THE BANKS OF THE VISTULA.
Each succeeding morning not only brought fresh symptoms of recovery
to the two invalids, but condensed the mutual admiration of the young
men into a solid and ardent esteem.
It is not the disposition of youthful minds to weigh for months and
years the sterling value of those qualities which attract them. As
soon as they see virtue, they respect it; as soon as they meet
kindness, they believe it: and as soon as a union of both presents
itself, they love it. Not having passed through the disappointments
of a delusive world, they grasp for reality every pageant which
appears. They have not yet admitted that cruel doctrine which, when
it takes effect, creates and extends the misery it affects to cure.
Whilst we give up our souls to suspicion, we gradually learn to
deceive; whilst we repress the fervors of our own hearts, we freeze
those which approach us; whilst we cautiously avoid occasions of
receiving pain, at every remove we acquire an unconscious influence
to inflict it on those who follow us. They, again, meet from our
conduct and lips the lesson that destroys the expanding sensibilities
of their nature; and thus the tormenting chain of deceived and
deceiving characters may be lengthened to infinitude.
About the latter end of the month, Sobieski received a summons to
court, where a diet was to be held on the effect of the victory at
Zielime, to consider of future proceedings. In the same packet his
majesty enclosed a collar and investiture of the order of St.
Stanislaus, as an acknowledgment of service to the young Thaddeus;
and he accompanied it with a note from himself, expressing his
commands that the young knight should return with the palatine and
other generals, to receive thanks from the throne.
Thaddeus, half wild with delight at the thoughts of so soon meeting
his mother, ran to the tent of his British friend to communicate the
tidings. Somerset participated in his pleasure, and with reciprocal
warmth accepted the invitation to accompany him to Villanow.
"I would follow you, my friend," said he, pressing the hand of
Thaddeus, "all over the world."
"Then I will take you to the most charming spot in it?" cried he.
"Villanow is an Eden; and my mother, the dear angel, would make a
desert so to me."
"You speak so rapturously of your enchanted castle, Thaddeus,"
returned his friend, "I believe I shall consider my knight-errantry,
in being fool enough to trust myself amidst a fray in which I had no
business, as one of the wisest acts of my life!"
"I consider it," replied Thaddeus, "as one of the most auspicious
events in mine."
Before the palatine quitted the camp, Somerset thought it proper to
acquaint Mr. Loftus, who was yet at St. Petersburg, of the
particulars of his late danger, and that he was going to Warsaw with
his new friends, where he should remain for several weeks. He added,
that as the court of Poland, through the intercession of the
palatine, had generously given him his liberty, he should be able to
see everything in that country worthy of investigation, and that he
would write to him again, enclosing letters for England, soon after
his arrival at the Polish capital.
The weather continuing fine, in a few days the party left Zielime;
and the palatine and Somerset, being so far restored from their
wounds that they could walk, the one with a crutch and the other by
the support of his friend's arm, they went through the journey with
animation and pleasure. The benign wisdom of Sobieski, the
intelligent enthusiasm of Thaddeus, and the playful vivacity of
Somerset, mingling their different natures, produced such a beautiful
union, that the minutes flew fast as their wishes. A week more
carried them into the palatinate of Masovia, and soon afterwards
within the walls of Villanow.
Everything that presented itself to Mr. Somerset was new and
fascinating. He saw in the domestic felicity of his friend scenes
which reminded him of the social harmony of his own home. He beheld
in the palace and retinue of Sobieski all the magnificence which
bespoke the descendant of a great king, and a power which wanted
nothing of royal grandeur but the crown, which he had the magnanimity
to think and to declare was then placed upon a more worthy brow.
Whilst Somerset venerated this true patriot, the high tone his mind
acquired was not lowered by associating with characters nearer the
common standard. The friends of Sobieski were men of tried probity--
men who at all times preferred their country's welfare before their
own peculiar interest. Mr. Somerset day after day listened with deep
attention to these virtuous and energetic noblemen. He saw them full
of fire and personal courage when the affairs of Poland were
discussed; and he beheld with admiration their perfect forgetfulness
of themselves in their passion for the general good. In these moments
his heart bowed down before them, and all the pride of a Briton
distended his breast when he thought that such men as these his
ancestors were. He remembered how often their chivalric virtues used
to occupy his reflections in the picture-gallery at Somerset Castle,
and his doubts, when he compared what is with what was, that history
had glossed over the actions of past centuries, or that a different
order of men lived then from those which now inhabit the world. Thus,
studying the sublime characters of Sobieski and his friends, and
enjoying the endearing kindness of Thaddeus and his mother, did a
fortnight pass away without his even recollecting the promise of
writing to his governor. At the end of that period, he stole an hour
from the countess's society, and enclosed in a short letter to Mr.
