- only half of the Old Testament was published. Chilinskis also issued two brochures in which he explained his work to the British society and the necessity to publish the Bible in Lithuanian with short information about the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - An Account of the Translation of the Bible into the Lithuanian Tongue (1659) and Ratio institutae translationis Bibliorum in linguam Lithuanicam, in quam nunquam adhuc Scriptura sacra est versa, ex quo fidem Christianam, ab conjunctionem Magni Ducatus Lithvaniae cum Regno Poloniae (1659). As a main source Chilinskis used then popular Dutch Bible edition Statenbijbel. Kristijonas Donelaitis (1714–1780) wrote the first Lithuanian poem in hexameter Metai (The Seasons, 1818), thus laying the foundations for Lithuanian poetry. His poem is considered the most successful hexameter text in Lithuanian as yet. Antanas Strazdas (1760–1833) was a poet, who wrote lyrics influenced by folk songs. His best-known work, the hymn Pulkim ant kelių(Let us Fall on Our Knees) is still sung to this day in churches. His most famous poems include Strazdas (The Thrush), where the poet, personified by the bird, sings about peasant's joys and worries; Aušra (The Dawn) tells about the joy dawn brings and that breaks a lot of rules on rhythm and rhyme; Barnis (The Quarrel) is the only poem about Strazdas himself. Jurgis Pabrėža (1771–1849) was a priest, physician, and botanist; he wrote an encyclopedic work on botany in Samogitian dialect Taislius auguminis (Botany), created Lithuanian terminology of botany. He also wrote about 250 original sermons and a diary Ryžtai (Determinations). Simonas Daukantas (1793–1864) promoted a return to Lithuania's pre-Commonwealth traditions, which he depicted as a Golden Age of Lithuania and a renewal of the native culture, based on the Lithuanian language and customs. With those ideas in mind, he wrote already in 1822 a history of Lithuania in Lithuanian - Darbai senųjų lietuvių ir žemaičių (The Deeds of Ancient Lithuanians and Samogitians), though still not yet published at that time. Mikalojus Akelaitis (1829–1887) one of the most prominent creators of and publishers of Lithuanian didactic literature, publicist, ethnographer. He contributed to Auszra (The Dawn), Gazieta Lietuwiszka (The Lithuanian newspaper), composed narratives Kvestorius (1860), Jonas Išmisločius (1860). In a letter to historian Michal Balinski in 1857 he wrote: "We should lift up the Lithuanian language, wrest away from scorn that language which has the Sanskrit greatness, the Latin force, the Greek refinement, and the Italian melodiousness."