trious, but not the only representative of mathematics and astronomy in Poland at the epoch of the Humanities. Had Poland no other scholar but Copernicus, no other institution of learning than the University of Cracow, she would be entitled to be counted with the intellectual nations in the world. Poland could well afford to discard all her scholars of the Sixteenth and every other century but Copernicus, and present him to the world as an exponent of her culture and learning.

The Reformation produced in Poland, as in other countries, many noted ecclesiastical writers and controversialists. The best known among them were Wujek, the translator of the Bible into the Polish, Kromer and Hosius who became famous both for his work: "Confessions of Christian Faith" and because he was chosen to preside at the Council of Trent. At this time, too, flourished the great Polish Jesuit Skarga, the champion of Polish patriotism and literature.

The Polish literature and civilization of the Sixteenth century, developed under a four-fold impetus. The political movement of the early development of the Polish democracy; the scien

tific movement; the Reformation, and, particularly, Humanism of which Poland became a virile and resourceful participant. The Nation of Mickiewicz and Sienkiewicz kept abreast with other nations despite geographical disadvantages, along the line of intellectual progress. The success it achieved in the time of the humanistic movement bore evidence of an enlightened people, no less so than did similar success, the neighboring nations achieved, manifest their intelectual aptness.

The University of Cracow had already for a length of time attracted students from foreign lands and possessed such noted theologians as John Kanty, Nicholas of Blonia, Boner, and such philosophers as John of Glogow; lawyers, such as John Edogt, Benedict Hesse, and astronomers such as Adalbert of Brudzewo and Copernicus. But it was not until the age of the humanities that it rose to an international prominence. Professors from foreign countries considered it an honor to occupy seats at the Polish University, where they found an untrammeled field for literary activity. It appeared that the University

developed a surplus educational prosperity, which it had to give an outlet to by disfussing it in minor schools and colleges. Secondary schools, each possessing a respectable faculty, were founded in large numbers. In many cases, competent professors from Cracow were assigned seats in the colleges and minor institutions of learning.

Humanism found in Poland a fertile substratum of intellectuality and produced a rich literary progress. It tested the intellectual power of the Poles and found it resourceful and responsive. Budny and Krowiecki, Rey, the noted prosewriter, and Bielski, the master of didactic poems and satires are telling exponents of the litreary progress of the Poles at this time. In political science Cornecki, perhaps, became the most prominent. It was in the age of Humanities, too, that Poland boasted of her renowned Kochanowski, only surpassed by Mickiewicz, whom the celebrated Goethe called "The Poet-Laureate of the world." This was the golden age of Poland's intellectual reassertion. It was when the intellectual renaissance held sway in Europe that

Poland merited her intellectual franchise which stood proof against the denationalization measures that were enforced against her after the Partitions and which today justly demands the restoration of her right to self-government.

CHAPTER V.

POLAND'S INTELLECTUAL RIGHT

(MODERN).

"What have the Poles ever done? It was a Pole, Nikolaus Copernicus who first taught that the sun was the center of the solar system, and thus founded modern astronomy. It was John Sobieski, another Pole, who defeated the Turks at Vienna, and by that victory stopped an invasion of the followers of Mohammed, which threatened to overrun all Europe. Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a native of Poland, enlisted with the American forces under Washington and proved one of his most effective helpers. He was given a vote of thanks by Congress after the Revolutionary War was over and returned to his own troubled country to help fight her battles. Other Poles in later years have likewise achieved distinction. Helen Modjeska, the eminent tragedienne, was of Polish birth; Henry Sienkiewicz, the author of "Quo Vadis," is one of the same nationality as is Pader