grown gray in camps, or in
the strife of courtly eloquence; generals more often seen in the cuirass
than in the robes of peace; prelates and persons high in the Church;
dignitaries of State aged senators; warlike palatines; ambitious
castellans;--were the partners who were expected, welcomed, disputed and
sought for, by the youngest, gayest, and most brilliant women present.
Honor and glory rendered ages equal, and caused years to be forgotten
in this dance; nay, more, they gave an advantage even over love. It was
while listening to the animated descriptions of the almost forgotten
evolutions and dignified capabilities of this truly national dance, from
the lips of those who would never abandon the ancient Zupan and Kontusz,
and who still wore their hair closely cut round their temples, as it had
been worn by their ancestors, that we first fully understood in what a
high degree this haughty nation possessed the innate instinct of its own
exhibition, and how entirely it had succeeded, through its natural grace
and genius, in poetizing its love of ostentation by draping it in the
charms of noble emotions, and wrapping round it the glittering robes of
martial glory.

When we visited the country of Chopin, whose memory always accompanied
us like a faithful guide who constantly keeps our interest excited,
we were fortunate enough to meet with some of the peculiar characters,
daily growing more rare, because European civilization, even where it
does not modify the basis of character, effaces asperities, and moulds
exterior forms. We there encountered some of those men gifted with
superior intellect, cultivated and strongly developed by a life of
incessant action, yet whose horizon does not extend beyond the limits of
their own country, their own society, their own traditions. During our
intercourse, facilitated by an interpreter, with these men of past
days, we were able to study them and to understand the secret of their
greatness. It was really curious to observe the inimitable originality
caused by the utter exclusiveness of the view taken by them. This
limited cultivation, while it greatly diminishes the value of their
ideas upon many subjects, at the same time gifts the mind with
a peculiar force, almost resembling the keen scent and the acute
perceptions of the savage, for all the things near and dear to it. Only
from a mind of this peculiar training, marked by a concentrative energy
that nothing can distract from its