Pan Tadeusz Part 28

23 The _a.s.sessors_ form the rural police of a district. According to the edicts, they are in part elected by the citizens, in part appointed by the government; these last are called the _crown a.s.sessors_. Judges of appeal are also called _a.s.sessors_, but there is no reference to them here.

24 One cla.s.s of _notaries_ _(rejenci aktowi)_ have charge of certain government bureaus; others _(rejenci dekretowi)_ record verdicts: all are appointed by the clerks of the courts.

25 [See p. 333.]

26 Joseph, Count Niesiolowski, the last Wojewoda of Nowogrodek, was president of the revolutionary government during Jasinski's insurrection.

[A _wojewoda_ was the chief dignitary of a Polish province or _wojewodes.h.i.+p_. The office had very slight duties, and was rather a t.i.tle of distinction than an administrative position. It was particularly valued because it conferred a seat in the Senate.]

27 Jerzy Bialopiotrowicz, the last Secretary of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, took an active part in the Lithuanian insurrection under Jasinski. He was judge of the state prisoners at Wilno. He was a man highly honoured in Lithuania for his virtues and his patriotism.

28 [According to a mythical story current in Poland, three brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus, were the founders of the Polish, Bohemian, and Russian nations. Compare p. 289.]

29 At Sluck there was a famous factory for making gold brocade and ma.s.sive belts, which supplied all Poland. It was perfected by the efforts of Tyzenhaus. ["Antoni Tyzenhaus, 1733-85, first Grand Secretary, later Under-Court-Treasurer of Lithuania, a man who did much for the elevation of the economic condition and of the state of education in Lithuania, for a long time an unwavering partisan of King Stanislaw August."-Jaroszynski.

Compare p. 173.]

30 [In the original, _Golden Altar_, a t.i.tle of numerous Polish books of devotion in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.]

31 The Court Calendar (_Trybunalska Wokanda_) was a long, narrow little book, in which were entered the names of the parties to suits in the order of the defendants. Every advocate and apparitor had to own such a calendar.

32 [The reference is of course to the golden eagles of Napoleon joined with the silver eagles of Poland. The Polish coat-of-arms shows a white eagle on a red field.]

33 [Jan Henryk Dombrowski (1755-1818): see p. 334. He took part in almost all the wars of Napoleon; in 1812 he was stationed in White Russia and had an active share in the campaign only towards its close.]

34 General Kniaziewicz, as messenger of the Italian army, delivered to the Directory the captured standards. [Otton-Karol Kniaziewicz (1762-1842).

He, like Dombrowski, had taken part in Kosciuszko's insurrection.]

35 Prince Jablonowski, in command of the Legion of the Danube, died in San Domingo, and almost all his legion perished there. Among the Polish emigrants there are a few veterans who survived that unhappy expedition, among others General Malachowski. [see p. 281 and note 184.]

36 An organ was ordinarily set in the gallery of the old castles.

37 ["The health of the Primate of Poland (Archbishop of Gnesen) was drunk after that of the King, because he was the highest dignitary in the Kingdom. Between the death of one sovereign and [the] election of his successor, he was Interrex."-M. A. Biggs.]

38 [The office of _castellan_ was next in dignity to that of _wojewoda_; except for some very slight military duties the post was purely t.i.tular, but it was prized because it ent.i.tled the holder to a seat in the Senate.]

39 Black soup, served at table to a young man suing for a young woman's hand, signified a refusal. [Naganowski states that it is "a thickish soup, made chiefly of the blood of a duck or goose, vinegar, and spice."]

40 [See p. 333.]

41 [The bracketed pa.s.sage was inserted by the translator.]

42 These barges (_wiciny_) are large boats on the Niemen, with which the Lithuanians carry on trade with the Prussians, freighting grain down the river and receiving colonial wares in return for it.

43 [_Zrazy_ in the original. "A national dish, prepared as follows: Take good and tender beef, mince it fine, add a little b.u.t.ter, spice, onions, salt, pepper, egg, bread-crumbs, make small pats or cakes of the compound; fried, boiled, or stewed."-M. A. Biggs.]

