Notes

not to attach too much importance to money, he lost at cards 25,000 in one evening. On another occasion he engaged a cab for the whole day; the next day a cabman called early and requested to speak with him; he was admitted, and handed to the general (at that time a civUian), a small parcel containing in mixed bank notes £500; the general counted them, and saw that all was right; thanked the cabman, marked his number, gave him a glass of wine and shook hands with him; when he was close to the door, he re-called him, and handed him £500 as a reward for his honesty, which made his fortune for life. Similar actions on a smaller, and even on a larger scale, were repeated. At another time, his friend being well aware of the general's taste for naked feet, induced his wife to give a splendid ball, at which all the female portion of her chosen guests were dressed a Vantique, and obliged to disclose the top of their fair, snowy, and delicate feet to the searching gaze of men, who plunging their eyes in them, should have liked to discover, if possible, on those feet the same charms which a happy bridegroom discovers on the cheeks of his blooming bride, when after a kiss, he dares to hint to her in a whisper the prospects of the pleasures concealed for them under the cloke of night, whose very name make her blush and tremble at the same time. The general, whose passion for the naked feet is too well known, was so delighted with it, that he never could forget it, and was obliged to describe it to the late Queen Hortense and Napoleon. No man in the world was ever cherished more by his servants, his tenantry, his soldiers, and his officers. To the latter he was a sort of brother. To his dinners, which I often attended, he invited one day the country squires, another day military men, the third his equals and superiors, and every Friday, scientific men, poets and writers. The latter party always included a paltry writer named Marcin... ski, whose poetry and person excited general hilarity and undoubtedly promoted digestion; for which laudable services he was rewarded by a situation of £200 per annum. The subjoined facts will best prove the devotedness and affection which distinguished the servants and officers of the general. During the time of Napoleon a fierce quarrel broke out, close to the general's palace at Warsaw, between the Saxon and Bavarian troops. Mutually exasperated, they fought furiously among themselves. Several had already fallen on either side, when, anxious to stop the further effusion of blood, the general interposed between the combatants; but no sooner had he done so, than the infuriated soldiers turned their weapons upon the general's person, who would undoubtedly have perished, had not Zdanovitch, by chance beholding the extreme peril of his beloved general, come, at the most critical moment, to his assistance, and presented his naked hands as a shield against the swords and bayonets so ferociously thrust at the general. Their assailants every moment increasing in number, the danger became yet more imminent. Thereupon Zdanovitch exclaimed, " Fly at once, dear general, or you are lost." "But," said Krasinski, "what will become of you? " "I shall be happy to die for you," replied the noble-minded Zdanovitch. With some difficulty the general escaped, and having procured aid, returned to the scene of his adventure. The devoted gallant Zdanovitch was found stretched senseless on the ground, literally bathed in the gore which had gushed from his numerous wounds. However, he ultimately recovered, and was not forsaken by the grateful general. On another occasion, during the war of 1813, the same general accompanied only by his lieutenant Vonsovitch, was surprised and surrounded by a detachment of the enemy's dragoons. Having fought until their swords were broken, Vonsovitch then flung himself between the general and his opponents, receiving on his own person the blows aimed at the former, until he was actually covered with wounds, thus preserving Krasinski's life at the hazard of his own. Vonsovitch also survived the effect of the dangerous injuries thus sustained by him, and was not forgotten, in having an estate presented to him, by the general. I am personally acquainted with these two noble defenders of his life, and believe them yet in existence. Surely the man who could thus attach other men to himself, could not have been destitute of good qualities.