Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	king_n	law_n	prerogative_n	3,673	5	10.4433	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69789	The history of Poland. vol. 2 in several letters to persons of quality, giving an account of the antient and present state of that kingdom, historical, geographical, physical, political and ecclesiastical ... : with sculptures, and a new map after the best geographers : with several letters relating to physick / by Bern. Connor ... who, in his travels in that country, collected these memoirs from the best authors and his own observations ; publish'd by the care and assistance of Mr. Savage.	Connor, Bernard, 1666?-1698.; Savage, John, 1673-1747.	1698 (1698)	Wing C5889; ESTC R8630	198,540	426

same either by himself or his Generals can Regulate his Troops and see his Army duly paid out of the Treasury of the Republic He has a great deal of reason to hope for Success in his Expeditions because that not having undertaken them on his own account those that engag'd him to them will infallibly support him in them and the rather by reason that what was done was altogether with their Consent This has prov'd the Cause of almost neverfailing Success to the Polish Arms till of late Days the King and his Subjects not having been in so good Intelligence with each other as formerly When the King is in the Army in Person he has the Supreme Authority there gives Battle when he pleases and Besieges Towns as often as he thinks fit And likewise Commands absolutely all the Gentry to follow him into the Field on Horseback at ever so little warning At Home he has the free Nomination of all Ecclesiastical Benefices and of all Secular Employments as well Military as Civil throughout the whole Extent of his Dominions without speaking of a great number of Royal Demesnes which together with the State-Dignities he confers on those that have deserv'd them He can bestow as considerable Preferments as any Prince in Europe and oblige and raise the Fortune of whom he pleases He has his Vote in Naming Cardinals as well as other Roman Catholic Kings have He can send and receive Ambassadors privately in Matters relating only to himself but as to what concerns the Republic the Senate must have their Share in it He can Call Prorogue and Dissolve the Diet at Pleasure In a word the Poles term him The Protector of their Laws and Privileges The Distributor of Honours The Supream Head of their Republic and Supream General of their Forces The Poles attend his Person Uncover'd The Chief Senators generally Serve him at Table first tasting of the Cup before they present him with it His Subjects never sit before him nor cover their Heads any where but in the Diet and there too the Senators are only allow'd that Liberty for the Deputies stand behind with their Furr'd Caps in their Hands The late King John Sobieski din'd always in Public and I never saw any sit down with him at Table when he eat at Court except the Queen his Children and foreign Ministers Yet when he either Hunted or Travell'd I have known some private Gentlemen to have had that Honour Nay even his own Servants that waited on him were then admitted to eat with him This his Majesty knew was absolutely necessary for him to allow of since by refusing any this Favour he might incur the Displeasure and Hatred of the whole Noblesse This was verified in the Case of Sigismund of Luxembourg who for having refused the Polish Gentry to eat with him was utterly excluded from the Crown that had been design'd him by Lewis King of Hungary and Poland his Father in Law The Poles when they speak to their King call him Mosci Krullo or Milociwy Krullo which is as much as to say Great or Merciful King The Titles Ambassadors give him or which are commonly made use of in Acts of Parliament or other Instruments sign'd by him and made in his Name are these Frederic Augustus II. King of Poland Great Duke of Lithuania Duke of Russia Prussia Masovia Samogitia Kiovia Volhynia Podolia Podlachia Livonia Smolensko Severia and Czernikovia All sorts of Gold Silver or Brass Coins are Stamp'd with his Image and Name All Justice is Administred in his Name and at Church they always Pray for the King and Royal Family When he is Crown'd the Diet allows him a Pension of about 140000 l. per Annum which together with his Patrimonial Estate maintains him a very splendid Court He has his Polish German and Hungarian Guards and has the same Officers of his Houshold as other Kings have While the Queen-Dowager lives the Queen-Consort maintains her Court at the King's Charge but after either the Queen-Dowagers Death or Marriage or the King's Death she has a Revenue Assign'd for that purpose as will appear hereafter Over and above the Pension which the Diet settles upon the King and Queen which in that cheap Country serves to maintain them as high as our