarysa, Nicholas of Blon, Vincent Kol.
In the 16th century Polish literature de velops by leaps and bounds and soon reaches the Golden Age. The religious and political questions of the day, arising from the con flict of Catholicism and Protestantism, brought into the field a very large number of writers, such as Wujka, Orzechowski, Modrzewski. One of the most famous orators was Peter Skarga (1536-1612), and among the historians of the time are Peter Bielski (1495-), his son Joachim Bielski (1540-), Stryjkowski (1547-), who wrote in Polish, and Matthew of Miechow (+ 1513), Kromer (1512-1589), Gwagnin (+1614), Bzowski (1567-1627), who wrote in Latin. Among the scientists the first place be longs to Nicholas Kopernik, who wrote in Latin. In the belles lettres we start at once with a poet of the first order, Nicholas Rej (1515-1577), whose 'Personal View on the Life of an Honorable Man' enjoyed great popularity. GOrnicici (1527-1603) dealt with the political troubles of the time, wrote his 'The Courtier,' which was based on Castiglione's
Szymonowicz, who wrote both in Polish and Latin, the three Kochanowskis and Zimorowicz, who wrote in Polish, and Krzychi, Jan Dantyszek, Janicki, who wrote in Latin. The satire took a peculiar turn in the 16th century. In the village of Babin a landed proprietor and a judge formed a "Babin Re public," in which prattlers were proclaimed as statesmen and other officers were lauded in pro portion to the incumbent's incompetency. The Polish kings took interest in the humorous republic, and the Latin writings of the Babin republic exercised quite an influence on the politics and the literature of the time.
The second period, which lasted through the 17th and half of the 18th century, is one of deciy, and is known as the "macaronic, panegy ric, scholastic" period, when the language itself was degraded by that is, a senseless surcharging with Latin terms, which was a reflex of the confusion of ideas prevail ing in political life. This period abounds in private memoirs where chronicled events mingle with quasi-philosophic reflections. One of the sanest among these men, who wrote in Polish, was Starowolski (1588-1656) ; others were Pasek, Jerlicz, Andrew Fredro. Among the Latin chroniclers must be mentioned Piasecki (1586-1649), Albrecht Radziwill (1580 1656), Zaluski (+1711). Mlodzianowski (1622 1686), a Jesuit priest, excelled in the elegance of diction in a time which was rather poor in orators. Among the poets we have Twardowski (+1660), the most prolific versifier of contem porary events in the 17th century, Opalinski (1609-1656), who wrote chiefly satires, Wac law Potocki (1622-1695), chiefly known for his epic, 'The Chocim War,' in which the language reminds one of the purity of the previous period, Kochowski (1633-1699), the official chronicler of John HI, who also left a large number of Polish and Latin verses, mainly of a religious nature, Jerome Morsztyn (+1655), who stood under French influence and preferred satire, Andrew Morsztyn (1620-1700), a cousin of the former, who still more followed the French models, and also translated Cor neille's Cid and the works of Tasso, Stanislaw Morsztyn (1630-), who translated Seneca and Racine, Elizabeth Druzbacka (1687-1760), one of the first Polish authoresses. The most famous of the poets who wrote in Latin was Saitiewski (1595-1640), and there was a whole host of Latin panegyrists, who hardly deserve mention. The drama barely made a beginning, but none was good enough to survive.