quotations are taken.

[FOOTNOTE: I may mention here another interesting book illustrative
of Polish character and life, especially in the second half of the
eighteenth century, which has been of much use to me--namely, Count
Henry Rzewuski's Memoirs of Pan Severin Soplica, translated into German,
and furnished with an instructive preface by Philipp Lubenstein.]

He handles his pencil lovingly; proclaiming with just pride the virtues
of his countrymen, and revealing with a kindly smile their weaknesses.
In this truest, perhaps, of all the portraits that have ever been drawn
of the Poles, we see the gallantry and devotion, the generosity and
hospitality, the grace and liveliness in social intercourse, but also
the excitability and changefulness, the quickly inflamed enthusiasm and
sudden depression, the restlessness and turbulence, the love of outward
show and of the pleasures of society, the pompous pride, boastfulness,
and other little vanities, in short, all the qualities, good and
bad, that distinguish his countrymen. Heinrich Heine, not always a
trustworthy witness, but in this case so unusually serious that we
will take advantage of his acuteness and conciseness, characterises
the Polish nobleman by the following precious mosaic of adjectives:
"hospitable, proud, courageous, supple, false (this little yellow
stone must not be lacking), irritable, enthusiastic, given to gambling,
pleasure-loving, generous, and overbearing." Whether Heine was not
mistaken as to the presence of the little yellow stone is a question
that may have to be discussed in another part of this work. The observer
who, in enumerating the most striking qualities of the Polish character,
added "MISTRUSTFULNESS and SUSPICIOUSNESS engendered by many misfortunes
and often-disappointed hopes," came probably nearer the truth. And this
reminds me of a point which ought never to be left out of sight when
contemplating any one of these portraits--namely, the time at which it
was taken. This, of course, is always an important consideration; but it
is so in a higher degree in the case of a nation whose character, like
the Polish, has at different epochs of its existence assumed such varied
aspects. The first great change came over the national character on
the introduction of elective kingship: it was, at least so far as
the nobility was concerned, a change for the worse--from simplicity,
frugality, and patriotism, to pride, luxury, and selfishness; the se