BOOK XII.—LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

ARGUMENT

The last old-Polish banquet—The state centrepiece—Explanation of

its figures—Its transformations—Dombrowski receives a present—More

of Penknife—Kniaziewicz receives a present—The first official act

of Thaddeus on receiving his inheritance—Remarks of Gerwazy—The

concert of concerts—The polonaise—Let us love one another!

FINALLY with a crash the doors of the hall were thrown wide open, and the

Seneschal entered, wearing a cap, and with his head held high; he did not

greet the company nor take his place at the table, for to-day the

Seneschal emerged in a new character, as Marshal of the Court; he bore a

wand in sign of office, and with this wand he indicated to each in turn

his place and showed the guests their seats. First of all, as the highest

in authority in the wojewodeship, the Chamberlain-Marshal took the place

of honour, a velvet chair with ivory arms; next him on the right sat

General Dombrowski, and on the left Kniaziewicz, Pac,203 and Malachowski.

Amid this company the Chamberlain’s wife had her seat; farther on other

ladies, officers, magnates, country gentry, and neighbours, men and women

alternately, all took places in order as the Seneschal indicated.

The Judge, with a bow, withdrew from the banquet; in the yard he was

entertaining a throng of peasants, whom he had gathered at a table a

furlong in length; he himself sat at one end and the parish priest at the

other. Thaddeus and Sophia did not take seats at the table; being occupied

with serving the peasants, they ate as they walked. Such was the ancient

custom—that new owners of a farm, at the first feast, should wait on the

common folk.

Meanwhile the guests, as in the castle hall they awaited the bringing in

of the food, gazed with amazement at the great centrepiece, the metal and

the workmanship of which were equally precious. There is a tradition that

Prince Radziwill the Orphan204 had this set made to order in Venice, and

had it decorated in Polish style according to his own ideas. The

centrepiece had later been carried off in the time of the Swedish wars,205

and had found its way in some mysterious manner into this country

gentleman’s mansion; to-day it had been brought forth from the treasury

and it now occupied the middle of the table, forming an immense circle,

like a coach wheel.

The centrepiece, which was coated from rim to rim with froth and sugar

white as snow, counterfeited marvellously well a winter landscape. In the

centre a huge grove of confections showed dark; on the sides were houses

which seemed to form peasant villages and hamlets of gentry, and which

were coated, not with hoar frost, but with sugary froth; the edges were

decorated with little porcelain figures in Polish costumes: like actors on

a stage, they were evidently representing some striking event; their

gestures were artistically reproduced, the colours were individual; they

lacked only voice—for the rest they seemed to be alive.

“What is it that they represent?” asked the curious guests; whereupon the

Seneschal, raising his wand, spoke as follows (meanwhile brandy was being

served, in preparation for dinner):—

“With your permission, honoured gentlemen and guests, those persons whom

you see there in countless numbers represent the progress of a Polish

district diet, its consultations, voting, triumphs, and disputes; I myself

guessed the meaning of this scene, and I will explain it to the company.

“There on the right may be seen a numerous assembly of gentry: they have

evidently been invited to a banquet, preceding the diet; the board is

waiting ready set, but no one is showing the guests their seats; they are

standing in groups, and each group is deep in discussion. Notice that in

the centre of each group stands a man from whose parted lips, wide-open

eyes, and restless hands you may see that he is an orator and is

expounding something, that he is explaining it with his finger and marking

it on his palm. These orators are recommending their candidates with

various success, as may be seen from the bearing of the brother gentlemen.

“You may be sure that there in the second group the gentry are listening

with attention: this good man has tucked his hands into his belt and has

pricked up his ears; that other is holding his hand to his ear and is

silently twirling his mustache; he is evidently gathering in the words and

storing them up in his memory. The orator takes solid comfort in seeing

that his hearers are converted; he strokes his pocket, for he already has

their votes in his pocket.

“But in the third gathering the situation is quite different: here the

orator must catch his auditors by their belts—notice how they are pulling

away and turning aside their ears; notice how this auditor bristles with

wrath; he has raised his arms and is threatening the orator and stopping

his mouth; he has evidently heard praise showered on his opponent. That

other man has bent down his brow like a bull; you might think him about to

toss the orator on his horns. This party are drawing their sabres, and

those others have started to flee.

“One gentleman stands silent and alone between the groups; he is evidently

a non-partisan and is timidly hesitating for whom to give his vote! He

does not know, and is at odds with himself; he leaves it to chance—he has

lifted up his hands and extended his thumbs; with his eyes shut he aims

nail against nail; evidently he will trust his vote to fortune; if the

thumbs meet, he will cast an affirmative ballot, but if they miss he will

deposit a negative.

“On the left is another scene, a convent refectory, transformed into the

assembly hall of the gentry. The older men are seated in a row on benches;

the younger are standing and looking curiously over their heads towards

the centre; in the centre stands the Marshal, holding the urn in his

hands; he is counting the balls, and the gentry devour them with their

eyes; he has just shaken out the last one: the Apparitors raise their

hands and announce the name of the elected official.

“One gentlemen has no respect for the general concord: see, he has thrust

in his head from the window of the refectory kitchen; see his wide-open

eyes, how insolently he stares; he has opened his mouth as though he

wanted to eat up the whole roomful: it is easy to guess that this

gentlemen has shouted ‘_Veto!_’ See how at that sudden challenge to a

quarrel the throng is crowding to the door; they are evidently on their

way to the kitchen; they have drawn their swords, and a bloody fight is

sure to break out.

“But there in the corridor, sirs, pray notice that reverend old priest

advancing in his chasuble; that is the Prior bringing the Host from the

altar, while a boy in a surplice rings a bell and asks all to give way.

The gentry at once sheathe their sabres, cross themselves, and kneel; but

the priest turns in the direction whence a clink of arms is still heard:

soon he will arrive, and at once he will calm and reconcile all.

“Ah, you young men, do not remember this, how among our turbulent,

self-willed gentry, always under arms though they were, no police were

ever needed: while the true faith flourished, laws were respected; there

was liberty with order and glory along with plenty I In other lands, I

hear, the government maintains soldiers and all sorts of policemen,

gendarmes, and constables. But if the sword alone guards the public

security, then I shall never believe that liberty can exist in those

lands.”

Suddenly, tapping his snuffbox, the Chamberlain said:—

“Seneschal, I pray you, postpone these stories until later; this diet is a

curious thing, to be sure, but we are hungry; pray, sir, have them bring

in the dinner.”

Bending down his wand to the floor, the Seneschal replied:—

“Your Excellency, pray grant me this indulgence; I will speedily finish

with the last scene of the district diets. Here is the new Marshal, borne

out of the refectory on the shoulders of his partisans; see how the

brother gentlemen are throwing up their caps and standing with open

mouths—vivats! But there on the other side lingers the outvoted candidate,

all alone, with his cap pulled down over his gloomy brow; his wife is

waiting in front of her house, and has guessed what is going on. Poor

woman, now she is fainting in the arms of her maid! Poor woman, she was to

have received the title of Right Honourable, but now she is left just

Honourable for three more years!”

Here the Seneschal concluded his description, and gave a sign with his

wand; immediately lackeys began to enter in pairs, bringing the different

dishes: the beet soup called royal, and the old-Polish broth, artistically

prepared, into which the Seneschal in marvellous and mysterious wise had

thrown several pearls and a piece of money; such broth purifies the blood

and fortifies the health; after it came other dishes—but who could

describe them all! Who would even comprehend those dishes of _kontuz,

arkas_, and _blemas_,206 no longer known in our times, with their

ingredients of cod, stuffing, civet, musk, caramel, pine nuts, damson

plums! And those fish! Dry salmon from the Danube, sturgeon, Venetian and

Turkish caviare, pikes and pickerel a cubit long, flounders, and capon

carp, and noble carp! Finally a culinary mystery: an uncut fish, fried at

the head, baked in the middle, and with its tail in a ragout with sauce.

The guests did not ask the names of the dishes, nor were they halted by

that curious mystery; they ate everything rapidly with a soldier’s

appetite, filling their glasses with the generous Hungarian wine.

But meanwhile the great centrepiece had changed its colour,207 and,

stripped of its snow, had already turned green; for the light froth of

sugared ice, slowly warmed by the summer heat, had melted and disclosed a

foundation hitherto hidden from the eye: so the landscape now represented

a new time of year, shining with a green, many-coloured spring. Various

grains came forth, as if yeast were making them grow; gilded ears of

saffron wheat were seen in rich profusion, also rye, clad in leaves of

picturesque silver, and buckwheat, made artistically of chocolate, and

orchards blooming with pears and apples.

The guests had scant time to enjoy the gifts of summer; in vain they

begged the Seneschal to prolong them. Already the centrepiece, like a

planet in its appointed revolution, was changing the season of the year;

already the grain, painted with gold, had gathered warmth from the room,

and was slowly melting; already the grasses were growing yellow and the

leaves were turning crimson and were falling; you might have said that an

autumn wind was blowing; finally those trees, gorgeous an instant before,

now stood naked, as if they had been stripped by the winds and the frost;

they were sticks of cinnamon, or twigs of laurel that counterfeited pines,

being clad in caraway seeds instead of needles.

The guests, as they drank their wine, began to tear off the branches,

stumps, and roots, and to chew them as a relish. The Seneschal walked

about the centrepiece, and, full of joy, turned triumphant eyes upon the

guests.

Henryk Dombrowski feigned great amazement, and said:—

“My friend the Seneschal, are these Chinese shadows? Or has Pinety208

given you his demons as servants? Do such centrepieces still exist among

you, here in Lithuania, and do all men feast in this ancient fashion? Tell

me, for I have passed my life abroad.”

“No, Your Excellency the General,” said the Seneschal with a bow, “these

are no godless arts! This is only a reminder of those famous banquets that

used to be given in the mansions of our ancient magnates, when Poland

enjoyed happiness and power! All that I have done I learned by reading in

this book. You ask me whether this custom has been preserved everywhere in

Lithuania. Alas, new fashions are already creeping in even among us! Many

a young gentleman exclaims that he cannot stand the expense; he eats like

a Jew, grudging his guests food and drink; he is stingy with the Hungarian

wine, and drinks that devilish, adulterated, fashionable Muscovite

champagne; then in the evening he loses as much money at cards as would

suffice for a banquet for a hundred gentlemen and brothers. Even—for what

I have in my heart I will to-day speak out frankly; let not the

Chamberlain take it ill of me—when I was getting that wonderful

centre-*piece from the treasure room, then even the Chamberlain, even he

made fun of me, saying that this was a tiresome, antiquated

contrivance—that it looked like a child’s plaything and was unfit for such

famous men as we have with us to-day! Judge!—even you, Judge, said that it

would bore the guests! And yet, so far as I may infer from the amazement

of the company, I see that this is fine art, that it was worthy of being

seen! I doubt whether a like occasion will ever again return for

entertaining at Soplicowo such dignitaries. I see, General, that you are

an expert at banquets; pray accept this book: it will be of use to you

some day when you are giving a feast for a company of foreign monarchs, or

perhaps one even for Napoleon himself. But permit me, before I tender the

book to you, to relate by what chance it fell into my hands.”

Suddenly a murmur arose outside the door, and many voices shouted in

unison, “Long live Cock-on-the-Steeple!” A throng pushed into the hall,

with Maciej at their head. The Judge led the guest by the hand to the

table and gave him a high seat among the leaders, saying:—

“Pan Maciej, unkind neighbour, you come very late, when dinner is almost

over.”

“I eat early,” replied Dobrzynski; “I did not come here for food, but only

because I was overpowered by curiosity to see close at hand our national

army. Of this much might be said; it is neither fish, flesh, nor fowl.

These gentlemen caught sight of me and brought me here by force; and you,

sir, are compelling me to seat myself at your table—I thank you,

neighbour.”

With these words he turned his plate bottom upwards, as a sign that he

would not eat, and relapsed into glum silence.

“Pan Dobrzynski,” said General Dombrowski to him, “are you that famous

swordsman of the Kosciuszko times, that Maciej, called Switch! Your fame

has reached me. And pray tell me, is it possible that you are still so

hale, so vigorous! How many years have gone by! See, I have grown old;

see, Kniaziewicz too has grizzled hair; but you might still enter the

lists against young men. And your switch doubtless blooms as it did long

ago; I have heard that recently you birched the Muscovites. But where are

your brethren? I should beyond measure like to see those penknives and

razors of yours, the last relics of ancient Lithuania.”

