excessive Power and Privileges of the Nobility which they soon effected by being Resolute and more in Number But in Poland it is quite otherwise for there the Clergy and Gentry have a common Interest to keep the King and People in Subjection The Clergy have great Privileges and are very Rich. The Bishops for the most part are Princes or Dukes they are all Senators and sit in the Diet before all the Temporal Lords so that by the great Authority and Veneration which they have procur'd to themselves from the slavish People they can hinder them from making any Insurrection and by the Arbitrary and Free Power which they and the Gentry have hitherto maintain'd to Elect whom they pleas'd for King they will always keep him in such a Dependence for the sake of his Children that he shall hardly ever be able to effect any Design upon their Prerogatives Nay providing he had found any Opportunity to compass such a dangerous Enterprize yet would it not consist with Prudence either to declare or Attempt it for fear of Incurring the Hatred and Displeasure of the People which would not only tend to his own Ruin but likewise Obstruct the Election of any of his Family to the Throne after his Death so that the surest way for a King of Poland to continue the Crown in his Family is never to attempt any Innovation I would not however think the Kings of Poland Unfortunate in not being able to assure the Succession of the Throne to their Children since they are thereby compell'd as it were by a lucky Necessity to breed them up to all Royal Virtues and this to the end that it may render them more Accomplish'd and Worthy to be Elected For where they are satisfied that the Crown is not due to their Blood but to their Merits what will either the Father or Sons omit to obtain it by the most Glorious Means My LORD I have hitherto presented Your GRACE with what relates to the Form of Government in Poland and to the King's Power and Revenues I would now give a particular Account of the King's Court were it not like to that of other Princes as to Splendor and Number of Officers For besides the Great Crown-Officers as the two Great and Little Marshals as many Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors two Generals and two Great and Little Treasurers The King has his Lord-Chamberlain his Court-Marshal or Lord Steward his Master of the Horse his Secretaries of State his Standard-Bearer Chief Huntsman his Gentlemen of the Body answerable to our Lords of the Bed-Chamber his Physicians Chaplains Pensioners Cup-Bearers Sewers Carvers Musicians and Guards The Gentlemen Pensioners always attend the King on Horseback this Body of Gentry consists of the Noblest Youth of the Kingdom whereof many have Court and State-Employments and are all subject to the Jurisdiction of the Court-Marshal There are some of these that attend his Majesty on Foot but in long Journeys they are always carried in Waggons A set number of these keep Guard Day and Night about the King Whenever the King goes in Public these last March every way about him with long Battle-Axes on their Shoulders and Sabres by their Sides but still admitting the Senators and Chief Courtiers to March next him yet when the Queen goes with the King the Senators and other Persons of Quality are to walk before The King's Horse-Guards ought by the Constitutions to be either Poles Lithuanians or Natives of some of the Incorporated Provinces but however this Law has been dispens'd with for the late King admitted both Germans and Hungarians amongst them Their Number by the Law is not to exceed 1200 and their Chief Commander is to be subject to all the Four Marshals The King has the same Number of Court Officers in Lithuania as he has in Poland the Lithuanians being as Ambitious to keep up the ancient Grandeur of their Great Duke as the Poles are for that of their King The King has likewise the Nomination of some Court-Officers in several Provinces as in Prussia Masovia and Russia which had formerly distinct Princes of their own and were afterwards United to the Kingdom of Poland so that the King has the Nomination of as many Court-Officers as any Prince in Europe but most of them are rather Honorary than Beneficial yet the Gentry always make great Interest to get into them Precedence of which they are Ambitious being Regulated according to the Nature and Dignity of the Employment As for the Queen's Court it consists of about Thirty Officers the Chief whereof are her Marshal and Chancellor Their Business is to Preside over Domestic Affairs in the Queen's Court. Her Marshal or Steward is to carry the Staff before her and her Chancellor or Secretary to Write Sign Receive and Answer all her Letters There is her Treasurer who Manages her Revenue her Master of the Horse Cup-Bearers Carvers Sewers Clerk of the Kitchen c. For Women Servants she has her Ladies Maids of Honour Dressers c. When she goes in Public she is always attended by a great number of her own Sex It may not be here amiss to add something of the Court of the Inter-Rex or Primate and so I will conclude While the Archbishop of Gnesna has the Administration of the Government he has much the same Officers with the King but when he has laid down that Authority his Officers are his Marshal spoken of before his Chancellor who Presides in his Courts of Justice his Almoner Master of Requests Cross-Bearer Steward Treasurer Chaplains Library-Keeper Clerk of the Kitchin c. This Archbishop alone as he is the Chief Senator of Poland has Drums beating and Trumpets sounding both within and without Doors before he sits down to Table He also by his Prerogative is not to wait for the King's Commands when he should Visit him but may go when and as often as he pleases Before My Lord I put an end to this Letter permit me to take notice to Your GRACE that the King of Poland does not Name his Privy-Counsellors but all Senators are Counsellors of Course for all of that Dignity that are about the Place where the King Resides have a Right to sit at the Council-Board For fear notwithstanding that there should not be always Senators sufficient for that purpose at Court the Senate always depute four of their Members to attend the King's Person by turns and that not only to give him Advice but likewise to Inspect into his Conduct and to prevent him from Acting contrary to the Laws For the King and Council are accountable to the Diet for any Mismanagement in the Government In short the Genius of the Polish Nation and the whole Frame of their Constitution is entirely bent to Curb the King's Power and to secure their Laws and Prerogatives against the Incroaching Factions of Foreign Princes or of their own Court-Party I might here My Lord add a great many
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
ones in the Suburbs The Inhabitants of this City and Suburbs are generally Germans and computed to be upwards of Two Hundred Thousand Souls whereof the greater Part have adhered to the Auspurg Confession ever since the Year 1525. and the Lutherans alone are admitted to a Share in the Government Yet all other Sects are tolerated and allow'd a free Exercise of their Religion The Publick Buildings of this City are First Their Churches whereof there are two very famous viz. St. Mary's and St. Peter's the former of which is by much the stateliest Fabrick in all Prussia being very highvaulted and having in it exceeding fine Organs Besides it is said to have 48 Altars 3722 Windows and a Font made at Antwerp which cost 24000 Rix-Dollars or 5400 Pounds Sterling Next There is the Town-House where the Magistrates sit This is a very magnificent Fabrick with an exceeding high Spire It has abundance of noble Inscriptions in several Rooms into which it is divided The Court of Judicature here is very fine being all built with Free-Stone and nam'd Arlus-House from its Founder In this City are three Magazines whereof one is very considerable and plentifully provided with all kinds of Stores and Ammunition for Land-Forces Here is no University but however a very famous College with Professors of all Faculties yet who do not give the Degree of Doctor Here is likewise a tolerable Exchange for Merchants to meet in The Palace of St. Dominick a beautiful Edifice A College for Jesuits c. The Jurisdiction of Dantzic extends to above 40 English Miles Circumference It sends two Deputies to the Diet of Poland as I have observ'd before in the First Volume of this Book The Absolute Government of it is in the Hands of Thirty Senators Elders or Magistrates whereof the greatest part are Persons of Learning tho' some few are Merchants but of no other Trade None of the Clergy can be of this Magistracy tho' any Foreigners may yet none of any other Religion but the Lutheran except the Calvinist whereof there must always be Four in the whole Senate The Senators when once created continue the same for Life The first and chiefest among them are the Four Burgomasters or as they call them Proconsuls out of which a President is chosen every Year Under these there are Thirteen Consuls who chuse the aforesaid Burgomasters out of their Body as often as they die away They likewise have the Chusing of all other Officers belonging as well to the Old as the New City There are Twelve Scabins or Judges for all manner of Process from whom there lies Appeal to the Thirteen Consuls and Four Burgomasters and from thence to the Court of Poland The Thirtieth Senator is their Syndic or Orator who is like a Master of the Ceremonies to receive and compliment any Foreign Ministers or Agents He takes Place of all the Scabins as the Consuls and Burgomasters do of him The King nominates every Year out of the Consuls or Burgomasters a Burgrave to represent his Person in the Senate And all Sentences of Death must be sign'd by him in the King's Name for no body can be executed here without such Signing I may take notice to Your Excellency that there is a Distinction in Executing Criminals of this City for Natives must always be executed before Arlus-House and Foreigners near one of the Gates of the City where the Prison lies All that are executed in the City are beheaded But all Thieves and Robbers are to be hang'd about two Miles out of Town at a famous Gallows supported by four Pillars of Brick To represent the Grievances of the People and to maintain their Privileges there are an Hundred Burghers chosen to inspect the Conduct of the Senate They have likewise a Vote in Electing the Clergy in Conjunction with the Senate Within this City and its Jurisdiction there are no Bishops but only a College of the Clergy who have no Power except to examine such as are design'd to be Elected Priests by the Senate and Centumviri the manner of whose Election is this The Candidate first makes his Application to the Clergy to examine him which done they give him a Certificate that they think him capable and allow him a Liberty to preach After which the People