[Footnote 1: The meads of Little Russia, Lithuania, and Poland are renowned for their flavour, which, like that of some wines, increases with being kept. They are very strong and act especially on the legs, so that sometimes a glass of mead is sufficient to deprive the most experienced drinker of the use of his legs, although his head may remain perfectly clear. Some ascribe the fact of so many Poles suffering from gout to nothing more than the immoderate use of mead.] [Footnote 2: A sort of guitar peculiar to Little Russia.] [Footnote 3: _Union_, in the Russian acceptation of the term, means the mixed religion, uniting the rites of the Greek Church with the dogmas of Popery, which was enforced by Poland upon Little Russia and Lithuania, and which gave the Poles occasion to commit the most abominable cruelties on the adherents of the Greek Church, and roused the vengeance of the latter. A correct and most strictly true picture of those struggles is to be found in this tale.] [Footnote 4: A rank in Russian irregular troops corresponding to that of captain or commander of a company.] [Footnote 5: The above-mentioned college was placed under the orders of an abbot, and the professors and tutors in it were monks.] [Footnote 6: Formerly Saturday was a dreaded day in Russian schools. Every pupil received on the evening of that day a severe flogging--the bad pupils as a punishment for their past misdeeds and laziness, the good ones as a foretaste of what awaited them in case of their altering their conduct. Some strange notion existed of accustoming the pupils to endure bodily pain, and of giving a periodical impulse to the circulation of their blood, and this had some connection with the barbarous system.] [Footnote 7: A _cossackin_ means a Cossack's dress, which is a coat fastened by hooks down the middle of the breast, and fitting closely to the figure. It is furnished with skirts which never descend lower than the knee.] [Footnote 8: This is a Russian custom still observed. Before a departure every one present sits down for a minute or two in silence; then all rise at once, making the sign of the cross, and invoking the protection of Heaven on the intended travellers.] [Footnote 9: _Voevoda_, governor of a city or province.] [Footnote 10: The pupils intrusted to the care of the _consuls_ (or elder pupils).] [Footnote 11: A species of guitar.] [Footnote 12:: A verst is about two-thirds of an English mile.] [Footnote 13: Dwellings.] [Footnote 14: _Rada_, general assembly of the Cossacks, in which every one had a voice, and which was summoned on important occasions, such as declaration of war, conclusion of peace, or the election of the _koschevoï ataman_, supreme head of the Zaporoghian commonwealth.] [Footnote 15: Supreme chief of the Zaporoghian Ssiecha.] [Footnote 16: The elective chief of the kooren, subordinate to the Koschevoï Ataman.] [Footnote 17: General assembly or council.]