Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/186

158 had been brought in at the same time. He was a rich banker, born in Hungary, and established for a long time at Warsaw. He had a small, weak body, but an uncommonly firm and energetic character. It might be said of him that the blade wore out the scabbard. The activity of his mind, and the violence of his passions, had annihilated half of the little physical power which nature had bestowed upon him. He enjoyed great credit among the citizens of our capital, and was one of the most zealous and generous defenders of the national cause. With all this, he had the art or happiness not to offend his inquisitors too much by his answers to their questions; but he was not on that account better treated.

Two months after his arrival at this