or Congregation of some Parish present him to the Senate and Centumviri desiring he may be Elected for their Minister when by Plurality of Voices he is Elected accordingly and thereupon sent back to the College of the Clergy to be Ordain'd which is perform'd by Imposition of Hands Reading of Prayers and some other Ceremonies This is likewise the Manner of Electing and Ordaining the Clergy in most Lutheran Countries In this City there are four Roman-Catholick Churches whereof one is the King's Chappel and the rest are for Monks There are also two for Calvinists where the Senate has no Power to nominate the Clergy I may here observe to Your Excellency That in Dantzic there is a particular Custom relating to Marriage which is That there is a Roman-Catholick Official a Priest who by his Power can oblige any Person to marry a Woman that he has but promis'd or given any Present to whatsoever though the Party never meant any such thing which occasions a great deal of Confusion and Disorder As for the King's Power in this City he can save any Body's Life that he pleases tho' condemn'd to die by the Magistrates To him half the Port-Customs come And one Mill brings him in every Hour of the Day and Night 24 Gold Ducats This Mill is mov'd by the Rodawn which runs thro' the City It grinds such a great Quantity of Corn all the Year round that its Revenue amounts to 4320 Pounds Sterling to the State and the King beside the Profit made by the Proprietors The City is oblig'd to put the King's Effigies on one Side of their Coin tho' they commonly have their own Arms on the other When the King comes thither they are to treat him and his Court for three Days together But however he can bring but a few of his Guards into the City The Dantzickers are oblig'd to have always a Secretary at the Court of Poland who as Dr. Connor says in his Time was one Mr. Alberti an ingenious Gentleman now or lately Syndic of Dantzic As for the City-Privileges They can coin their own Money without the King's Leave chuse their Magistrates make their own Laws and determine absolutely in Matters of Debt to the value of 500 Guilders but where the Action exceeds that Sum an Appeal lies to the Tribunal of Poland Yet in such Case the Appellant is oblig'd to lay down 100 Guilders in the Town-house before he can proceed and this is to deter People from making such Appeals for the Dantzickers do not much care that any of their Money should get into Poland but where they cannot help it This
Frederic Augustus the Present King of POLAND The History of POLAND IN Several LETTERS to Persons of Quality Giving an Account of the Present State of that Kingdom VIZ. Historical Political Physical and Ecclesiastical The Form of Government The King's Power Court and Revenues The Senate Senators and other Officers The Religion Diet and little Diets with other Assemblies and Courts of Justice The Inter-regnum Election and Coronation of a King and Queen with all the Ceremonies The present Condition of the Gentry and Commonalty as likewise The Genius Characters Languages Customs Manners Military Affairs Trade and Riches of the Poles Together with an Account of the City of Dantzic The Origin Progress and Present State of the Teutonic Order and the Successions of all its Great Masters Likewise The Present State of Learning Natural Knowledge Practice of Physick and Diseales in Poland And lastly A Succinct Description of the Dutchy of Curland and the Livonian Order with a Series of the several Dukes and Provincial Masters To this is also added A Table for each Volume And a Sculpture of the Diet in Session With some Memoirs from Baron Blomberg VOL. II. By BERNARD CONNOR M. D. Fellow of the Royal Society and Member of the College of Physicians who in his Travels in that Country Collected these Memoirs from the best Authors and his own Observations Compos'd and Publish'd by â—ir SAVAGE LONDON Printed for Daâ— Brown without Templ-Bar ' and A. Roper and T. Leigh both in Il et-street 1698. D R. CONNOR ' S PREFACE IN my PREFACE to the First Volume of this Historical Relation of POLAND I have mention'd my Incapacity for Matters of this Nature both because I was only Twelve Months in that Kingdom and because I have no Talent or Genius for History I thought Writing it by way of LETTERS in Imitation of some of our Neighbours would be more easie to my self and more acceptable to the Publick I am proud to have this happy Occasion of giving the Honourable Persons I write to so publick a Testimony of my Respects I am sorry in the same time I cannot have Leisure to honour my self in writing to the Noble Persons mention'd in the Second Volume as I have had in the First I follow a Profession so remote from HISTORY particularly a Polish one that it neither allows me Time nor leaves me any Inclination to attend any other Business I hope notwithstanding the Persons I promis'd to write to will be pleas'd to excuse me for not being able to keep my Word to them as I flatter'd my self I could since the ingenious Gentleman I desir'd to undertake this Work will give them the same Satisfaction he having already assisted me in my First Volume and having had all my Memoirs for this Second THE Antient and Present STATE OF POLAND PART II. The Present State LETTER I. To His Grace THOMAS Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Of the Form of the Government in Poland and of the King's Power Court and Revenues My LORD THAT high Station wherewith the King has Recompenc'd Your Merits and the great Trust His Majesty has reposed in Your GRACE during his Absence shews his Confidence in Your Ability as well to Govern the State as the Church Since therefore being lately Invested with a share of the Regal Authority you had occasion to know more intimately Our King's Power and Prerogatives I thought my self oblig'd to give Your GRACE an Account of those of the King of Poland to the end that comparing both together you might more sensibly perceive the Excellency of our Own Constitution which makes the Greatness of the King inseparable from the Interest of the People For when the Executive Power is as vigilant to see our Laws obey'd as the Legislative has been provident in making them England can justly boast of a much greater Happiness than either Poland or any other Kingdom of Europe Having My LORD not been a full Twelve Month at the late King of Poland's Court I cannot pretend to be throughly acquainted with that Kingdom yet I find that like most other Countries it has undergone several Changes in its Constitution since the middle of the VIth Century at which time it began to be a distinct Nation during the Reigns of the two great Houses of Piastus and Jagello Ever since the time of Lechus its Founder the Kings thereof have been Elected to the Crown after an Hereditary manner tho' not by an Hereditary Title They have really been Absolute and their Will went for a Law for then they made Peace and War when they pleas'd Levied as many Troops as they thought fit Punish'd or Pardon'd at Pleasure and Rewarded where they saw Convenient And all the Administration either of Public or Private Affairs was so wholly lodg'd in the King's Hands that I have heard the Poles themselves say That Sigismund II. the last King of the Jagellonic Family was to the full as Absolute as either the King of France or Denmark is now Whilst the Kings of Poland thus maintained a Supream Power over their Subjects they exceedingly enlarged their Dominions were both fear'd Abroad and belov'd at Home Commanded Potent and Numerous Armies into the Field Executed most Enterprizes speedily and were almost always sure of Success and this because they did not then as now depend upon the lingering Determination and tedious Conclusions of a Turbulent Diet. But the Family of Jagello being once Extinct by the Death of Sigismund II. who had resign'd his Kingdom to the Senate and Polish Gentry and given them full Power and Authority to dispose thereof as they thought fit the Crown of Poland was anew declared Elective to the end that all the Princes of Christendom who had due Merits and Qualifications might have a Right to Aspire thereunto This gave occasion to most of the Princes of Europe ever since to Court the Polish Nobility after their King's Death And that either to get the succeeding Election determined in their own Favour or else to have some of their Friends Advanced to that great Dignity but this most commonly rather with regard to their own private Interests than out of any Respect to the Person they desired to Promote as the Houses of Austria and Bourbon have always practis'd The Gentry of Poland therefore observing that several Princes at a time always Aspir'd to their Crown and considering that not one of them had more Right than the rest as likewise that it lay altogether in their Power to choose whom they pleased resolved Unanimously to Elect none but such as should Condescend nay Swear to observe the Terms and Conditions they proposed Hereby the Poles by degrees have clip'd and limited the Antient Power of their Kings and have reduc'd them to the Bounds we now find them to have that is barely to a third Part of the Grand Diet For the Poles knew very well that no Prince would be so Imprudent as to scruple Submitting to
any Conditions to become Master of so considerable a Kingdom to which he had no Right either by Birth or other Claim and more especially since these Conditions are neither Rigorous nor Dishonourable but such as are decently consistent with the Regal Character he is to be Invested with Thus the Polish Gentry of a kind of Monarchical Government have in time made a perfect Republic consisting of three Orders The King Senate and Gentry which they call the Nobility Here My Lord I must take notice to Your GRACE that the Polish Nation is divided into two sorts of People the Gentry or Freeborn Subjects who are hardly a Tenth Part of the Kingdom and the Vassals who are no better than Slaves to the Gentry for they have no Benefit of the Laws can Buy no Estates nor Enjoy any Property no more than our Negroes in the West-Indies can and this because some Ages since the Common People Revolting against their Lords and having driven them out of the Nation the Gentry came with a Foreign Power and reduced them to a greater Subjection than before in which they have been kept ever since So that the Government of Poland at present comprehends only the King and Gentry By a Gentleman or Nobleman of Poland is understood a Person who either himself or his Family has a Possession in Land For they never Intermarry with the Common People All the Gentry from the King's Sons to those that are but only Masters of an Acre of Land are equally Noble both by their Birth and the Constitution of the Kingdom for no Body is Born either a Palatine Senator or Lord but those Titles are always annexed to certain Employments which the King only gives to Persons advanced in Age and