We also went to see the wife of the Grand-General Branicki.  Her husband is one of the most wealthy lords of Poland, but is not very favorably regarded at court.

We then visited the Princess Czartoryska, Palatiness of Red-Russia.  The conversation there was held entirely in Polish; she is quite aged, and consequently no admirer of new fashions.  She introduced to us her only son, a very handsome young man, with polished and elegant manners; he overwhelmed me with the most graceful compliments.  This visit was more agreeable than any of the others.  But no—­I think I was quite as much pleased at the palace of the Castellane of Cracow, Poniatowska.  She is a very superior person; she talks a great deal, it is true, but then she speaks with enthusiasm and in a very interesting manner.  We found her quite elated with the pleasure of welcoming her son after a long absence.  Many think that this much-loved son may one day be king of Poland; I do not believe that will ever be, but I did not the less examine him with great attention.  I frankly confess that I was not pleased with him, and yet he is handsome and amiable; but he has a kind of stiffness in his manners, a pretension to dignity and to airs of grandeur, which injure his bearing.

I must not forget, in enumerating our visits, to mention that paid to the Palatiness of Podolia, Rzewuska.  This visit possessed a doubled interest for me; I was anxious to see Rzewuski, the vice-grand-general of the crown, because I had heard my father speak of him so often.

The vice-grand-general, although belonging to an illustrious family, was brought up among the children of the common people; he went barefooted as they did, and shared all their pleasures (very rustic indeed, it seems to me).  This strange education has given him great strength and a wonderful constitution.  He is now quite aged; he is more than fifty years old, and yet he walks and rides like a young man.  Following the old Polish custom, he permits his beard to grow, and this gives him a very grave appearance.

They say he has composed some very fine tragedies.  We also called upon Madame Bruehl, who received us most politely.  Her husband, the king’s favorite minister, is not much esteemed, but they are visited for the sake of etiquette, and likewise for that of Madame Bruehl, who is very amiable.

We saw too Madame Soltyk, Castellane of Sandomir; she is a widow, but still young and beautiful.  Her son is nine years old; he is a charming child, already possessing all the manners of the best society.  As we entered, he offered me a chair, and made me, at the same time, a very graceful compliment; the castellane was kind enough to say that he was a great admirer of pretty faces and black eyes.  The Bishop of Cracow is this child’s uncle; he was anxious to have the charge of him, but his mother was not willing to part with him.