r eloquence enjoyed, during the
early part of this period and before the dissolution of the republic,
the best possible opportunity for development, among the intellectual
struggles and combats occasioned by the political circumstances of the
country and the discussion of new political theories. The
constitutional diet of 1788-1791 exhibited a rich store of oratorical
talent. The names of the Potockis, Sapieha, Czartoryski, Kollantay,
Matuszewicz, Niemcewicz, Soltyk, Kicinski, and others, were mentioned
with distinction. The eloquence of the pulpit was of course much less
cultivated in a nation which lives chiefly in politics. Lachowski, a
Jesuit and court preacher of the last king, is by the Poles considered
as an eminent preacher; although according to German judges he was
shallow and voluble, and was surpassed by his cotemporary Wyrwicz, and
above all by Karpowicz. Prazmowski, Jakubowski, Woronicz bishop of
Warsaw, Szismawski, Szweykowski, Zacharyaszewicz, and others, were
esteemed as powerful preachers.

Besides the oratorical powers and the historical productions of the
Poles, the reputation of their modern literature rests chiefly on
poetry. Although the Polish poets adhered longer to the strict rules
of Boileau than the rest of Europe, and have only in the most recent
times chosen better models in the Germans and English,--without
however having been able to free themselves entirely from their French
chains,--yet the national genius of their language has sometimes
conquered the artificial restraints of narrow rules and arbitrary
laws. Naruscewicz, the celebrated historian, occupies also a
distinguished rank as a poet. He translated Anacreon and some of
Horace's odes; but wrote still more original pieces, odes, pastorals,
epigrams, satires, and a tragedy entitled 'Guido.'

The most distinguished poet under Stanislaus Augustus was count
Ignatius Krasicki, bishop of Ermeland or Warmla, and later of Gnesen,
the Polish Voltaire. His principal works are an epic under the title
of _Woyna, Chocimska_ or 'War of Chocim,' and three comic epics, one
of which, _Monachomachia_, ridicules the monkish system and exhibits
its absurdity in strong colours. He wrote this poem at the suggestion
of Frederic the Great, to whose _coterie_ of literary friends he
belonged. His great heroic epic is considered by his countrymen as a
standard work; while foreigners look at it as a valuable historical
poem indeed, but as utterly deficient