The failure of the revolution of 1830 forms a melancholy epoch in Polish history, and especially in Polish literature. The universities of Warsaw and Wilna were broken up, and their rich libraries removed to St. Petersburg. Even the lower schools were mostly deprived of their funds, and changed to Russian government schools. The press was placed under the strictest control, the language and the national peculiarities of the country were everywhere persecuted, the Russian tongue and customs substituted, and the poets and learned men either silenced or banished. Yet since that time the national history has become more than ever a chosen study with the people; and as the results of these researches, since 1830, cannot be written in Poland, Paris has become the principal seat of Polish learning. One of the first works of importance published there was the "History of the Polish Insurrection," by Mochnachi (1804- 1835), known before as the author of a work on the Polish literature of the nineteenth century, and as the able editor of several periodicals. Lelewel, one of the leaders of the revolution, wrote a work on the civil rights of the Polish peasantry, which has exercised a more decided influence in Poland than that of any modern author. Miekiewicz (1798- 1843), a leader of the same revolution, is the most distinguished of the modern poets of Poland. His magnificent poem of "The Feast of the Dead" is a powerful expression of genius. His "Sonnets on the Crimea" are among his happiest productions, and his "Sir Thaddeus" is a graphic description of the civil and domestic life of Lithuania. Mickiewicz is the founder of the modern romantic school in Poland, to which belong the most popular productions of Polish literature. Zalesski, Grabowski, and others of this school have chosen the Ukraine as the favorite theatre of their poems, and give us pictures of that country, alternately sweet, wild, and romantic.
Of all the Slavic nations, the Poles have most neglected their popular poetry, a fact which may be easily explained in a nation among whom whatever refers to mere boors and serfs has always been regarded with the utmost contempt. Their beautiful national dances, however, the graceful Polonaise, the bold Masur, the ingenious Cracovienne, are equally the property of the nobility and peasantry, and were formerly always accompanied by singing instead of instrumental music. These songs were extemporized, and were probably never committed to writing.
The centre of literary activity in Poland is Warsaw, which, in spite of the severe restrictions on the press, has always maintained its preëminence.
ROUMANIAN LITERATURE.
Carmen Sylva.
The kingdom of Roumania, composed of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, united in 1859, has few literary monuments. The language is Wallachian, in which the Latin predominates, with a mixture of Slavic, Turkish, and Tartar, and has only of late been classed with the Romance languages, by the side of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. There are some historical fragments of the fifteenth century remaining; the literature that followed was mostly theological. In recent times a great number of learned and poetical works have been produced, and political movements have led to many political writings and to the establishment of many newspapers.
The most distinguished name in Roumanian literature is that of "Carmen Sylva," the nom de plume of the beautiful and gifted queen of that country, whose writings in prose and verse are remarkable for passionate feeling, grace, and finished execution.
DUTCH LITERATURE.
1. The Language.—2. Dutch Literature to the Sixteenth Century: Maerlant;
Melis Stoke; De Weert; the Chambers of Rhetoric; the Flemish Chroniclers;
the Rise of the Dutch Republic.—3. The Latin Writers: Erasmus; Grotius;
Arminius; Lipsius; the Scaligers, and others; Salmasius; Spinoza;
Boerhaave; Johannes Secundus.—4. Dutch Writers of the Sixteenth Century:
Anna Byns; Coornhert; Marnix de St. Aldegonde, Bor, Visscher, and
Spieghel.—5. Writers of the Seventeenth Century: Hooft; Vondel; Cats;
Antonides; Brandt, and others; Decline in Dutch Literature.—6. The
Eighteenth Century: Poot; Langendijk; Hoogvliet; De Marre; Feitama;
Huydecoper; the Van Harens; Smits; Ten Kate; Van Winter; Van Merken; De
Lannoy; Van Alphen; Bellamy; Nieuwland, Styl, and others.—7. The
Nineteenth Century: Feith; Helmers; Bilderdyk; Van der Palm; Loosjes;
Loots, Tollens, Van Kampen, De s'Gravenweert, Hoevill, and others.
1. THE LANGUAGE.—The Dutch, Flemish, and Frisic languages, spoken in the kingdoms of Holland and Belgium, are branches of the Gothic family. Toward the close of the fifteenth century, the Dutch gained the ascendency over the others, which it has never since lost. This language is energetic and flexible, rich in synonyms and delicate shades, and from its fullness and strength, better adapted to history, tragedy, and odes, than to comedy and the lighter kinds of poetry. The Flemish, which still remains the literary language of the southern provinces, is inferior to the Dutch, and has been greatly corrupted by the admixture of foreign words. The Frisic, spoken in Friesland, is an idiom less cultivated than the others, and is gradually disappearing. In the seventeenth century it boasted of several writers, of whom the poet Japix was the most eminent. The first grammar of the Frisic language was published by Professor Rask, of Copenhagen, in 1825. In some parts of Belgium the Walloon, an old dialect of the French, is still spoken, but the Flemish continues to be the common language of the people, although since the establishment of Belgium as an independent kingdom the use of the French language has prevailed among the higher classes.