248 EUSSIA IN EUROPE. 



Like all civilised peoples, the Poles, too often judged from tlie showy princes 

 and broken-down gentry residing in the West, present an endless variety of 

 character. But the general type is, on the whole, such as it has been described by 

 careful observers. They are, as a rule, more richly endowed with natural gifts 

 than with those deeper qualities which are the outcome of patient labour and 

 perseverance. Rash, impetuous, enthusiastic, courteous, somewhat obsequious, and 

 desirous to please, they are more often successful in making themselves agreeable 

 than anxious to earn esteem by their conduct. More mindful of others than of 

 themselves, they more readily understand the higher duties than the humbler 

 claims of every-day life. Their ambition is rarely upheld by strenuous action, the 

 curious aspects of science prevail over painstaking and steady work, the imagina- 

 tion is more powerful than the will, caprice is followed by caprice. Still they 

 have occasional fits of energy, and then they become capable of the greatest deeds, 

 especially in the excitement of the battle-field, for they naturally play high, 

 willingly staking life and fortune on the issue. Like the French, they yield 

 in misfortune to the inevitable, without querulously complaining of fate. The 

 educated Polish lady often reveals in her noble qualities the rare worth of her 

 race, with grace, wit, unflagging vivacity, and fluent spaech, combining unselfish 

 devotion, courage, quick resolution, and clearness of thought ; and indeed the ideal 

 national type has been best preserved by the Polish women in all its grandeur and 

 purity. 



The greatest fault of the Poles is their contempt of work. Their fathers, 

 master and serf alike, were ever taught to despise manual labour, and this senti- 

 ment still survives as a lamentable inheritance bequeathed to the present generation. 

 Hence, possibly, that contrast between their fundamental character, leading so 

 readily to heroism, and habits which at times tend to degrade them. When we 

 read their collections of national poetry, we are struck with the lack of originality 

 in their ballads, with the coarseness and even cynicism of their amorous ditties. 

 Most of their modern poets have been fain to seek their inspirations not in the 

 Polish songs, but in the TJkranian, Lithuanian, and even White Russian dumas and 

 traditions. This is due to the fact that ever since the eleventh century the Polish 

 peasantry have been enthralled by the nobles, whereas the serfdom of the Lithu- 

 anians dates only from the fifteenth, that of the Little Russians of Ukrania fz'om 

 the eighteenth century. A pure and really elevated poetic spirit could scarcely 

 have been fostered amongst the Polish peasantry under the régime of the szlachta, 

 fawners on the nobles, taskmasters of the poor. Amongst other Slav literatures the 

 Polish is otherwise distinguished by its wealth of historic proverbs, all originating 

 with the aristocracy, which, so to say, formed the political element in the nation. 



The Polish Jews. — German and Russian Influence. — Land Tenure. — 



Material Progress. 



With their improvidence and generous impulses, the Poles, with all their 

 shrewdness, are easily cajoled, and there is no lack of sharks, Jews and Christians, 



