At the head of the historical writers of this period stands Adam Naruszewicz, the faithful translator of Tacitus, whose style he adopted also in his original works.  His history of the Polish nation is considered as a standard work; as a production, which in respect to erudition, philosophical conception, and style, is the chef d’oeuvre of Polish literature.  The six volumes published by himself comprise only the period between A.D. 965 and 1386, beginning with the second volume; as for the first, which was to have contained the earliest history of Poland, he intended to have executed it afterwards, and had indeed collected all the necessary materials, but was prevented by death.  The Warsaw Society of Friends of Science published it thirty years after his death, and endeavoured to engage the principal talents of Poland in the continuation of his work.  This was done in such a way, that each writer was to undertake the history of the administration of a single king; and at last, after each part had appeared separately, the society was to make a collection of the whole, and, if necessary, cause it to be rewritten.  Several able men have devoted themselves to this work.  The plan of the society, which by its very nature excluded all unity of character, seems to have met with more approbation than, according to our opinion, it deserved.  The Polish public is however indebted to it for more than one valuable work on history, to which it gave birth.  Naruszewicz had collected for his undertaking a library of materials, in 360 folio volumes.  He wrote also a history of the Tartars, a biography of the Lithuanian captain Chodkiewicz, and was admired as a poet.  He died in 1796, it is said of grief at the fate of his unhappy country.

Naruszewicz was educated by the Jesuits, and was himself of that order until its dissolution.  He died as bishop of Luck.  In respect to time he stands as the first eminent writer of a new period, just on the verge of the past; and even his warmest admirers do not deny that he participated, in some slight degree, in the character of that past, by a certain inclination to panegyric and a flowery style.  But in energy and richness of thought, he far surpasses all his predecessors, and has not yet been reached by any who have written after him.[52]

Another historical work of value on Poland, was edited by Joachim Lelewel.  The history of Poland by Waga, in the want of any thing more suitable, had been in use as a class book in the Polish schools for more than fifty years.  Lelewel, in order to improve its popularity, took this book as a foundation, but completely recast it, divided the history of Poland according to a plan perfectly new, completed the work, and published it under Waga’s name.  His rich additions regard chiefly the legislature, statistics, and the cultivation of the country.  His very division of the history of Poland, into Poland conquering, Poland divided, Poland flourishing, and Poland on the decline, seems to indicate the political tendency of his work, and his desire to impress upon the Polish youth the great moral lessons which history presents.[53]