His Polonaises, characterized by an energetic rhythm, galvanize and electrify the torpor of indifference.  The most noble traditional feelings of ancient Poland are embodied in them.  The firm resolve and calm gravity of its men of other days, breathe through these compositions.  Generally of a martial character, courage and daring are rendered with that simplicity of expression, said to be a distinctive trait of this warlike people.  They bring vividly before the imagination, the ancient Poles, as we find them described in their chronicles; gifted with powerful organizations, subtle intellects, indomitable courage and earnest piety, mingled with high-born courtesy and a gallantry which never deserted them, whether on the eve of battle, during its exciting course, in the triumph of victory, or amidst the gloom of defeat.  So inherent was this gallantry and chivalric courtesy in their nature, that in spite of the restraint which their customs (resembling those of their neighbours and enemies, the infidels of Stamboul) induced them to exercise upon their women, confining them in the limits of domestic life and always holding them under legal wardship, they still manifest themselves in their annals, in which they have glorified and immortalized queens who were saints; vassals who became queens, beautiful subjects for whose sake some periled, while others lost, crowns:  a terrible Sforza; an intriguing d’Arquien; and a coquettish Gonzaga.

The Poles of olden times united a manly firmness with this peculiar chivalric devotion to the objects of their love.  A characteristic example of this may be seen in the letters of Jean Sobieski to his wife.  They were dictated in face of the standards of the Crescent, “numerous as the ears in a grain-field,” tender and devoted as is their character.  Such traits caught a singular and imposing hue from the grave deportment of these men, so dignified that they might almost be accused of pomposity.  It was next to impossible that they should not contract a taste for this stateliness, when we consider that they had almost always before them the most exquisite type of gravity of manner in the followers of Islam, whose qualities they appreciated and appropriated, even while engaged in repelling their invasions.  Like the infidel, they knew how to preface their acts by an intelligent deliberation, so that the device of Prince Boleslas of Pomerania, was always present to them:  “First weigh it; then dare:”  Erst wieg’s:  dann wag’s!  Such deliberation imparted a kind of stately pride to their movements, while it left them in possession of an ease and freedom of spirit accessible to the lightest cares of tenderness, to the most trivial interests of the passing hour, to the most transient feelings of the heart.  As it made part of their code of honor to make those who interfered with them, in their more tender interests, pay dearly for it; so they knew how to beautify life, and, better still, they knew how to love those who embellished it; to revere those who rendered it precious to them.