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Seventy-two years of age was Maciej, a hale old man, of low

stature, a former Confederate of Bar.118 Both his friends and his

enemies remembered his curved damascened sabre, with which he was

wont to chop spears and bayonets like fodder, and to which in

jest he had given the modest name of switch. From a Confederate

he became a partisan of the King, and supported Tyzenhaus,119 the

Under-Treasurer of Lithuania; but when the King joined the men of

Targowica, Maciej once more deserted the royal side. And hence,

since he had passed through so many parties, he had long been

called Cock-on-the-Steeple, because like a cock he turned his

standard with the wind. You would in vain search for the cause of

such frequent changes; perhaps Maciej was too fond of war, and,

when conquered on one side, sought battle anew on the other;

perhaps the shrewd politician judged well the spirit of the

times, and turned whither he thought the good of his country

called him.120 Who knows!