POLADPUR

[s. 607] : A town in Bombay, India, situated in the Kolaba district, about 30 miles S. of Bombay. Station of the Mi ion to Lepers (1894), with 1 home for untainted children of they use the Latin alphabet, modified so as to expre the sounds peculiar to their language. Their language belongs to the western branch of Slavic languages, and is divided into four or five dialects, which, however, are not very different from each other. The Polish language has been influenced more than any other Slavic language by the Latin (which in olden time was the literary and church language of Poland) the German and, the French. Its distinctive characteristics are the nasal expre ion or rhinesmus of a and 6, peculiar to the ancient Bulgarian or ancient Slovenic, but which has disappeared from common use now among the Slavs, and that it always accents the penultimate syllable of words. The Polish language bears quite a close resemblance to the language of the Bohemians and the Lansatian Serbs. The history of the ancient settlements of the Poles is uncertain. Their history becomes more trustworthy with the introduction of Christianity among them, which took place in 965 or 966. It is deemed probable that the doctrines of the Eastern Church were taught among them in the time of Sts. Cyril and Method i us, the Slavic apostles, long before this date, but were soon supplanted by Latin Christianity. If so, the Eastern form has been so thoroughly extirpated that it has left no traces in Polish literature. Along with the introduction of Latin Christianity through German preachers, the Latin language acquired a firm footing in Poland, and was the language of the learned and higher cla es, as well as of the courts. Luther’s reformation penetrated into Poland, where it found zealous and ardent defenders and followers; but, in spite of all the earnestne with which it was defended, it was overcome by the Roman Catholic reaction. The political history of Poland is too long to be treated in detail here. can characterize it in We afew words by saying that it was full of political vici itudes, of glorious deeds, and of mternal instability. The shlahta, or nobility, had the upper hand, while the common people had very little share in the government. The jealousies and the arrogance of the nobles was always a hindrance to regular administration, and on more than one occasion the king’s authority was set at naught. So the internal condition of Poland grew worse and worse, internal di ensions and Poona tended to weaken the government, and Poland fell a prey to more powerful neighbors, who resolved upon her partition, and thus put an end to her independent political existence. 607