Kings live here The King of Poland has great Incomes of his own for the Poles never care to Elect a Poor Prince for fear his Children may come to be a Charge to them after his Death He gets besides vast Sums of Money for Nominations Employments of which the late King did not scruple to sell though 't was directly contrary to the Constitutions of the Kingdom Nay the Ecclesiastical Benefices which are so very considerable have been put under Contribution by some cunning Artifice or other as happen'd some Years since about the Naming of a Bishop of Cracow whose Bishoprick is worth Eight Thousand Pounds Sterling per Annum which will go further than Twenty Thousand Pounds in England There were several that Aspir'd a long while to this Vacant Dignity and every one solicited what Friends he had at Court for the obtaining of it but most applied themselves to the Queen and begg'd of her though she has no Authority of her own to Intercede to the King in their Behalf After a long Debate the Queen call'd the Abbot Malakowski aside who was one of the Competitors and a rich Man and told him That tho' there were several that aimed at that Bishoprick yet she would Wager Fifty Thousand Crowns that he was prefer'd to them all Whereupon the good Abbot thinking to venture nothing being sure that either he should be Bishop or should gain a considerable Sum readily lays down the Money and by way of an accidental Bargain bought very dear his Bishoprick It has been Calculated that the late King what by his Own Incomes Pensions allow'd him from the Crown and other Casualties was worth about Three hundred thousand Pounds Sterling a Year of which he did not spend much above one Hundred thousand having had no Soldiers nor Army to Pay or Maintain but only his Guards and his Court. He hoarded up the greatest part of the Money in the Kingdom and was reputed to have had as much ready Cash by him as any Prince in Europe all which nevertheless the Poles Vow'd they would have back again when his Sons bought their Votes to be King The Kings Crown-Revenues are Imposts upon Merchandizes and upon the Jews part of the Customs of Dantzick and the Revenues of the Salt Mines of Cracow and other Places The Queen's Revenue consists either in a Gift from the King her Husband out of the Royal Revenues with Consent of the States or in an Annual Pension allow'd her by the Republick The Gift from her Husband serves also for her Dower and is called by the Poles what amounts to the Sense of the word Reformation being the Reversion only of a certain number of

of the Cosacks and the last Troubles in Bohemia To these also may be added the Revolutions of our own Nation in the Time of Charles I. when the Fury of the People extended their Rage even to the dipping their Hands in this Prince's Blood Politicians do generally own that the People are a wild Beast which ought rather to be led than left at Liberty and by consequence have pronounced it most Perilous to acquiesce under their Subjection An Anarchy would undoubtedly do more harm in a day than a Tyrant could in all his Reign If he Punishes 't is with some pretence of Justice when nothing can abate the Peoples Rage but an utter Extinction of whatever is placed over their He●ds A mixt Government therefore made out of all these Three is that which has proved most Agreeable to the Polish Nation being a just Medium between the dangerous Extremities of an Absolute Monarchy and those of Aristocracy and Democracy It is this the Poles have pitch'd upon as most proper to preserve the public Liberty and to perpetuate the Happiness of their State being it seems perswaded that a Body Politic resembles a Humane in this that as the one borrows all its Vigour and Health from a Just Temperament of the different Humours that compose it so the other depends absolutely on that of the Three before-mention'd Forms of Government And moreover as the former subsists by the mutual Opposition of contrary Qualities so the King Senate and Gentry of Poland having in some measure different Interests and Inclinations are not only hinder'd from deviating into vicious Extremities but also through a Noble Emulation are excited to labour carefully for the Good of the Public The Republic is divided into Two States the Kingdom of Poland and the Great Dutchy of Lithuania yet both which are but as one Body having the same King the same Parliament the same Laws the same Privileges the same Religion and as the natural result of all these the same Interest These Two States are so very well United that a King cannot be Elected a Law made nor any State-Business done without the mutual Consent of both But My Lord as the King is the Prime and Chief Member of this Republic I will give Your GRACE an Account of his present Power and Prerogatives The Poles are too proud a Nation to agree with those Politicians that measure the