re-union which was, perhaps, necessary to make the nominal restoration of Poland anything but mockery. Kosciuszko did not return either to Poland or to Lithuania, and this was the last public act of his life. We have now only to add some few details of his latter years.

After resuming and completing his Italian tour, Kosciuszko paused in Switzerland, and went to Solothurn to visit the family of his friend, Zeltner, when he was so charmed with the Zeltner, there resident, a brother of Peter Joseph, that he domiciliated himself with him for the short remainder of his existence.

The following extracts will show the simplicity and benevolent tenor of the life he led at Solothurn :

"For his meals, he partook of the ordinary frugal fare of the rather indigent family. He usually wore a threadbare blue great coat, with a rose or a pink in his button-hole. But this ornament was indispensable even in winter, and the Solothurn ladies took pleasure in supplying him with the requisite flowers.

"He slept upon a hard mattrass, with very little covering upon him, and rose, in summer at five, in winter, at six o'clock. He felt no privation, except when he found himself without the means of relieving the distressed. He breakfasted with the Zeltner family, then withdrew to his own room, where he occupied himself with his correspondence, his studies, and the preparation of lessons for his little pupil. [This was Emilie Zeltner, the eldest daughter, then about 12 years old, for whom he had conceived a parental affection, and whose education seems to have been one of his chief pleasures.] About ten o'clock he rode out, quite alone, avoiding the high roads and seeking the most unfrequented paths, where he might do good unobserved........ When he found a poor-looking cottage, he would tie his little black horse to a tree, or a hedge, go in, talk kindly to the inhabitants in his broken German, question them as to their circumstances, proportion his gift to the result of his inquiries, and then, hurrying away to escape their thanks and their earnest desire to know their benefactor's name, mount his horse and disappear.

*

"If he heard of the illness of a poor person, he was wont to say to the Zeltners, Do not wait dinner for me to-day;' and, ordering his horse to be saddled, he would ride off, with a bottle of wine in each pocket and each holster, to the sick house; there, with his liberal donation, he bestowed the consolations of a father, the admonitions of a pastor, encouraging the invalid with hopes of the divine mercy and of eternity; and, at his departure, he would advise the sufferer not to drink too much of the wine, lest it should injure instead of strengthening him."

This secret beneficence was revealed in various ways. One of his betrayers was his horse, which, Xavier Zeltner having one day borrowed, positively refused to pass a beggar without stopping

for his rider to speak to and relieve the mendicant. One more trait of Kosciuszko's generosity and considerate kindness

་

"A young orphan girl, wishing to take the veil, and having no means of raising the sum required by the Solothurn convent, as a nun's portion, applied to Kosciuszko... In a grave and fatherly tone, he said, 'I do not like to see a young maiden bury herself in a convent: go, therefore, and take a year to reflect maturely upon your project. If, at the end of that time, you persevere in your wish, your portion shall be ready.' At the end of the year the maiden appeared, constant in her purpose, when Kosciuszko paid her portion, and attended at her pronouncing her vows."

Kosciuszko was visited by many Poles, in whose society, or in Zeltner's, he made excursions about Switzerland. Amongst other spots, celebrated in Switzerland, Zeltner led him to Morgarten, one of the Alpine Thermopyla.

"Kosciuszko grasped Zeltner's hand, and mournfully exclaimed, 'Oh, that I had had, at Macziewice, a Hunenberg to warn me, and tha: Poninski had been a Reding!'