Loftus the following epistle to his mother:--
To LADY SOMERSET, SOMERSET CASTLE, LEICESTERSHIRE.
"Many weeks ago, my dearest mother, I wrote a letter of seven sheets
from the banks of the Neva, which, long ere this time, you and my
dear father must have received. I attempted to give you some idea of
the manners of Russia, and my vanity whispers that I succeeded
tolerably well. The court of the famous Catharine and the attentions
of the hospitable Count Brinicki were then the subjects of my pen.
"But how shall I account for my being here? How shall I allay your
surprise and displeasure on seeing that this letter is dated from
Warsaw? I know that I have acted against the wish of my father in
visiting one of the countries he proscribes. I know that I have
disobeyed your commands in ever having at any period of my life taken
up arms without an indispensable necessity; and I have nothing to
allege in my defence. I fell in the way of temptation, and I yielded
to it. I really cannot enumerate all the things which induced me to
volunteer with my Russian friends; suffice it to say that I did so,
and that we were defeated by the Poles at Zielime; and as Heaven has
rather rewarded your prayers than punished my imprudence, I trust you
will do the same, and pardon an indiscretion I vow never to repeat.
"Notwithstanding all this, I must have lost my life through my folly,
had I not been preserved, even in the moment when death was pending
over me, by a young officer with whose family I now am. The very
sound of their title will create your respect; for we of the
patrician order have a strange tenacity in our belief that virtue is
hereditary, and in this instance our creed is duly honored. Their
patronymic is Sobieski; the family which bears it is the only
remaining posterity of the great monarch of that name; and the count,
who is at its head, is Palatine of Masovia, which, next to the
throne, is the first dignity in the state. He is one of the warmest
champions of his country's rights; and though born to command, has so
far transgressed the golden adage of despots, 'Ignorance and
subjection,' that throughout his territories every man is taught to
worship his God with his heart as well as with his knees. The
understandings of his peasants are opened to all useful knowledge. He
does not put books of science and speculation into their hands, to
consume their time in vain pursuits: he gives them the Bible, and
implements of industry, to afford them the means of knowing and of
practising their duty. All Masovia around his palace blooms like a
garden. The cheerful faces of the farmers, and the blessings which I
hear them implore on the family when I am walking in the field with
the young count (for in this country the sons bear the same title
with their fathers [Footnote: _Prince_, (ancient _Kniaz_) and
_Boyard_, (which is equivalent in rank to our old English Baron,)
are titles used by Russians and Polanders, both nations being descended
from the Sclavonians, and their languages derived from the same roots.
_Prince_ indicates the highest rank of a subject; _Boyard_
simply that of _Nobleman_. But both personages must be understood
to be of hereditary power to raise forces on their estates for the service
of the sovereign, to lead them in battle, and to maintain all their
expenses. The title of _Count_ has been adopted within a century or
two by both nations, and occasionally appended to the ancient heroic
designation of _Boyard_. The feminine to these titles is formed by adding
_gina_ to the paternal title; thus _Kniazgina Olga_, means Princess Olga;
also, _Boyarda_, Lady. The titles of _Palatine, Vaivode, Starost_
and the like belong to civil and military offices.]), have even drawn
a few delighted drops from the eyes of your thoughtless son. I know
that you think I have nothing sentimental about me, else you would
not so often have poured into my not inattentive ears, 'that to estimate
the pleasures of earth and heaven, we must cultivate the sensibilities
of the heart. Shut our eyes against them, and we are merely nicely-
constructed speculums, which reflect the beauties of nature, but
enjoy none.' You see, mamma, that I both remember and adopt your
lessons.
"Thaddeus Sobieski is the grandson of the palatine, and the sole heir
of his illustrious race. It is to him that I owe the preservation of
my life at Zielime, and much of my happiness since; for he is not
only the bravest but the most amiable young man in the kingdom; and
he is my friend! Indeed, as things have happened, you must think that
out of evil has come good. Though I have been disobedient, I have
repented my fault, and it has introduced me to the knowledge of a
people whose friendship will henceforward constitute the greatest
pleasure of my days. The mother of Thaddeus is the only daughter of
the palatine; and of her I can say no more than that nothing on earth
can more remind me of you; she is equally charming, equally tender to
your son.