recommended by their Merits The Diet of Poland in some respects resembles our Parliament being made up of two Houses the House of Senators answerable to our House of Lords and the House of Nuncio's not unlike our House of Commons The Senators are the Bishops Palatines Castellans and the Ten Great Officers of the Crown in all about 142. In the Upper-House the Senators sit not by any Writ of Summons or Letters Patents as in England but only by Virtue of the Great Preferments in the King's Gift which they Enjoy for Life So that the King wholly Constitutes the Upper House but the Lower are the Representatives of the Gentry Elected by them alone in their respective Provinces without the Concurrence of the Common People who have no Priviledge to Vote in their Election Insomuch that at least Nine Parts in Ten of the People of Poland are excluded from having any Share in the Government The Grand Diet of Poland is nothing else but the King Senators and Deputies assembled together in any Part of the Kingdom that his Majesty Commands Without this great Assembly of the States the King can neither Make nor Repeal Laws Declare War nor Conclude a Peace make no Alliance with any Foreign Princes raise neither Troops nor Taxes Coin no Money and in a word can Determine no Matter of State of any Importance without the Universal Consent and Concurrence of this Parliament which they term the Free States of Poland Several powerful Motives have enclin'd the Poles to Establish this kind of mixt Government which they take to be a just Temperament of whatever is to be found most Excellent in the several Monarchies Aristocracies and Democracies that have been in the World The most considerable of which Motives as I have met with them in their Histories or learn'd them from the most knowing among their Natives are as follows First They think by this Judicious Choice of a Government to preserve their Kingdom from those Disorders which most commonly attend Absolute Monarchies Agreeing herein with that Prince of Philosophers Aristotle who though he preferr'd this kind of Government to all Others yet was he nevertheless obliged to own that when ever it degenerated it was the most pernicious of all Thus the Poles have temper'd the Exorbitant Power of their Kings with the mixture of two other Governments whereby they thought to secure their Liberty a Thing always most Dear to them from the Arbitrary Will of a Prince who by Imagining himself above the Laws might Fancy whatever his Passions prompted him to allowable and his truest Interest to be the Entire Subjection of his People The miserable Examples of their Neighbours the Turks and Moscovites have sufficiently convinced them of this Truth wherefore the Polish Nation thought it but convenient to limit the excessive Power of their Kings and confine them to Rule with more Moderation and Justice Secondly The Poles have observ'd as well from their own Government as from that of their Neighbours that no small disadvantage has flow'd from an Aristocracy They could not be perswaded but that the Authority of one Person was infinitely more easie to be Tolerated than that of many for that either the Ambition or Jealousy of such would often disturb the Repose and Tranquility of the Public Poland also began to Reflect upon its former Miseries under its Woievods when it was deplorably rent and torn by the Factions among those Palatines Insomuch that even while it became a Conqueror from without it was vanquish'd within and that by its own Force This gave the Poles no small dislike to an Aristocracy which they have resolved never more to admit among them The Third Reason of State which has obliged the Poles to reject a Democracy is that they look upon that sort of Government to be the most dangerous of all being the easiest enflam'd and the greatest Enemy to true Nobility Its first Maxim is To procure a Vniversal Levelling or making all alike whereby under the Notion of a common Liberty they weaken and enervate those great Genius's which were design'd to Govern and Protect them How then could it be expected that the Descendents of those mighty Warriers who Founded the Polish Nation and have so long maintain'd the Honour of it by their Valour should submit to have their Blood debased by mixing it with the Ignoble Vulgar The Tyranny of Laws which the Nobles are subjected to in an Absolute Common-wealth would be too rude a Check to this Ambition which the Poles have always had to Command over their Vassals and therefore they have always entertain'd a secret Odium for those Grecian Republics that Banish'd their greatest Statesmen meerly because they would not have them gain too fast upon the Affections of the People If any should perhaps doubt of the pernicious Consequences of a popular Government where Reason does not so much reign as an Unruly violence of a People who know no other Laws than those of their Passions let them cast their Eyes on the Heats of the Roman Empire who were often ready to Overturn the State had not the Senate speedily applied a prudent Remedy But there are other Examples more Modern as the Revolt
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 Heâ—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
Starostaships after the Death of those that Enjoy them If the King chance to die before the Queen has this Reformation assign'd her then the Republic gives her a Yearly Pension out of the Crown-Revenues but this no longer than she continues unmarried or stays in the Realm for otherwise in both those Cases the Queen Regent gets it or else it reverts to the State It may be observ'd that the Queen Regent never comes by it without the Consent of the Diet and that is no ordinary Expence to her to procure by Purchasing almost all the Votes of that Mercenary Assembly This may be seen in the Case of the present Queen-Dowager for when the Queen her Predecessor Marry'd the Duke of Lorrain she observing that the Settlement of her Pension was like to be put off to the succeeding Diet which is conven'd only once in three Years thought it better to be at the Charge of gaining their Votes at that Session than to lose three Years Income This Revenue is generally computed at half a Million Polish which amounts to about Thirty Thousand English Pounds As long as the Queen-Dowager enjoys this Pension the Queen-Regent can have none for the Poles say that it would be too much to Pension two Queens at once Tho' the King of Poland has many important Employments to distribute yet his Power is always limited in the Distribution of them for he cannot Name any of his Children no nor so much as the Queen to any Charge either Ecclesiastical or Temporal Sigismund III. having a mind to give his Queen Constantia two Starostaships vacant by the Death of Queen Anne who died in the Year 1625. all the Gentry oppos'd it by a great Uproar in the Diet and maintain'd vigorously That a King of Poland ought not to part with any Office without their Consent Neither can he Purchase any Lands for them in any part of the Kingdom without Consent of the Diet Although the late King bought several vast Territories in other Peoples Names both in Russia Prussia and almost all over the Kingdom and besides purchas'd a Principality of the Emperor in Silesia for Prince James his Eldest Son But the Poles having long since discovered the Secret pretended when I was at Warsaw that all those Lands must come to the Crown after the King's Death Some of the Kings of Poland also have been so kind as to part with their Prerogatives in Ecclesiastical Matters so that now they retain only the Collation of Benefices As for the Foundation of Monasteries whatever Power the King may have left to Erect them they must always be confirm'd by the Three Orders of the States The King of Poland is likewise limited in divers other respects for he can neither encrease nor diminish the Number of Officers either of his Court or the Kingdom nor Name any Stranger that is not Naturaliz'd to any Charge or Government only in the Foot Army and there too such a Person can pretend to no more than to be a Captain or at most a Colonel This may appear by the Example of Stephen Batori who having had considerable Services done him by the Hungarians in the War against the Moscovites he thought it but reasonable to Prefer some of them for Recompence which extreamly incens'd the Poles and particularly the Grand General so much that he immediately thereupon resign'd his Staff 'T is also out of the Kings Power to advance some Natives for all Citizens Merchants Tradesmen and their Sons Country-Men Labourers and generally all Artificers are not only by the Constitutions of the Kingdom excluded from Preferments which the King has the Nomination of but also have not Liberty either of Buying or Enjoying Lands or Estates 'T is then the Nobility alone or Freeborn of the Kingdom of Poland the Great Dutchy of Lithuania or of the other Provinces Incorporated into that Monarchy that can pretend to any Preferment in the Republic Wherefore the aforesaid King Batori thinking to Advance his Nephews by reason he had no Children design'd to get them Naturalized in the Diet held the Thirteenth of December 1586 but was prevented by Death It must withal be understood that 't is not every one of these that can Aspire or lay Claim to every Preferment but only such as have Lands or Estates in the Kingdom the Great Dutchy or any other Incorporated Province where the Preferment lies For a Free-born Native of the Kingdom though he has an Estate in it yet cannot be a Governor of a City in Lithuania nor have any kind of Employment there without a setled Estate in that Country But the Advantage that all Freeborn Natives have is that they can Buy an Estate throughout the whole Extent of the Dominions of Poland There is another Inconvenience which very much Prejudices and Limits the King's Power and the public Interest of the whole Commonwealth for where-ever a Noble Pole is once named to a Preferment and is in actual possession of it let him commit never so many Crimes against the Crown or State he can never be depriv'd of his Employ or turn'd out of it without the Unanimous Consent of the Diet but shall continue in the same for Life even against a the Will of the Diet if he has but one Member on his Side who will protest against the Proceedings For the Negative Voice of a Member of the Diet of Poland has the same Force with a Negative of a King of England in Parliament This pernicious Constitution occasions many Troubles and Animosities for it encourages Unruly and Mutinous People to disturb the Commonwealth Officers never serve the Republic faithfully Treasurers arè thereby emboldened to give no Account of the Public Revenues the Generals of the Army and Governors of Provinces and Towns do as they think fit and most commonly mind their own private Affairs more than the Interest of the Republic In a word though the Poles term this Constitution the greatest Mark of their Liberty it inevitably Ruins the Foundation of the whole State and every one sees what bad Consequences must and do necessarily follow from this excessive Liberty or rather Libertinism of every Private Officer of the Kingdom My Lord This great Privilege of the Ofcers makes them pay more than ordinary Respect to the King before they are Dignify'd and court him to give them a Charge which he can never afterwards take away Moreover this Power of the King 's to Name such of the qualify'd Nobility as best pleases him to these important Employments keeps all the Gentry in a great Dependance on him for the design of the Republic in lodging the Nomination of Officers in the King's Hands was that he should take care to confer them on those that had best deserv'd them by their Services either in Peace or War and exclude such from them as had been Stubborn Mutinous and Unserviceable to the State Another Reason that makes the King respected is the natural Ambition
