And all these things he had parted with for his
nation's sake. He had made a grievous and an
irreparable mistake. He had followed what had seemed
to him the rising of the noontide splendour, but what
turned out to be a will-o'-the-wisp, leading the traveller
into the morass from which he never entirely rose
again. But it must never be forgotten that it was
through his passionate love for his nation that he went
astray. Because Towianski had held out a promise of
salvation for his country, Mickiewicz followed him and
sank into the pit. Truly it may be said that it was
for Poland that, in the words of the Polish painter-
poet Wyspianski, his heart and mind were consumed^
that he chose the road of stones, ^^and toils most pain-
ful."' He fell through the very nobility of his nature.
When the chair of Slavonic literature was his no
more, Mickiewicz threw himself unreservedly into his
work with the Circle. Young men, to whom he
was ever a subject for heart-felt veneration, came to

^ Stanislas Wyspiansld, The Legion, This curious and

interesting drama has for its subject Mickiewicz's efforts to throw

off Towianski's yoke at the same time that he was endearouring to

organise the Polish legion in Rome. Wyspianski, the chief Polish

poet of latter days, died in 1907.
