A.Hoffmann, and himself a sojourner in Warsaw, the life of the Polish capital in 1807.
When Nicholas Chopin saw it first the spectacle in the streets was even more stirring, varied, and brilliant; for then Warsaw was still the capital of an independent state, and the pending and impending political affairs brought to it magnates from all the principal courts of Europe, who vied with each other in the splendour of their carriages and horses, and in the number and equipment of their attendants.
In the introductory part of this work I have spoken of the misfortunes that befel Poland and culminated in the first partition.

But the buoyancy of the Polish character helped the nation to recover sooner from this severe blow than could have been expected.

Before long patriots began to hope that the national disaster might be turned into a blessing.

Many circumstances favoured the realisation of these hopes.
Prussia, on discovering that her interests no longer coincided with those of her partners of 1772, changed sides, and by-and-by even went the length of concluding a defensive and offensive alliance with the Polish Republic.

She, with England and other governments, backed Poland against Russia and Austria.