Gnesna An Address to this Bishop is commonly Admodum Reverendo when others have only Reverendo The fourth Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Cujavia and Pomerania the See of whose Bishoprick is at Vladislaw upon the Vistula four Leagues below Thorn in Low Poland His Seat in the Senate is on the right hand of the Archbishop of Gnesna whose Place he officiates in an Inter-regnum as your GRACE may have observed before His Bishoprick was formerly call'd the Bishoprick of Cruswick because he had a Cathedral Church there but that being translated to Vladislaw at this Day it has sometimes the Name of the Bishoprick of Vladislaw His usual Residence when in Poland is either at Wolboria in the Palatinate of Lanschet or Lagovia in the Palatinate of Sendomir and when in Prussia is chiefly at Sobkovia The fifth Ecclesiastial Senator is the Bishop of Vilna the capital City of the great Dutchy of Lithuania on the River Vilia which discharges it self into the River Niemen below Cowno His Diocess extends it self thro' Lithuania and White-Russia even to the Borders of Moscovy The sixth Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Posnan a City in Low or Great Poland situate on the River Varta There are the Tombs of several Kings of Poland in the Cathedral Church of this City all which are very Magnificent His Diocess not only extends thro' the Province of Posnania but also thro' some part of the Palatinate of Masovia as Warsaw c. The seventh Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Plosko a small City in Masovia on the River Vistula five Leagues above Vladislaw He has the same Jurisdiction over the Territory of Pultausk as the Bishop of Cracow has over the Dutchy of Severia and wherein there lies no Appeal to the King His Episcopal See is at Pultausk in Masovia upon the River Narew which runs into the Bug two Leagues below The eighth Eclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Varmia in Royal Prussia which Bishoprick is so divided that the Bishop has two Parts and the Chapter the third and in which they have a free Jurisdiction over the Gentry exempt from the Regal Power His Episcopal See is at Frawenberg a little Town near Frisc-haff The ninth Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Luceoria or Lucko which is the capital City of High Volhynia His Diocess contains part of the Palatinate of Masovia Podlachia and Briescia or Polesia in the great Dutchy of Lithuania The tenth Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Premislia or Premislaw a City of Red-Russia on the River San six Leagues above Jeroslaw and twelve from Leopol In this City there is a Greek-schismatic Bishop It was here that a Canon of the Cathedral Church nam'd Orikowski in the Beginning of Lutheranism maintain'd the first that Priests might Marry and who Marry'd afterwards himself in the Year 1549. under the Reign of Sigismund II. The eleventh Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Samogitia who obtain'd from Pope Vrban VIII that he might likewise be Bishop of Curland This Bishop has no particular See appointed but sometimes resides at Midnich one of the chief Towns in that Province The twelfth Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Culm a City of Royal Prussia on the River Vistula six Leagues above the City of Thorn This Bishop formerly preceded the Bishop of Varmia His Episcopal See is at Lubavia as likewise at Stargardie which the Germans call Althousen The thirteenth Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Chelm in Red-Russia There is besides in this City a Greek-Schismatick Bishop The Bishop of Chelm has for some time translated his See to Kranostaw a Town in the same Palatinate of Chelm built upon a great Lake thro which runs the River Nieper This Translation was occasion'd by the frequent Irruptions of the Tartars and Cosaks and who have altogether destroy'd the City of Chelm The fourteenth Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Kiovia capital City of Low Volhynia and of all Vkraina Here is moreover a Greek-Schismatick Bishop formerly Primate of all Russia or Moscovy The Inhabitants of this City are all of the Greek Perswasion and at present are subject to the Great Czar The fifteenth Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Caminiec Capital of Podolia which is now under the Turk The sixteenth Ecclesiastical Senator is the Bishop of Smolensko upon the River Vistula Capital of the Dutchy of the same Name This Dutchy was formerly subject to Lithuania but now is also subdu'd by the Moscovite Every one of these Bishops has a great Retinue and a kind of little Court having several Ecclesiastical and Secular Officers about him The greatest Part of them also have Suffragans because they believe themselves chiefly made Bishops to have a Right to sit in the Senate and not to be troubled with the Duties of their Office and therefore allow these a small Pension to perform all Episcopal Functions for them Guagnini says that in the Year 1506. there was a great Contest in the Diet held at Lublin between the Ecclesiastical and Lay Senators for the latter pretended to have a Right to sit next the King on his left Hand but which at length the Bishops over-power'd them in and thereby retain'd their ancient Privilege Krzistanowic in his State of Poland says that such was the Piety of the Poles that immediately after they became Christians they prefer'd their Clergy to their Laity and allow'd them many Noble Immunities and Privileges which they enjoy to this Day Most of the Bishops have very large Revenues wherewith they may not only live splendidly and comfortably themselves but also be assistant to the inferiour Clergy and charitable to the Poor Here I must beg leave to give Your GRACE by way of Digression some Account of the present State of Religion both in Poland and Lithnania together with a few historical Circumstances relating as well to modern as more remote Times and wherein I shall all along endeavour to be as concise and comprehensive as the several Particulars I have to go thro' will admit Your GRACE may first be inform'd that the Poles became Christians under the Reign of Miecislaus I. in the Year 964. as may be observ'd in the Life of that King The first Tenets they embrac'd were those of the Church of Rome But however the Russians entertain'd the Greek Perswasion which they continue in many Places of that Province to this Day They are utterly averse to the Roman Catholick Religion and term its Professors by way of Contempt Latins their Service being in that Language There are two Sorts of Greek Churches in this Kingdom the Schismaticks and the Vniats whereof the latter differ only from the Roman Catholicks in that their Devotion is all in the Greek Language The Priests of both these Churches are call'd Popi the Word Pop in Polish signifying a
it was practis'd in the last Election with as much Brevity and Succinctness as possible and which are as follow After the King has thus been conducted into the Church the Ceremony forthwith begins First the Archbishop in a short Oration exhorts the King to continue stedfast in the Roman Communion to exercise all Regal and Princely Virtues and lastly to remunerate his Obligations to the Republick by a just and inviolable Administration of the Government After which the Archbishop asks him to this Effect in Latin Will you support and maintain the Holy Catholick Faith and uphold it by good Works To which the King answers I will Then the Archbishop asks him again Will you protect and defend the Churches and their Ministers Answer I will Then the Archbishop again Will you govern and rule the Kingdom committed by God to your Charge according to Equity and Justice Answer I will Then the King-elect kneeling and kissing the Archbishop's Hand and laying his own upon the Evangelists sworn to perform all that he had before sworn to observe at St. John's Church at Warsaw with some other Particulars that induce me to repeat the Form which runs thus We Frederic Augustus duly elected King of Poland Great Duke of Lithuania and Duke of Russia Prussia Masovia Samogitia Kiovia Volhynia Podolia Podlachia Livonia Smolensko Severia and Czernicovia by all the Orders of both States of Poland and Lithuania and by all the Provinces incorporated and depending thereupon do sincerely promise and swear before Almighty God and upon the Evangelists of Jesus Christ to maintain observe keep and fulfill in every of the Circumstances Particulars and Articles all the Rights Liberties Immunities and Privileges both publick and private excepting such as are contrary to the common Rights and Liberties of both these Nations or to any Law either ecclesiastical or civil that have been justly and lawfully establish'd by our Predecessors the Kings of Poland Great Dukes of Lithuania and Dukes c. Or which have been granted by all the Orders during the Interregnum to the Catholick Churches Lords Barons Gentry Citizens and Inhabitans of what Rank or Condition soever together with the Pacta Conventa agreed upon between our Embassadours and the Orders of the Kingdom of Poland and Great Dutchy of Lithuania We do moreover promise to maintain and acquiesce in whatever has been enacted or establish'd in the Diet of our Election as we do likewise to what shall be agreed upon in that of our Coronation Also that we will restore both to the Kingdom and Great Dutchy whatever has or shall be alien'd and dismember'd from their Lands or Revenues Moreover we promise not to lessen the Bounds of either the Kingdom or Great Dutchy but rather to defend and enlarge them We swear likewise to establish Courts of Justice throughout the Kingdom and Great Dutchy and to see that Justice be render'd every where without Intermission or Delay without any Regard to or Favour of Persons or Things And lastly we consent that if it should happen which God forbid that we should in any wise violate