Mazeppa. Whishaw Frederick. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Whishaw Frederick
Издательство: Bookwire
Серия:
Жанр произведения: Языкознание
Год издания: 0
isbn: 4064066151140
Скачать книгу
tion>

       Frederick Whishaw

      Mazeppa

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4064066151140

       CHAPTER I

       CHAPTER II

       CHAPTER III

       CHAPTER IV

       CHAPTER V

       CHAPTER VI

       CHAPTER VII

       CHAPTER VIII

       CHAPTER IX

       CHAPTER X

       CHAPTER XI

       CHAPTER XII

       CHAPTER XIII

       CHAPTER XIV

       CHAPTER XV

       CHAPTER XVI

       CHAPTER XVII

       CHAPTER XVIII

       CHAPTER XIX

       CHAPTER XX

       CHAPTER XXI

       CHAPTER XXII

       CHAPTER XXIII

       CHAPTER XXIV

       CHAPTER XXV

       CHAPTER XXVI

       CHAPTER XXVII

       CHAPTER XXVIII

       CHAPTER XXIX

       CHAPTER XXX

       CHAPTER XXXI

       CHAPTER XXXII

       CHAPTER XXXIII

       CHAPTER XXXIV

       CHAPTER XXXV

       CHAPTER XXXVI

       CHAPTER XXXVII

       CHAPTER XXXVIII

       CHAPTER XXXIX

       CHAPTER XL

       Table of Contents

      I will begin my story from the moment when, at the age of sixteen, my destiny first came more directly in touch with that of Mazeppa, my cousin in the third degree and my compatriot. My father was Chelminsky, a captain under the renowned Hmelnisky, a great and honoured name among Cossacks; for under his leadership our tribes threw off the yoke of the Polish King and became once more independent, as Cossacks should for ever be.

      Mazeppa’s father and mine were relatives, rivals, and near neighbours. The same may be said of Mazeppa and myself, for together we entered service as pages at the Court of John Casimir of Poland, and together we left it. Also, as I shall presently show, we were in after life in constant rivalry—whether as lovers, as leaders of our compatriots, or in any other capacity.

      Our home was in Volhynia, near the borders of Poland and of the Ukraine, and our estates were distant but three or four leagues from one another: thus as youths Mazeppa and I met occasionally, though not very frequently. Our educations differed considerably, for my cousin’s tutor was a cultured Pole who held, and made no secret of his opinion, that the training of the mind is of greater importance in the life of a man than the training of the body, supposing that a youth must make his own way in the world. Therefore Mazeppa was brought up as a clerk, though possessing strength and activity of body which made easy for him the acquisition of skill in manly exercises; while my father preferred that I should be made a soldier, a horseman, a swordsman—in a word, that I should become a true Cossack.

      Nevertheless, when Mazeppa was sent as page to the Polish Court, my father being dead by that time, my mother wished that I should go also, in order to acquaint myself with the ways of princes and courtiers, and attain a knowledge of life in high places. The King being at this time anxious to oblige the Cossack nation, there was little difficulty in securing employment for us.

      Neither Mazeppa nor I were popular among the Polish youths at Court, though I may say that the ladies were less disposed to cavil at us.

      We were Russian, we were told, though