A fall from his horse on one of these excursions has been assigned as the immediate cause of his death. This his biographer, whose word upon this point is decisive, denies, averring that he perfectly recovered from its effects, and again enjoyed his usual health, which, however, at best, was but infirm, and had been so ever since the fatal battle of Macziewice. In the spring of 1817, Kosciuszko freed the peasants upon his patrimonial estate from bondage; and although this article is extending to a greater length than we had contemplated, the public document is too characteristic to be omitted ::

"He appeared before Xavier Amiet, now chancellor, then accredited notary of the state-council of Solothurn, and directed him to prepare the following deed ::

66 6

'Being convinced that villenage is contrary to natural law and to the welfare of states, I hereby abrogate villenage upon my Lordship of Siecnowicze, in the Woiwodship of Brzesc, situate in Lithuania, from this time forwards to all eternity, for myself and all its future possessors. I declare the peasants of the village, dependent upon this lordship, to be free citizens and full proprietors of the lands they occupy. I exonerate them from all imposts, duties, and personal services, which they have hitherto owed to the lords of the castle; and only implore them, for their own sakes and the good of their country, to establish schools for the education of their children.

"After this solemn act, I further declare that I, out of especial good will, give the said castle of Siecnowicze, with the lands thereunto belonging, now and for ever, in full property, to my niece, the Lady Catherine Estkowa, and her children.'

Amiet

"When the notary Amiet first called upon him respecting this instrument, a favourite canary bird was flying about the room. ventured to ask why he did not set this little bird likewise at liberty? He answered, 'The little creature is too delicate to be set at liberty; it would perish.''

Kosciuszko's end was now at hand, but its approach was cheered by the sight of the object of his early and constant attachment, now Princess Lubomirska.

"The princess, who was travelling to Geneva and Italy, stopped at Solothurn to spend some weeks with Kosciuszko, cheering the already declining old man by her agreeable pleasantry, and her rare gift of social wit. Kosciuszko had a presentiment that he should not see her again; and, when she bade him farewell, with a promise to return the following spring, tears swelled into his eyes, and the agitated hero asked for a token of her remembrance. The princess accordingly sent him, from Lausanne, a ring, with the motto, Friendship to Virtue.' But when the ring reached Solothurn, Kosciuszko was no more!

*

*

*

*

*

"On the 1st of October, 1817, he was seized with a nervous fever, then prevalent at Solothurn, which, in spite of his struggles, confined him to his bed. Foreseeing the event, he made his will, bequeathed ample legacies to his friends, the Zeltners, especially to Emilie, and others to the town hospital, the orphan house, and the poor of Solothurn. He left 1000 francs for the expenses of his funeral, upon condition, that his body should be carried to the grave by six poor men. He ordered all his Polish papers to be burnt.

*

*

*

Ac

"After signing this will, he laid down the pen, raised his eyes towards heaven, and said, 'Now I am easy!' He spoke often and long of his approaching end. His mind grew calmer and calmer, and voice and look bespoke the peace of his soul....... His parting from his beloved friends, the blessing he bestowed upon Zeltner, his wife, and children, had all the august solemnity of a religious ceremony. cording to the custom of the heroic times, he asked for his sword, that which had been shattered in his hand at Macziewice. To this broken sword he committed the guard of his ashes. The sabre of King John Sobieski, which he had received, in the year 1799, from his brothers in arms, he directed to be sent to Poland, and there preserved for other times and other deeds.*

"He retained the full possession of his faculties to his last breath ; but his pulse grew fainter. On the morning of the 15th, he awoke from a heavy sleep, and his eye fell upon the whole Zeltner family, assembled round his bed. He seemed stronger, cheerfully stretched out his hand, and bade them good morning, with his wonted cordiality. But

It was preserved by Princess Czartoryska, in her noble collection of arms and other Polish antiquities, at her castle of Pulawy, until the year 1830: since then, who can tell its fate?

whilst he spoke, his voice nearly failed, and he himself asked for his physician....

Towards ten o'clock, he raised himself, as though wishing to say something that required all his energies. He gave Zeltner his right hand, Madame Zeltner his left, smiled to his little friend, Emilie, who stood at the bed's foot, and, thus taking leave of three beloved beings at once, he sank slowly down, sighed, and his pure soul was

in the presence of his Maker."