this our Oath or any Part thereof that the Inhabitants of the Kingdom and all our Dominions shall be totally discharg'd and exempt from paying us Obedience and Fidelity This Form or Oath having been distinctly repeated by the King after the Chancellor and before the Archbishop his Majesty takes the Testament in his Hand and Kissing it uses these Words So may God help me and the Contents of this Book inspire me as I perform inviolably this sacred Oath After the King has been thus sworn he rises and hears the Pacta Conventa read and confirms the Oath which he had taken concerning them Then he Kneels again and receives the Benediction of the Archbishop and other Bishops after which he rises and has the upper Part of his Cloaths taken off when the Archbishop Anoints his right Hand and Arm up to his Elbow and Shoulder with consecrated Oyl with these Words I anoint thee King with consecrated Oyl in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen And then he has his Cloaths put on again Afterwards the two Bishops lead him to a Chappel on the left Side of the Church where they Habit him a-new somewhat like a Bishop After which he has other Ornaments put on by the two Marshals of the Kingdom and Great Dutchy and then he is convey'd by the Senator-Officers the Standard-bearer of the Kingdom walking before to the Throne rais'd for him in the Middle of the Church whence after having heard Mass he is brought back to the Altar where the Archbishop delivers a drawn Sword into his Right Hand with these Word Receive this Sword and cordially protect and defend the Holy Church against all Vnbelievers Then the King delivers the Sword to the Great Sword-Bearer of the Kingdom who having put it up in its Scabbard returns it to the Archbishop who then girds it to the King's Side whereupon the King immediately rises and drawing it again Flourishes it three Times over his Head to signifie that he will defend the Trinity and Church against all Unbelievers This being done the King kneels again and the Archbishop puts the Crown after a very solemn Manner on his Head which the two Bishops bear up with their Hands till the Archbishop has said certain Prayers After which the Archbishop puts the Scepter into the King's Right Hand and the Globe into his Left when the King rising his Sword is given again to the Sword-Bearer of the Kingdom to bear before him After this his Majesty is brought back between the Archbishop and the two Bishops to the Throne wherein he is forthwith plac'd by the Archbishop with these Words Sit and maintain the Place given you by God c. The King being thus seated the Archbishop and Bishops return to the Altar where they sing Te Deum which being ended and the Archbishop sit down by the Altar the King comes and Offers him Gold Kisses his Hand and having made his Confession to him receives the Sacrament and Benediction from him Thus the Ceremonies being at an end the Archbishop rises and gives his Benediction to all present when the Court-Marshal with a loud Voice cries out Vivat Rex Vivat Rex Which Signal being taken from him by the People all the Church soon rings with the same joyful Notes after which the Great Treasurer scatters a great Number of Coronation-Medals among the People and the Guns begin to roar out their Satisfaction in what had been done when the King forthwith returns to his Court with great Pomp and Magnificence The Coronation being thus compleated the rest of the Day is spent in various Kinds of Feasts and Rejoycings among which there is one very particular in the King's Court where they roast three whole Oxen stuff'd and larded with divers Kinds of fatned Wild Beasts when they also give a great many Hogs-heads of Wine and Beer
large black Velvet Pall thrown over it with a Cross of red Satin in the Middle and six long black Silk Tassels hanging down from it which are born up by as many of the deceas'd Person 's Domesticks all in close Mourning Before the Chariot march several Priests Monks and a great Number of People each of which carries a white Wax Torch lighted in his Hand next to whom and immediately before the Herse come three Men on Horseback who carry the Arms of the deceased one his Sword another his Lance and the third his Dart. The Procession thus set out marches very slowly in a manner that they usually come late to the Church After the Burial-Service is over those that carry'd the Armour enter the Church on Horse-back and furiously riding up to the Coffin break the Arms of the deceas'd thereupon after which the Body is Inter'd Then they return to the House where there is always a great Feast prepar'd when the Lay-Guests will not only drink to Excess but likewise force the Clergy to follow their Example Here it may not be amiss to observe something relating to the Interment of the King and Queen of Poland As soon as the King dies he is laid upon a Bed of State and a certain Number of the Senators both Ecclesiastical and Temporal are appointed to attend about his Corps The Republick also orders all necessary Expences relating hereunto to be levied out of the Crown Revenues A deceas'd Queen likewise has the same Ceremonies and Honours as a King for Queen Mary Ludovica Wife to John Casimir was carry'd from the Suburbs of Warsaw where she dy'd to the Castle where she lay in State till she was carry'd to Cracow to be buried It may not be improper to entertain your Lordship with the Manner of her Death there being something observable in it She dy'd of a Defluxion upon her Lungs or of a Consumption occasion'd by Excess of Passion on Account of a Contest she had had with the Chancellour Patz about something she had propos'd to him which he would not consent to This Princess lov'd so dearly to intermeddle with and to govern the State solely according to her Fancy that she was not a little jealous when the King her Husband spake to any other Women and that chiefly for fear he might enâ—line to be govern'd by another more than her self This your Lordship may imagine gave him no great Cause to be concern'd at her Death for at the very Instant of her expiring he posted away to a Mistriss he had formerly lov'd but whom he durst not have spoke to during his Queen's Life As Mourning is not only a necessary Circumstance but also the Sequel of a Funeral so I think my self oblig'd here to give some short Account of it The Mourning of the Men is much like ours only differing according to the Habits of the Country but the Women of Quality are generally apparell'd in a Sort of coarse black Stuff and their Linnen is not much finer than Canvass and the greater the Quality always the coarser the Linnen and Stuff This Habit does not misbecome Widows that are both young and handsome It may here be observ'd that the Senators Deputies and all others that have a Mind to appear at the Diet of Election must be in Black tho' the Fashions of the several Countries of Foreigners are not requir'd in like manner to be alter'd For the other Customs of eating and drinking among the Poles both at Feasts and elsewhere they are various but first I must give some Account of the Edibles and Potables Their ordinary Meat is Beef and Veal for Mutton they do not value and generally give it to their Servants They have great Store of grey but no red Partridges a great many Hares but no Rabits for they would sooner eat a Cat than these last They have 't is true some white Rabbets which they breed tame for the Sake of their Furrs In Poland there are a great many Roe-bucks but few Stags Abundance of wild Boars Hogs Poultry Pigeons and the like But as for wild-Foul they have great Store indeed in Summer but none in Winter as in other Countries when they are best They have a great many wild Oxen which when moderately salted are great Dainties with them The Manner of hunting these wild Oxen it may not be improper here to give some short Account of when they have surrounded the Beast with a great Number of Horsemen each of them rides up to him and darts him with an Arrow when the Beast feeling himselfwounded eagerly pursues its Enemy while another Person darting him from behind he turns in great Rage after that Person and then another darting him as likewise many others successively at length the poor Beast is so tir'd with pursuing so many Assailants that he falls down and is easily taken or kill'd They have another way of taking them in the Woods which is by causing the Rusticks to enclose a great Number of them with Trees feil'd down who also immediately raise up a Stage for Spectators when the Hunters assigning themselves every one a Post and the Beasts being frighted into the Middle by Dogs and the great Vociferation of the Assailants as they move towards each Person they are wounded with Darts which making them to run with great Force against their Enemy and finding an Opposition by the Trees they endeavour to force their Way whilst the Hunter from behind most commonly gives them their Deaths Wound but if they happen to break thro' then the next Hunter holds out a Piece of red Cloath which it seems this Beast having an Antipathy against forthwith leaves that Person and runs at the other who being provided for him most commonly kills him or in Case of Danger his Neighbour has Recourse to the aforesaid Stratagem which never fails of diverting the Fury of this wild Beast It may be also observ'd that this Beast has a Power of drawing a Man to him with his Tongue it being rough if he can but reach any Part of his Coat or the like Near the Mountains of Hungary there are also wild Goats which they admire mightily for Meat They likewise make a fine Dish as they think it of Beavers Tails but throw away the Body They likewise eat Bears Paws when pickled for Dainties When they take or kill Elks they do not gut them for fourteen or fifteen Days afterwards and sometimes in Winter not in a whole Month. When the Great Men come to the Diet they commonly bring these with their Skins and Guts and hang them at their Windows some five or six at a Time until they turn rank like Venison then they roast some and dress others like Beef a la mode This is esteem'd delicious Meat and none but Great Mens Tables have it The Manner of taking Bears also I presume may not be unacceptable to your Lordship They are generally taken with Nets even