“After that victory, General,” said the Judge, “almost all the Dobrzynskis

took refuge in the Grand Duchy, and must have entered one or other of the

legions.”

“Why certainly,” answered a young squadron commander, “I have in the

second company a mustachioed scarecrow, Sergeant-Major Dobrzynski, who

calls himself Sprinkler, but whom the Masovians call the Lithuanian bear.

If you bid me, General, we will have him brought in.”

“There are several other natives of Lithuania here,” said a lieutenant.

“One such soldier is known under the name of Razor; another carries a

blunderbuss and rides with the sharp-shooters; there are likewise two

grenadiers named Dobrzynski in the chasseur regiment.”

“Well, but I want to know about their chief,” said the General, “about

that Penknife of whom the Seneschal has told me so many marvels, worthy of

one of the giants of old times.”

“Penknife,” said the Seneschal, “though he did not go into exile,

nevertheless feared the result of an investigation, and hid himself from

the Muscovites; all winter the poor fellow roamed about the forests, and

he has only recently come forth from them. In these times of war he might

have been good for something, for he is a valorous man, only he is

unfortunately a trifle bowed by age. But here he is.”

Here the Seneschal pointed towards the vestibule, where servants and

peasants were standing crowded together. Above the heads of all a shining

bald pate showed itself suddenly like the full moon; thrice it emerged and

thrice it vanished in the cloud of heads; the Warden was bowing as he

strode forward, until finally he made his way out of the press, and said:—

“Your Excellency the Hetman of the Crown—or General—never mind which is

the correct title—I am Rembajlo, and I present myself at your summons with

this my penknife, which, not by its setting nor by its inscriptions but by

its temper, has won such fame that even Your Excellency knows of it. If it

knew how to speak, perchance it would say somewhat in praise even of this

old arm, which, thank God, has served long and faithfully the Fatherland

and likewise the family of the Horeszkos: of which fact the memory is

still famous among men. My boy, rarely does a bookkeeper on an estate mend

pens so deftly as this penknife cleaves heads: it were long to count them!

And noses and ears without number! But there is not a single nick upon it,

and no murderous deed has ever stained it, but only open war, or a duel.

Only once!—may the Lord give him eternal rest!—an unarmed man, alas, fell

beneath its edge! But even that, God is my witness, was _pro publico

bono_.”

“Show it to me,” said General Dombrowski with a laugh. “That is a lovely

penknife, a real headsman’s sword!”

He gazed with amazement on the huge blade, and passed it on to the other

officers; all of them tried it, but hardly one of the officers could lift

that blade on high. They said that Dembinski,209 famous for his strength

of arm, could have brandished the broadsword, but he was not there. Of

those present only the squadron commander Dwernicki,210 and Lieutenant

Rozycki,211 the leader of a platoon, managed to swing the iron pole: thus

the blade was passed for trial from hand to hand along the line.

But General Kniaziewicz, the tallest of stature, proved to be also the

stoutest of arm. Seizing the huge blade, he swung it as lightly as a

common sword and flashed it like lightning over the heads of the guests,

recalling to their minds the tricks of the Polish school of fencing, the

_cross stroke_, the _mill_, the _crooked slash_, the _downright blow_, the

_stolen slash_, and the attitudes of _counterpoint_212 and _tierce_, which

he knew likewise, for he had been trained in the School of Cadets.

While he was still laughing and fencing, Rembajlo had kneeled and embraced

him about the knees, and was groaning out between his tears, at every turn

of the sword:—

“Beautiful! General, were you ever a confederate? Beautiful, splendid!

That is the Pulawskis’213 thrust! Thus Dzierzanowski214 bore himself! That

is Sawa’s thrust! Who can so have trained your arm except Maciej

Dobrzynski! But that? General, that is my invention; in Heaven’s name, I

do not wish to boast, but that stroke is known only in Rembajlo hamlet,

and from my name it is called _My-boy’s slash_. Who can have taught it to

you? That is my stroke, mine!”

He rose and clasped the General in his arms.

“Now I can die in peace! There still exists a man who will fondle my

darling child; for I have long been grieving, both day and night, at the

thought that after my death this my blade might rust away! Now it will not

rust! Your Excellency the General, forgive me!—throw away those spits,

those German swordlets; it is shameful for a gentleman’s son to wear that

little cane! Take instead a sabre such as befits a gentleman: now I lay at

your feet this my penknife, which is the most precious thing that I

possess in all the world. I have never had a wife, I have never had a

child: it has been both wife and child to me; from my embrace it has never

departed; from dawn till dark have I petted it; it has slept by night at

my side! And since I have grown old, it has been hanging on the wall above

my couch, like God’s commandments over the Jews! I thought to have it

buried in my grave along with my arm; but I have found an owner for it.

May it be your servant!”

The General, half laughing, and half touched with emotion, replied:—

“Comrade, if you give up to me your wife and child, you will be left for

the rest of your life very solitary and old, a widower and without

children! Tell me how I may recompense you for this precious gift, and

with what I may sweeten your childless widowhood!”

“Am I Cybulski,”215 answered the Warden mournfully, “who gambled away his

wife, playing marriage with the Muscovites, as the song relates?—I am

quite content that my penknife will still gleam before the world in such a

hand. Only remember, General, to give it a long strap, well let out, for

the blade is long; and always hew from the left ear with both hands—then

you will cut through from head to belly.”

The General took the penknife, but since it was very long and he could not

wear it, the servants put it away in an ammunition waggon. As to what

became of it there are various tales, but no one knew with certainty,

either then or later.

Dombrowski turned to Maciek:—

“What have you to say, comrade? Can it be that you are not glad at our

coming? Why are you silent and glum? How can your heart help leaping up

when you see the gold and silver eagles, and when the trumpeters trumpet

Kosciuszko’s reveille close to your ear? Maciek, I thought that you were

more of a fighting man: if you do not seize your sabre and mount your

horse, at least you will gaily drink with your colleagues to the health of

Napoleon and the hopes of Poland!”

“Ha!” said Maciej, “I have heard and I see what is going on! But, sir, two

eagles never nest together! Lords’ favour, hetman, rides a piebald

steed!216 The Emperor a great hero! On that subject we could expend much

talk! I remember that my friends the Pulawskis used to say, as they gazed

on Dumouriez,217 that Poland needed a Polish hero, no Frenchman or Italian

either, but a Piast,218 a Jan or a Jozef, or a Maciek—that’s all. The

army! They say it is Polish! But these _fusileers, sappers, grenadiers_,

and _cannoneers!_ You hear, in that crowd, more German than native

titles!219 Who can understand them! And then you must certainly have with

you Turks or Tatars or Schismatics, or men of God knows what faith: I have

seen it myself; they are assaulting the peasant women in the villages,

plundering the passers-by, pillaging the churches! The Emperor is bound

for Moscow! That is a long road if he has set out without the blessing of

God. I have heard that he has already incurred the bishop’s curse;220 all

this is——”

Here Maciej dipped some bread in his soup, munched it, and did not finish

his last phrase.

Maciek’s speech did not suit the taste of the Chamberlain, and the young

men began to murmur; the Judge interrupted the wrangling, by announcing

the arrival of the third betrothed couple.

It was the Notary; he announced himself as the Notary, but nobody

recognised him. He had hitherto worn the Polish costume, but now his

future wife, Telimena, had forced him by a clause in the marriage articles

to renounce the kontusz;221 so the Notary willy-nilly had assumed French

garb. The dress coat had evidently deprived him of half his soul; he

strode along as if he had swallowed a walking-stick, stiffly and straight

forward; like a crane, he dared not look to the right or the left. His

expression was composed, and yet from his expression one could see that he

was in torture; he did not know how to bow or where to put his hands, he,

who was so fond of gestures! He tucked his hands into his belt—there was

no belt—he only stroked himself self on the stomach; he noticed his

mistake, was greatly confused, turned red as a lobster, and hid both his

hands in the same pocket of his dress coat. He advanced as if running the

gauntlet, amid whispers and banter, feeling as ashamed of his dress coat

as of a dishonourable deed; at last he met the eyes of Maciek, and

trembled with fright.

Maciej had hitherto lived on very friendly terms with the Notary; but now

he turned on him so sharp and furious a glance that the Notary grew pale

and began to button his coat, thinking that Maciej would tear it off him

with his glance. Dobrzynski merely repeated twice over in a loud voice,

“Idiot!” and was so fearfully disgusted with the Notary’s change of garb

that he at once rose from the table; slipping out without saying good-bye,

he mounted his horse and returned to the hamlet.

But meanwhile the Notary’s fair sweetheart, Telimena, was spreading abroad

the gleams of her beauty and of her toilet, from top to toe of the very

latest style. What manner of gown she wore, and what her coiffure was

like, it were vain to write, for the pen could never express it; only the

pencil could portray those tulles, muslins, laces, cashmeres, pearls and

precious stones—and her rosy cheeks and lively glances!

The Count at once recognised her, and, pale with astonishment, rose from

the table and looked about him for his sword.

“And is it thou!” he cried, “or do my eyes deceive me? Thou? In my

presence? Dost clasp another’s hand? O faithless being, O traitorous soul!

And dost thou not hide thy face for shame beneath the earth? Art thou so

unmindful of thy vows so lately made? Ah, man of easy faith! Why have I

worn these ribbons! But woe to the rival who so contemns me! Only across

my body shall he advance to the altar!”

The guests arose; the Notary was in frightful distress; the Chamberlain

was making hurried efforts to reconcile the rivals, but Telimena, taking

the Count aside, whispered to him:—

“The Notary has not yet taken me as his wife: if you have anything against

his doing so, answer me this, and answer me right off, short and to the

point: do you love me, have you not yet changed your affections, are you

ready to marry me right off; right off, to-day? If you agree, I will give

up the Notary.”

“O woman beyond my comprehension!” said the Count, “formerly in thy

feelings thou wast poetic; but now thou seemest altogether prosaic. What

are your marriages except chains that bind only the hands and not the

spirit? Believe me, there are proffers of love even without an avowal of

it, and there are duties even without an engagement! Two burning hearts at

the two ends of the earth converse together like stars with trembling

beams. Who knows? Perhaps for this very reason the earth so aspires

towards the sun, and is thus ever dear to the moon—that they gaze upon

each other eternally, and run towards each other by the shortest path, but

can never draw near to each other!”

“Enough of that,” she interrupted; “by the grace of God I am no planet,

Count! Enough, Count, I am a woman. I know what’s coming; make an end to

all this chatter. Now I warn you; if you utter one word to break off my

marriage, then, as God is in Heaven, I will jump at you with these nails

and——”

“I will not disturb your happiness, madam,” said the Count, and he turned

away his eyes, full of grief and contempt; and, in order to punish his

faithless sweetheart, he chose the Chamberlain’s daughter as the object of

his constant flames.

The Seneschal was eager to make peace between the estranged young men by

citing wise examples, so he began to recount the story of the wild boar of

the forests of Naliboki, and of the quarrel between Rejtan and the Prince

de Nassau;222 but meanwhile the guests had finished eating their ices and

were going outside the castle into the yard, to enjoy the fresh air.

There the peasantry were just finishing their banquet, and pitchers of

mead were going the rounds; the musicians were already tuning their

instruments and summoning people to dance. They looked for Thaddeus, who

was standing some distance away and whispering something of pressing

moment to his future wife:—

“Sophia, I must take counsel with you in a very important matter; I have

already asked my uncle’s opinion, and he is not opposed. You know that a

considerable portion of the villages that I am to be the owner of,

according to the law ought to have descended to you. These serfs are not

my subjects, but yours; I should not venture to dispose of their affairs

without the consent of their lady. Now, when we ourselves possess once

more our beloved Fatherland, shall the peasants by that happy change gain

only this much, that they receive another lord? To be sure, they have

hitherto been governed with kindness, but after my death God knows to whom

I may leave them; I am a soldier, and we both are mortal; I am a man, and

I fear my own caprices: I shall act with greater security if I renounce my

own authority and give over the fate of the villagers into the protection

of the law. Being free ourselves, let us make the villagers free likewise;

let us grant them as their own the possession of the land on which they

were born, which they have gained by bloody toil, and from which they

nourish us all and make us all rich. But I must warn you that the grant of

these lands will lessen our income; we must live in moderate

circumstances. I from my youth am wonted to a frugal life; but you,

Sophia, spring from a mighty line, and have passed your early years in the

capital—will you consent to live in a village, far from the great world,

like a country girl?”