"Whilst the palatine is engaged at the diet, her excellency,
Thaddeus, and myself, with now and then a few visitors from Warsaw,
form the most agreeable parties you can suppose. We walk together, we
read together, we converse together, we sing together--at least, the
countess sings to us, which is all the same; and you know that time
flies swiftly on the wings of harmony. She has an uncommonly sweet
voice, and a taste which I never heard paralleled. By the way, you
cannot imagine anything more beautiful than the Polish music. It
partakes of that delicious languor so distinguished in the Turkish
airs, with a mingling of those wandering melodies which the now-
forgotten composers must have caught from the Tartars. In short,
whilst the countess is singing, I hardly suffer myself to breathe;
and I feel just what our poetical friend William Scarsdale said a
twelvemonth ago at a concert of yours, 'I feel as if love sat upon my
heart and flapped it with his wings.'
"I have tried all my powers of persuasion to prevail on this charming
countess to visit our country. I have over and over again told her of
you, and described her to you; that you are near her own age (for
this lovely woman, though she has a son nearly twenty, is not more
than forty;) that you are as fond of your ordinary boy as she is of
her peerless one; that, in short, you and my father will receive her
and Thaddeus, and the palatine, with open arms and hearts, if they
will condescend to visit our humbler home at the end of the war. I
believe I have repeated my entreaties, both to the countess and my
friend, regularly every day since my arrival at Villanow, but always
with the same issue: she smiles and refuses; and Thaddeus 'shakes his
ambrosial curls' with a 'very god-like frown' of denial; I hope it is
self-denial, in compliment to his mother's cruel and unprovoked
negative.
"Before I proceed, I must give you some idea of the real appearance
of this palace. I recollect your having read a superficial account of
it in a few slight sketches of Poland which have been published in
England; but the pictures they exhibit are so faint, they hardly
resemble the original. Pray do not laugh at me, if I begin in the
usual descriptive style! You know there is only one way to describe
houses and lands and rivers; so no blame can be thrown on me for
taking the beaten path, where there is no other. To commence:--
"When we left Zielime, and advanced into the province of Masovia, the
country around Praga rose at every step in fresh beauty. The
numberless chains of gently swelling hills which encompass it on each
side of the Vistula were in some parts checkered with corn fields,
meadows, and green pastures covered with sheep, whose soft bleatings
thrilled in my ears and transported my senses into new regions, so
different was my charmed and tranquillized mind from the tossing
anxieties attendant on the horrors I had recently witnessed. Surely
there is nothing in the world, short of the most undivided reciprocal
attachment, that has such power over the workings of the human heart
as the mild sweetness of nature. The most ruffled temper, when
emerging from the town, will subside into a calm at the sight of a
wide stretch of landscape reposing in the twilight of a fine evening.
It is then that the spirit of peace settles upon the heart, unfetters
the thoughts and elevates the soul to the Creator. It is then that we
behold the Parent of the universe in his works; we see his grandeur
in earth, sea, and sky: we feel his affection in the emotions which
they raise, and, half mortal, half etherealized, forget where we are,
in the anticipation of what that world must be of which this earth is
merely the shadow. [Footnote: This description of the banks of the
Vistula was given to me with smiles and sighs. The reality was once
enjoyed by the narrator, and there was a delight in the retrospection
"sweet and mournful to the soul." At the time these reflections arose
on such a scene, I often tasted the same pleasure in evening visits
to the beautiful rural environs of London, which then extended from
the north side of Fitzroy Square to beyond the Elm Grove on Primrose
Hill, and forward through the fields to Hampstead. But most of that
is all streets, or Regent's Park; and the sweet Hill, then the resort
of many a happy Sunday group, has not now a tree standing on it, and
hardly a blade of grass, "to mark where the primrose has been."]
"Autumn seemed to be unfolding all her beauties to greet the return
of the palatine. In one part the haymakers were mowing the hay and
heaping it into stacks; in another, the reapers were gathering up the
wheat, with a troop of rosy little gleaners behind them, each of whom
might have tempted the proudest Palemon in Christendom to have
changed her toil into 'a gentler duty.' Such a landscape intermingled
with the little farms of these honest people, whom the philanthropy
of Sobieski has rendered free (for it is a tract of his extensive
domains I am describing), reminded me of Somerset. Villages repose in
the green hollows of the vales, and cottages are seen peeping from
amidst the thick umbrage of the woods which cover the face of the
hills. The irregular forms and thatched roofs of these simple
habitations, with their infant inhabitants playing at the doors,
compose such lovely groups, that I wish for our dear Mary's pencil
and fingers (for, alas! that way mine are motionless!) to transport
them to your eyes.
"The palace of Villanow, which is castellated, now burst upon my
view. It rears its embattled head from the summit of a hill that
gradually slopes down towards the Vistula, in full view to the south
of the plain of Vola, a spot long famous for the election of the
kings of Poland. [Footnote: It was from this very assumption by the
nation, on the extinction of the male line of the monarchs of the
house of Jaghellon, that all their subsequent political calamities
may be dated. The last two sovereigns of this race were most justly
styled good and great kings---father and son--Sigismund I. and II.
