DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23229#0110
CHOPIN'S ALMA MATER AND THE WARSAW LYCEE
Detail of Fig. 21.
sense. Often did I look at him in wonderment, thinking of the enormous
amount of knowledge one man could amass, never forgetting one iota
of it. He was an excellent Latinist: often did I hear him reciting whole
books of Virgil, which he knew by heart, translating them freely and eas-
ily as he spoke. And when among those fond memories of my youth
there springs the image of a splendid salon, I always see my father-in-
law in it, with equal ease discussing the latest fashionable romance,
governmental reforms, political affairs, designs of public buildings, the
composition of a painting or an old friend's personal matters. Invariably
polite and amiable, he was always ready to listen to everyone who de-
sired his advice138.
In his memoir, Eustachy Marylski recalled Potocki in the following way:
The end of the school year [at the Warsaw Lycee], was celebrated
every year with all pomp. Usually, Stanisfaw Potocki himself and Julian
Ursyn Niemcewicz, Staszic or Kozmian were present. Potocki would
give a speech and Niemcewicz would query the schoolboys on the ge-
ography of old Poland. [...] Stanisfaw Potocki's hands ceased to hold
the rudder of enlightenment in the year 1820 and his post was taken
by Stanistaw Grabowski. He also came to the public pageantry in the
Lycee and gave a speech to the pupils but, although he behaved in a
very ingratiating manner, he was never accorded the reverence that Po-
tocki had gained. The death of this fine man was universally mourned
and in our hearts there was much sorrow. We schoolboys were also
happy to learn that we would be allowed to give a public expression of
our gratitude to Potocki by planting a grove of trees in the Stuzew district
on 11th December 1823 [...]; today our trees are a dense forest.
Marylski also quoted a poem written for this occasion by a certain Szy-
mon Kassjanowicz:
Grow tall here in this coppice, grow our little trees,
Of our and the country's fondest memories
A proof. You were here planted by our eager hand;
Shoot up tall! and beautify this nice plot of land.
With pleasure here the Poles will visit you for years
And your leaves will they water with their warmest tears.
This sacred grove our grandsons always will revere,
The memory of Potocki henceforth will live hereP33
This poem cannot be said to be very sophisticated, but it expresses
heartfelt emotions. And this is a significant indication of a change in public
opinion, showing a different perception of Potocki. In the last few years
of his service as minister Potocki was not at all liked among the capital's
elites; "he fell into a trap set for him by the equally liberal monarch", as
Barbara Grochulska put it, suggesting that Potocki's libertinism did not
suit the tastes of the majority of the elite.
However, Potocki managed to slip out of that trap before it had fully
closed; he saved the remnants of his good reputation by causing - con-
116
Detail of Fig. 21.
sense. Often did I look at him in wonderment, thinking of the enormous
amount of knowledge one man could amass, never forgetting one iota
of it. He was an excellent Latinist: often did I hear him reciting whole
books of Virgil, which he knew by heart, translating them freely and eas-
ily as he spoke. And when among those fond memories of my youth
there springs the image of a splendid salon, I always see my father-in-
law in it, with equal ease discussing the latest fashionable romance,
governmental reforms, political affairs, designs of public buildings, the
composition of a painting or an old friend's personal matters. Invariably
polite and amiable, he was always ready to listen to everyone who de-
sired his advice138.
In his memoir, Eustachy Marylski recalled Potocki in the following way:
The end of the school year [at the Warsaw Lycee], was celebrated
every year with all pomp. Usually, Stanisfaw Potocki himself and Julian
Ursyn Niemcewicz, Staszic or Kozmian were present. Potocki would
give a speech and Niemcewicz would query the schoolboys on the ge-
ography of old Poland. [...] Stanisfaw Potocki's hands ceased to hold
the rudder of enlightenment in the year 1820 and his post was taken
by Stanistaw Grabowski. He also came to the public pageantry in the
Lycee and gave a speech to the pupils but, although he behaved in a
very ingratiating manner, he was never accorded the reverence that Po-
tocki had gained. The death of this fine man was universally mourned
and in our hearts there was much sorrow. We schoolboys were also
happy to learn that we would be allowed to give a public expression of
our gratitude to Potocki by planting a grove of trees in the Stuzew district
on 11th December 1823 [...]; today our trees are a dense forest.
Marylski also quoted a poem written for this occasion by a certain Szy-
mon Kassjanowicz:
Grow tall here in this coppice, grow our little trees,
Of our and the country's fondest memories
A proof. You were here planted by our eager hand;
Shoot up tall! and beautify this nice plot of land.
With pleasure here the Poles will visit you for years
And your leaves will they water with their warmest tears.
This sacred grove our grandsons always will revere,
The memory of Potocki henceforth will live hereP33
This poem cannot be said to be very sophisticated, but it expresses
heartfelt emotions. And this is a significant indication of a change in public
opinion, showing a different perception of Potocki. In the last few years
of his service as minister Potocki was not at all liked among the capital's
elites; "he fell into a trap set for him by the equally liberal monarch", as
Barbara Grochulska put it, suggesting that Potocki's libertinism did not
suit the tastes of the majority of the elite.
However, Potocki managed to slip out of that trap before it had fully
closed; he saved the remnants of his good reputation by causing - con-
116