12
MAZEPPA.
“And then he gave prodigious fêtes—
“All Warsaw gather’d round his gates
“To gaze upon his splendid court,
“And dames, and chiefs, of princely port:
“He was the Polish Solomon,
“So sung his poets, all but one,
“Who, being unpension’d, made a satire,
“And boasted that he could not flatter.150
“It was a court of jousts and mimes,
“Where every courtier tried at rhymes;
“Even I for once produced some verses,
“And sign’d my odes Despairing Thirsis.
“There was a certain Palatine,
“A count of far and high descent,
“Rich as a salt or silver mine;[1]
“And he was proud, ye may divine,
“As if from heaven he had been sent:
“He had such wealth in blood and ore160
“As few could match beneath the throne;
“And he would gaze upon his store,
- ↑ This comparison of a “salt mine” may perhaps be permitted to a Pole, as the wealth of the country consists greatly in the salt mines.
