I’d dance and skip and play
On my fiddle and guitar all day.
Across the vales and dales,
My peacock’s feathers I’d display.
And I’d never forget my roots,
The springs that ran through my boots.
In my mind and ears and eyes
And in my native skies.
For Poland was my cradle,
England is my nest.
And Durham is the quiet place
Where my weary bones shall rest.
I’d flit from Court to Court
And mingle with every sort.
From Kings and Queens to Pawns,
Whatever the morning spawned.
And the women I’d admire
Wherever I found the fire.
I chased their skirts and their smiles
For all my livelong miles.
For Poland was my cradle,
England is my nest.
And Durham is the quiet place
Where my weary bones shall rest.
Keith Armstrong
(From ‘Where My Weary Bones Shall Rest’ written for Durham County Council, with music by Andy Jackson and Benny Graham)
Joseph Boruwlaski ('the Little Count') (1739-1837), Travelling performer and memoirist
Boruwlaski was born into impoverished lower gentry in Poland. At 3 feet 3 inches tall and styled as 'Count Boruwlaski', he was exhibited around the salons and courts of Europe. He moved to Britain in 1782 where, for a charge, he would 'receive company', holding a breakfast to which the public could come and be entertained with music and exaggerated tales of his adventures. He was briefly taken up by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and George IV but high society tired of him and, after travelling the country, he retired to Durham.
