A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1969-1970 (Debrecen, 1971)

Irodalomtörténet - Horkay László: The Poems of General Palocsay

László Horkay THE POEMS OF GENERAL PALOCSAY Among a lot of invaluable manuscripts in Deri-Museum one of the most interesting and valuable ones is that of George Horváth Palocsay, s verses. G. H. Palocsay (1671-1730) as a captain in the Imperial Forces fought against the French at Neustadt in 1703, got wounded at Landau, and managed to get home when Rákóczy, s fight for independence started. His verses got into the possession of Deri-Museum probably from the legacy of Kálmán Thaly, the enthusiast of the Rákóczy era. They comprise 43 verses altogether, most of them very long. They are protracted epical descriptions of battles, events, and curious cases connected mostly with his personal experiences. Thaly published some characteristic pieces of them in parts or as a whole, and planned the edition of all. Later dr. J. Gulyás made a very thorough and careful preparation for publishing them in care of the Academy of Sciences but his work was lost during World War II. The verses themselves are valuable firstly as documents of the era as Palocsay was not a poetical genius. He was very fond of jokes, witticism, and depicted the events at large. That is why especially the descriptions of battles, and of the era after the defeated struggle for liberty are so invaluable. In verses No 4-5 he commemorates the battle at Neustadt in 1703, and in verse No 6, the story of his desertion through Prague and Poland to join Rákóczy. It is a pity that none of his verses even mention the fight for liberty. But the conditions after the defeat are largely revealed in verses No 9-14. He must have been also a very good farmer as he gives a full account of the farmer's life is verse No 3, and in verse No 19 he shows how well he knew the art and all tricks of hunting. From among his verses about his family the most remarkable is the first one. It is a birthday greeting of his mother. Here he shows himself at his best as a master of artifice and daring. The thickened letters, namely, represent a calyx which reveals a birthday goodwish in Latin. There are four very interesting poems (No 28) which are written by another hand, probably by a woman. They are quite different in style. They may be - as the author suggests -the poems of Palocsay's second wife, Julianna Forgách. 539