Grandeur of a Prince and Happiness of a State by the Despotic Power of him that Governs it and therefore those pernicious Maxims of Tyrants Si Lubet Licet Oderint dum Metuant and the like would be but ill receiv'd among a People that have all along secured their Liberties by their Prudence and Valour This Vassalage would suit well enough with the Slaves of Asia and Africk or with the Moscovites and Turks who all suffer themselves to be govern'd like Beasts and led by the Nose according to the different Caprice or Pleasure of their Prince As for the Kings of Poland they may rest in security in the Bosom of their Country even amidst the Noise of Arms either without or within their Dominions since they have always their Subjects to crowd about them for their Guards thro' indispensable Inclinations For what contributes chiefly to the Happiness of these Princes is the Loyal Observance and voluntary Obedience paid them even by those that are at Liberty to do the contrary I have often heard Monsieur de Polignac the French Ambassador say at Warsaw That he thought a King of Poland more Happy in his Person and Condition than a King of France Nevertheless this Authority of the King of Poland is so alloy'd by the Laws of the Land that it does not exact more Veneration from the Nobles or Gentry than they think he deserves For tho' their Behaviour be generally extraordinary Observant yet do they tacitly seem to call in question the Power they have limited and often refuse that Duty which they have deem'd him worthy of by his Election The Polish Nobility make no Difference between their King 's Right and those of the Senate and Deputies affirming That since these three Members compose but one Body they ought equally to share in the same Benefits and Injuries and consequently ought all either to Reward the one or Revenge the other The small Authority therefore of their Kings and the Impossibility of their Acting by themselves has at all times exposed Poland to the Insults of their Neighbours and the Rage of their own People as may be seen in the Civil Wars of the Cosacks and the Treachery and Sedition of the Confederates which could never have arriv'd at so great height if the King had had but sufficient Power to have suppress'd them Also the Great Marshal of the Crown Lubomirski would never have had the Boldness to have oppos'd King Casimir's Designs openly and to have form'd so many Factions against the Court had he not had some Assurances of remaining Unpunish'd This makes the King of Poland to be stiled a King of Kings and Lord of Lords since he has no better than Companions and Equals for his Subjects We have divers Instances of the Poles love for their Kings and particularly by their once enforcing the Right of Sigismund III. to the Kingdom of Sweden in an obstinate War which they began several times as likewise in supporting afterwards the Pretences of Vladislaus VII to Moscovy To omit divers others of a more ancient Date This Respect of their obliges them frequently to come and spend their Estates at Court thinking to augment their Princes Grandeur by their Prodigality and Magnificence This appears by the mistake made by Gregory King of Bohemia at the Interview between him and Casimir the Great at Glogan which Place the former had demanded to bound the Limits of Silesia when he saluted a Private Gentleman splendidly Cloath'd for the King of Poland The Custom and Inclination of the Poles runs so strong towards Honouring their Prince that all they have or are able to do even to the Destruction of their Lives and Fortunes they are willing to lavish in his Service without expecting any greater Recompence than the Glory of Waiting on His Majesty's Person Insomuch that a King of Poland who is Couragious and Prudent Just and Sober Liberal and Religious one that observes the Laws and Constitutions of his Kingdom and in a word who has no other Interest but the Common Good and Safety of his Subjects is as much Respected and Honour'd and as faithfully Obey'd both in time of Peace and War nay as formidable to all his Enemies as most Princes in Europe As to what relates to War no Monarch has greater Advantages than himself for he is neither at the trouble of raising Forces nor Expence in Maintaining them his Business being only to convene the Diet and they do all these things to his Hand After War is once declar'd he can continue the

