ERASICEI
698
ERASINSEI
is entitled " Breviloquium auimi cujuslibet religiosi
ref orinativum " ; it consists of two parts. In the first
part the author teaches a good religious di\'ers means
and practices which he should observe in order to re-
main a faithful child of the Church, to acquire, on
earth, the grace of perfection and, in heaven, ever-
lasting happiness. In the second part, by a quaint
allegorv, he puts the religious on his guard against
the faults of monastic hfe which are represented
by twenty birds of prey, the eagle, the vulture, the
hawk, the owl, etc., whose characteristics and man-
ners he describes. Though written in a rude, uncul-
tured style, the book was much read in the monas-
teries of" the Middle Ages. The suljject of Kramer's
second book is sufficiently indicated liy its title, " Trac-
tatus exhortativus ad evitandam malam iram". In
these two books we find the spirituality peculiar to the
Carthusians of the fifteenth century, a rigorous ascet-
icism, relieved somewhat (under the influence of
Denis the Carthusian) by a few touches of mystical
tenderness. An unpublished treatise, De Objectio-
nibus bibliie ", has also been sometimes attributed to
Kramer, but without sufiicient warrant.
Fez. BibUothecaascetica antiQuo-nova,\ II(Ratisbon, 1723 — \
119-388; Petreius, Bibliolheca Carthusiana (Cologne, 1609):
F.\BRlcius, Bihliotheca latino, mediae CBtaiis (Florence, 1898 — ).
Ill; PorouL'Auleurdulivre delmitatwncChristHParis, 1899).
Antoine Degert.
Krasicki, Ignatius, b. in 1735; d. at Berlin, 1801. He took orders in early youth, and soon after became a canon, travelled abroad, preached the coronation sermon for King Stanislaus Poniatowski, by whose fav- our he shortly got a bishopric in what was soon to become Prus.sian Poland. Frederick II then made his acquaintance, and it was to amuse this king, they say. that Krasicki wrote his " Monachomachia". In 1775 there appeared a heroicomic poem, "Myszeis" (The Mousiad), a purposely entangled allegory on the state of Poland. " Monachomachia" is clear enough, but a bishop ought rather to have made an effort to re- form the monks than to have laughed at them, and to have written it for a Protestant king's amusement was a greater blunder if the charges were true: as a Cath- olic, as well as a Pole, he could not be the friend of the Prussian king. Krasicki felt tliis, and wrote his "Anti-Monachomachia" to destroy the bad impres- sion made. In 1776 he published " Doswiadczynski ", a novel written under the influence of contemporary English fiction — partly a clever satirical and lifelike sketch of character, partly describing an ideal com- munity, and imitating Johnson's "Rasselas". The latter part is so much feebler in its description of an impossible Utopia that it mars the other.
"The best part of Krasicki 's poetry is his "Satires" ( 177S) and his " Fables ". The former, witty, soberly ironical, without gall, exaggeration, or malice, and perfect in form, remind us of Horace: they are his- torically important as pictures of the state of Poland, and are very patriotic in tendency. The national faults and aberrations are pointed out wittily always, and sometimes with sorrowful eloquence. " Pan Pod- stoli", though in form a prose novel, has a like aim. The tale diverts us, but its moral is the essential thing, and both are excellent. From the highest duties to the meanest particulars of religious, family, and social life, all is pointed out in the best and nol)lest way. Surely, if a book could have regenerated Poland, " Podstoli " would have done so.
The " Fables " (1779) are, like all others at that time in Europe, imitations of Lafontaine, but none were so like their moilel as Krasicki's. Like Lafontaine's, Krasicki's arc amongst the best ever written, while in colour they arc distinctly original, becaii.sc Polish. Though clc:ir and artistic, the "War of Chocim" (n.SO), an heroic poem written in order to give an c/jo.s to Polish literature, is a failure, though far superior to Voltaire's famous "Hcnriade". But it is impossible
even to name all liis works — "Epistles" in verse,
comedies, some not without merit, lives of great men,
novels, and notes. Let us mention his " Poetic Art ",
"Gardens", and his "Translation of Ossian". He
died in ISOl at Berlin, se^-en years after his elevation
to the Archbishopric of Gnesen, a man much like
Horace, witty, sensible, kind, lacking in passion and
creative power, but not in good will. As the regenera-
tor of Polish poetry, he has forever deserved his
countrymen's gratitude. S. Tabnowski.
Erasinski, Sigismund, Count, son of a PoUsh gen- eral, b. at Paris, 19 Feb., 1812; d. there, 23 Feb., 1859. He lost his mother (Mary, nee Princess Radziwill) in early childhood . From boyhood he loved study , and , as a student in War.saw, distinguished himself as a sym- pathizer with the Romantic literary movement. But, when — against his will and purely to obey his father — he refrained from political manifestations at Warsaw in 1829, he Iiecame so unpopular amongst his fellow- students that his father sent him to Geneva. Being intensely patriotic, he suffered moral agonies during the insurrection of 1831, as his letters show, and, when he was forced to return and present himself at Tsar Nicholas's Court, his health gave way. Permitted to withdraw to Vienna, he brought out his first great work, those which he had written previously being far inferior. " Nieboska Komedya " (The Infernal Com- edy, 1833) is the struggle between the old order and the new: each has its champion, both are self-seeking, faithless, anil end in despair. This work was para- phrased and expanded by Edward Robert, Lord Lyt^ ton, as "Orval, the Fool of Time" (1869). In 1836 "Irydion" appeared. It is distinctly patriotic in tone: a young Greek dreams of delivering his country from the Roman yoke, attempts under Heliogabalus to do so, and, in order to have the Christians on his side, becomes one of them. His vengeance fails, and at the end Christ, liis judge, condemns not his pa- triotism but his evil deeds and want of trust in Provi- dence. After "Irj'dion" until the appearance of " Przedswit " (Before Dawn) Krasinski passed through a period of little literary activity but much philosoph- ical thought, during which his works were few and of little importance.
" Before Dawn " is a most beautiful poem, and was intended by Krasinski to be his last. The poet sailing in a boat with Beatrice, liis loved one and the source of his inspiration, has a vision showing him some of the heroes of old Poland, which makes him happy, for Czarniecki reveals to him the tiestiny of Poland, the only nation which preserved the spirit of Christianity: thence its present sufferings and its fu- ture greatness. Shortly after the pulilication of "Before Dawn", Krasinski married EHzabcth Bra- nicka. In 1845 he began to write his " Psalms of the Future ", poems inspired by the desire to prevent his country from rusliing into an abyss, for he had been informed that an armed rising was close at hand. The " Psalms of Faith, Hope, and Love" appeared to- gether, followed (in IS-IS) by the "Psalms of Sorrow and of Good-will ". Thelast marks what is perhaps the very highest summit of Krasiiif-ki's iiisjiiration. Here, as in " Before Dawn", he makes Poland the "Chosen Nation of the Lord". His other works are: "The Day of To-Day", and "The Last One", both pub- lished in 1848, but written long before; "Resurrec- turis", a "Gloss of St. Theresa", and his last work which has no name but "The Unfinished Poem", and which as a whole, though he had been working at it before 1N40. is nnich inferior to his best j)ro(lucti(iiis. After 1S4S Krasiiiski's health, which had been feeble, gave way conipli'tcly. He spent some time in Bailcn and Heidelberg and travelled to France in search of a congenial climate; but his last years, sadtlcned by family los.ses, were spent in a state of gieat physical suffering.
