DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29195#0117
Secrets of the Past
A trip
to Bliss and
Niemcewicz's
pigiet
A historicai
reconstruction
in honour of
Niemcewicz
Still in the humorous vein, we shall look into the memoirs of Andrzej Edward Kozmian,
who relates an amusing anecdote about the playwright Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, one of
the Palace’s most distinguished residents. Under the Congress Kingdom he had an apart-
ment in one of the wings of the Potocki Palace, while in the same period he purchased a rural
property near Natolin called Rozkosz (“Bliss”), which he nicknamed Ursyndw, andstayed there
during the summer, though often visiting the city. One day Mrs. Potocka said she would like
to have dinner with him at his house in the country. He was not too pleased by this, as he was
not prepared to receive visitors, especially as having come up to Warsaw, he had intended to
spend the whole day in town. However, he did not dare deny her hospitality, but only asked to
be allowed a place in her carriage, since he had no vehicle ofhis own. Mrs. Potocka was a lady
of distinction, very attentive to propriety, vigilantly alert to even the minutest details of polite
manners, lest her dignity be infringed in any way. She was like one of those erstwhile French
duchesses or marchionesses, une grande dame ofBourbon times. A carriage drawn by four spot-
ted horses which she normally usedpulled up, and two footmen opened the door, helping their
mistress in. Niemcewicz took a seat next to her. Barely had they left the Palace’s court when Her
Ladyshipfelt something moving under herfeet. Thefurther they went, the moreit moved; when
she moved herfoot something squeaked. As she was poor-sighted, sheputon her lorgnette to take
a look at what it was that was moving and making a noise under herfeet. The squeaking was
becominglouderandmoreintense. “Whatisit, Mr. Niemcewicz,”sheinquired. “Oh, nothing,"
Ursyn replied, trying to change the conversation to other topics. But the concealed little creature
was jerking aboutmore and more vehemently and its squeaks were getting louder and louder.
“But what is it? I want to know!” the lady said with all the gravity proper to her. “Nothing, ”
Ursyn replied, “Just a piglet in a sack. You askedyourself into dinner without giving me prior
notice. I didn ’t have anything to servefor dinner, so I went to the market and bought a suckling
pig, which I have to take back to my modest cuisine. “Ah, c'est un peu trop fort!” the horrified
Lady Voivode exclaimed. But she was obliged to forgive her oldfriend the prank andfor all her
gravity, distinction, andfine ladylike manners sujfer a suckling pig in a sack ride with her in
her four-horse carriagefrom Warsaw to Bliss (Kozmian 1867, pp. 274-275).
It was not the only incident in the history of the Palace in which a pig played a part.
During the November Uprising of 1830-31, a time of hardship for Warsaw and its peo-
ple, rearing animals became well-nigh a necessity owing to the food shortage. In March
1831 an advertisement was put into the classified columns of the Warsaw newspapers,
saying that a sow had disappeared from No. 415 in the Krakowskie Przedmiescie. It was
lean, havingjust littered, and had one dug pulled out. A reward would be given to anyone
who returned thepig to the above address. Unfortunately we have not managed to find out
which of the Palace’s tenants was the owner of this pig, but we do know that at this time
other residents kept pigs big and small, as well as cows fattened for meat (Kwiatkowska
and Malinowska 1976, pp. 84-85).
Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (1757—1841) is a celebrity in the history of Polish culture,
so we shall recapitulate some of the main facts relating to his life. He was educated
in Warsaw’s military college known as the Szkota Rycerska or Korpus Kadetow. He
was adjutant to Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, and during the Uprising of 1794 to
Kosciuszko himself, its commander-in-chief. He was a deputy representing Livonia
to the Great Sejm (1788-1792), took a very active part in Stronnictwo Patriotyczne,
a patriotic political association, and contributed to the drafting of the Third of May
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