the Poles have to Aspire to the Honours of the Kingdom for by their Constitutions all the Nobles as they call them or Free-born of the Land are equal as to their Birth and none though never so Poor ows precedence unless through a Compliment to any ever so Rich Insomuch that Preferments and Honours are the only Means by which they attain to Precedence which is annex'd thereto and ascertain'd by the Statutes and Laws Now one would think that this mighty Power which the King of Poland has to dispose of so many Places of Profit and Trust so many Lands by Royal Tenure and so many Benefices must needs gain him the Love and Affection of those on whom they are conferr'd But on the contrary the Poles being none of the most grateful and knowing too well that the King cannot dispose of those Preferments but to themselves they believe that when he Grants them he only gives back what of Right belongs to them and that it is not so much an Act of Grace in him as a piece of Justice When a King of Poland comes to any City the Inhabitants are oblig'd immediately to present him with the Keys and he can send his Regiment of Guards to take possession of the Gates The Citizens of Dantzick only have a Privilege to keep their own Keys and to hinder all but a few Troops from following the King into the City It is certain that Dantzick has more Immunities and Privileges than any other City of Poland insomuch that it may be rather look'd upon to be a small Republic of it self under Protection of that Kingdom than a City subject to it Nay it has in a manner all the Marks of a Sovereign Power for it can Condemn to Death without Appeal even the Polish Gentry if they commit any Crime within its Territories and Jurisdiction The King can raise no Troops at his own Charges without Consent of the Diet and this for fear that he should strengthen himself and Intrench upon their Liberties Nevertheless Vladislaus VII Levied some with the Portion of his Queen Mary Ludovica but the Senate so Murmur'd that he was soon oblig'd to Disband them The King cannot on any Account whatever go out of the Kingdom without Consent of the Diet for Your GRACE may observe that King Henry of Valois was fain to steal out of the Kingdom when he went into France Sigismund III. after the Death of his Father John King of Sueden was forc'd to call a Diet at Warsaw in the Month of May 1592. to obtain Consent to return into Sueden to take Possession of his Hereditary Kingdom and that Lewis King of Hungary who was chosen King of Poland in the Year 1370 having a mind to return to his Native Kingdom desired leave of the Senate and was oblig'd to Augment their Privileges to obtain it The King's Children are more than ordinarily respected though at the same time every private Gentleman thinks himself as great as they by the Law and to have as lawful a Right to the Crown yet are they nevertheless always treated as Princes of the Blood Royal. His Eldest Son has the Title of Prince of Poland and the others barely that of Princes adding withal their Christian Names as Prince Alexander and Prince Constantin of Poland The Kings Eldest Daughter is call'd the Princess of Poland and the others only Princesses adding thereto their Names as Princess Mary of Poland But it must be understood that when the King their Father dies and a new King of another or the same Family succeeds and has Children then do they lose the Titles of Princes and Princesses of Poland and take only the Names of their Families or Estates such as Prince Sobieski Princess Czartoriski yet however the Senate always look upon themselves oblig'd to provide for them to give them Pensions and to Match them equal to their Dignity and Birth which has ever hitherto been duly observ'd Nay the Poles have all along shew'd such Esteem and Affection to the Royal Family that although they have not allow'd them any Hereditary Right to the Crown by Law yet have they always Elected one of them King where there was any surviving For I find from the time of their Prince Piastus even down to that of the Election of the late King John Sobieski which is from the Year 830. to the Year 1674 the Crown has always continued in the same Family in a direct Line as your GRACE may observe in the First Volume of my Account of Poland They have also not confin'd this Affection of theirs to the Kings Sons only but have likewise extended it towards their Daughters and even their Widows as may be seen at large in their Histories where Your GRACE will find what strict Regard the Poles had to the Royal Race in the Election of the Princess Hedwigis whom they waited for with great Patience though all the while they suffer'd extreamly by the Insults of the Duke of Masovia who pretended a Right to the Crown as being a Relation to Casimir the Great The King 's Natural Sons are extreamly undervalu'd and are hardly look'd upon to be Common Gentlemen for none of the Gentry care to keep Company with them Nay one of the Late King's is a Clerk in the Salt Custom-House at Thorn a City in Prussia where his Place is not worth him above Thirty Pounds per Annum All over the Kingdom they usually have a very mean Opinion of Illegitimate Children though Nature endows them generally with as many Perfections and with as good Qualities as she does the Lawfully Begotten The only way for a King of Poland to