Conclusions drew, while standing by the hedge,
The barn-keeper, who came to give account
Of farm work, and the district writer, with
The bailiff whispering. But on the seats
Of turf before the house, the Chamberlain
Sat; he broke in upon the guests’ discourse.
It might be known he gathered voice to speak.
And his great snuff-box in the moonlight shone,
Entirely of pure gold, with brilliants set,
The portrait of King Stanislas in midst
Behind a glass. He tapped thereon, took snuff,
And spoke thus: “Master Thaddeus, your talk
About the stars is but an echo of
I much prefer The things you heard at school.
To talk of wonders with the ignorant.
I too attended lectures on the stars
Two years in Wilna, where the Puzynina,
A rich and learnèd lady, gave the rent
A hamlet of two hundred peasants yielded,
To purchase various telescopes and glasses.
Priest Poczobut,211 a most illustrious man,
Was then observer, and of the Academy
At that time rector. He, however, left
At last his chair and telescope, returning
Unto his convent, to his peaceful cell,
And there he made most exemplary end.
I likewise am acquainted with Sniadecki,212
Who is extremely learnèd, though a layman.
But your astronomers consider planets
Only as citizens may view a carriage;
They know if to the capital it go
Before the king, or from the suburbs goes
Beyond the frontier; but who rides therein?
For what? whereof he with the king discoursed?
Or if the king has sent his envoy forth
With war, or as a messenger of peace?
They know not. In my time I recollect
How when Branicki213 drove his chariot
To Jassow, and behind this wicked car
A train of Targowica traitors drew,
The train resembling of that comet there.
The simple people then, although they ne’er
In public councils mixed, at once could guess
That train the omen of some treason was.
’Twas said the people to this comet gave
The name of Broom, and said ’twould sweep away
A million.” With a bow the Wojski answered,
“True, Most Illustrious, Powerful Chamberlain,
I recollect now what was told to me
Once as a little boy. I recollect,
Though at that time I was not ten years old,
When in our house I saw the late Sapieha,214
Commander in the army, and who later
Became Court Marshal of the Crown, and died
At last Grand Chancellor of Litva, aged
A hundred and ten years. He, in the time
Of John the Third, was at Vienna under
The standard of the Hetman Jablonowski.
Well then, the Chancellor related how
When John the Third on horseback mounted, when
The Papal legate blessed him on the way,
And when the Austrian ambassador
Did kiss his feet, and held the stirrup ready—
Count Wilczek the ambassador was named—
The king exclaimed, ‘See what is doing in heaven!’
They looked: behold, a comet sailed o’erhead,
By that same way whereby Muhammad’s armies
Marched on, from east to west. And later on
Priest Bartochowski wrote a panegyric
Upon the triumph of Krakow, by the title
Of Orientis Fulmen, saying much
About this comet. I have likewise read
About it in the work Janina titled,
Where is related the whole enterprise
Of the late King John, and where there is engraved
The standard of Muhammad, and besides
That comet, as we see this one to-day.”
“Amen,” the Judge said, “I accept your omen;
May John the Third be with the star revealed!
Now in the west there is a mighty warrior;
May be the comet brings him here to us,
Which Heaven grant!” Thereto the Wojski said,
Bending his head down sadly, “Comets sometimes
Mean war, and sometimes quarrels. ’Tis not good,
It shows itself right over Soplicowo;
May be it threatens us some home misfortune.
We yesterday had strife and jar sufficient;
The Regent had a quarrel with the Assessor
That morning, in the evening Master Thaddeus
Called out the Count. This quarrel also came
About the bear’s hide; if the good Judge had not
Prevented me, I had made both disputants
Agree at table. For I wished to tell
A singular adventure, very like
The events of yesterday’s excursion; it
Chanced to the foremost hunters of my time,
The envoy Rejtan and to Prince Denassau.
The accident was this: “The General
Of the Podolian lands went from Volhynia,
To his estates in Poland, or indeed,
If rightly I remember, to the Diet
In Warsaw; on his way he visited
The nobles, partly for amusement, partly
For popularity, and so he came
To Thaddeus Rejtan, now of holy memory,
Who later was our Nowogrodek envoy,
And in whose house I grew up from a child.
Now Rejtan, on the General’s arrival,
Invited guests. There gathered many nobles.
There was a theatre, for the Prince loved theatres
Kaszyc, who dwelt in Jatrze, fireworks gave;
Pan Tyzenhaus sent dancers, and musicians
Oginski and Pan Soltan, who then lived
In Zdzienciele. In a word, they gave
An entertainment in the house past wonder,
And in the forest was a grand hunt made.
’Tis known to you that nearly all, so far
As I remember, of the Czartoryskis,
Although proceeding from Jagellon blood,
Are little apt at hunting, not indeed
From idleness, but from their foreign tastes.
And the Prince-General more often looked
On books than on the kennel, and more often
On ladies’ balconies than on the woods.
“But in the Prince’s suite there came the German
Prince Denassau, of whom ’twas said that when
He sojourned in the Libyan land, he went
A-hunting, and he there a tiger215 slew
With spear in single combat, and of this
A mighty boasting Prince Denassau made.
We hunted at this season the wild boar.
Rejtan a monstrous sow killed with a rifle,
At great risk, since he fired from very near.
Each of us marvelled at the shot, and praised.
The German Denassau alone did hear
These praises with indifference, and muttered,
‘A clever shot needs only a bold eye,
But steel a bold hand,’ and began to brag
At length about his Libya and his spear,
About his negro kings, and of his tiger.
And Rejtan took this very ill; he was
A man of temper quick; he struck his sabre,
And said, ‘Sir Prince! whoever looketh bold,
Should boldly fight; a wild boar’s worth a tiger,
A sabre worth a spear;’ and they began
A conversation over-warm. But then
The General happily broke
