l; she holds the
first rank among the younger ladies, and loves passionately everything
French. I am so glad I am a proficient in the French language; besides
being very useful, it will cause me to be much more sought after in
society.

French is here spoken in nearly all the more distinguished houses; only
the older men retain the tiresome custom of mingling Latin in their
conversation; the young people avoid this pedantry and speak French,
which is much better; at least, I can understand them, which I cannot
the others.

We also went to see the wife of the Grand-General Branicki. Her husband
is one of the most wealthy lords of Poland, but is not very favorably
regarded at court.

We then visited the Princess Czartoryska, Palatiness of Red-Russia. The
conversation there was held entirely in Polish; she is quite aged, and
consequently no admirer of new fashions. She introduced to us her only
son, a very handsome young man, with polished and elegant manners; he
overwhelmed me with the most graceful compliments. This visit was more
agreeable than any of the others. But no--I think I was quite as much
pleased at the palace of the Castellane of Cracow, Poniatowska. She is
a very superior person; she talks a great deal, it is true, but then she
speaks with enthusiasm and in a very interesting manner. We found her
quite elated with the pleasure of welcoming her son after a long
absence. Many think that this much-loved son may one day be king of
Poland; I do not believe that will ever be, but I did not the less
examine him with great attention. I frankly confess that I was not
pleased with him, and yet he is handsome and amiable; but he has a kind
of stiffness in his manners, a pretension to dignity and to airs of
grandeur, which injure his bearing.

I must not forget, in enumerating our visits, to mention that paid to
the Palatiness of Podolia, Rzewuska. This visit possessed a doubled
interest for me; I was anxious to see Rzewuski, the vice-grand-general
of the crown, because I had heard my father speak of him so often.

The vice-grand-general, although belonging to an illustrious family, was
brought up among the children of the common people; he went barefooted
as they did, and shared all their pleasures (very rustic indeed, it
seems to me). This strange education has given him great strength and a
wonderful constitution. He is now quite aged; he is more than fifty
years old, and yet he walks and rides like a young man