On one side it is of gold with purple flowers; on the other
it is of black silk with silver checks. Such a belt can be
worn on either side: the part woven with gold for festive
days; the reverse for days of mourning.

A vivid picture of the Polish character is to be found in
Mickiewicz's epic poem, Pan Tadeusz, from which the above
quotations are taken.

[FOOTNOTE: I may mention here another interesting book
illustrative of Polish character and life, especially in the
second half of the eighteenth century, which has been of much use
to me--namely, Count Henry Rzewuski's Memoirs of Pan Severin
Soplica, translated into German, and furnished with an
instructive preface by Philipp Lubenstein.]

He handles his pencil lovingly; proclaiming with just pride the
virtues of his countrymen, and revealing with a kindly smile
their weaknesses. In this truest, perhaps, of all the portraits
that have ever been drawn of the Poles, we see the gallantry and
devotion, the generosity and hospitality, the grace and
liveliness in social intercourse, but also the excitability and
changefulness, the quickly inflamed enthusiasm and sudden
depression, the restlessness and turbulence, the love of outward
show and of the pleasures of society, the pompous pride,
boastfulness, and other little vanities, in short, all the
qualities, good and bad, that distinguish his countrymen.
Heinrich Heine, not always a trustworthy witness, but in this
case so unusually serious that we will take advantage of his