In reply Zosia said modestly,—

“I am a woman, authority does not belong to me. You will be my husband; I

am too young to give advice—whatever you arrange, I agree to with all my

heart! If by freeing the villagers you become poorer, then, Thaddeus, you

will be all the dearer to my heart. Of my family I know little, and to it

I am quite indifferent; I remember only that I was poor and an orphan, and

that I was taken in as a daughter by the Soplicas, that I was brought up

in their house and married from it. Of the country I am not afraid: if I

have lived in a great city, that was long ago; I have forgotten it, and

have always loved the country. Believe me, that my hens and roosters have

given me more amusement than all those St. Petersburgs, If at times I have

longed for amusement and for society, that was from childishness; I know

now that the city wearies me. I convinced myself last winter, after a

short stay in Wilno, that I was born for a country life; in the midst of

gaieties I longed once more for Soplicowo. And I am not afraid of work,

for I am young and strong; I know how to walk about the place and wear a

bunch of keys: you will see how quickly I shall learn how to manage the

household!”

While Zosia was speaking these last words, Gerwazy came up to her, amazed

and glum.

“I know it already,” he said, “the Judge has already been speaking of this

liberty! But I do not understand what that has to do with peasants! I am

afraid that there may be something a trifle German in this! Why, liberty

is not a peasant’s affair, but a gentleman’s! To be sure, we are all

derived from Adam, but I have heard that the peasants proceed from Ham,223

the Jews from Japhet, and we gentry from Shem; hence we are lords over

both, as the elder brothers. But now the parish priest gives us different

teaching from the pulpit—he says that so it was under the old law; but

that when once Christ our Lord, though he sprang from the blood of kings,

was born among Jews in a peasant’s stable, from that time on he has made

equal all classes of men and brought in peace among them. Well, so be it,

since it can’t be otherwise! Especially if, as I hear, Your Excellency my

Lady Sophia has agreed to everything; it is for you to give orders and for

me to obey them: authority belongs to you alone. Only I warn you that we

must not grant merely an empty liberty, in words alone, like that under

the Muscovites, when the late Pan Karp freed his serfs and the Muscovite

starved them to death with a triple tax.224 So it is my advice that

according to the ancient custom we make the peasants nobles and proclaim

that we bestow on them our own coats of arms. You, my lady, will bestow on

some villages the Half-Goat; to others let Pan Soplica give his Star and

Crescent.225 Then will even Rembajlo recognize the peasant as his equal,

when he beholds him an honourable gentleman, with a coat of arms. The Diet

will confirm the act.

“But, sir, do not make anxious your lady wife by saying that the giving up

of the lands will make you both so extremely poor; God forbid that I

should see the hands of a dignitary’s daughter hardened with housewifely

labour. There is a way of preventing this: in the castle I know of a

certain chest in which lies the table service of the Horeszkos and with it

various rings, necklaces, bracelets, rich plumes, caparisons, and

marvellous swords—the Pantler’s treasures, hidden from plunderers, in the

ground; to Pani Sophia, as his heiress, they belong; I have guarded them

in the castle like the eyes in my head, keeping them from the Muscovites,

and from you, my Soplica friends. I have likewise a good-sized pouch of my

own thalers, saved from my earnings, and likewise from the gifts of my

masters; I had intended, when the castle should be returned to us, to

devote some pennies to the repairing of the walls—to-day it turns out that

they will be needed for the new style of farming. And so, Pan Soplica, I

am moving to your abode; I shall live with my lady, on her bounty, and

shall rock to sleep a third generation of Horeszkos; I will train my

lady’s child to use the penknife, if it is a son—and she will have a son,

for wars are coming on, and in time of war sons are always born.”

Hardly had Gerwazy spoken these last words, when Protazy approached with

dignified steps; he bowed, and took from the bosom of his kontusz a huge

panegyric, two and a half sheets long.226 It had been composed in rime by

a young subaltern, who once had been a famous writer of odes in the

capital; he had later donned a uniform, but, retaining even in the army

his devotion to letters, he still continued to make verses. The Apparitor

read aloud full three hundred of them; at last, when he came to the

place:—

Thou whose fair eyes

Rouse in us painful joys and blissful sighs;

When on Bellona’s ranks thy glance descends,

All spears are broken and each buckler bends:

To-day soft Hymen conquers cruel Mars;

Thy gentle hand the hissing serpents tears }

From Discord’s hydra front, emblem of dreadful wars— }

Thaddeus and Sophia began to clap vigorously, as if in applause, but

really because they did not wish to hear further. Now at the Judge’s

bidding the parish priest mounted the table and proclaimed Thaddeus’s

determination to the villagers.

Hardly had the peasants heard this news, when they leapt towards their

young master and fell at the feet of their lady. “The health of our

masters!” they shouted with tears, and Thaddeus shouted, “The health of

our fellow citizens, free Poles, our equals!” “I propose the health of the

common people!” said Dombrowski—the people shouted: “Long live the

generals, vivat the army, vivat the people, vivat all classes!” With a

thousand voices, one health thundered after another.

Buchmann alone did not deign to share in the general joy; he praised the

project, but would have preferred to change it slightly, and first of all

to appoint a legal commission, which should—but the shortness of the time

prevented them from adopting Buchmann’s advice, for in the yard of the

castle the officers and ladies, the privates and the village girls were

already standing in couples: “the polonaise!” they all shouted with one

breath. The officers were bringing up the army musicians, but the Judge

whispered in the General’s ear:—

“Pray give orders for the band to restrain itself for a while longer. You

know that to-day sees the betrothal of my nephew, and it is the ancient

custom of our family to celebrate betrothals and marriages with village

music. Look, there stand the player of the dulcimer, the fiddler, and the

bagpiper, all worthy musicians—already the fiddler is making mouths, and

the bagpiper is bowing and begging with his eyes that I will have them

begin—the poor fellows will weep. The common folk will not know how to

skip to other music; so let them begin and let the folk have their fun;

afterwards we will listen to your excellent band.”

He made a sign. The fiddler tucked up the sleeve of his coat, squeezed

tightly the finger board, rested his chin on the tailpiece, and sent his

bow over the fiddle like a race horse. At this signal, the bagpipers, who

were standing close by, blew into their sacks and filled their cheeks with

breath, making a quick motion with their arms as though flapping their

wings; you might have thought that the pair would fly off on the breeze,

like the chubby children of Boreas. But there was no dulcimer.

There were many players of the dulcimer, but none of them dared to perform

in Jankiel’s presence. (Jankiel had been spending the whole winter no one

knows where; now he had suddenly made his appearance along with the

General Staff.) Everybody knew that no one could compare with him in

playing that instrument, either in skill, taste, or talent. They begged

him to play and offered him the dulcimer; the Jew refused, saying that his

hands had grown stiff, that he was out of practice, that he did not dare

to, that he was embarrassed by the men of high station; with many a bow he

was stealing away. When Zosia saw this, she ran up, and with one white

hand proffered him the hammers with which the master was wont to sound the

strings; with the other hand she stroked the old man’s grey beard, and

said with a curtsy:—

“Jankiel, be so good; you see this is my betrothal; play for me, Jankiel.

Haven’t you often promised to play at my wedding?”

Jankiel, who was beyond measure fond of Zosia, nodded his beard as a sign

that he did not refuse. So they led him into the centre of the company and

put his instrument on his knees; he gazed on it with delight and pride,

like a veteran called back to active service, when his grandsons take down

from the wall his heavy sword: the old man laughs, though it is long since

he has had a sword in his hand, for he feels that his hand will not yet

betray the weapon.

Meanwhile two of his pupils were kneeling by the dulcimer, tuning the

strings afresh and twanging them as a test of their work. Jankiel with

half-closed eyes sat silent and held the hammers motionless in his

fingers.

He lowered them, at first beating a triumphal measure; then he smote the

strings more briskly, as with a torrent of rain: all were amazed, but that

was only a test, for he suddenly broke off and lifted both hammers aloft.

He played anew; now the strings trembled with motions as light as though

the wing of a fly were sounding on the string, giving forth a gentle,

hardly audible buzzing. The master fixed his gaze on the sky, awaiting

inspiration; he looked down and surveyed the instrument with a haughty

eye, he raised his hands and lowered them together, and smote with both

hammers at once; the auditors were amazed.—

All at once from many strings there burst forth a sound as though a whole

janissaries’ band had become vocal with bells and cymbals and drums.227

The _Polonaise of the Third of May_228 thundered forth! The rippling

notes breathed of joy, they poured joy into one’s ears; the girls wanted

to dance and the boys could not stand still—but the notes carried the

thoughts of the old men back into the past, to those happy years when the

Senate and the House of Deputies, after that great day of the Third of

May, celebrated in the assembly hall the reconciliation of King and

Nation; when they danced and sang, “Vivat our beloved King, vivat the

Diet, vivat the people, vivat all classes!”

The master kept quickening the time and playing with greater power, but

suddenly he struck a false chord like the hiss of a snake, like the

grating of iron on glass—it sent a shudder through every one, and mingled

with the general gaiety an ill-omened foreboding. Disturbed and alarmed,

the hearers wondered whether the instrument might not be out of tune, or

the musician be making a blunder. Such a master had not blundered! He

purposely kept touching that traitorous string and breaking up the melody,

striking louder and louder that angry chord, confederated against the

harmony of the tones; at last the Warden understood the master, covered

his face in his hands, and cried, “I know, I know those notes; that is

_Targowica!_” And suddenly the ill-omened string broke with a hiss; the

musician rushed to the treble notes, broke up and confused the measure,

abandoned the treble notes, and hurried his hammers to the bass strings.

One could hear louder and louder a thousand noises, measured marching,

war, an attack, a storm; one could hear the reports of guns, the groans of

children, the weeping of mothers. So finely did the wonderful master

render the horrors of a storm that the village girls trembled, calling to

mind with tears of grief the Massacre of Praga,229 which they knew from

song and story; they were glad when finally the master thundered with all

the strings at once, and choked the outcries as though he had crushed them

into the earth.

Hardly did the hearers have time to recover from their amazement, when

once more the music changed: at first there were once more light and

gentle hummings; a few thin strings complained together, like flies

striving to free themselves from the spider’s web. But more and more

strings joined them; now the scattered tones were blended and legions of

chords were united; now they advanced measuredly with harmonious notes,

forming the mourrlful melody of that famous song of the wandering soldier

who travels through woods and through forests, ofttimes fainting with woe

and with hunger: at last he falls at the feet of his faithful steed, and

the steed with his foot digs a grave for him. A poor old song, yet very

dear to the Polish troops! The soldiers recognized it, and the privates

crowded about the master; they hearkened, and they remembered that

dreadful season when over the grave of their country they had sung this

song and departed for the ends of the earth; they called to mind their

long years of wandering, over lands and seas, over frosts and burning

sands, amid foreign peoples, where often in camp they had been cheered and

heartened by this folk song. So thinking, they sadly bowed their heads!

But they raised them straightway, for the master was playing stronger and

higher notes; he changed his measure, and proclaimed something quite

different from what had preceded. Once more he looked down and measured

the strings with his eye; he joined his hands and smote with the two

hammers in unison: the blow was so artistic, so powerful, that the strings

rang like brazen trumpets, and from the trumpets a well-known song floated

to the heavens, a triumphal march, “Poland has not yet perished; march,

Dombrowski, to Poland!”—And all clapped their hands, and all shouted in

chorus, “March, Dombrowski!”

The musician seemed amazed at his own song; he dropped the hammers from

his hands and raised his arms aloft; his fox-skin cap dropped from his

head to his shoulders; his uplifted beard waved majestically; his cheeks

glowed with a strange flush; in his glance, full of spirit, shone the lire

of youth. At last, when the old man turned his eyes on Dombrowski, he

covered them with his hands, and from under his hands gushed a stream of

tears.

“General,” said he, “long has our Lithuania awaited thee—long, even as we

Jews have awaited the Messiah; of thee in olden times minstrels prophesied

among the folk; thy coming was heralded by a marvel in the sky. Live and

wage war, O thou our—”

As he spoke, he sobbed; the honest Jew loved his country like a Pole!

Dombrowski extended his hand to him and thanked him; Jankiel, doffing his

cap, kissed the leader’s hand.

It was time to begin the polanaise.—The Chamberlain stepped forward, and,

lightly throwing back the flowing sleeves of his kontusz and twirling his

mustache, he offered his arm to Zosia; with a polite bow he invited her to

lead off in the first couple. Behind the Chamberlain a long line of

couples formed; the signal was given and the dance began—he was its

leader.