continue the Crown in his Family is to be Warlike to enlarge his Dominions to gain the Love and Affections of his People by his own Merits and by the Favour of the Clergy to send his Children early to the Wars to get Credit and Reputation in the Army to spend Liberally all his Revenues and to die in Debt to the end that the Poles may be enclin'd to Elect his Son to enable him to pay what his Father ow'd But all this while he must never think to encroach on the Privileges of the Nation nor endeavour by any means to render the Crown Hereditary for whenever the Poles begin to smell out any such private Design they are presently apt to stir up Seditious Tumults which would prove very Pernicious to all the Posterity of that King as the ill Success the Late King's Sons have had sufficiently demonstrates It is altogether impossible for a King of Poland in Imitation of the King of Denmark to reduce his Subjects under an Arbitrary Power for the State of Denmark was quite different then from what that of Poland is now In Denmark the King Clergy and Commonalty were under the Rule and Government of the Gentry so that it was the Interest of the Clergy and Commonalty to side with the King to abate and depress the

before the King where-ever he goes and to take care that all the Court-Officers perform their Duty in their several Stations over whom he has the sole Jurisdiction in criminal Cases If any Person so much as wounds one of his Officers he loses his Head for it by a Law made in the Year 1573. He is moreover the Introducer of all Ambassadors He has an exceeding great Benefit by imposing Prizes on Merchants Wares for they generally make him great Presents and Bribes to augment their Profit Nevertheless his Power is very much lessen'd in the Time of the Election of a King for then he must act in Conjunction with the Grand Marshal of Lithuania He always acts by Assistance of the Court Marshal who is his Deputy in his Absence And when the Court Marshal absents likewise the Duty of that Office is requir'd from the Grand Marshal of Lithuania and in his Absence from his Little Marshal And when all these are absent that Duty is incumbent on the Chancellors and Treasurers in their respective Turns The hundred and twentieth Lay Senator is The grand Marshal or grand Steward of Lithuania His Office is much the same with that of the grand Marshal of Poland The hundred and twenty first Lay Senator is The great Chancellor of the Kingdom The hundred and twenty second Lay Senator is The great Chancellor of the Dutchy The hundred and twenty third Lay Senator is The Vice-Chancellor of the Crown The hundred and twenty fourth Lay Senator is The Vice-Chancellor of the Dutchy The Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of the Kingdom must be the one Ecclesiastical and the other Secular by a Law made at Cracow in the Time of Sigismund I. But those of the Great Dutchy are both oblig'd to be Secular tho Hartknoch says there is no Law against a Bishop's being Chancellor there They have each of them two Seals the Chancellor the greater Seal and the Vice-Chancellor the lesser Their Authority is equal except that the former always takes Place of the latter tho' he happens to be a Bishop and that the Vice-Chancellor does not act but in Absence of the Chancellor or at least under him The Chancellor's Office is to take Cognizance of all civil Affairs to see Justice done the Laws observ'd and to render ineffectual the Cabals and Intrigues of foreign Princes in Prejudice of the Liberties and Authority of the Republick They are to seal all the King's Mandates and Grants and to receive and answer all his Letters Their Power also is so great that they can seal several things without the King's Consent and refuse as many where he commands if they are contrary to the Constitution of the State The Chancellor or in his Absence the Vice-Chancellor answer to all Speeches made the King and propose all Matters to be debated in the Senate He of the two that is Ecclesiastical hath a Power over the King's Secretaries Chaplains and Preachers as likewise over all the Ceremonies of the Church which in any wise relate to the King They are the general Chroniclers and Publishers of the Laws and take Cognisance of all Appeals made to the King The Vice-Chancellor generally succeeds the Chancellor tho sometimes in Lithuania it has happen'd otherwise The Ecclesiastical Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor of Poland is for the most part chosen out of the meaner Bishopricks as Culm Premislia Chelm c. They ought to be Persons of great Prudence Learning and Probity their Business being to admonish advise and direct the King in his Administration of the Government The hundred and twenty fifth Lay Senator is The great Treasurer of the Crown The hundred and twenty sixth Lay Senator is The great Treasurer of the Dutchy These