City has always above 2000 Soldiers in Service and they can easily maintain 12000 but in Cases of Necessity they have been known to have rais'd 60000. For Ships they have no Men of War but abundance of Merchant-men of 3 or 400 Tuns each and 30 or 40 Guns apiece They never Trade so far as the East or West-Indies but into the Streights and all over Europe they do Here it may not be improper to give Your Excellency some short Account of their present Coin in Dantzick But first by way of Digression I may observe that the Coin which the Teutonic Order brought into Prussia not proving sufficient to furnish that Country with Money those Knights soon began to set up Mints and to coin Money of their own there which they perform'd with so much accuracy that most Nations have allow'd that where-ever invented the Art of Coining was there first brought to Perfection This has been confirm'd by the great Antiquary Spelman who was of Opinion that our English Word Sterling came from the Easterlings a People of Prussia and who coming from thence into England first taught us the Art of Refining and Coining purer Silver than we had before made use of The Species of Money now Current in Prussia or rather in Dantzic are these Gold Ducats Ourts Choustacks and Chelons A Ducat is worth two Rix-Dollars or 9 Shillings English An Ourt is a Silver Coin equal to the French Piece of 15 Sous and worth 18 Grosses of Dantzic and 30 of Poland A Choustack is of the value of 6 Dantzic-Grosses or 10 Polish And as for their Chelons three of them make one of their Grosses The farther Difference between the Polish Money and theirs stands thus The Tinfe that is worth 30 Grosses of Polish Chelons is worth but 18 of those of Dantzic The Ducat which is of the value of 12 Franks of Polish Chelons is worth but 7 of the Current Money here Five Choustacks or an Ourt and two Choustacks make a Livre of Dantzic-Money because 5 Choustacks make 30 Grosses and 30 Grosses make 20 Pence This City of Dantzic was taken from the Danes by Sabislaus Grandson to Swentorohus about the Year 1186 and was seiz'd by the Poles some short time after The Knights of the Teutonic Order made themselves Masters of it in 1305 and Wall'd it round in 1314. Casimir III. King of Poland surnam'd The Great regain'd it in 1454 and granted very great Privileges to the Citizens who afterwards declaring for the Auspurg-Confession sided with Maximilian of Austria against Stephen Batori insomuch that the latter proscrib'd and even besieg'd them in 1577. but however by the Mediation of other Princes they were restor'd to their Religion and Liberties in 1597. In 1656. they vigorously repuls'd the Suedes and adher'd to the Interest of John Casimir King of Poland And at present they make one of the Members of this State having been admitted to a Suffrage in the Election of the Polish Monarchs in the Year 1632. This my Lord is what I have been able to gather from Dr. Connor's Memoirs and the best Authors that have writ any thing of the Trade of Poland and of the famous City of Dantzic and wherein if I may not be so happy as to correspond every where with your Excellency's greater Knowledge of those matters I hope at least I may be excus'd upon account of my good will to entertain you and the publick as far as my assistance went which if granted will abundantly recompence the Endeavours of My LORD Your Excellency's Most Humble Servant J. S. LETTER VIII To the Right Honourable CHARLES Earl of Burlington Of the Origin of the Teutonic Order and the Succession of all its Great Masters in the Holy-Land Prussia and Germany together with its present State in the Empire MY LORD DR Connor having design'd this Letter for your Lordship's Entertainment and not having had leisure to accomplish it himself by reason of the urgency of his Profession desired of me to Address it for him but upon a just Reflection on the meanness of my Abilities and an awful Regard to your Lordship's Grandeur I found I had more than ordinary reason to decline it Yet however upon balancing your goodness with your great Quality and considering my well meaning at the same time with my attempt I hop'd I might not be so unfortunate as to Offend if I undertook it and the rather because of the great conformity which the subject I were to write of had with the hopes which the Nation has in you My LORD Your Lordship will here find that this Order was first founded to reward and encourage Great Actions and that particularly in the German Nation whence it came to have the Title of Teutonic for when the Emperour Frederic Barberossa had engaged in the Crusade for recovery of the Holy-Land a great number of German Nobility and Gentry joyn'd his Army as Volunteers Of this Crusade were several other great Princes of Europe such as Philip King of France Richard I. King of England Frederic Duke of Suabia the Dukes of Austria and Bavaria Philip Earl of Flanders Plorant Earl of Holland c. After this Emperor's Death the Germans being before Acon or Ptolemais which they then besieged chose for their Leaders Frederick Duke of Suabia second Son to the aforesaid Emperour and Henry Duke of Brabant Under these Generals they behav'd themselves so well both at the taking of Acon Jerusalem and other places of the Holy-Land that Henry King of Jerusalem the Patriarch and several other Princes thought themselves oblig'd to do something extraordinary in honour of the German Nation Hereupon they immediately resolv'd to erect an Order of Knights of that Nation under the protection of St. George but afterwards they chang'd that Saint for the Virgin Mary by reason that she had an Hospital already founded on Mount Sion at Jerusalem for the relief of German Pilgrims of the manner of building which Ashmole in his Order of the Garter gives this following account He says that in the time of the Holy-War a wealthy Gentleman of Germany who dwelt at Jerusalem commiserating the condition of his Countrymen coming thither on Devotion and neither understanding the language of that place nor knowing where to lodge receiv'd them hospitably into his House and gave them all manner of suitable Entertainment Afterwards obtaining leave of the Patriarch he erected a Chappel for them and Dedicated it to the Virgin Mary whence the Knights that were established there afterwards came to have the Title of Equites Mariani Other German Gentlemen contributed largely to the maintaining and encreasing this Charitable Work insomuch that in a short time these Knights became very numerous and wealthy and gave themselves to Military Employments and to acts of Piety and Charity In the Year 1190 they elected their first Great Master Henry Walpot and in the Year following had their Order confirm'd upon the request of
to be in English Hands ibid. * Whence had its Name 114 * U. Vilna Bishop of His Diocess 43. Vilna Castellan of Preferr'd wherefore 55. Varmia Bishop of His Jurisdiction and See 44. Votes Intended Limitation like to produce a bad Effect 104. Who have them in Election of a King 144. Volunteers What in Poland 17 * Examples ib. c. * Selected out of the Gentry 18 * Universities Two in Poland and Lithuania 75 * Chief Studies there ibid. * Have no solid Learning 78 * W. Women Polish Their former and late Fashions 197. Very modest 200. Exception 201. Their Liberty restrain'd ibid. War Two Qualities necessary there 26 * Z. Zuppars What 80. Vide Mines FINIS From the Year 550 to the Year 1698. Former Power of the Kings of Poland A. D. 1574. Advantage thereby Why European Princes Court the Polish Gentry Nobilities Resolves thereupon Abridge the Antient Power of their Princes And Constitute a Republic Division of the People of Poland The Diet. It s Power Motives for a mixt Government A Motive II. Motive III. Motive Advantage of a mixt Government Division of the Republic Kings present Power and Prerogatives His Happiness Unhappiness A great Inconvenience to the State Instances of Poles Affections to their Kings Modern Kings Power Abroad and at Home The great Respect paid him His Titles and other Prerogatives His Pension Houshold-Officers and Guards Queen Consorts Court how maintain'd Kings Patrimonial Estate and Perquisites Late King 's great Riches The Crown Revenues Queens Revenues The King's Power limited in several respects Nobility only capable of Preferment Other Limitations of the Kings Power Inconveniences thereby Why he is paid so great Respect Cities present their Keys upon his Approach Why he can raise no Forces without Consent of the Diet. His Legitimate Issue greatly Respected His Illegitimate as much slighted Means to continue the Crown in one Family Why the K. of Poland can't imitate him of Denmark Not Unhappy because he cannot secure the Succession to his Family Crown and Court Officers Gentlemen Pensioners Horse-Guards Court Officers in Lithuania And in several Provinces Chief Officers of Queen's Court. Principal Officers of Primate's Court. What peculiar to him The Senate and its Office Senators by whom made and their Oath Four to attend the King and wherefore Senators not suffer'd to travel * Vide Sueton. Cap. 42. in vita Jul. Caesar Tacit lib 12. Annal. cap. 23. This Title not bestow'd by its self Senator's Office Extreamly prize their Dignities Their Division and Subdivision Diocesses of Poland Peculiar Jurisdictions of the two Archbishops Ecclesiastical Senator his Power and State His Power as Inter. Rex Why entrusted so much His See Two other Bishops in Leopol Those of the Greek Perswasion Their Tenets Ceremonies and Ornoments His Bishoprick and Power His Residence and Precedence His See Precedence and Authority Several Places of Residence His Diocess His Diocess His Jurisdiction and See His Jurisdiction and See His Diocess Here is a Greek Bishop Likewise Bishop of Curland yet has no See His Precedence and See His See translated and wherefore Honorary A Greek Bishop formerly Primate of Moscovy Honorary Honorary Each Bishop has a Kind of little Court Their Precedence in the Diet and large Revenues Religion in Poland and Lithuania Conversion and several Perswasions of the Poles Socinians expell'd 1658. 