Over the greensward glittered his crimson boots, the light gleamed from

his sabre and his rich girdle shone; he advanced slowly, with seeming

carelessness—yet in every step and every motion one could read the

feelings and the thoughts of the dancer. He stopped, as if he wished to

question his lady; he bent his head down towards her as if wishing to

whisper in her ear; the lady averted her head, was bashful, would not

listen; he doffed his white cap and bowed humbly; the lady deigned to gaze

upon him, but still kept a stubborn silence; he slackened his pace,

followed her glances with his eyes, and at last he laughed.—Happy in her

reply, he advanced more quickly, gazing down at his rivals; now he hung

his white cap with its heron’s plumes over his brow, now he shook it above

his brow; at last he cocked it over his ear and twirled his mustache. He

strode on; all felt envious of him and pressed upon him in pursuit; he

would have been glad to steal away from the throng with his lady; at times

he stood still, courteously raised his hand, and humbly begged them to

pass by; sometimes he meditated withdrawing adroitly to one side; he often

changed his course, and would have been glad to elude his comrades, but

they importunately followed him with swift steps, and encircled him from

all sides in the evolutions of the dance: so he grew angry, and laid his

right hand on his sword hilt, as if to say: “I care not for you; woe to

those who are jealous of me!” He turned about with a haughty brow and with

a challenge in his eye, and made straight for the throng; the throng of

dancers did not dare withstand him, but retired from his path—and,

changing their formation, they started again in pursuit of him.—

Cries rang out on all sides: “Ah, perhaps he is the last—watch, watch, you

young men—perhaps he is the last who can lead the polonaise in such

fashion!” And the couples followed one another merrily and uproariously;

the circle would disperse and then contract once more! As when an immense

serpent twines into a thousand folds, so there was seen a perpetual change

amid the gay, parti-coloured garments of the ladies, the gentlemen, and

the soldiers, like glittering scales gilded by the beams of the western

sun and relieved against the dark pillows of turf. Brisk was the dance and

loud the music, the applause, and the drinking of healths.

Corporal Buzzard Dobrzynski alone neither listened to the band, nor

danced, nor made him merry; with his hands behind him he stood glum and

sullen and called to mind his old-time wooing of Zosia; how he had loved

to bring her flowers, to plait little baskets, to gather birds’ nests, to

make little earrings. Ungrateful girl! Though he had wasted upon her so

many lovely gifts, though she had fled from him, though his father had

forbidden him, yet how many times he had sat on the wall just to see her

through the window, and had stolen into the hemp in order to watch how she

tended her little flower garden, picked cucumbers, or fed the roosters!

Ungrateful girl! He drooped his head; finally he whistled a mazurka; then

he jammed his casque down over his ears and went to the camp, where the

sentinels were standing by the cannon: there, to distract his mind, he

began a game of cribbage with the private soldiers, and sweetened his

sorrow with the cup. Such was the constancy of Dobrzynski to Zosia.

Zosia was dancing merrily: but, though she was in the first couple, from a

distance she could hardly be seen; on the broad surface of the turf-spread

court, in her green gown and decked with garlands and with flowery

wreaths, she circled amid the grasses and flowers unseen in her flight,

guiding the dance as an angel guides the motion of the stars by night: you

could guess where she was, for towards her all eyes were turned and all

arms stretched out; towards her the tumult pressed. In vain did the

Chamberlain strive to remain by her side; his envious rivals had already

pressed him out of the first couple: nor did the happy Dombrowski long

enjoy his triumph; he yielded her to a second, but a third was already

hastening up; and he, too, at once pressed aside, departed without hope.

At last Zosia, by this time wearied, met Thaddeus as she passed down the

line; and, fearing further change, and wishing to remain with him, she

brought the dance to an end. She went to the table to pour wine for the

guests.

The sun was already setting, the evening was warm and quiet; the circle of

the heavens, here and there strewn with little clouds, was azure on high,

but rosy in the west; the little clouds foretold fine weather, being light

and shining—here like flocks of sheep sleeping on the greensward, there of

somewhat smaller size, like coveys of teal. In the west was a cloud in

shape like the drapery curtains of a couch, transparent and with many

folds, pearly at the summit, gilded on the margin, purple in the centre;

it still burned and glowed with the western gleams; at last it slowly

turned yellow, then pale and grey; the sun dropped its head, drew the

cloud about it, and sighing a single time with a warm breath—it fell

asleep.230

But the gentlefolk continued to drink and to propose the healths of

Napoleon, the Generals, Thaddeus, and Zosia; finally of all three

betrothed pairs in turn, of all the guests present with them, of all those

that had been invited, of all the friends that any one alive could

remember, and of all the dead whose memory had remained holy.

And I was there among the guests, and there drank wine and mead;

And what I saw and heard I wrote, that all of you might read.231

NOTES

[Such of the following notes as are not enclosed in brackets are by

Mickiewicz himself. They include the entire commentary that the poet

published with _Pan Tadeusz_. The other notes are either by the

translator or culled from the following books or suggested by them:—

Mickiewicz, _Pisma_, wyd. Kallenbach (Brody, 1911), tom v. (This includes

a “glossary” to _Pan Tadeusz_ by Franciszek Jerzy Jaroszynski.)

Mickiewicz, _Master Thaddeus; or, The Last Foray in Lithuania;_ translated

by Maude Ashurst Biggs, with notes by the translator and Edmond S.

Naganowski (London, 1885).

Mickiewicz, _Œuvres poétiques complètes_, trad. Christien Ostrowski, ed. 4

(Paris, 1859).

Mickiewicz, _Herr Thaddäus_, übersetzt von Siegfried Lipiner, ed. 2

(Leipzig, 1898).

It was difficult to draw the line between direct quotation and mere

utilization of material. In particular, the translator’s indebtedness to

Jaroszynski is much greater than the quotation marks here used would

indicate.]

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

[The following summary of a few important events in Polish history, and of

some of the leading features of Polish society and institutions, may be of

assistance to readers of _Pan Tadeusz_.

The Polish Commonwealth was formed by the union of two separate states,

Poland proper on the west, with a population predominantly Polish, and

Lithuania on the east, with a population Lithuanian in the north

(Lithuania proper) and Russian in the rest of its territory. After being

long at odds with each other and with the German Knights of the Cross,

these two states were united in 1386 by the marriage of Queen Jadwiga of

Poland to the heathen Prince Jagiello of Lithuania, who thereupon accepted

Christianity (p. 288). They remained under the dominion of the Jagiellos

until the last of the male line of that house, Zygmunt August (compare

note 64), died childless in 1572, and the throne became elective. The

union was at first very loose, depending only on the person of the

sovereign, but it became constantly closer, until in 1569 the two states

agreed to have a common Diet, sitting at Warsaw. Lithuania retained until

the last, however, its separate officials, treasury, and army (compare pp.

171 and 310, and note 29). A constant stream of colonisation flowed east

from Poland (called the Crown or the Kingdom) into Lithuania (p. 168),

until the gentry of that country became Polish, while the peasantry

remained either Lithuanian or Russian.

In the Polish Commonwealth the towns were of small importance; their

inhabitants, though personally free, had almost no political rights. The

country population was divided into the _szlachta_, or freemen, who fought

the battles of the country and in whom was vested the entire political

power, and the _chlopi_, or peasants, who were serfs, and cultivated the

estates of the _szlachta_. The _szlachta_, who formed about a tenth of the

population of the country, were legally all of equal rank (p. 100); as a

matter of fact, differences of property created great social and even (in

practice) political distinctions between them. Some of them, possessed of

mere patches of land, lived a life little different from that of the

peasants (p. 167). Still others entirely lost their land and became

attached, even as menial servants, to the households of their richer

neighbours. (Thus Gerwazy was a servant, though not quite a menial, of the

Pantler.) The great land owners (or _magnates_), by gathering around them

hordes of gentle-born, landless dependents, were able to support private

armies, and to exercise a preponderating influence on the affairs of the

country. Hence the Constitution of May 3, 1791, excluded _szlachta_ not

holding land from the right to vote.—In English works on Poland the words

_szlachta_ and _szlachcic_ have usually been rendered as _nobility_ and

_noble_; in the present volume the terms _gentry_ and _gentleman_ are

used, which, though far from satisfactory, are at all events somewhat less

misleading.

The adoption of the elective instead of the hereditary principle in Poland

after the extinction of the Jagiello line led to frequent civil wars, and

was one cause of the country’s decline in power during the seventeenth and

eighteenth centuries. The King was elected for life by the whole body of

the gentry, and every gentleman was theoretically eligible to the crown

(p. 264). Poland’s peculiar parliamentary system also contributed to its

decay. Laws were made by a Diet of which the upper house, or Senate, was

formed by the bishops, wojewodas (see note 26), castellans (see note 38),

and ministers, while the lower house was composed of deputies elected by

district diets (p. 303). A unanimous vote was required on all measures;

more than this, any one deputy by his _veto_ could dissolve the Diet, even

in the last moments of its session, and undo all the work previously

accomplished. This law of the _liberum veto_, and the elective nature of

the royal office, offered countless opportunities for foreign nations to

interfere in the affairs of the Commonwealth. The district diets, besides

electing deputies to the General Diet, instructed them how to vote, and

chose local officials (p. 75); they also were bound by the rule of the

_liberum veto_ (pp. 182, 304). Under such a constitution the only

practical means of reform was through armed rebellion. Hence rebellions,

or _confederacies_, were legalised in Poland; a number of citizens might

combine together, choose a marshal (pp. 180, 182, 285), and seek to

overthrow the established order; in case of success they became the

government, in case of failure they were not liable to punishment. A diet

held by a confederacy was not subject to the _liberum veto_, but adopted

decisions by a majority vote.

In the seventeenth century, not to speak of civil troubles, Poland was

devastated by disastrous wars, in particular with the Cossacks and with

the Swedes (1655-60; pp. 169, 302). The great victory of Jan Sobieski, the

warrior king, over the Turks in 1683, when he went to the relief of

Vienna, was the last military triumph of old Poland (pp. 167, 170, 200,

201).

During the eighteenth century Poland sank to a condition of disgraceful

dependence on Russia. In 1764 Catharine II. caused her favourite,

Stanislaw Poniatowski, to be elected King. In 1768 Polish patriots, in a

convulsive effort to throw off the Russian ascendancy, organised the

Confederacy of Bar, which maintained a desperate struggle for four years.

The Confederacy was crushed by Russia, and soon after its defeat followed

the first partition of Poland (1772), by which Russia received a large

share of the former Lithuanian provinces. A Diet, convoked under the forms

of a confederacy, in order to avoid dissolution by the _liberum veto,_ was

obliged to sanction this partition. The desperate opposition of Rejtan,

the deputy from the district of Nowogrodek (that is, from the region of

which Mickiewicz was a native), Korsak, and other patriots, was of no

avail (pp. 3, 139, 140).

After the disaster of the first partition the patriotic party in Poland

made efforts to save their country, which culminated in the Four Years’

Diet (1788-92). The labours of this Diet, which again was convoked under

the forms of a confederacy, culminated in the Constitution of May 3, 1791.

This measure, which was drawn up in secret and rushed through the Diet at

a time when most of its probable opponents were absent, transformed Poland

from an aristocratic republic into a constitutional hereditary monarchy,

abolished the _liberum veto_, and secured religious toleration. Amid great

enthusiasm the King took the oath to the new order of government (p. 324).

In the next year, however, a group of upholders of the old anarchic state

of affairs, one of whose leaders was Ksawery Branicki (p. 200), formed

with the support of Russia a confederacy which was proclaimed at Targowica

(pp. 274, 324), a small town in the Ukraine, and the object of which was

the undoing of the work of the Four Years’ Diet. The Russian armies

entered the country and overcame the resistance of the Polish troops, two

of the foremost leaders of which were Prince Joseph Poniatowski, the

nephew of the King, and Kosciuszko. Then followed the second partition of

Poland (1793), by which the territory of the Commonwealth was reduced to

about one third of its original dimensions. In the next year occurred a

popular revolt, of which Kosciuszko assumed the leadership, and which,

despite a brilliant victory at Raclawice (p. 252), near Cracow, and some

other successes, was soon quelled by the allied powers, Russia, Prussia,

and Austria. In a battle at Maciejowice (p. 252) Kosciuszko was defeated,

and, severely wounded, was himself taken prisoner by the Russians. The

final episode of the war was the fall of Warsaw. Suvorov, the Russian

commander, captured by storm Praga, a suburb of the city, and gave over

its inhabitants to massacre (pp. 3, 324). In the following year, 1795, the

remnant of the Polish kingdom was divided among the three allies.

