r a parrot in a great
peruke, which he liked to compare to the Golden Fleece, and we to
elf-locks.19 At that time even if any one felt that the Polish costume was
more comely than this aping of a foreign fashion, he kept silent, for the
young men would have cried out that he was hindering culture, that he was
checking progress, that he was a traitor. Such at that time was the power
of prejudice!

"The Cup-Bearer's son announced that he was going to reform us and
introduce order and civilisation; he proclaimed to us that some eloquent
Frenchmen had made a discovery, that all men are equal--though this was
written long ago in Holy Writ and every parish priest prates of it from
the pulpit. The doctrine was ancient, the question was of its application.
But at that time such general blindness prevailed that they did not
believe the oldest things in the world if they did not read of them in a
French newspaper. The Cup-Bearer's son, despite equality, had taken the
title of marquis. It is well known that titles come from Paris, and at
that time the title of marquis was in fashion there; however, when in the
course of years the fashion changed, this same marquis took the title of
democrat; finally, with the changing fashion, under Napoleon, the democrat
arrived from Paris as a baron; if he had lived longer, perhaps he would
have shifted again, and instead of a baron would have called himself once
more a democrat. For Paris boasts of frequent changes of fashion, and
whatever a Frenchman invents is dear to a Pole.

"Thank God, that now if our young men go abroad, it is no longer for
clothes, nor to seek new laws in wretched printing shops, nor to study
eloquence in the cafes of Paris. For now Napoleon, a clever man and a
swift, gives us no time to prate or to search for new fashions. Now there
is the thunder of arms, and the hearts of us old men exult that the renown
of the Poles is spreading so widely throughout the world; glory is ours
already, and so we shall soon again have our Republic. From laurels always
springs the tree of liberty. Only it is sad that for us the years drag on
so long in idleness, and they are always so far away. It is so long to
wait!, and even news is so scarce. Father Robak,"20 he said in a lower
voice to the Bernardine, "I have heard that you have received tidings from
beyond the Niemen; perhaps you know something of our army?"

"Not a thing," answered Robak with indifference; it was evident that he
h