The text describes Steblów in the Kaniów district on the banks of the Russian River. The town already existed in the 16th century due to a privilege granted by Sigismund III, which allowed Jan Daniłowicz to settle on the land of Lisianka. The settlement was linked to, among others, Jozef Alexander Jablonowski, Voivode of Novgorod, who established a garden with linden trees there. Jabłonowski's estate here later passed into the hands of the Voroniecki family, and later to Onufry Hołowiński. Micowski and Antoni Chrząszczowski also lived in Steblow (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1878, Series 3, T:5, pp. 203-204, after: Digital Library of the University of Lodz).

A modernised reading of the text

Steblów

"Panini mliii eruditus videtur, qui sua nescit."
- Cicero.

Steblów is a small town, in the delightful Ukrainian countryside, in the district of Kaniów, on one of the bends of the Rosi River, where Providence has scattered the wonders of thrilling beauty in miniature, which develop on a grand scale in Korsun, 12 versts away. Driving from Bohuslav, we meet Vyhraiiv in the birch forest stretching from Nechoroshchyna to Pustocha, on an elevated defensive position, as there are traces of a fairly substantial castle, the foundation of which is attributed to Mazepa.

The village seems to have been a town at one time, named after a battle won against the Swedes, according to a folk tale. From Vyhrayev, as you descend the slope of the mountain among the bushes, after several roundabouts, you will see a vast area where the picturesque Roś River unfolds in a ribbon, flowing from the west to the east to join the Dnieper near the village of Piekary. On the right side of this river, Steblów was settled, with its buildings: a sugar factory and a cloth mill. The origin of Steblov's name is equally uncertain. It may have taken its name from a purely Slavic word stebel (stalk), perhaps because it became like a stalk to many other settlements, situated alluringly on the banks of the Russian River, where Polans settled, as well as on the Dnieper.

Maybe, as a result, Steblov was also a significant Greek town, as the legend has it, which is supported by the name, who knows if it was not Greek, "Ροός" (roos, stream, current). It is only historically certain that Steblów existed in the 16th century, as the privilege of Sigismund III on 28 June 1622 allows Jan Danilewicz, a Ruthenian nobleman and the starost of Korsun, to settle the town on the Ukrainian land called Dzianka, with the condition that the townsmen give kunice from the maid and widow, as in the towns of Korsun and Steblów. From this it can be seen that Steblov too belonged to the Korsun starosty at first and was ruled by J. Danilevich, who died in 1624. When his son Stanislaw was murdered in the Tatar captivity in 1610, and Jan Mikolaj, treasurer of the Crown, his cousin, died in 1650, the Starosty of Stebl and Lisianka was probably created after the extinction of this very meritorious family. After the death of his father-in-law Bohdan Chmielnicki in 1658, Teter, having come over to the Polish side, rendered great service to Poland and for that, after being ennobled by the National Sejm, was granted the said starosty in 1661.

Having resigned the Hetman's mantle, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he died suddenly in Adrianople in 1670. From Tetera, after his sister Iskrzycka, the Starosty of Steblów passed to the Steckis, and from these to the Jablonowskis, who were full of merit for their homeland, both in the intellectual and heroic fields. Jozef Aleksander Jablonowski, Vda of Novgorod, who despite his various foibles was a learned man, left many useful and glorious mementoes here. He was the first to create a garden with a linden tree in a place full of precipitous rocks, where the river Borowica flows into the arms of the Rosi River, following the example of the garden in Czarnoles, which also became his property, and the linden tree under which Jan Kochanowski wrote his immortal works.

It is a tight but charming place; inside the garden rises a brick chapel, a branch of the Lisianski parish church. In front of the garden, to the side, stands a wooden manor house, flimsy but ancient. Just nearby, on a rocky hill, sits an Orthodox church, once a Uniate church. The Rev. Michał Krajewski, in his biography of Stefan Czarniecki, the Duke of Kyiv, mentions that the last expedition of this hero of the 17th century, who saved his homeland from many a deathly drowning, was to Ukraine against the rebellious Cossacks.

At that time (164), having marched on Steblów with Jan Sobieski, the crown ensign, and Tetera, the Cossack hetman, and the Tatars, when the town refused to surrender, he stormed it and handed it over to the Tatars. In the following century, after the death of Jablonowski, vd. In the following century, after the death of Duke Jabłonowski, Duke of Novgorod, in Dresden in 1777, his second wife, Franciszka Wiśniowiecka, became the life-long benefactress of Steblov and Lisianka.

