Thaddeus looked
kindly round, and shaking hands with the honest man, after saying a
few friendly words to him, rode on with a loitering pace, until he
reached that part of the river which divides Masovia from the
Prussian dominions.
Here he flung himself off his horse, and standing for a moment on the
hill that rises near the bridge, retraced, with his almost blinded
sight, the long and desolated lands through which he had passed; then
involuntarily dropping on his knee, he plucked a tuft of grass, and
pressing it to his lips, exclaimed, "Farewell, Poland! Farewell all
my earthly happiness!"
Almost stifled by emotion, he put this poor relic of his country into
his bosom, and remounting his noble animal, crossed the bridge.
As one who, flying from any particular object, thinks to lose himself
and his sorrows when it lessens to his view, Sobieski pursued the
remainder of his journey with a speed which soon brought him to
Dantzic.
Here he remained a few days, and during that interval the firmness of
his mind was restored. He felt a calm arising from the conviction
that his afflictions had gained their summit, and that, however heavy
they were, Heaven had laid them on him for a trial of his faith and
virtue. Under this belief, he ceased to weep; but he never was seen
to smile.
Having entered into an agreement with the master of a vessel to carry
him across the sea, he found the strength of his finances would
barely defray the charges of the voyage.
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