Pagina 622 de 788

When the mass and the sermon were over in the church, there came

forth at the head of the whole gathering the Chamberlain, who had

recently been unanimously chosen Marshal of the Confederacy192 by

the electoral assembly of the district. He wore the uniform of

the wojewodeship, a tunic embroidered with gold, a kontusz of

gros-de-Tours with a fringe, and a massive brocade belt, on which

hung a sabre with a hilt of lizard skin. At his neck shone a

large diamond pin; his cap was white, and on it was a large tuft

of costly feathers, the crests of white herons. (Only on festival

days is worn so rich an ornament, every little feather of which

is worth a ducat.) Thus adorned, he stepped up on a mound before

the church; the villagers and soldiers crowded around him: he

spoke:-