The body was embalmed, and, as he had directed, borne to the grave by poor old men, relieving each other. The funeral was attended by all Solothurn, for he was mourned by the whole canton, especially by the class so indebted to his liberality. His death was lamented, and his praises were celebrated by poets and orators in all languages. In Poland, the grief and mourning were universal; and at Warsaw, the funeral oration was pronounced by the national poet, the friend of his youth, Niemcewicz.

But Poland grudged the remains of her noblest son to a foreign land, and Alexander readily sanctioned the national desire to bring them home. The body was asked of Switzerland by a formal Polish embassy, which having obtained, escorted it to Poland. At Cracow it was received by the senate, and, with all military and civil honours, interred in the cathedral. But the Polish senate and the Polish nation wished to raise to their heroic champion a more peculiar and more durable monument than other men can boast, at least in modern times-

"A monument that might be an object of general enthusiasm, of heart-felt veneration to all Poles. The senate decreed the raising of a mound (in fact, a barrow,) upon the eminence called Bronislawa (meaning, the guardian of fame), which commands the Vistula. At this mound, young and old, senators and citizens, nobles and peasants, even the magnates of the realm, and the most delicate ladies, laboured with their own hands. A countryman, who came from Volhynia to assist, accidentally received a severe wound; and, in the fear that he might bleed to death, several persons were carrying him off in quest of surgical assistance, when he resolutely exclaimed, 'Oh, let me bleed here! it is the only tribute I can pay to the great Naczelnik.'

"From the 16th of October, 1820, to the 16th of October, 1823, the labour continued. The Mogila Kosciuszki (Kosciuszko's Mount), measures 276 feet in diameter at the base, and 300 feet in height. It is the largest ever formed by human hands.

"The sepulchral mounds of Queen Vanda, and of St. Cracus, respectively on the left and right banks of the Vistula, meet the traveller's view at some distance from Cracow, reminding him of the origin of the actual inhabitants of the country. Kosciuszko's monument completes the triangle, and connects the present with the past..... A convenient road, paved, and planted with trees, for pedestrians, leads

thither; for, since the beginning of the work, this has been the favourite promenade of the Cracovians....... From the ample contributions of the whole country, an adjoining piece of ground was purchased, upon which, close to the old chapel of St. Bronislawa, houses were built for four peasants, who had served under Kosciuszko. It is their duty, and that of their families for ever, to plant the mound as pleasuregrounds, and to take the greatest care of the pomnik (monument).

"The management of the purchase, of the construction, and of the whole affair, was intrusted by the Cracow senate to a committee of twenty persons, with General Franciszek Paszkowiski as president... The expense was defrayed by contributions, not only of the most considerable families of Poland, but likewise of peasants, artisans, and private soldiers. Count Arthur Potocki alone gave 10,000 gulden,* with which (we presume the expense of the monument being paid) three orphan kinswomen of Kosciuszko's, whose existence had been but recently discovered, were portioned."

A view of this most extraordinary and most honourable monument, and a portrait of Kosciuszko, are the graphic ornaments of the volume, which we now close and lay down the pen.

ART. VI.-Marco Visconti: Storia del Trecento, cavata dalle Cronache di quel Secolo, e racontata da Tommaso Grossi. (Marco Visconti a Story of the Fourteenth Century, extracted from the Chronicles of that Age, and related by Tommaso Grossi.)

THE extraordinary success which this work has had in Italy, where it has recently appeared, and the great interest that it has excited there, would entitle it to our notice, did it even come less strongly recommended than it is by its intrinsic merits. The first edition (published, we believe, in Milan, about the end of last year) having been sold off in the course of a few weeks, a second edition of 10,000 copies has already been printed at Turin; whilst in Florence, Leghorn, and most of the other principal cities of Italy, large editions are either published or in preparation. No doubt this success is partly owing to the favourable circumstances under which the work has appeared. The historical novel, hitherto known in Italy only by translations of the works of Sir Walter Scott and of other foreigners, has lately been naturalized there by the production of "I Promessi Sposi" of Manzoni; and as that work stands as yet almost alone in this department of Italian literature, the field is still open to any new

* In English money, about 1,000l.