ski, and Staszyc, translated
Homer; and the first also Virgil. Dmochowski's translations are in
rhymed verse; those of Przybylski, who also enriched Polish literature
with translations of the Paradise Lost, the Lusiad, and of many other
poems, are in the measures of the originals, and manifest both a
profound knowledge of the foreign languages, and great dexterity in
using his own. Staszyc has written valuable works on various subjects,
and enjoys a high esteem as a literary man and patriot. Felinski, the
translator of Delille and Racine, is considered as the most harmonious
Polish versifier. Hodani, Osinski, Kicinski, Kruszynski, have likewise
transplanted the productions of the French Parnassus into the Polish
soil; Sienkiewicz, Odyniec, and others, devoted their talents to the
English. Okrascewski translated the Greek tragic poets. Minasowicz,
the author of fifty-three various works, and Nagurczewski, translated
also several of the ancient authors; but according to the best
critics, with more knowledge of the classic languages, than skill in
the management of their own. Among all the distinguished poets
mentioned above, there is hardly one, who, besides his original
productions, did not likewise devote his talents to poetical
translations; in which Karpinski, Naruscewicz, and Krasicki, were
considered as eminently successful.

In the whole domain of poetry, there is no branch in which the Poles
manifested a greater want of _original_ power, than the dramatic. Here
the influence of the French school was most decided, and indeed
exclusive. We have seen above what pains were taken by the most
distinguished men of the nation, to establish a national stage; to
which they looked, not in the light of a frivolous amusement, but as a
school for purifying and elevating the national language and literary
taste, and also as a means of correcting vice by ridiculing it. In
this view several clergymen wrote for the theatre. The Jesuit
Bohomolec wrote the first original comedies in 1757; other comedies,
valuable as pictures of the time, were written by bishop
Kossakowski. Prince Czartoryski we have mentioned above as a writer of
dramas. Zablocki, Lipinski, Osinski, Kowalski, and others,
transplanted the French masterpieces to the Polish stage, or imitated
them. The actors, Boguslawski, Bielawski, and Zolkowski, wrote
original pieces. Tragedies, mostly on subjects of Polish history, were
written by Niemcewicz, Felinski, Dembowski, S