cond
great change was owing to the disasters that befell the nation in the
latter half of the last century: it was on the whole a change for the
better, purifying and ennobling, calling forth qualities that till then
had lain dormant. At the time the events I have to relate take us to
Poland, the nation is just at this last turning-point, but it has not
yet rounded it. To what an extent the bad qualities had overgrown
the good ones, corrupting and deadening them, may be gathered from
contemporary witnesses. George Forster, who was appointed professor
of natural history at Wilna in 1784, and remained in that position for
several years, says that he found in Poland "a medley of fanatical
and almost New Zealand barbarity and French super-refinement; a people
wholly ignorant and without taste, and nevertheless given to luxury,
gambling, fashion, and outward glitter."

Frederick II describes the Poles in language still more harsh; in his
opinion they are vain in fortune, cringing in misfortune, capable
of anything for the sake of money, spendthrifts, frivolous, without
judgment, always ready to join or abandon a party without cause. No
doubt there is much exaggeration in these statements; but that there
is also much truth in them, is proved by the accounts of many writers,
native and foreign, who cannot be accused of being prejudiced against
Poland. Rulhiere, and other more or less voluminous authorities, might
be quoted; but, not to try the patience of the reader too much, I shall
confine myself to transcribing a clenching remark of a Polish nobleman,
who told our old friend, the English traveller, that although the name
of Poland still remained, the nation no longer existed. "An universal
corruption and venality pervades all ranks of the people. Many of the
first nobility do not blush to receive pensions from foreign courts: one
professes himself publicly an Austrian, a second a Prussian, a third a
Frenchman, and a fourth a Russian."

CHAPTER I.

FREDERICK CHOPIN'S ANCESTORS.--HIS FATHER NICHOLAS CHOPIN'S BIRTH,
YOUTH, ARRIVAL AND EARLY VICISSITUDES IN POLAND, AND MARRIAGE.--BIRTH
AND EARLY INFANCY OF FREDERICK CHOPIN.--HIS PARENTS AND SISTERS.

GOETHE playfully describes himself as indebted to his father for
his frame and steady guidance of life, to his mother for his happy
disposition and love of story-telling, to his grandfather for his
devotion to the fair sex, to his grandmother for his love of finery.