Most often living in Steblov in a miserable wooden manor, still preserved, she made herself called the Duchess of the Empire. She had something resembling a throne in one of her rooms, on which she sat. Her officials represented the deputies of various nations and, dressing themselves accordingly, gave seeming accounts of their ministrations, weaving disorderly andrones. The Duchess replied to everyone:

"I am happy for you, my lord, and please come to my place to feast."

The same thing was repeated before every great celebration. After the death in 1790 of the Duchess's son August Dobrogost, known as Prince-Cossack, the estate passed to the Voroniecki family, from whom it was acquired in return by Onufry Hołowiński, who had already begun to take greater care of the garden in front of the house. But it was only the wife of Herman, Onufry's son, who devoted herself zealously to making this little beauty aesthetically pleasing, planting there with her own hands spruces, larches, poplars and the like. Next to the garden, the late Herman Hołowiński built a house, albeit a small one, which expanded and became more spacious with the arrival of guests. Old Polish hospitality, cordiality and solidarity reigned there, between the rich and the poor, the learned and the simple. Everyone came there as if to a family home.

Everyone was greeted by the host with outstretched arms, who embraced the newcomer in his warm embrace, while his wife welcomed the guests with an endearing smile at the threshold. Hence, it is no wonder that many found there the friendliest refuge, sheltering themselves from the stormy misery of this world. This is where Micowski and Antoni Chrząszczewski, the translator of Anacharsys' Travels, lived for the rest of their lives. It was here that M. Grabowski, M. Jezierski, Konstanty Świdziński, Archbishop Ignacy Hołowiński, Podwysocki, the novelist, who married an alumna of the Herman family there, and many others, often stayed. The hospitality, kindness and sweetness of the famous Hołowiński house attracted the great poet, Adam Mickiewicz, to Steblov.

It happened that Herman Hołowiński, while in St. Petersburg, met Adam and invited him to stay with him. The bard promised and, keeping his word, came to Steblov on 9 February 1825. He probably also visited Korsun, full of historical monuments and charming beauties. They show the room in the brick house from the garden where Adam stayed. Here was the chair and table at which he wrote, and the iron bed on which he slept; it is now in Ryki near Kamieniec, in the Podwysocki estate. At my request, Mrs Podwysocka gave me the following information:

"The inscription on the iron bed on which Adam slept, somewhat obliterated, is as follows: "On this bed rested Adam Mickiewicz, who arrived in Steblow on 9 February 1825."

At the home of this good family there are also letters that Adam wrote to Mrs Hermanowa from the road after his departure from Steblow. What an irreparable pity that these letters remain hidden until now. How many dear features of the great poet's life have been forgotten through their publication! From the album that is to be found at the home of the late Hetman's sister, the esteemed Mrs Szymanowska, in an old and rather decrepit album, I have kindly granted myself a few exceptions. At the beginning I lay Adam's improvisation, inscribed by his own hand:

"To those wandering amidst the narrowness of our days' skies,
Life is a narrow path, connecting two seas,
All of us from the misty past into the dark future fly;
Some strive most easily and rest most soon;
Others to the side are led by deluding sights,
Harvests, ogres, charms and fame's footholds.
Happy if, chasing the phantoms of imagination,
Before the end of the road we find the temple of friendship!"

Right next to it a poem like this:

"Thou hast commanded me, lady, I fulfil the sentence of my desire,
My name inscribing in the book of remembrance,
And so I wished at the end to find a little corner,
That I might be only in thy memory.
But your kindness places my name elsewhere
And places it right next to the Lithuanian bard;
So I avail myself of your grace and your kindness!
Many, in their late years, turning the pages,
will see the age-worn features of my name,
But in the light of Adam I shall pass into eternity.
Michał Jezierski, d. 27 February 1830 in Steblow."

"The evangelical host rewarded the late worker both with those who had been working in the vineyard since dawn. He supposedly saw that with zeal he tried to replace the delay.
In this collection of old friends, I am like that labourer; for I am late in arriving to receive a day's wages. May I manage to justify this partiality and not deserve the just murmurings of those who have preceded me.
Steblów, 22 January 1840, Konstanty Świdziński."

"In the midst of all these poems, what shall I do with my poor prose and criticism? I feel that the fetus of my usual craft would have to appear sternly inappropriate here. I would glorify Mickiewicz, but that is too commonplace; I would find something to reproach others with, but I do not have the heart to do so, for if a poetic work has failed, I am at least certain that it was inspired by a sincere feeling for the one to whom it was offered in homage. Knowing, however, that all this has been pleasantly received, I dare to add also my prosaic but most sincere expressions of respect and friendship!"