64 THE HEROINE OF POLAND. 



came necessary to check this hot pursuit, and the Polish cavalry were 

 in consequence ordered to charge the Circassians. Antoinette rushed 

 forward with them ; with eyes flashing fire, her face burning with 

 rage, the young heroine penetrated into the thickest of the Muscovite 

 ranks, giving an example of heroic courage to her countrymen, who 

 soon dispersed the enemy. Geilgud, Chlopowski, and all their staff 

 were overwhelmed with admiration and astonishment ; and on re- 

 turning to the camp, after the defeat of the enemy, the young 

 heroine was received amid long and enthusiastic hurrahs. The hour 

 of defeat for the Polish cause at length sounded, but Antoinette was 

 unmoved. Following the retreat of the army she was present in the 

 action of Schawle, and distinguished herself in several other affairs, 

 particularly at Powendeme, where she received the epaulets of a sub- 

 lieutenant as a recompense for her courage. Possessing the noblest 

 attributes of a warrior, she was a model of patience and resignation 

 during the periods of difficulty and distress. She consoled her com- 

 panions by holding out to them the hopes of a brighter future. 

 Throughout a harassing retreat, amid the fatigues of the bivouac, 

 and privations of every kind, never once did a complaint or an ex- 

 pression of regret escape her lips. One might have supposed that 

 twenty years of service had inured her to the hardships of a camp. 

 From the commencement of her career, so reserved and so dignified 

 was her demeanour, that she inspired her comrades with feelings of 

 the profoundest veneration and deference. In the garb of an Ama- 

 zon, they learnt to respect a young maiden whom an exalted spirit 

 of patriotism had driven from the cloister to the battle-field. At 

 length, when every hope was lost, when nothing more was to be 

 done in Lithuania, Antoinette Tomazewski followed the fatal fortunes 

 of the army, and entered Prussia with the corps of General Rohland. 

 There, on the recital of her adventurous life and her precocious ex- 

 ploits, she became an object of universal interest, admiration, and 

 hospitality. Both Prussians and Poles were lost in wonderment at 

 the aspect of a maiden who had made a campaign as a private soldier, 

 and gained at the point of the lance the epaulets of sub-lieutenant. 



Antoinette has married since a Polish officer; a warm admirer of 

 her heroism and her virtue. The duties of a wife and mother have 

 doubtless subdued the grief of that ardent and patriotic soul. But 

 the annihilation of her country and wreck of all those pleasing illu- 

 sions of her youth will strew her future career with bitterness and 

 sorrow. One of those powerfully constituted minds that delight in 

 splendid actions, the part of Antoinette Tomazewski was to fight 

 for Poland, and her unceasing prayer to see her free. But fate has 

 ordained it otherwise, and doomed her to be one of the many victims 

 of barbarism and despotism. 



