e
command of language, but in other respects could not be called a very
brilliant achievement. Seeing that fine comedies are not often written
at the ages of fifteen and eleven, nobody will be in the least surprised
at the result.

These domestic amusements naturally lead us to inquire who were the
visitors that frequented the house. Among them there was Dr. Samuel
Bogumil Linde, rector of the Lyceum and first librarian of the National
Library, a distinguished philologist, who, assisted by the best Slavonic
scholars, wrote a valuable and voluminous "Dictionary of the Polish
Language," and published many other works on the Slavonic languages.
After this oldest of Nicholas Chopin's friends I shall mention Waclaw
Alexander Maciejowski, who, like Linde, received his university
education in Germany, taught then for a short time at the Lyceum,
and became in 1819 a professor at the University of Warsaw. His
contributions to various branches of Slavonic history (law, literature,
&c.) are very numerous. However, one of the most widely known of those
who were occasionally seen at Chopin's home was Casimir Brodzinski, the
poet, critic, and champion of romanticism, a prominent figure in Polish
literary history, who lived in Warsaw from about 1815 to 1822, in which
year he went as professor of literature to the University of Cracow.
Nicholas Chopin's pupil, Count Frederick Skarbek, must not be forgotten;
he had now become a man of note, being professor of political economy at
the university, and author of several books that treat of that science.
Besides Elsner and Zywny, who have already been noticed at some
length, a third musician has to be numbered among friends of the Chopin
family--namely, Joseph Javurek, the esteemed composer and professor at
the Conservatorium; further, I must yet make mention of Anton Barcinski,
professor at the Polytechnic School, teacher at Nicholas Chopin's
institution, and by-and-by his son-in-law; Dr. Jarocki, the zoologist;
Julius Kolberg, the engineer; and Brodowski, the painter. These and
others, although to us only names, or little more, are nevertheless not
without their significance. We may liken them to the supernumeraries on
the stage, who, dumb as they are, help to set off and show the position
of the principal figure or figures.

The love of literature which we have noticed in the young Chopins, more
particularly in the sisters, implanted by an excellent education and
fostered by the taste,