1673. Lutherans and Calvinists and other Religions in Poland The Roman Catholick prevails and always prefer'd Privileges of Regular Clergy Their dissolute Lives Fasts how observ'd in Poland Manners of the Secular Clergy The Poles Behaviour at Church Their Churches Division and Subdivision of Lay Senators Palatins c. with their Precedence 1. Lay-Senator Preferr'd and wherefore 1130. * Duglossus lib. 4. Annal. Polon p. 369. Preferr'd for what Reasons †Lib. 2 Cap. 3. p. 504. Preferr'd and why Wherefore preferr'd and how chosen Honorary Palatinate Why he has the Title of the Province Honorary Palatinate Honorary Palatinate Formerly Seat of Teutonic Knights Honorary Palatinate Greatest Part Honorary Honorary Palatinate Duty and Office of Palatins * Hartknoch lib. 2. cap. 3. p. 506. c. Vice Palatins and how qualify'd Duty of Castellans Their Division Qualifications Office and Titles Greater Castellans and their Precedence Lay-Senator Honorary Honorary Honorary Honorary Lesser Castellans No enjoying Plurality of Offices Castellans how call'd in Polish The ten Crown-Officers Those of the Kingdom precede Lay-Senator His Office Power and Authority Duty and Privilege His Perquisites Deputy and who officiates in Cases of Absence Qualifications of these of the Kingdom * Lib. 2. Cap. 3. p. 528. Both have Seals and equal Authority Their Office and Power Succeed each other How ought to be Qualified Their Office and Authority A remarkable Breach of Trust Contend for Precedence but refus'd it Extra-Senatorial Officers Great Generals Have equal Authority Their Power and Duty King's Interest to head his Army Present great Generals Dignity successive Lieutenant-Generals and their Office Chief Commander of the Guards Other great Officers in the Army Camp-Notaries Captain of Guards against Incursions Great Secretaries and their Authority Referendaries and their Office Cup-Bearers Carvers Sword-Bearers Court-Treasurers and their Office Treasurer of Prussia Associates to Judges Chief Notaries Registers inChancery Escheator Commissioners of Custom House Governours of Mines Governours of the Mint Court-Officers Civil Officers of Districts Vice-Chamberlain and his Office Chamberlains Judge and Assistant Prothonotary Head Collector Other Officers and why so call'd Military Officers of Districts Starostas with Jurisdiction Vice-Starostas c. Jurisdiction of Starostas Starostas without Jurisdiction Burgraves and their Office Revenue of Starostaships Zuppars what What the Diet is By whom call'd and where and how often meet Manner of calling it and Proceedings thereupon Where the little Diets meet I. In Great Poland * Vide Herburt Voce Comitia p. 92. and in Edit Polon p. 257. Podlachia and Masovia II. In Little-Poland III. In Lithuania IV. In Prussia V. In Russia VI. In Volhynia VII In Samogitia Qualifications for and Manner of voting in little Diets Who and how many chosen Deputies With their Instructions Proceedings in little Diets * Hartknoch lib. 2. cap. 6. p. 682. c. Deputies how chosen †Hartknoch lib. 2. Cap. 6. p. 689. Cannot be Senators Their Salaries When first sent Vide Constitut An. 1581. p. 375. Their general Meetings Diet divides into three Nations Speaker how chosen and Heats thereupon How occasion'd Next Proceeding Further Proceedings Reflection of Hauteville Speakers Request for the Deputies His Authority Proceedings in the lower House Conference s with the Upper and Nuncios Power Confirm'd and encourag'd Their Privilege * Constitut An. 1649. Committees How long sit Upper House how employ'd Manner of breaking up Session in the lower Two Houses join'd Speakers Power devolves to great Marshal Where the King suspends his Opinion What requir'd to establish a Law Where it cannot be printed Session of the Diet limited Wherefore Affairs treated of in the Grand
Diet Who not to be present at Tryals for Treason Naturalization and Manner of making Noble in Poland Restrain'd in some Respects notwith standing Great Concourse at the Diet. Provisions indifferent Planty notwithstanding Dangerous to walk a Nights Visits at this Time unacceptable Great Guards of some Gentry Order of Session in the Diet. Members wear no distinguishing Habits * Hartnoch lib. 2. cap. 3. p. 512. What proves Equality among Polish Gentry Intended Limitation of Votes like to produce a bad Effect Deputies awe the King and Senate Causes of Disunion in the Diet. Fomented by the Empire and France What promotes foreign Factions Members not to give Reason for Dissent to any Bill Easie Matter to annul the Projects of the Diet. Great Freedom of Speech there Unhappy State of the Polish Government Policy of concluding Matters by unanimous Consent Wonderful how the Polish Government can subsist Must always flourish for several Reasons I. Reason II. Reason III. Reason Assemblys of the Convocation and Synods in Poland The Kaptur Court Ecclesiastical Courts and their Jurisdiction Court of Nunciature Gentry's Civil Courts High Tribunals The Senate and Green-Cloth Exchequer Courts Gentry-Courts not free from Appeal Of Land-Judicature with its Judges Vice-Chamberlains Court Commissioners to take Appeals Gentries Criminal Courts Starostas Power and Office Courts of Commonalty in Cities In Villages Officers and Magistrates of Plebeian Courts 〈◊〉 Profits Military Jurisdiction Origin Progress and present State of Laws Punishments in Poland Manner of chastising Servants No Disgrace to the Genty to be thus beat Crown vacant has many ways Diet summon'd Proceedings in little Diets before Grand Session Who officiates where no Interregnum * Lib. 2. cap. 1. p. 275. First Proceedings * Hartnoch lib. 2. cap. 1. p. 291. †Ibid. lib. cap. eodem p. 306. Courts of Justice cease except two Foreign Ministers on this Occasion Notifie their Arrival and how receiv'd Embassadors from the Republick Caution to foreign Ministers Deputies Business after this Diet Diet of Election * Hartknoch lib. 2. cap. 1. p. 295. †Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 1. p. eadem First Proceedings therein * Piasecius ad An. 1632. p. 530. Exorbitancies examin'd and Embassadors receiv'd Manner of Receiving them What requisite in forreign Ministers Diet proceeds to Election Further Particulars thereof Great Concours at the Election and Policy to byass them Qualifications requir'd in a Candidate * Lib. 2. Cap. 1. p. 309. to 312. †Ibid. p. 431. Rules observ'd by the Poles in Elections Why preserve their Kingdom elective Who have Votes and who not The Pacta Conventa When taken by Embassadors By whom drawn and after what manner Administred The Form and several Articles An Article Violated Occasional Articles Ceremony of the Kings swearing The Oath Presented with the Decree of Election Concerning the Election of a Successor Interest of foreign Princes to oppose it Reasons for and against such an Election The King has no Regal Authority till Crown'd * Hartknoch lib. 2. cap. 1. p. 331. Appoints the Day of Coronation †Neugebaver Hist Polon lib. 3. p. 185. Manner of his entring Cracow with other Ceremonies Obsequies of Deceas'd King and order of Procession * Piasetius in Chron. Anno 1632. p. 525. †Hart knoch lib. 2. cap. 1. p. 336. Ceremonies at the Interment Day of Corenation and by whom perform'd * Herbert Tit. Cardinalatus p. 63. †Heidenstein lib. 2. Rerum Polon p. 95. Procession in order to Coronation Ceremony at the Coronation Further Particulars of the Ceremony of Coronation King exhorted and sworn His Coronation Oath Words at kissing the Book Unction with other Ceremonys Manner of Crowning him Is Enthron'd And prenounc'd King Feasts thereupon Procession to receive Homage and Citizens Knighted Inter-Rex resigns and King Proclaim'd Queens where Crown'd and where not Place of their Coronation And what requir'd to confirm it Gentry only capable of Preferment Commonalty Incapable except some few Gentrys Power and Privileges Cannot be Apprehended till convicted Exception Cannot be Executed without the Kings Consent Need not Quarter Soldiers Other Privileges of the Gentry Need not pay Taxes unless oblig'd by the Diet. Privilege of Preemption Have one Grievance notwithstanding How they came by these Privileges All equal and consesequently value no Honour Title of Prince despis'd An Order Instituted but undervalu'd What Dutchies in Poland Polish Gentry assume Titles when they Travel Farther Power of Polish Gentry What makes them so Great Their Excessive Grandeur and Magnificence Means to support for ever the Polish Republic What foreign Embassadors are oblig'd to Law Differences decided by the Sword An Example Nature of Descents in Poland Children however support their Families Good Temper of the Poles and its Effect How Occasion'd Polish Peasants how first Enslav'd Live satisfy'd notwithstanding Their present Condition Enrich their Lords How establish'd in a Farm Their Service annex'd thereto Meet to reap their Lords Corn. Their Manners at Bed and Board Children how taught to go Habits of both the Men and Women Nobility how acquir'd in Poland Creation of a Gentleman A third way of becoming Noble Three ways of forfeiting it In what Case restor'd Chracter of the Poles Their Complexion Constitution c. Manners of the Polish Men. Their further Character Education and Learning To what generaly apply themselves Worst part of their Character Genius how enclin'd Enur'd to Hardship Greedy of Money Manner of Lending and Borowing Love to make a Figure Their present Fashions What Furrs us'd Rusticks Habit in Lithuania A few follow the French Mode The Womens former and late Fashions Poles great Extravagance Description of their Houses Furniture No Gardens nor Orchards Private and publick Baths with their Effects Poles great admirers of Shows Their Atendants Women very Modest Exception Women's Liberty restrain'd Indifferences in the Polish Temper What Exercises Practis'd Polish Families and Names formerly and now Marriages and their duration Court-Marriages Customs thereat Presents made the Bride Espousals and Ceremonies Who not Married without Dispensation Burials and order of Procession Other Proceedings Particulars relating to the King and Queens Enterment Cause of J. Casimir's Queens Death Manner of Mourning in Poland Edibles among the Poles Way of Hunting wild Oxen. Odd Dainties Manner of taking Bears Other sorts of Fowl What Fish they have Way of ordering Cabbage Their Potables Beer of what Quality Sorts of Mead. And of Wine What strong Waters Customs in Eating and Drinking Potage and Sauces Poles eat little Bread Crachat how made Customs at Feasts Banquetting Hall Particulars of Servants Manners at Table Poles way of taking Tobacco Feasts made by turns Brimmers much practis'd Customs in Traveling Description of Inns. Have few Conveniencies Travellers oblig'd to carry Provisions c. Travelling cheap in other respects Poles manner of Travelling Incommodities in Travel how remedy'd Disturb'd a Winter Nights by Boors Danger of losing Noses Manners of peculiar Countries Concerning Lithuania What relates to Courts of Justice there Former Judges Of