Even now not all the Poles despaired of their country’s fate. The idea

arose of transferring to France the headquarters of Polish interests and

of forming bodies of Polish troops that should fight for France against

the common enemies of France and Poland and thereby prepare themselves for

service in the restoration of Poland. The leader of this movement, and the

most noted general of the new _Polish Legions_, was Jan Henryk Dombrowski,

who had won fame in the war of 1794. The Legions’ first field of activity

was in northern Italy, where they supported the struggle of Lombardy for

independence. Here arose (1797) the famous Song of the Legions, “Poland

has not yet perished, while we still live” (pp. 3, 97, 325, 326). In the

next year (1798) Dombrowski aided the French in the capture of Rome, and

Kniaziewicz was put in command of the garrison on the Capitol (p. 31). In

1800 a new Polish force won laurels at Marengo and Hohenlinden (p. 286).

In return for these services Bonaparte did nothing whatever for the

restoration of Poland. The legions were sent oversea to reduce the negro

insurrection in the island of San Domingo, where the greater part of them

perished (1803; p. 31).

In 1806, after his victory at Jena (p. 176), Napoleon summoned the Poles

to his standards. A large force was organised, under the command of Prince

Joseph Poniatowski and Dombrowski. In the succeeding war, which includes

the siege and capture of Dantzic (p. 116) and the battle of

Preussisch-Eylau (p. 251),

Napoleon decisively defeated the Russians at Friedland (1807) and soon

after concluded the Peace of Tilsit (p. 161). By this treaty there was

created, out of a portion of the Polish lands received by Prussia at the

different partitions, a new state, known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and

ruled by the King of Saxony as a constitutional monarch under the

protection of Napoleon. The Niemen divided this new state from the portion

of Poland under the rule of Russia (pp. 31, 255).

The new Grand Duchy had to furnish troops in aid of Napoleon. In 1808 the

Polish light cavalry, led by Kozietulski, won glory by the capture of

Somosierra, a defile leading to Madrid (p. 286).

In 1809, after a war with Austria, in which he received valuable aid from

the Poles, Napoleon increased the Grand Duchy of Warsaw by lands taken

from that country. Tardy and ungenerous though his action had been, he had

thus done something to justify the hopes of the Poles that he would one

day reconstitute their Commonwealth as a whole. Hence it will be clear

with what enthusiasm Poland, and still more Lithuania, awaited the outcome

of a great war between Napoleon and Russia, such as was evidently

approaching in the year 1811. The Poles believed Napoleon to be

unconquerable, and trusted that when he had defeated Russia he would

proclaim the reunion of Lithuania with the Grand Duchy of Warsaw; then

Poland would live once more (pp. 160, 277).

The actual outcome of the war was a crushing blow to Polish hopes.

Napoleon’s invasion of Russia resulted in his utter defeat; after his

flight home his army was defeated at Leipzig (1813), where Prince Joseph

Poniatowski met his death. Two years later, at the Congress of Vienna, the

greater portion of Poland was given over to Russia, to be governed as a

constitutional state. Such it remained, in name at least, until the

desperate insurrection of 1831, the failure of which ended all pretence of

Polish self-government under Russian rule. To drown the grief and despair

with which that tragedy had filled his mind Mickiewicz turned back in the

next year (when he began _Pan Tadeusz_) to the scenes of his childhood, to

the days full of hope and joyful expectation that had preceded Napoleon’s

attack on Russia.]

1 In the time of the Polish Commonwealth the carrying out of judicial

decrees was very difficult, in a country where the executive authorities

had almost no police at their disposal, and where powerful citizens

maintained household regiments, some of them, for example the Princes

Radziwill, even armies of several thousand. So the plaintiff who had

obtained a verdict in his favour had to apply for its execution to the

knightly order, that is to the gentry, with whom rested also the executive

power. Armed kinsmen, friends, and neighbours set out, verdict in hand, in

company with the apparitor, and gained possession, often not without

bloodshed, of the goods adjudged to the plaintiff, which the apparitor

legally made over or gave into his possession. Such an armed execution of

a verdict was called a _zajazd_ [foray]. In ancient times, while laws were

respected, even the most powerful magnates did not dare to resist judicial

decrees, armed attacks rarely took place, and violence almost never went

unpunished. Well known in history is the sad end of Prince Wasil

Sanguszko, and of Stadnicki, called the Devil.—The corruption of public

morals in the Commonwealth increased the number of forays, which

continually disturbed the peace of Lithuania. [The rendering of _zajazd_

by _foray_ is of course inexact and conventional; but the translator did

not wish to use the Polish word and could find no better English

equivalent.]

2 Every one in Poland knows of the miraculous image of Our Lady at Jasna

Gora in Czenstochowa. In Lithuania there are images of Our Lady, famed for

miracles, at the Ostra [Pointed] Gate in Wilno, the Castle in Nowogrodek,

and at Zyrowiec and Boruny.

3 [See p. 332.]

4 [Tadeusz (Thaddeus) Kosciuszko (1746-1817). This most famous Polish

patriot was a native of the same portion of Lithuania as Mickiewicz. He

early emigrated to America and served with distinction in the

Revolutionary War. On his later career see p. 334. After the failure of

the insurrection of 1794 Kosciuszko was imprisoned for two years in St.

Petersburg; in 1796, on the death of Catharine, he was released by Paul.

He thereafter lived in retirement, first in France and then in

Switzerland, resisting all the attempts of Napoleon to draw him into his

service. At the Congress of Vienna he made fruitless efforts in behalf of

Poland. His memory is probably more reverenced by the Polish people than

that of any other man. His remains rest in the cathedral at Cracow, and on

the outskirts of the city is a mound of earth 150 feet high raised as a

monument to him.]

5 [_Czamarka_ (diminutive of _czamara_) in the original; see note 82.]

6 [See p. 333. Rejtan had taken part in the Confederacy of Bar. Owing to

the disasters to Poland he lost his reason, and in 1780 he killed

himself.]

7 [A soldier and poet, of a Wilno family. As a colonel of engineers he

fought in the war of 1792. He prepared and led the insurrection in Wilno

in 1794, and perished at the siege of Praga in the same year.]

8 [See p. 333. Korsak was a deputy to the Four Years’ Diet, and a leader

in Kosciuszko’s insurrection. He perished by the side of Jasinski.]

9 The Russian government in conquered countries never immediately

overthrows their laws and civil institutions, but by its edicts it slowly

undermines and saps them. For example, in Little Russia the Lithuanian

Statute, modified by edicts, was maintained until the most recent times.

Lithuania was allowed to retain its ancient organisation of civil and

criminal courts. So, as of old, rural and town judges are elected in the

districts, and superior judges in the provinces. But since there is an

appeal to St. Petersburg, to many institutions of various rank, the local

courts are left with hardly a shadow of their traditional dignity.

10 The _Wojski_ (_tribunus_) was once an officer charged with the

protection of the wives and children of the gentry during the time of

service of the general militia. But this office without duties long ago

became merely titular. In Lithuania there is a custom of giving by

courtesy to respected persons some ancient title, which becomes legalised

by usage. For instance, the neighbours call one of their friends

Quartermaster, Pantler, or Cup-bearer, at first only in conversation and

in correspondence, but later even in official documents. The Russian

government has forbidden such titles, and would like to cover them with

ridicule and to introduce in their place the system of titles based on the

ranks in its own hierarchy, to which the Lithuanians still have great

repugnance. [The present translator has followed Ostrowski’s example in

rendering _wojski_ as _seneschal_, “_ne pouvant mieux faire_.”]

11 [See p. 334 and note 176.]

12 The Chamberlain, once a noted and dignified official, _Princeps

Nobilitatis_, under the Russian government has become merely a titular

dignitary. Formerly he was still judge of boundary disputes, but he

finally lost even that part of his jurisdiction. Now he occasionally takes

the place of the Marshal, and appoints the _komomicy_ or district

surveyors.

13 [“The outer garment of the ancient Polish costume, a sort of loose

frock or coat, falling below the knees, and secured by a girdle round the

waist. The effect was remarkably picturesque and graceful.”—M. A. Biggs. A

characteristic feature of the _kontusz_ was the turned-back upper false

sleeves.]

14 The Apparitor (_wozny_) or Bailiff, who was chosen from among the

landed gentry by the decree of a tribunal or court, carried summonses,

proclaimed persons in legal possession of property adjudged to them, made

inquests, called cases on the court’s calendar, etc. Usually this office

was assigned to one of the minor gentry.

15 [See p. 334 and note 176.]

16 [A Lithuanian dish of beet leaves and cream, served with ice.

Mickiewicz later repeats this passage in true Homeric fashion: see pp. 85,

133.]

17 [An allusion to a tale told by Suetonius, _Life of Vespasian_, §23.]

18 The buzzard is a bird resembling a hawk. It is well known how a flock

of small birds, particularly swallows, will pursue a hawk. Hence the

proverb, to fly as after a buzzard.

19 [The reference is to the _plica polonica_, a disease of the hair in

which it becomes matted and twisted together. It is common in certain

parts of Poland, as its name indicates.]

20 [_Robak_ is the Polish word for _worm_.]

21 [_Plat_ is the Russian word for _rascal_. Compare p. 235.]

22 Among the Russian peasantry numerous stories are current in regard to

the incantations of Bonaparte and Suvorov.

23 The _assessors_ form the rural police of a district. According to the

edicts, they are in part elected by the citizens, in part appointed by the

government; these last are called the _crown assessors_. Judges of appeal

are also called _assessors_, but there is no reference to them here.

24 One class of _notaries_ _(rejenci aktowi)_ have charge of certain

government bureaus; others _(rejenci dekretowi)_ record verdicts: all are

appointed by the clerks of the courts.

25 [See p. 333.]

26 Joseph, Count Niesiolowski, the last Wojewoda of Nowogrodek, was

president of the revolutionary government during Jasinski’s insurrection.

[A _wojewoda_ was the chief dignitary of a Polish province or

_wojewodeship_. The office had very slight duties, and was rather a title

of distinction than an administrative position. It was particularly valued

because it conferred a seat in the Senate.]

27 Jerzy Bialopiotrowicz, the last Secretary of the Grand Duchy of

Lithuania, took an active part in the Lithuanian insurrection under

Jasinski. He was judge of the state prisoners at Wilno. He was a man

highly honoured in Lithuania for his virtues and his patriotism.

28 [According to a mythical story current in Poland, three brothers, Lech,

Czech, and Rus, were the founders of the Polish, Bohemian, and Russian

nations. Compare p. 289.]

29 At Sluck there was a famous factory for making gold brocade and massive

belts, which supplied all Poland. It was perfected by the efforts of

Tyzenhaus. [“Antoni Tyzenhaus, 1733-85, first Grand Secretary, later

Under-Court-Treasurer of Lithuania, a man who did much for the elevation

of the economic condition and of the state of education in Lithuania, for

a long time an unwavering partisan of King Stanislaw August.”—Jaroszynski.

Compare p. 173.]

30 [In the original, _Golden Altar_, a title of numerous Polish books of

devotion in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.]

31 The Court Calendar (_Trybunalska Wokanda_) was a long, narrow little

book, in which were entered the names of the parties to suits in the order

of the defendants. Every advocate and apparitor had to own such a

calendar.

32 [The reference is of course to the golden eagles of Napoleon joined

with the silver eagles of Poland. The Polish coat-of-arms shows a white

eagle on a red field.]

33 [Jan Henryk Dombrowski (1755-1818): see p. 334. He took part in almost

all the wars of Napoleon; in 1812 he was stationed in White Russia and had

an active share in the campaign only towards its close.]

34 General Kniaziewicz, as messenger of the Italian army, delivered to the

Directory the captured standards. [Otton-Karol Kniaziewicz (1762-1842).

He, like Dombrowski, had taken part in Kosciuszko’s insurrection.]

35 Prince Jablonowski, in command of the Legion of the Danube, died in San

Domingo, and almost all his legion perished there. Among the Polish

emigrants there are a few veterans who survived that unhappy expedition,

among others General Malachowski. [see p. 281 and note 184.]

36 An organ was ordinarily set in the gallery of the old castles.

37 [“The health of the Primate of Poland (Archbishop of Gnesen) was drunk

after that of the King, because he was the highest dignitary in the

Kingdom. Between the death of one sovereign and [the] election of his

successor, he was Interrex.”—M. A. Biggs.]

38 [The office of _castellan_ was next in dignity to that of _wojewoda_;

except for some very slight military duties the post was purely titular,

but it was prized because it entitled the holder to a seat in the Senate.]