But on the death of the last, about the middle of the sixteenth
century, certain nobles of the nation, intoxicated with their wealth
and privileges, run wild for dictation in all things; and as the
foundation for such rule, they determined to make the succession of
their future kings entirely dependent on the free vote of public
suffrage; and the plain of Vola was made the terrible arena. So it
may be called; for, from the time of the first monarch so elected,
Henry of Valois, a stranger to the country, and brother to the
execrable Charles IX. of France, bribery or violence have been the
usual keys to the throne of Poland. For the doors of the country
being once opened by the misguided people themselves to the influence
of ambition, partiality, and passion, and shut against the old tenure
of a settled succession, foreign powers were always ready to step in,
with the gold or the sword; and Poland necessarily became a vassal
adjunct to whatever neighboring country furnished the new sovereign.
Thus it was, with a few exceptions (as is still case of the glorious
John Sobieski), until the election of Stanislaus Augustus, who,
though nominated by the power of the Empress of Russia, yet being,
like Sobieski, a native prince of the nation, determined to govern
the people of Poland in the spirit of his and their most glorious
ancestors; and true to the vow, treading in the steps of the last of
the Jaghellons, he gave to Poland the constitution of 1791, which,
with the re-enaction of many wise laws, again made the throne
hereditary. Hence the devoted struggles of every arm in the country
in loyal defence of such a recovered existence.] On the north of the
building, the earth is cut into natural ramparts, which rise in high
succession until they reach the foundations of the palace, where they
terminate in a noble terrace. These ramparts, covered with grass,
overlook the stone outworks, and spread down to the bottom of the
hill, which being clothed with fine trees and luxuriant underwood,
forms such a rich and verdant base to the fortress as I have not
language to describe: were I privileged to be poetical, I would say
it reminds me of the God of war sleeping amid roses in the bower of
love. Here the eye may wander over the gifts of bounteous Nature,
arraying hill and dale in all the united treasures of spring and
autumn. The forest stretches its yet unseared arms to the breeze;
whilst that breeze comes laden with the fragrance of the tented hay,
and the thousand sweets breathed from flowers, which in this
delicious country weep honey.
"A magnificent flight of steps led us from the foot of the ramparts
up to the gate of the palace. We entered it, and were presently
surrounded by a train of attendants in such sumptuous liveries, than
I found myself all at once carried back into the fifteenth century,
and might have fancied myself within the courtly halls of our Tudors
and Plantagenets. You can better conceive that I can paint the scene
which took place between the palatine, the countess, and her son. I
can only repeat, that from that hour I have known no want of
happiness but what arises from regret that my dear family are not
partakers with me.
"You know that this stupendous building was the favorite residence of
John Sobieski, and that he erected it as a resting-place from the
labors of his long and glorious reign. I cannot move without meeting
some vestige of that truly great monarch. I sleep in his bed chamber:
there hangs his portrait, dressed in the robes of sovereignty; here
are suspended the arms with which he saved the very kingdoms which
have now met together to destroy his country. On one side is his
library; on the other, the little chapel in which he used to pay his
morning and evening devotions. Wherever I look, my eye finds some
object to excite my reflections and emulation. The noble dead seem to
address me from their graves; and I blush at the inglorious life I
might have pursued had I never visited this house and its
inhabitants. Yet, my dearest mother, I do not mean to insinuate that
my honored father and brave ancestors have not set me examples as
bright as man need follow. But human nature is capricious; we are not
so easily stimulated by what is always in our view as with sights
which, rising up when we are removed from our customary associations,
surprise and captivate our attention. Villanow has only awakened me
to the lesson which I conned over in drowsy carelessness at home.
Thaddeus Sobieski is hardly one year my senior; but, good heaven!
what has he not done? what has he not acquired? Whilst I abused the
indulgence of my parents, and wasted my days in riding, shooting, and
walking the streets, he was learning to act as became a man of rank
and virtue; and by seizing every opportunity to serve the state, he
has obtained a rich reward in the respect and admiration of his
country. I am not envious, but I now feel the truth of Caesar's
speech, when he declared 'The reputation of Alexander would not let
him sleep.' Nevertheless, I dearly love my friend. I murmur at my own
dements, not at his worth.
"I have scribbled over all my paper, otherwise I verily believe I
should write more; however, I promise you another letter in a week or
two. Meanwhile I shall send this packet to Mr. Loftus, who is at St.
Petersburg, to forward it to you. Adieu, my dear mother! I am, with
reverence to my father and yourself.
"Your truly affectionate son,
"PEMBROKE SOMERSET.
"VILLANOW, _August_, 1792."