Treasurers are Masters and Guardians of the Treasure and Revenue of the Republick which is brought them in by four general Collectors who all keep a true Register of it giving a Copy thereof to the King and another to the Treasurer They also have the keeping of the Regalia as the Crown Scepter Globe Sword of State Robes c. They moreover have in their Custody all the King's Furniture and Records and are to preside in the Office of the Mint They likewise pay all Salaries either of the Military or civil List The Treasurers Privilege is so great that they are not oblig'd to give any Account either to the King or any of his Officers how they perform their Trust but in due Time the Diet appointing Commissioners for that Purpose they are oblig'd faithfully to charge and discharge themselves before them otherwise the Republick may sue them for it and confiscate their Lands Nevertheless the Treasurers who most commonly misemploy the publick Stock by treating the Commissioners well and making them considerable Presents withal often obtain their Discharge without much Difficulty I may here give your Grace an Account of a Passage that happen'd when Count Morstyn was great Treasurer of Poland who having more Regard to his own private Interest than publick Benefit sent all the Riches of the Treasury into France when fearing that the Diet would soon think fit to call him to Account he retir'd privately with all his Effects out of the Kingdom and went to settle in France where he purchas'd the whole County of Chateau-Villain which is worth above an hundred thousand Livres a Year The hundred and twenty seventh Lay Senator is The little or Court Marshal of the Kingdom The hundred and twenty eighth Lay Senator is The little or Court Marshal of the Dutchy These Court Marshals in the Time of Vladislaus VII had a Contest with the Chancellors for Precedence but at length they were order'd to be contented with the last Place in the Senate therefore Starovolscius who in his Colen Edition of the State of Poland places them next to the great Marshals in that of Dantzic puts them last of all It will not be here amiss to acquaint Your Grace that besides these ten Crown-Officers there are three other Sorts of Officers which are not Senators and they are either of the Kingdom and Great Dutchy the King's Court or belonging peculiarly to Palatinates and Districts The Principal of the first Kind are these The two Grand Generals of the Crown and Great Dutchy who are the King 's immediate Substitutes and have a full Power to do whatever his Majesty could were he present Tho this Dignity of Great General be the most considerable and honorable of any in the Republic yet does it not make the Person that enjoys it to be a Senator nor qualifies him to have the least Seat in the Diet unless he be therewithal a Palatin or Castellan as most commonly he is The two great Generals of Poland and Lithuania have equal Power in their respective States and have no Dependance upon each other unless that the Great General of Lithuania always gives Place to him of Poland yet has he the sole Command

can have any Force it must be review'd by the great Marshal and two Deputies or by three Senators and six Deputies Having been thus review'd it is read out in the Diet by the Nuncio Marshal after which the Chancellors demand with a low Voice If the King Senate and Deputies consent to apply the Seal which being answer'd in the affirmative it is presently seal'd and enroll'd among the Acts in the Register of Warsaw and this by the Care of the Deputy's Marshal who is to see it done soon after the Conclusion of the Session After this one of the King's Secretaries is to get it printed and dispers'd among the several little Diets and Tribunals all over the Kingdom It must be observ'd that where the Diet has been dissolv'd thro' the Obstinacy of any particular Member no Laws or Constitutions can be committed to the Press Whereupon in the Year 1665. the Nuncios severely reprov'd their Marshal for but suffering them to be transcrib'd where the Session had been adjourn'd The same Law is to be observ'd in all Decrees of the Diet for immediately after the publishing of them by the Referendary they are to be transcrib'd sign'd seal'd and printed Those Decrees that concern the Treasury are to be sign'd only by a Prothonotary appointed for that Purpose By the Constitution of the Kingdom the Diet ought never to sit above six Weeks and the Gentry are so very exact in observing this Privilege that as soon as ever that Time is expir'd they send their Marshal to take Leave of the King in their Name and moreover to acquaint him that they intend to wait on him to kiss his Hand which they are admitted to do soon after They are so obstinately bent upon defending this Custom that tho' the Urgencies of State require never so short a Continuance of the Diet after