as a prisoner, he accompanied this great man to America, where he associated with Washington, whose life he has since described.  His eulogy on Kosciuszko is considered as a masterpiece.  His principal works are his historical songs, his dramas, and his “Reign of Sigismund III.”  Whatever he writes evinces more than common talents; as to which his friends only deplore that he has scattered them so much, or, according to the expression of the author of the Letters on Poland, that “his genius was too eager in embracing at once so much within its potent grasp; and thus, instead of concentrating his powers, lessened their brilliant beams, by diffusing them over too wide a horizon.” [58]

John Woronicz, bishop of Cracow, and afterwards of Warsaw, whom we have named above as one of the most eloquent preachers, is equally celebrated as a poet.  His productions all have a character of dignity and loftiness; and, with the exception of some religious hymns, are devoted to the historical fame of his country.  His “Sybil,” in which he conjures up in succession the ancient Polish kings from their graves to behold the cruel state of their once triumphant country, and the “Lechiade,” an epic, which Schaffarik considers as the best Polish production of this species, are his principal works.  The inclination of the Polish poets to celebrate and exalt their own country and the heroic deeds of their ancestors, without even admitting the possibility of rivalship on the part of any other nation, can easily be accounted for; while to foreign critics the same poems, which inspire Polish readers with patriotic enthusiasm, often appear pompous and void of that simplicity, which is the true source of the sublime.

Casimir Brodzinski, ob. 1835, was an eminent original poet, and an excellent translator.  His poetry is pervaded by a character of strong and decided nationality, and Bowring says of him:  “If any man can be considered the representative of Polish feelings, and as having transfused them into his productions, Brodzinski is certainly the man.”  He translated Macpherson’s Ossian; and first introduced Scott’s masterpieces into the literature of Poland.  He may be considered as one of the founders of the modern romantic school in Polish literature.

Adam Mickiewicz, born in 1798, whose name belongs, perhaps, more appropriately to the next period, owed his first reputation, as a poet of eminent talent, to three small volumes of miscellaneous poetry, first published in 1822-1828.  A poetic tale, Conrad Wallenrod, a scene from the wars of the Poles with the Teutonic knights, was published shortly after.[59]