In respect to the title of this book, I have been advised to use Farmstead instead of the original zascianek, derived from za, behind, and sciana, wall, meaning, in a forgotten corner of the world.
[These zascianki were inhabited by the poorest of the lesser nobility, who were in fact peasants, but possessed of truly Castilian pride. The wearing of a sword being restricted to nobles, it was not unusual to see such zasciankowicze, or peasant nobles, following the plough barefooted, wearing an old rusty sword hanging at their side by hempen cords. —E. S. N.] ↩
The original is taktowy rejestr, i.e., the register of the criminal tribunal, which took cognisance of offences in the law-courts, happening a mile from a town, or directed against the person of a deputy. [The meaning of the expression is: He registers into the books of the gród (district) court any suit about to be judged, or after it had passed out of court. —E. S. N.] ↩
The original is “the tenth water from Kisiel,” which peculiar expression the author explains as follows:—
Kisiel, a Lithuanian dish, a sort of jelly, made of oaten leaven, soaked in water till all the farinaceous parts are washed out; hence the proverb. ↩
After the victories of Pultusk, Eylau, and Friedland, following in quick succession, it appeared highly probable that Napoleon would at once cross the Niemen, and enter Lithuania. Instead of this he held a personal conference with the Emperor Alexander on the bridge at Tilsit, where they arranged a peace, July 7, 1807. By this treaty part of Poland was taken from the King of Prussia, and erected into the Duchy of Warsaw, but much was still left in the hands of the Germans, and the province of Bialystok was detached and given over to Russia. The treaty of Tilsit is sometimes known to Polish historians as the fourth partition. ↩
The arms of Lithuania are a Horseman pursuing on a field azure. (“Pursuit” is the appellation.) —E. S. N. ↩
Poniatowski, nephew of Stanislas Augustus. ↩
A convicted slanderer was compelled to crawl under the table or bench, and in that position to bark three times like a dog, and pronounce his recantation. Hence the Polish word odszczekac, to bark back, generally used to express recanting. ↩
This Wolodkowicz, after making several disturbances, was seized in Minsk, and shot by a tribunal decree. ↩
This frequently used word is of Hungarian origin. ↩
When the king ordered a general levy of the nobility, he commanded a high pole to be set up in each parish, with a broom, or wicia, bound to the top, and this was called sending out wici. Every adult man of the equestrian order was obliged, under penalty of losing his nobility, to repair immediately to the Wojewode’s standard. ↩
The Lachy, or inhabitants of Poland proper, have various origins assigned to them. One opinion frequently adopted is that they were a conquering race from the Caucasus, who overran and mingled with the original Slavonic Polani. It is urged, that the difference of social and legal position between the nobles and peasants points to the relations of a conquering and a conquered people. For the alleged Caucasian origin the similarity of the name Lachy with Lazi, a warlike tribe in the Caucasus, formerly allies of Justinian, is quoted, as well as many local names both in those regions and in Poland. Another opinion is that they were of Norse or Scandinavian origin. Vide the new edition of the Encyclopaedia Brittannica. ↩
Imioniska (pl.) are properly sobriquets. ↩
Za, at, and bok, side. This term is explained later on in the text of the poem. ↩
The Confederacy of Bar was formed in 1768 to resist Russia. It was named from the town of Bar in Podolia, where the Confederates first united, and the siege of which forms the first episode of a war replete in traits of heroism, but also abounding in painful details. ↩
“No one was equal in magnificent and useful designs to Tyzenhaus, the Lithuanian Treasurer, who from the beginning of the reign of Stanislas Augustus commenced gigantic projects for advancing progress in Lithuania. He built near Grodno the suburb of Horodnica; on the other side of the river Lososna, he raised buildings where numerous manufactures were established. He founded in Grodno a school of natural sciences and medicine. Tyzenhaus, knowing the king’s partiality for amusements and spectacles, soon procured him, from peasants’ huts, accomplished musicians and ballet-dancers. The king confided greatly in Tyzenhaus, to such a degree that he entrusted to him the distribution of offices in Lithuania. Envy was soon aroused against the treasurer, whose zeal caused him to exceed moderation in the expenses of his enterprise, so that he was not able to pay the interest of a debt to the King of Holland. This circumstance contributed to excite indignation and ill-will against him. The empress Catherine supported this clamour, and demanded of the king that he should dismiss the treasurer. The king abandoned Tyzenhaus in 1782. Calumny, violence, and injury rendered it impossible for him to justify himself. Under the pretext that he had a deficit of a million, four millions of his property were put in execution. Tyzenhaus died in poverty and misery at Warsaw, under the very eyes of his weak and ungrateful master. The manufactures of Horodnica still subsist, and have not ceased to