the Time prescrib'd yet they always vigorously oppose it as they did in the Year 1649. when the Tartars and Cosacks had almost over-run the Kingdom The Reason I suppose why the Members of the Diet are so punctual in observing this Constitution above any other is because by that Time their Money generally is spent and other Provisions which they bring in Waggons from home as Beer Wine Meat Fowl c. Consum'd by the great Train of Guards and other Domesticks which they have with them The Affairs generally treated of in the grand Diet are either a King's Election or his Marriage sending Ambassadours to Foreign Princes declaring War or making Peace imposing Taxes to carry on a War making Alliances with other Princes and all other State Affairs Likewise all Suits of Law between private Persons have their last Appeal from the Tribunals to the Diet As may appear by the Difference adjusted by them between the Order of Malta and Prince Demetrius Wiesnowiski who with-held Possession of what was given by his Brother-in-Law the Duke of Ostrog to this Order Also in criminal Cases they judge and condemn as they did those who assassinated Gonczeski Lieutenant General of Lithuania who had all their Heads cut off by Proceedings in this Court In Cases of High-Treason the Poles say their King ought not to be present at the Tryal of any Traytor and therefore the Marshal Lubomirski complain'd of John Casimir's condemning him in the Diet for Contumacy Also they do not generally admit the Nuncios at that Time tho Stephen Batori at a Diet held at Warsaw in the Year 1582. caus'd them to be present at the Tryal of Shorowski for Treason to the End that they might all be Witnesses of the Injustice done him 'T is likewise in the Diet that Strangers are naturaliz'd and Natives of the Country who are not free-born are made Gentlemen Formerly no Person was capable of this Honour but such only as had serv'd in the Wars for a considerable Time or else who had done some other good Service to the State but now there needs no other Merit or good Qualities than to be rich enough to purchase the Favour of the Court or the Protection of some great Man They that pretend to the Indigenat that is to be made Noble have no more to do than to apply themselves to the Nuncio-Marshal who has the Power to put their Names into the Roll of those that desire to be made Polish Gentlemen After which they are to give in a Note of their Genealogy Names Sir-names Family and Services and to put their Arms in the Middle When they have been receiv'd and accepted by the Diet and have got their Patent sign'd they are to take an Oath before the same Marshal to be true and faithful to their King and Country and whereof the Marshal afterwards gives them a Certificate Nevertheless tho the Candidate be declar'd Noble by the unanimous Consent of the three Orders yet is he capable only of mean Employments and to have a Vote among the Gentry it not being in the Power of the King to bestow either on him or his Children any important Preferment till the third Generation be past and the Republick is thereby satisfy'd of their Fidelity Loyalty and Affection for their Country Tho' no other Person but the King Senate and Nuncios can have any Business or Vote in the Diet yet vast Numbers of other People still flock thither Also most commonly Foreign Princes choose then to send their Ambassadors according to the Interest they have to maintain in the Diet. At this time likewise the greatest Part of the Nobility that have wherewithal to appear in any Sort of Grandeur meet here together with their Wives and Children tho' they have no other Business than to see and be seen It is then their Sons get acquainted with others of the young Gentry and often are marry'd to some of the young Ladies that come in like manner to be observ'd and to get Husbands In short the Diet is a kind of general Rendevouz of all the People of Quality in the Kingdom as well Men and Women as Children so that what City soever the Diet sits in there are always Thirty Thousand and sometimes Forty thousand Persons more than there us'd to be Nevertheless Provisions are not very scarce by reason that every Gentleman almost brings his Necessaries along with him Nay the greatest Part send their Fuel and Provender for their Horses by the River Vistula to Warsaw when they come from that Side of the Country There are likewise several Gentlemen that always come from Germany Sweden and other adjacent Countries to see this general Meeting which is a fine Sight and the only thing that is worth observing in Poland At this Time there is always such a Crowd of Soldiers Heydukes and Footmen in the Streets that it is not safe to be abroad after Day shut in for Fear of being rob'd or strip'd naked as happens almost every Night for the Polish Gentry give so very short Allowance to their Guards and Servants