39 Black soup, served at table to a young man suing for a young woman’s

hand, signified a refusal. [Naganowski states that it is “a thickish soup,

made chiefly of the blood of a duck or goose, vinegar, and spice.”]

40 [See p. 333.]

41 [The bracketed passage was inserted by the translator.]

42 These barges (_wiciny_) are large boats on the Niemen, with which the

Lithuanians carry on trade with the Prussians, freighting grain down the

river and receiving colonial wares in return for it.

43 [_Zrazy_ in the original. “A national dish, prepared as follows: Take

good and tender beef, mince it fine, add a little butter, spice, onions,

salt, pepper, egg, bread-crumbs, make small pats or cakes of the compound;

fried, boiled, or stewed.”—M. A. Biggs.]

44 [Son of a bitch.]

45 [Goat-strangler.]

46 [The north-western part of old Poland, including the portion now

incorporated in Prussia.]

47 Prince Dominik Radziwill, a great lover of hunting, emigrated to the

Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and equipped at his own cost a regiment of cavalry,

which he commanded in person. He died in France. With him became extinct

the male line of the Princes of Olyka and Nieswiez, the most powerful

lords in Poland and in all probability in Europe.

48 Mejen distinguished himself in the national war under Kosciuszko.

Mejen’s ramparts are still shown near Wilno.

49 [Kite.]

50 [The translator has omitted the phrase, “called little grand-mothers.”]

51 [The translation of this poem by Miss M. A. Biggs contains a note

“supplied by Dr. Rostafinski of Cracow” as to the scientific names of the

different mushrooms mentioned by Mickiewicz.

(1) "_Lisica_ [fox-mushroom]. _Cantarellus cibarius_(Chantarelle).

(2) _Borowik_ [pine-lover]. _Boletus edulis_ (called in Lithuania

_Bovinus_). (3) _Rydz_ [orange-agaric]. _Agaricus deliciosus_ .

(4) _Muchomor_ [fly-bane]. _Amanita muscaria_, or _Agaricus muscarius_

(fly-agaric). This is the Siberian fungus, with remarkable intoxicating

properties.

(5) _Surojadki_ [leaf-mushrooms]. A species of the _Russula_. Those quoted

by Mickiewicz seem to be _Russula nitida, R. alutacea_, and _R. emetica_.

(6) _Kozlak_. Two species of _Boletus_; one _B. luteus_, the other

(mentioned in the text) _B. luridus {poisonous)_.

(7) _Bielaki_ [whities], _Agaricus piperatus_ and _Agaricus vellereus_.

(8) _Purchawki_ [puffball]. _Lycoperdon bovista_.

(9) _Lejki_ [funnels]. The word does not signify any particular sort of

fungus; it may be that the poet created the name _a forma_. The shape

suggests _Agaricus chloroides_."]

52 A well-known Lithuanian folk-song tells of the mushrooms marching to

war under the lead of the _pine-lover_. In this song the qualities of the

edible mushrooms are described.

53 [Zosia is the diminutive of Zofia (Sophia).]

54 [Telimena’s last words are taken almost literally from a popular song,

_Serce nie sluga_.]

55 [The Breughels were a famous family of Dutch painters of the sixteenth

and early seventeenth centuries. Pieter had a bent towards diabolic

scenes, whence he received the title “hell Breughel” (Van der Helle); Jan,

his younger brother, was a master in the painting of landscapes, flowers,

flies, etc. Apparently the Count’s learning did not extend to the father

of these two brothers, who was also a famous painter.]

56 A noted genre painter; some years before his death he began to paint

landscapes. He died recently in St. Petersburg.

57 [The Polish points the contrast by a rime: “the uproar was not

_funereal_, but _dinnerial_.”]

58 [This translation of the Polish _matecznik_ is of course purely

conventional: compare pp. 105-107.]

59 The breed of small, strong English dogs, called bulldogs [literally,

_leeches_], is used for hunting big game, particularly bears.

60 The _sprawnik_ or _kapitan sprawnik_ is the chief of the rural police.

The _strapczy_ is a sort of government attorney. These two officials, who

have frequent opportunities for misusing their authority, are greatly

hated by the people generally. [These offices, and the names of them, are

Russian, not Polish. _Strapczyna_ would be the name given to the wife of a

_strapczy_.]

61 [The paragraph here inclosed in brackets is not found in the editions

of _Pan Tadeusz_ published during the lifetime of Mickiewicz. It occurs in

his manuscript, among many other passages that he did not choose to print;

in the edition of 1858 it was added to the printed text. It has been

included here, though with some hesitation, because the succeeding

narrative did not seem quite clear without it. It seemed needless to

record other variant readings, even in these notes; they are of little

interest except to special students of the work of Mickiewicz.]

62 According to the tradition, Grand Prince Giedymin had a dream on the

mountain of Ponary of an iron wolf, and by the counsel of the wajdelota

[bard] Lizdejko founded the city of Wilno.

63 [Witenes and Mindowe (also called Mendog) were early princes of

Lithuania. Giedymin (died 1341) was the founder of the power of that

nation, and the father of Olgierd and Kiejstut. One son of Kiejstut was

Witold, famous as a warrior and prince. One son of Olgierd was Jagiello:

see p. 332. Lizdejko is said to have been the last high priest of heathen

Lithuania.]

64 Zygmunt August [1548-72] was raised to the throne of the Grand Duchy of

Lithuania according to the ancient rites; he girt on him the sword and

crowned himself with the soft cap (_kolpak_). He was a great lover of

hunting.

65 In the district of Rosieny, on the estate of Paszkiewicz, the Rural

Secretary, grew an oak known under the name of Baublis, which was

formerly, in pagan times, honoured as a sacred tree. In the interior of

this decayed giant Paszkiewicz has founded a cabinet of Lithuanian

antiquities.

66 Not far from the parish church of Nowogrodek grew some ancient lindens,

many of which were felled about the year 1812.

67 [Jan Kochanowski (1530-84) was the greatest poet of Poland up to the

time of Mickiewicz. Czarnolas was his country estate, on which he passed

in retirement the closing years of his life. In a famous epigram he tells

of the charms of his linden tree:—

"Seat thyself underneath my leaves, O guest,

And rest.

I promise thee that the sharp-beaming sun

Here shall not run,

But ’neath the trees spread out a heavy shade:

Here always from the fields cool winds have played;

Here sparrows and the nightingales have made

Charming lament.

And all my fragrant flowers their sweets have spent

Upon the bees; my master’s board is lent

That honey’s gold.

And I with gentle whisperings can fold

Sweet sleep upon thee. Yea, ’tis true I bear

No apples; yet my Lord speaks me as fair

As the most fruitful trees

That graced the Gardens of Hesperides."

_Translated by Miss H. H. Havermate and G. R. Noyes_.]

68 See Goszczynski’s poem, _The Castle of Kaniow_. [This poem, by Seweryn

Goszczynski (1803-76) was published in 1828. The reference is probably to

the following passage: “Does that prattling oak whisper in his ear sad

tales of the disasters of this land, when beneath its sky the gloomy

vulture of slaughter extended a dread shadow with bloody wings, and after

it streamed clouds of Tatars?”]

69 [“Those used for the candles regularly lit by the Jews on Friday at

sunset, to avoid the ‘work’ of kindling light or fire on the Sabbath.”—M.

A. Biggs.]

70 _Kolomyjkas_ are Ruthenian songs resembling the Polish _mazurkas_.

[Ostrowski states that these are popular airs that are sung and danced at

the same time. Naganowski adds that the first word is derived from the

town of Kolomyja in Galicia. _Mazurka_ is “merely the feminine form of

Mazur,” a Masovian.]

71 [Dombrowski’s march, “Poland has not yet perished.” Compare pp. 325,

326, 334.]

72 [See note 42.]

73 [The Jews in Poland, though not persecuted, formed a separate class,

without share in the government of the country. They were separated from

the Poles by religion, customs, and language. Yet instances of

intermarriage and assimilation were not uncommon. Compare p. 100.]

74 The _pokucie_ is the place of honour, where formerly the household gods

were set, and where still the Russians hang their sacred pictures (ikons).

Here a Lithuanian peasant seats any guest whom he desires to honour.

75 [July mead (_lipcowy miod_) perhaps might better be called

_linden-flower mead_. The Polish name of July, _lipiec_, is derived from

_lipa_, a linden tree. See the epigram quoted in note 67.]

76 [See note 2. Since Czenstochowa was in the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, Robak

finds occasion to hint at the reunion of Lithuania and the Kingdom.]

77 [The reference is to the Eastern (Orthodox) Church, the state church of

Russia.]

78 [Compare p. 319.]

79 [An old jingle expressing the equality before the law of all members of

the Polish gentry.]

80 [Maciej Stryjkowski (1547-83) wrote a famous chronicle that is one of

the sources for the early history of Lithuania.

“Polish heraldry is comparatively simple beside that of other countries.

The use of family names was unknown till the fifteenth century; before

that the different branches of one stock were only recognised by one

common escutcheon. One might belong to the stock of the arrow, the two

daggers, the horseshoe, the double or triple cross, etc. There were only

540 of these escutcheons for the whole of Poland. A great number of

families were grouped together under each one of these signs; we shall

often find a man described as being of such and such a crest.”—M. A.

Biggs.

“It may be added that a wealthy and powerful nobleman often rewarded his

retainers and _famuli_ by ‘admitting them to his escutcheon,’ _i.e._

obtaining for them a diploma of honour from the King, ratifying the

knightly adoption. Hence it is common to hear of the greatest and most

ancient Polish families having the same armorial bearings with some very

obscure ones.”—Naganowski. Compare p. 319.]

81 [See p. 334.]

82 [“The _tarataika_ is species of capote; the _czamara_ a long

frock-coat, braided on the back and chest like a huzzar’s uniform, and

with tight sleeves. The _sukmana_ is a sort of peasant’s coat made of

cloth, the wearing of which by Kosciuszko indicated his strong democratic

tendencies, and sympathy with the lower classes.”—M. A. Biggs.]

83 The beaks of large birds of prey become more and more curved with

advancing age, and finally the upper part grows so crooked that it closes

the bill, and the bird must die of hunger. This popular belief has been

accepted by some ornithologists.

84 It is a fact that there is no instance of the skeleton of a dead animal

having been found.

85 Birdies _(ptaszynki)_ are guns of small calibre, used with a small

bullet. A good marksman with such a fowling-piece can hit a bird on the

wing.

86 [“It may be interesting to know that one of the yet surviving friends

and schoolfellows of Mickiewicz, Ignatius Domejko, the present Rector of

the University of Santiago (Chili), related during his stay in Warsaw last

year (1884) that he challenged the young poet, then at Wilno, to find a

proper name riming with Domejko. Mickiewicz improvised a verse riming

Domejko with Dowejko. It is not, however, quite certain whether there was

actually a family of that name.”—Naganowski.]

87 Little leaves of gold lie at the bottom of bottles of Dantzic brandy.

[The city, formerly under Polish rule, was annexed to Prussia at the time

of the Second Partition, 1793.]

88 [“The bigos was not of course prepared then and there on the spot. It

is usually made in large quantities, put into barrels, and stored in

cellars. The oftener it is heated the more savoury it is.”—M. A. Biggs.]

89 [See p. 333.]

90 Queen Dido had a bull’s hide cut into strips, and thus enclosed within

the circuit of the hide a considerable territory, where she afterwards

built Carthage. The Seneschal did not read the description of this event

in the _Aeneid_, but in all probability in the scholiasts’ commentaries.

N.B.—Some places in the fourth book are by the hand of Stefan Witwicki.]

91 Once in the Diet the deputy Philip, from the village of Konopie (hemp),

obtaining the floor, wandered so far from the subject that he raised a

general laugh in the chamber. Hence arose the proverb: “He has bobbed up

like Philip from the hemp.”

92 [There is here an untranslatable pun in the original; _niemiec,_ the

Polish word for _German_, is derived from _niemy_, _dumb_.]

93 [In the original: “And the Word became——” “These words of the Gospel of

St. John are often used as an exclamation of astonishment.”—M. A. Biggs.]

94 [“Of all spoils the most important were the _spolia opima_, a term

applied to those only which the commander-in-chief of a Roman army

stripped in a field of battle from the leader of the foe.”—_Smith’s

Dictionary of Antiquities_. They were awarded but three or four times in

the course of Roman history.]

95 [In the original there is here an internal jingle between _klucznik_

(warden) and _puszczyk_ (screech owl).]

