This was formerly a common trial of skill among Polish marksmen. In the “Memoirs of Soplica,” already referred to, is an amusing story of a certain nobleman who insisted on performing this Tell-like feat on the, slippers of his wife; but the lady, being as good a shot as her husband, retaliated by cutting in two the fastening of his girdle with the bullet from the remaining pistol. ↩
The point of this whole passage, as often is the case in our author’s works, is only seen on full acquaintance with the whole. ↩
In bottles of Dantzig brandy there is generally a little gold-leaf (Germ. Goldwasser). —E. S. N. ↩
The bigos was not of course prepared then and there on the spot. It is usually made in large quantities, put into barrels, and stored in cellars. The oftener it is heated the more savoury it is. I should suggest the derivation is bis-coctum, or bis-gotowane (prepared) as the whole undergoes two or more fires.
Zrobic bigos, as a proverb, means to make a mess of anything. —E. S. N. Compare our own, “Make a hash of it.” —M. A. B. ↩
The Wojski had not read the account of this circumstance in the Aeneid, but probably in the commentaries of the Scholiasts. [The origin of Carthage is only referred to by Virgil, not related circumstantially.] ↩
Consommé. ↩
In rich houses in Poland washhand basins and jugs are often made of silver, even at the present time. ↩
A deputy named Philip, from the village of Konopie (hemp) having obtained a hearing in the Diet, wandered so far from the subject in hand, as to excite general laughter in the Chamber. Hence came a proverb, to emerge suddenly, like Philip from the hemp. ↩
The word Niemiec (pl. Niemcy), applied by the Poles to the Germans, means literally dumb. The words Slawa (glory) or Slowo (word) have, on the contrary, furnished the root of Slave, which from other causes has obtained so widely different a meaning in all other European tongues. The habit of applying the term of speakers only to those who speak the language intelligible to themselves is characteristic of many peoples. The name of Mlekas, given to the non-Aryan races of India by their Sanskrit-speaking conquerors, has the same meaning as Niemiec in Polish. We recognise in the uneducated of all countries an inability to comprehend ignorance of their own languages, and a propensity to ascribe such ignorance to mere imbecility. Even now Polish peasants only recognise two nationalities, Poles, and the Dumb ones, i.e., Germans, those not speaking Polish. ↩
These words of the Gospel of St. John are often used as an exclamation of astonishment. ↩
Atracura. ↩
In the original, Hreczecha’s warning concludes with the words, do jednej zwierzyny, literally, “at one animal,” and the whispered comment of his auditors is, do jednej dziewczyny, “at one damsel.” We have tried, by employing English words that rhyme together, to make something like the same effect in translation. ↩
The joke is continued in an untranslatable sequence of puns, by means of the similarly sounding words, kobieta, woman, and kokieta. ↩
Spolia opima in Roman history were spoils taken by a general from the leader of a hostile army in single combat. Such spoils were always dedicated to Jupiter Teretrius. Only two or three instances occur in the whole course of history; those of Romulus and Cornelius Cossus are among them. ↩
Puszczyk = screech-owl, rhymes with Klucznik, and produces one of those peculiar effects in the music of the poem, which frequently occur, but can seldom be translated. ↩
The famous nocturnal festival among the Lithuanian peasantry, celebrated on the 2nd of November, when the souls of the dead are feasted. It forms the groundwork of the grand dramatic poem of the Dziady, by Mickiewicz. ↩
Guslarze. ↩
The English word toast is employed in the text. ↩
“Who dare this pair of boots displace
Must meet Bombastes face to face:
Thus do I challenge all the human race.”
In Lithuania a settlement of nobles is called a zascianek (za = behind, sciana = a wall), in contradistinction to wies or siolo, a village proper, inhabited by peasants. ↩
The original is buzdygan, a formidable steel weapon, planted on a short wooden handle. As no one was allowed to use a staff except the generals, so none of the army were allowed to use the buzdygan except captains, lieutenants, and standard-bearers.
[Buzdygan is commanding officer’s staff, as bulawa was that of the four hetmans, viz., the Grand Hetman of the Crown, Field Hetman of the Crown, Grand Hetman of Lithuania, and Field Hetman of Lithuania.
