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Pan Tadeasz is so clear and straightforward in its appeal that

but few words of explanation in regard to its origin are

required. Its author, Adam Mickiewicz, was born in 1798, near

Nowogrodek in Lithuania. His father, a member of the poorer

gentry of the district, was a lawyer by profession, so that the

boy was brought up among just such types as he describes with so

rare a humour in the Judge, the Assessor, the Notary, and the

Apparitor. The young Mickiewicz was sent to the University of

Wilno(3) (1815-19), where he received a good classical education,

and, largely through his own independent reading, became well

acquainted with French, German, and Russian-even with English

literature. On leaving the university he obtained a position as

teacher in the gymnasium at Kowno (1819-23).