96 [This festival furnished the subject and the title for Mickiewicz’s

greatest poem, next to _Pan Tadeusz_. The poet’s own explanation of it is

in part as follows: “This is the name of a festival still celebrated among

the common folk in many districts of Lithuania, Prussia, and Courland. The

festival goes back to pagan times, and was formerly called the feast of

the goat (_koziel_), the director of which was the _kozlarz_, at once

priest and poet. At the present time, since the enlightened clergy and

landowners have been making efforts to root out a custom accompanied by

superstitious practices and often by culpable excesses, the folk celebrate

the _forefathers_ secretly in chapels or in empty houses not far from the

graveyard. There they ordinarily spread a feast of food, drink, and fruits

of various sorts and invoke the spirits of the dead. The folk hold the

opinion that by this food and drink and by their songs they bring relief

to souls in Purgatory.”]

97 [See note 1]

98 [The original here has a delightful pun. Gerwazy misunderstands his

lord’s high-flown word _wassalow_ (vassals) as _wonsalow_ (mustachioed

champions). A long mustache was the dearest adornment of a Polish

gentleman; compare Gerwazy’s description of Jacek on pages 43 and 115,

where _wonsal_ is the title given him in the original.]

99 [The last three names might be translated, _Cuttem, Slashem, Whackem._]

100 [The _buzdygan_ or mace was the staff of office of certain subordinate

officers in the Polish army, as the _bulawa_ was that of the _hetmans_ or

generals. Each was a short rod with a knob at the end, but the knob on the

_bulawa_ was round, that on the _buzdygan_ was pear-shaped, with

longitudinal notches.]

101 [See note 82.]

102 In Lithuania the name _okolica_ or _zascianek_ is given to a

settlement of gentry, to distinguish them from true villages, which are

settlements of peasants. [“These _zascianki_ were inhabited by the poorest

of the lesser nobility, who were in fact peasants, but possessed of truly

Castilian pride. The wearing of a sword being restricted to nobles, it was

not unusual to see such _zasciankowicze_, or peasant nobles, following the

plough bare-footed, wearing an old rusty sword hanging at their side by

hempen cords.”—Naganowski. In this volume _hamlet_ has been arbitrarily

chosen as a translation for the name of these villages of gentry.]

103 [See page 334.]

104 _Kisiel_ is a Lithuanian dish, a sort of jelly made of oaten yeast,

which is washed with water until all the mealy parts are separated from

it: hence the proverb. [The literal translation of the Polish line is

simply: “To the Horeszkos he is merely the tenth water on the kisiel.”]

105 [See pp. 334, 335.]

106 [See p. 332.]

107 [See p. 335.]

108 [The arms of Lithuania (called the “Pursuit”) are a horse-man in full

career, with sword uplifted to strike. The Bear is the coat-of-arms of

Zmudz, a portion of Lithuania, on the Baltic]

109 [Wilno (Vilna).]

110 [A French statesman and historian, in the years 1810-12 Napoleon’s

representative at Warsaw.]

111 [“A convicted slanderer was compelled to crawl under the table or

bench, and in that position to bark three times like a dog, and pronounce

his recantation. Hence the Polish word _odszczekac_, to bark back,

generally used to express recanting.”—M. A. Biggs.]

112 After various brawls this man was seized at Minsk, and shot, in

accordance with a court decree.

113 When the King was to assemble the general militia, he had a pole set

up in each parish with a broom or bundle of twigs tied to the top. This

was called _sending out the twigs_. Every grown man of the knightly order

was obliged, under pain of loss of the privileges of gentle birth, to

rally at once to the Wojewoda’s standard. [The twigs symbolised the King’s

authority to inflict punishment. The reign of Jan III. Sobieski was

1674-96.]

114 [“The district of Dobrzyn in Masovia, that exclusively Polish region

the central point of which is Warsaw. The inhabitants of it are called

Masovians; hence this name is also applied to the men of Dobrzyn who

emigrated from Masovia to Lithuania.”—Lipiner.]

115 [Bartlomiej is the Polish form of Bartholomew; Maciej and Maciek (a

diminutive) are variant forms of Matyasz (Matthias).]

116 By-names are really sobriquets.

117 [_Krolik_, Maciej’s nickname, means both _rabbit_ and _little king_ or

_kinglet_.]

118 [See p. 333.]

119 [See note 29.]

120 [Maciej had naturally joined the Confederates of Bar, who opposed the

King because of his subserviency to the Russians. “But when the King later

declared himself for the patriotic party… it is no wonder that our Maciek

took sides with the crown, the power of which then needed strengthening.

He supported Tyzenhaus, because of the latter’s beneficial activity in the

most important direction, that of the economic welfare of the country.

After the King’s contemptible desertion to the camp of the Confederates of

Targowica, all noble and patriotic men in Poland had of course to oppose

him. Thus the King, and not Maciek, was the real Cock-on-the-Steeple, and

our man of Dobrzyn was really always on the side of those who fought for

‘the good of the country.’ ”—Lipiner.]

121 [The last Under-Treasurer of Lithuania. He took part in Jasinski’s

insurrection: compare p. 3 and note 7.]

122 Alexander Count Pociej, on his return to Lithuania after the war,

assisted those of his fellow-countrymen who were emigrating abroad, and

sent considerable sums to the treasury of the Legions.

123 [The opening line of a popular hymn by Franciszek Karpinski

(1741-1825).]

124 [This form of greeting is still used by the common people in Poland.]

125 [Joseph Grabowski, a landed proprietor of the Grand Duchy of Posen,

was a colonel of the General Staff during the Napoleonic wars, and later

played an important part in the public life of the Grand Duchy. At Lukow,

near Obiezierz, in 1831, he entertained Mickiewicz and his brother

Franciszek.]

126 [See note 46.]

127 [See p. 334.]

128 [A proverbial phrase; compare p. 283.]

129 [Also often called Baptist.]

130 [See note 20.]

131 [See p. 333.]

132 [“The ‘contracts’ of Kiev and Minsk were famous fairs, held in those

cities at stated times, for the conclusion of agreements of all

sorts.”—Jaroszynski. As these are the only contracts of which Maciej has

heard, the word, as used by the eloquent student of Rousseau, naturally

puzzles him. (Adapted from Naganowski.)]

133 [“In 1568 a Polish gentleman named Pszonka founded on his estate,

Babin, near Lublin, a satiric society, called the Babin Republic. It

scourged contemporary manners in a peculiar fashion, sending to every man

who became noted for some crime or folly a diploma by virtue of which he

was admitted to the ‘Republic’ and had an office conferred on him. Thus,

for example, a quack was appointed physician, a coward general, and a

spendthrift steward.”—Lipiner.]

134 [See p. 333.]

135 [“_Klejnot_, here translated _jewel_, also means _escutcheon_.]

136 [“The order of the Piarists attained, after the expulsion of the

Jesuits in 1773, great influence over the education of youth, and

initiated, mainly by the efforts of Konarski, an improved system of

education. While the Jesuits had laid the main stress upon Latin, the

Piarists substituted French as the groundwork of education. This was an

improvement upon the previous system, but it had the effect of inducing an

aping of French manners and customs in literature and social life, till

the reaction in favour of Polish nationality.”—M. A. Biggs (slightly

altered).]

137 [Literally, “of Marymont flour.” Marymont is a village near Warsaw,

which is (or was) famous for its flour.]

138 [The epithet in the original is _Sak_, a sack; _glupi jak sak,_

“stupid as a sack,” is a Polish proverb. As an equivalent, the archaic

_Buzzard_ seemed preferable to the grotesque modern _Donkey_.]

139 [Lele and Polele, or Lelum and Polelum, were reputed to be twin

brothers in the Polish pagan mythology. Slowacki introduces them into his

drama _Lilla Weneda_.]

140 [See p. 332.]

141 [Berenice’s hair. (Jaroszynski.)]

142 The constellation known among astronomers as _Ursa Major_.]

143 It was the custom to hang up in churches any fossil bones that might

be discovered; the people regard them as the bones of giants.

144 The memorable comet of the year 1811.

145 [“When the plague is about to strike upon Lithuania, the eye of the

seer divines its coming; for, if one may believe the bards, often in the

desolate graveyards and meadows the Maid of Pestilence rises to sight, in

a white garment, with a fiery crown on her temples; her brow towers over

the trees of Bialowieza, and in her hand she waves a bloody

kerchief.”—Mickiewicz, _Konrad Wallenrod_.]

146 Father Poczobut, an ex-Jesuit, and a famous astronomer, published a

work on the Zodiac of Denderah, and by his observations aided Lalande in

calculating the motions of the moon. See the biography of him by Jan

Sniadecki.

147 [Jan Sniadecki (1756-1830) was a man of real distinction both as an

astronomer and as one of the intellectual leaders of Poland. During

Mickiewicz’s student days he was professor at the University of Wilno. The

young poet disliked him, as a representative of the cold, rationalistic

tradition of the eighteenth century.]

148 [At Jassy, in Roumania, peace was concluded in 1792 between Russia and

Turkey. The poet represents Branicki and his comrades as rushing to the

protection of the Russian armies: compare p. 334.]

149 [Fvlmen Orientis Joannes III. rex Poloniarvm ter maximus. Calissii

typis Collegij Societatis Jesv. 1684.]

150 [Rubinkowski, Jan Kaz. Janina zwycieskich tryumfow Jana III. Poznan,

S. J. 1739.]

151 [Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski (1734-1823), a cousin of Stanislaw

Poniatowski, and one of the leading men of his time in Poland.]

152 [See p. 3 and note 6.]

153 [See note 29.]

154 [See p. 171 and note 121.]

155 Properly Prince de Nassau-Siegen [1745-1808], a famous warrior and

adventurer of those times. He was a Muscovite admiral and defeated the

Turks in the bay [of the Dnieper, near Ochakov]; later he was himself

utterly defeated by the Swedes. He spent some time in Poland, where he was

granted the rights of a citizen. The combat of the Prince de Nassau with

the tiger [in Africa!] was noised abroad at the time through all the

newspapers of Europe.

156 [Thaddeus, though he may catch a glimpse of this scene through the

keyhole, apparently does not hear the conversation, if one may judge by

his later ignorance: compare p. 261.]

157 [In the original _Switezianka_, a nymph that apparently Mickiewicz

himself invented as an inhabitant of the Switez, a small lake near his

home. One of his ballads is entitled _Switezianka_, another _Switez_.]

158 [The Polish “short mile” was of 15,000 feet, or somewhat less than

three English miles; the “long mile” was of 22,500 feet.]

159 [A sort of Polish Puck. He figures prominently in Slowacki’s tragedy

_Balladyna_.]

160 [See note 21. The name of Plut’s birthplace might be translated

_Skinnem_.]

161 The _Yellow Book_, so called from its binding, is the barbarous book

of Russian martial law. Frequently in time of peace the government

proclaims whole provinces as being in a state of war, and on the authority

of the _Yellow Book_ confers on the military commander complete power over

the estates and lives of the citizens. It is a well-known fact that from

the year 1812 to the revolution [of 1831] all Lithuania was subject to the

_Yellow Book_, of which the executor was the Grand Duke the Tsarevich

[Constantine].]

162 [Joseph Baka (1707-80), a Jesuit, wrote _Reflections on Inevitable

Death, Common to All_. His short doggerel rimes, which breathe a jovial

gaiety, were long extremely popular. In recent times suspicion has been

cast on Baka’s authorship of the work. (Adapted from Jaroszynski.)]

163 A Lithuanian club is made in the following way. A young oak is

selected and is slashed from the bottom upwards with an axe, so that bark

and bast are cut through and the wood slightly wounded. Into these notches

are thrust sharp flints, which in time grow into the tree and form hard

knobs. Clubs in pagan times formed the chief weapon of the Lithuanian

infantry; they are still occasionally used, and are called _nasieki_,

gnarled clubs.

164 After Jasinski’s insurrection [compare p. 3 and note 7], when the

Lithuanian armies were retiring towards Warsaw, the Muscovites had come up

to the deserted city of Wilno. General Deyov at the head of his staff was

entering through the Ostra Gate. The streets were empty; the townsfolk had

shut themselves in their houses. One townsman, seeing a cannon loaded with

grapeshot, abandoned in an alley, aimed it at the gate and fired. This one

shot saved Wilno for the time being; General Deyov and several officers

perished; the rest, fearing an ambuscade, retired from the city. I do not

know with certainty the name of that townsman.

165 Even later still forays (_zajazdy_) occurred, which, though not so

famous, were still bloody and much talked of. About the year 1817 a man

named U[zlowski] in the wojewodeship of Nowogrodek defeated in a foray the

whole garrison of Nowogrodek and took its leaders captive.