44 [Son of a b.i.t.c.h.]

45 [Goat-strangler.]

46 [The north-western part of old Poland, including the portion now incorporated in Prussia.]

47 Prince Dominik Radziwill, a great lover of hunting, emigrated to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and equipped at his own cost a regiment of cavalry, which he commanded in person. He died in France. With him became extinct the male line of the Princes of Olyka and Nieswiez, the most powerful lords in Poland and in all probability in Europe.

48 Mejen distinguished himself in the national war under Kosciuszko.

Mejen's ramparts are still shown near Wilno.

49 [Kite.]

50 [The translator has omitted the phrase, "called little grand-mothers."]

51 [The translation of this poem by Miss M. A. Biggs contains a note "supplied by Dr. Rostafinski of Cracow" as to the scientific names of the different mushrooms mentioned by Mickiewicz.

(1) "_Lisica_ [fox-mushroom]. _Cantarellus cibarius_(Chantarelle).

(2) _Borowik_ [pine-lover]. _Boletus edulis_ (called in Lithuania _Bovinus_). (3) _Rydz_ [orange-agaric]. _Agaricus deliciosus_ .

(4) _Much.o.m.or_ [fly-bane]. _Amanita muscaria_, or _Agaricus muscarius_ (fly-agaric). This is the Siberian fungus, with remarkable intoxicating properties.

(5) _Surojadki_ [leaf-mushrooms]. A species of the _Russula_. Those quoted by Mickiewicz seem to be _Russula nitida, R. alutacea_, and _R. emetica_.

(6) _Kozlak_. Two species of _Boletus_; one _B. luteus_, the other (mentioned in the text) _B. luridus {poisonous)_.

(7) _Bielaki_ [whities], _Agaricus piperatus_ and _Agaricus vellereus_.

(8) _Purchawki_ [puffball]. _Lycoperdon bovista_.

(9) _Lejki_ [funnels]. The word does not signify any particular sort of fungus; it may be that the poet created the name _a forma_. The shape suggests _Agaricus chloroides_."]

52 A well-known Lithuanian folk-song tells of the mushrooms marching to war under the lead of the _pine-lover_. In this song the qualities of the edible mushrooms are described.

53 [Zosia is the diminutive of Zofia (Sophia).]

54 [Telimena's last words are taken almost literally from a popular song, _Serce nie sluga_.]

55 [The Breughels were a famous family of Dutch painters of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Pieter had a bent towards diabolic scenes, whence he received the t.i.tle "h.e.l.l Breughel" (Van der h.e.l.le); Jan, his younger brother, was a master in the painting of landscapes, flowers, flies, etc. Apparently the Count's learning did not extend to the father of these two brothers, who was also a famous painter.]

56 A noted genre painter; some years before his death he began to paint landscapes. He died recently in St. Petersburg.

57 [The Polish points the contrast by a rime: "the uproar was not _funereal_, but _dinnerial_."]

58 [This translation of the Polish _matecznik_ is of course purely conventional: compare pp. 105-107.]

59 The breed of small, strong English dogs, called bulldogs [literally, _leeches_], is used for hunting big game, particularly bears.

60 The _sprawnik_ or _kapitan sprawnik_ is the chief of the rural police.

The _strapczy_ is a sort of government attorney. These two officials, who have frequent opportunities for misusing their authority, are greatly hated by the people generally. [These offices, and the names of them, are Russian, not Polish. _Strapczyna_ would be the name given to the wife of a _strapczy_.]

61 [The paragraph here inclosed in brackets is not found in the editions of _Pan Tadeusz_ published during the lifetime of Mickiewicz. It occurs in his ma.n.u.script, among many other pa.s.sages that he did not choose to print; in the edition of 1858 it was added to the printed text. It has been included here, though with some hesitation, because the succeeding narrative did not seem quite clear without it. It seemed needless to record other variant readings, even in these notes; they are of little interest except to special students of the work of Mickiewicz.]