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The poem unfortunately admitted, or rather invited, an

application to the resistance of the Poles to the Russians;

Mickiewicz, fearing with reason the anger of the Russian

authorities, succeeded in obtaining, just in time to save himself

from serious consequences, a passport permitting him to leave the

country.

Arriving in Germany in 1829, Mickiewicz travelled through

Switzerland to Italy. His residence in Rome, with its sacred

associations, and the meeting with new friends of a deeply

religious temperament, brought about within him a new birth of

Catholic faith that strongly affected bis later writings, notably

Pan Tadeusz. In Rome also he became intimate with the family of

the rich Count Ankwicz, for whose daughter Eva he conceived an

affection that is reflected in the passion of Jacek Soplica for

the Pantler's only child. On the outbreak of the insurrection in

Warsaw, at the end of the year 1830, the poet meditated returning

home to join the national forces; but he delayed his departure,

and never came nearer the scene of action than Posen and its

vicinity. The grief and discouragement caused by the failure of

the insurrection, instead of crippling Mickiewicz's powers,

seemed to spur him on to new activity.