(oitrt, 11 



" That castle rose upon the steep, of the green vale of Tyne ; 

 While far below, as low they creep, 

 From pool to eddy dark and deep, 

 Where alders bend and willows weep, 

 You hear her streams repine." 



The ancestral history of Margaret of Silesia, with that 

 of her distinguished husband, was of no ordinary kind. 

 Her paternal ancestors had filled for ten generations the 

 throne of Poland, and on her mother's side she repre- 

 sented Winceslaus the Good, nearly the last of the ancient 

 kings of Bohemia, as also the imperial houses of Luxem- 

 burg and Austria. Among the distinguished crowd of 

 those who figured greatly in by-gone days, Piastus is 

 the one, concerning whom I would briefly speak. His 

 character, seen only through the twilight of remote anti- 

 quity, is necessarily involved in great obscurity, but light 

 enough remains to discover the moral grandeur of its pro- 

 portions, as well as to justify the curiosity of his descen- 

 dants. 



Ancient Polish chronicles relate concerning him, that 

 after the tragical catastrophe of Popiel II., when a dread- 

 ful famine added to the calamities of the country, and 

 people fell dead in the streets of Cruswitz, that two 

 angels, in the disguise of pilgrims knocked at the door of 

 a private citizen, named Piastus, and asked for relief. 

 The citizen had only a single cask, which contained some 

 nutritive beverage of the country, remaining in his house, 

 but he would not refuse to help them, and he invited the 

 strangers to partake. Charmed with his benevolence, 