166 [A town not far from Odessa, captured from the Turks in 1788 by

Potemkin.]

167 [Izmail was a fortress in Bessarabia, captured from the Turks by

Suvorov in 1790, after a peculiarly bloody siege. (Byron chose this

episode for treatment in _Don Juan_, cantos vii and viii.) Mickiewicz

makes Rykov give the name as Izmailov; Rykov is a bluff soldier, not a

stickler for geographical nomenclature.]

168 [In Italy, near Modena, memorable for the victory of the Russians and

Austrians over the French in 1799.]

169 Evidently Preussisch-Eylau. [In East Prussia: see p. 334.]

170 [Alexander Rimski-Korsakov (1753-1840), a Russian general sent in 1799

to Switzerland in aid of Suvorov; he was beaten on September 25, before

uniting with Suvorov, and was in consequence for a time dismissed from the

service.]

171 [A village not far from Cracow, where on April 4, 1794, Kosciuszko

with an army of 6000, among them 2000 peasants, armed with scythes,

defeated a body of 7000 Russians.]

172 [See p. 334.]

173 [Jan Tenczynski, an ambassador from Poland to Sweden, gained the love

of a Swedish princess. On his journey to espouse her he was captured by

the Danes, in 1562, and he died in confinement in Copenhagen in the next

year. His memory has been honoured in verse by Kochanowski and in prose by

Niemcewicz.]

174 [Compare p. 305.]

175 [See note 38.]

176 Apparently the Pantler was slain about the year 1791, at the time of

the first war. [In the chronology of this poem there is serious confusion.

From Jacek’s narrative (pp. 269-272) it is plain that Thaddeus was born

shortly before the death of the Pantler. At the time of the action of the

poem he is about twenty years old (p. 21), and he was born at the time of

Kosciuszko’s war against the Russians (p. 6), which would be naturally

interpreted as 1794, the date of the war in which Kosciuszko was the

dictator. All this would be consistent with the original plan of

Mickiewicz, to have the action take place in 1814 (see Introduction, p.

xiv); it conflicts with the chronology of the completed poem, the action

of which is placed in the years 1811-12. Apparently Mickiewicz inserted

the note above in a vain attempt to restore consistency. The “first war”

could be none other than that following the Constitution of May 3, 1791,

in which Prince Joseph Poniatowski and Kosciuszko were leaders. But this

war did not begin until after the proclamation of the Confederacy of

Targowica, which was on May 14,1792.]

177 [A former adjutant of Kosciuszko; he perished in the war of 1812.]

178 A certain Russian historian describes in similar fashion the omens and

the premonitions of the Muscovite people before the war of 1812.

179 _Run_ [the Polish word here used] is the winter corn when it comes up

green.

180 _Wyraj_ [the Polish word here used] in the popular dialect means

properly the autumn season, when the migratory birds fly away; to fly to

_wyraj_ means to fly to warm countries. Hence figuratively the folk

applies the word _wyraj_ to warm countries and especially to some

fabulous, happy countries, lying beyond the seas.

181 [Prince Joseph Poniatowski (compare pp. 334-335) and Jerome Bonaparte

(1784-1860),the youngest brother of Napoleon.]

182 [See pp. 31 and 334, and note 33.]

183 [See pp. 31 and 334, and note 34.]

184 [Kazimierz Malachowski (1765-1845); he lived to share in the

insurrection of 1831. Compare note 35.]

185 [Romuald Giedrojc (1750-1824); in 1812 he organised the army in

Lithuania.]

186 [Michal Grabowski (1773-1812), killed at the siege of Smolensk.]

187 A book now very rare, published more than a hundred years ago by

Stanislaw Czerniecki.

188 That embassy to Rome has been often described and painted. See the

preface to _The Perfect Cook_: “This embassy, being a great source of

amazement to every western state, redounded to the wisdom of the

incomparable gentleman [Ossolinski] as well as to the splendour of his

house and the magnificence of his table—so that one of the Roman princes

said: ‘To-day Rome is happy in having such an ambassador.’ ”

N.B.—Czerniecki himself was Ossolinski’s head cook. [The information given

by Mickiewicz does not quite agree with that furnished by Estreicher,

_Bibliografia Polska_ (Cracow, 1896), xiv. 566, 567. Czerniecki was

apparently the head cook of Lubomirski, Wojewoda of Cracow, etc., not of

Ossolinski.]

189 [Karol Radziwill (1734-90), called My-dear-friend from a phrase that

he constantly repeated, the richest magnate of his time in Poland and one

immensely popular among the gentry, led a gay and adventurous life. In

1785 he entertained King Stanislaw at Nieswiez; this reception cost him

millions.]

190 [Compare p. 177 and note 128.]

191 [The festival of the Annunciation, March 25.]

192 In Lithuania, on the entrance of the French and Polish armies,

confederacies were formed in each wojewodeship and deputies to the Diet

were elected.

193 It is a well-known fact that at Hohenlinden the Polish corps led by

General Kniaziewicz decided the victory. [At Hohenlinden in Bavaria the

French under Moreau defeated the Austrians, December 3, 1800; compare p.

334.]

194 [See p. 335.]

195 [A brand of deep disgrace. The Chamberlain is of course quoting from

the Latin text of the law.] 196 [_Militem_ (soldier) here signifies a

full-fledged gentleman, of ancient lineage. _Skartabell_ (a word of

uncertain etymology) was a term applied to a newly created noble, who was

not yet entitled to all the privileges of his order.]

197 [The Constitution of May 3, 1791 (see p. 333), conferred many

political rights on the inhabitants of the Polish cities and took the

peasants “under the protection of the law,” though it did not set them

free.]

198 [See p. 332.]

199 [See note 28.]

200 [“The finest palace in Warsaw was beyond dispute that of General Pac,

who died in exile at Smyrna.”—Ostrowski. The proprietor of the palace

seems to have been present at Soplicowo at this very time: see p. 301.]

201 [This was a Polish escutcheon characterised by a golden crescent and a

six-pointed golden star. It was borne by the Soplicas: see p. 319.]

202 [A village in eastern Galicia, the scene of a battle in 1667 between

the Turks and the Poles under Sobieski.]

203 [See p. 295 and note 200.]

204 Radziwill the Orphan travelled very widely, and published an account

of his journey to the Holy Land. [Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill was

converted from Calvinism to Catholicism. In 1582-84 he made a pilgrimage

to the Holy Land and Egypt, on which he wrote a book.]

205 [See p. 333.]

206 [Jaroszynski explains _kontaz_ as a sort of sausage, _arkas_ as a cold

dish of milk, cream, and yolks of eggs, and _blemas_ (the same word as

_blancmange_) as almond jelly.]

207 In the sixteenth, and at the beginning of the seventeenth century, at

the time when the arts flourished, even banquets were directed by artists,

and were full of symbols and of theatrical scenes. At a famous banquet

given in Rome for Leo X. there was a centrepiece that represented the four

seasons of the year in turn, and that evidently served as a model for

Radziwill’s. Table customs altered in Europe about the middle of the

eighteenth century, but remained unchanged longest in Poland.

208 Pinety [Pinetti?] was a conjurer famous throughout Poland, but when he

visited the country I do not know.

209 [Henryk Dembinski (1791-1864) took part in the Napoleonic wars, the

insurrection of 1831, and the Hungarian insurrection of 1849.]

210 [Joseph Dwernicki (1778-1857), a member of the Legions, who in 1804

fitted out a squadron at his own cost. In 1826 he was made a general, and

distinguished himself in the insurrection of 1831.]

211 [Samuel Rozycki entered the army in 1806; he took part in the

insurrection of 1831.]

212 [The translator cannot find that _counterpoint_ is a term of fencing,

but does not know how else to render _kontrpunkt_.]

213 [The Pulawski family were among the organisers and most prominent

leaders of the Confederacy of Bar. Joseph Pulawski was the first

commander-in-chief of its armed forces. His son Kazimierz won fame as a

leader after his father’s death. Later, in 1777, he came to America, and

distinguished himself by his services to the cause of the revolutionists.

He was killed in 1779 at the attack on Savannah.]

214 [Michal Dzierzanowski, a Confederate of Bar and an adventurer famous

in the eighteenth century; he took part in almost all the wars of his

time. He died in 1808. The Cossack Sawa was one of the most active leaders

in the Confederacy of Bar.]

215 The mournful song of Pani Cybulski, whom her husband gambled away at

cards to the Muscovites, is well known in Lithuania.

216 [That is, is fickle. The translator is here indebted to Miss Biggs’s

version.]

217 [Charles Francois Dumouriez (1739-1823) was an agent of the French

government sent to support the Confederacy of Bar. He later became

prominent in the affairs of his own country.]

218 [The Piasts were the first royal dynasty of Poland. In later times the

name was used to denote any candidate for the Polish throne who was of

native birth.]

219 [The italicised words are of foreign origin in the original text. For

old Maciek everything not Polish is Muscovite or German. Gerwazy has the

same way of thinking: compare p. 318.]

220 [Doubtless Maciek had heard of the excommunication of Napoleon by Pius

VII. in 1809.]

221 The fashion of adopting the French garb raged in the provinces from

1800 to 1812. The majority of the young men changed their style of dress

before marriage at the desire of their future wives. [On the _kontusz_ see

note 13.]

222 The story of the quarrel of Rejtan with the Prince de Nassau, which

the Seneschal never concluded, is well known in popular tradition. We add

here its conclusion, in order to gratify the curious reader.—Rejtan,

angered by the boasting of the Prince de Nassau, took his stand beside him

at the narrow passage that the beast must take; just at that moment a huge

boar, infuriated by the shots and the baiting, rushed to the passage.

Rejtan snatched the gun from the Prince’s hands, cast his own on the

ground, and, taking a pike and offering another to the German, said: “Now

we will see who will do the better work with the spear.” The boar was just

about to attack them, when the Seneschal Hreczecha, who was standing at

some distance away, brought down the beast by an excellent shot. The

gentlemen were at first angry, but later were reconciled and generously

rewarded Hreczecha.

223 [Compare p. 100.]

224 The Russian government recognises no freemen except the gentry

(_szlachta_). Peasants freed by landowners are immediately entered in the

rolls of the Emperor’s private estates, and must pay increased taxes in

place of the dues to their lords. It is a well-known fact that in the year

1818 the citizens of the province of Wilno adopted in the local diet a

project for freeing all the peasants, and appointed a delegation to the

Emperor with that aim in view; but the Russian government ordained that

the project should be quashed and no further mention made of it. There is

no means of setting a man free under the Russian government except to take

him into one’s family. Accordingly many have had the privileges of the

gentry conferred on them in this way as an act of grace or for money.

225 [Compare p. 296, and note 201.]

226 [“Before the inauguration of a better taste by Mickiewicz and other

great writers, the so-called French or Classical school of literature in

Poland produced a quantity of _panegyrics_ or complimentary verses in

honour of great personages, with stale classical images, and strained,

far-fetched metaphors, destitute of real poetry. Our author has seized

this happy opportunity of satirising the faults of classicism.”—M. A.

Biggs.]

227 [“Janissaries’ music, a type of extraordinarily noisy Turkish martial

music, was fashionable in eastern Europe in the eighteenth century, and

was introduced into Poland.”—Jaroszynski.]

228 [See p. 333.]

229 [See p. 334.]

230 [“Readers who have already observed into what close connection

Mickiewicz loves to bring the phenomena of nature and the affairs of men,

will not find it difficult, nor will they regard it as a forced

interpretation, to understand the clouds, which at the close of the

poem... he paints with such disproportionate breadth and with such

apparent minuteness, as something quite different from mere external

reality. They will have no difficulty in seeing in that western cloud,

which was adorned with gold and pearl, but in the centre was blood-red,

Napoleon, the great warrior of the west; or, if they prefer, the hopes of

Poland that were linked to him. We are in the year 1812: both the aureole

of that name, and the hopes and rejoicing that it aroused, we may

recognise in the gleaming, but fleeting picture, which ‘slowly turned

yellow, then pale and grey,’ and behind which the sun fell asleep with a

sigh. Thus in this passage, as well as earlier, in the words of Maciek

(page 314), the poet gives us warning of the great tragedy which was soon

to overwhelm not only Lithuania and Poland but the world.”—Lipiner.]

231 [This concluding couplet imitates the conventional ending of a Polish

fairy tale.]

THE TEMPLE PRESS LETCHWORTH

ENGLAND