Priest Formerly Poland was over-run with Hussites Picards Anabaptists Arrians Tritheists Photians Ebionites Nestorians and Socinians But the former of these have been some time since extirpated and the Socinians were first ejected by John Casimir obliging them by his Edict to quit the Kingdom immediately and allowing them three Years to dispose of their Effects These three Years were afterwards reduc'd to two by a following Edict But notwithstanding these positive Laws several of this Sect lurking about in the Kingdom from time to time and some being protected by the Favour of the Gentry the late King John Sobieski publish'd a new Edict more severe than either of the former whereby the Socinians were forthwith driven out of the Kingdom I must not omit to acquaint Your GRACE that there are abundance of Lutherans and Calvinists in this Kingdom and that chiefly in the Province of Regal Prussia who have all Liberty of Conscience allow'd them and whom the King is oblig'd to tolerate and protect by his Coronation-Oath The Lutherans are call'd by the Poles Sassowiez Saxons because Luther liv'd and taught in Saxony and the Calvinists Zborocoi Conventiclers from the Polish Word Zbor signifying an Vnlawful Meeting I should have observ'd that the Prussians became Christians after the Poles The reason of the Prussians so readily embracing the Lutheran Doctrin Cromerus attributes to their being chiefly Germans or to their reading the Books of that Nation The first Polish Nobleman converted to Calvinism was Nicholas Radzivil under the Reign of Sigismundus Augustus who receiv'd all that Sect into his Protection at his House at Viena where they had their Service in the Polish Language but this Family is at present extinct the last Person of it being a Daughter and Marry'd to the Elector of Brandenburgh's Son yet nevertheless many of this Sect still remain in Poland There are Besides Armenians Jews and Tartars in this Kingdom who all enjoy their different Perswasions and Ceremonies As for the Armenians they inhabit chiefly in certain Towns of Russia and Podolia and have their peculiar Prelates Abbots and Priests Their Service is always exercis'd in their own Language These as in other Countries acknowledge the Supremacy of the See of Rome The Jews are every where to be found in Poland and enjoy their Religion and other Privileges without Interruption only they are restrain'd from trading within twelve Leagues of Warsaw by the Constitutions Their Number is so great that Mr. Patric Ogleby who has travell'd all over these Countries affirms that there are above two Millions of them in this Kingdom and that they are so privileg'd that all this vast Body pays not above a hundred and twenty thousand Tinfes or Florens a Year to the States which amounts to no more than twenty thousand Dollars In the great Dutchy of Listhuania there are moreover about thirty thousand Tartars with Liberty of the Turkish Religion They have been there near six hundred Years and for the continuance of their Privileges they are oblig'd to send twelve hundred Men Yearly to the Wars against the Turks and Tartars There are likewise a great many Idolaters on the Frontiers of this Kingdom who still retain their ancient Superstitions whereof one is that whenever any one dies and tho it be a Year or more afterwards that another dies likewise they presently go and dig up the first Body and cut off its Head thereby to prevent as they say the Death of any more of their Family Notwithstanding Poland admits of all these Religions yet that which prevails most is the Roman Catholick which the Poles have continued stedfast in for above 700. Years They are so zealous in the maintaining of this Faith that they have a Custom to draw their Swords at the reading of the Gospel at Mass and this to testify their Readiness to defend it Also they are so bigotted to their Perswasion that they formerly would not inter-marry with Hereticks as they call them contract any Alliance with them accept of their Assistance in War nor receive any of their Scepters offer'd them An Example of which last we have in the Person of Jugello or Vladislaus V. who rejected the Crown of Bohemia meerly because the Hussites had then over-run that Kingdom Also in John Casimir's Reign the Swedes were altogether ejected Poland on Account of their being Lutherans The Poles being thus Zealous for the Roman Catholick Religion they will admit none into their Senate Diet or Courts of Judicature except in those of Prussia but of that Perswasion Also Bishops always preside in the Assembly of the States to the end that nothing may be transacted there in Prejudice of that Faith The lesser Clergy likewise selected out of the several Colleges and Chapters of the Kingdom are appointed to have Seats in the Tribunals and other Courts of Justice for the same Reason In like manner the great Officers of the Crown are oftentimes Bishops and the great Secretary of the whole Kingdom has always been an Ecclesiastick The Regular Clergy in Poland are generally more esteem'd than the Secular for they can perform all the Offices of Parish Priests without having Permission from the Bishops And Fryar Mendicants are allow'd to enter the most private Part of any House without so much as knocking at the Door There are all Sorts of Religious Orders in Poland except those of Carthusians and Minims These Regular Clergy are generally very rich but not less dissolute and immodest for they frequently go into the Cellars to drink being the Tipling Places of this Country and sometimes you shall see many of them so drunk in the Streets that they are scarce able to go upon their Legs and this without either their Superiours or the Peoples taking any Notice of them On Fast-Days these Religious Persons and all others of the Poles abstain from Milk-Meats Eggs Flesh and Boyl'd Fish a-Nights only For providing they keep to these Rules at that time they may Eat and Drink what they please all the rest of the Day only Frydays and Saturdays they forbear Butter Cheese Milk and Eggs all the Day long They cannot be enclin'd to eat Butter or Cheese on Fast-Days tho they have Permission from the Church for when Cardinal Radziouski once obtain'd them that Liberty from the See of Rome they absolutely refus'd it saying that his Holiness was a Heretick This rigid Custom they have observ'd ever since the Pope made them once fast for a hundred Years together for some enormous Crime and which it may be they do not think yet sufficiently expiated They also are so obstinate in their abstaining from Flesh that they will not eat any tho they be sick and advis'd thereto by their Doctors and permitted by their Priests As for the Secular Inferiour Clergy they are either Collegiate or Parochial and both are much after the same Nature as with us The Canons are never almost present at the Office for they
King's Revenue arising within their District and may discount a fourth Part for their Trouble The Starostas without Jurisdiction are those who are properly Tenants in Capite They have no Power to exercise Justice unless in very slight Cases Burgraves and Tribunes have the Custody of Castles Forts c. and are to keep constant Guard there either by themselves or their Deputies These are subject to the Starostas The Revenue of Starostaships partly arises from Agriculture and partly from Manufacture and Handicrafts They have been sometimes known to have been Mortgag'd to raise the King's Revenue more speedily especially those without Jurisdiction Here likewise the Officers of the Mines call'd Zuppars in Polish may be taken notice of who have divers Officers and Substitutes under them The Minor Ecclesiastical and Temporal Officers and Persons of this Kingdom being in all Respects like to those of other Nations I have purposely omitted them Thus My LORD I have gone thro' the several Particulars which I propos'd to entertain Your GRACE and the Publick with yet at the same time cannot but be highly sensible of my Presumption in prefixing Your Great Name to so imperfect an Account therefore hoping Your GRACE'S Pardon upon an humble Acknowledgment I beg Leave to subscribe my self My LORD Your GRACE'S Most Obedient and Most Humble Servant J. S. LETTER III. To the Right Honourable JAMES VERNON Esq Principal Secretary of State Of the Grand Diet Little Diets and other general Assemblies in Poland with an Account of all the several Courts of Justice from the highest to the lowest As likewise of the Judges Laws and Punishments in that Kingdom SIR A. The Present King in his Throne BB. The ten Crown Officers C. The A Bp. of Gnesna w th the Cross born behind him DDDD The other Ecclesiasticall Senators EEEEE Forreign Embassadors admitted only to the Diet of Election FFFFFF The Palatins Castellans in the three Rows on each side GGGGGG The Deputy s in the two back Rows on each side H. The Nuncio Marshall or Speaker of Deputy s. IIII. Vacant seats for such others as are sometimes admitted 1. The Arms of Poland 2. The Arms of Lithuania SIR The Grand Diet or Parliament of Poland by the Natives call'd Seym Walny is an Assembly of the King Senators and Nuncio's or Deputies of every Province met together in any City or Town of Poland or Lithuania in order to deliberate upon State Affairs and the Means to secure and preserve the Kingdom both in Times of Peace and War It is the King or during an Inter regnum the Primate who has the sole Power of convoking this great Assembly as likewise to determine the Place where and the Time when it shall sit By the Constitutions of the Kingdom the King is oblig'd to call a Diet every third Year and of every three successively call'd two must be held in Poland most commonly at Warsaw and the third in Lithuania in the City of Grodno in the Palatinate of Troki twenty Leagues from Vilna Capital of this great Dutchy So that every ninth Year the King with all the Senators and Deputies of the Kingdom goes into Lithuania and every third the Senators and Deputies of Lithuania come into Poland The Reason of the Diet 's being held in Lithuania was because the Lithuanians complain'd that it was not a little inconvenient for them to come so far as Poland When the King has a mind to convoke this general Meeting he is to send out circular Letters six Weeks before the time he appoints for its Session by the Constitution in the Year 1613. to all the Palatins of the Provinces acquainting them with his Design together with the Time he intends it shall meet He sends them likewise a List of all the Affairs and Articles which are to be treated of in that Diet. Whereupon every Palatin or his Deputy in his own respective Government forthwith dispatches Notice to all the Castellans Starostas and other Gentry requiring them at a certain Time to meet together in order to deliberate on the Articles and Affairs propos'd by the King's Letters as likewise to choose a Nuncio or Deputy to represent their Intentions and Decisions in the Great Diet. These Letters are proclaim'd by a Herald call'd by the Poles Wozny and afterwards pasted up upon all the Town-Gates and Church-Doors These Assemblies in the Provinces are term'd by them Comitiola in the Polish Language Seymiki or little Diets In Cases of Extremity six Weeks Notice need not be given as appears by the Constitutions of the Year 1638. The several Places these little Diets meet at are as follow In Lower or Great Poland In the Palatinates of Posuan and Kalisch Siradia In the Cities and Towns of Sroda Schadkow In the Castellany of Vielunia In the Cities and Towns of Vielun In the Palatinates of Lanschet Bresty and Inowlocz In the Cities and Towns of Lanschet Radzieiow Appointed by the Constitutions in the Year 1510. In the Palatinate of Dobrina the little Diet meets in the Town of Ripin Appointed by the Constitutions in the Year 1567. In the Palatinates of Plosko Rava in three Places In the Citys Towns of Radzanow Rava Sochaczow Gombin In the Provinces of Podlachia in three Places In the Cities and Towns of Droghiczin Mielnik Bransko Masovia in ten Places In the Cities and Towns of Cirna Warsaw Wisna Wissegrod Zakrol Ciekanow Lombze Rozan Liw and Nur. In the Province of Upper or Little Poland In the Palatinate of Cracovia in two Places In the Cities and Towns of Zator for the Dutchy of Oswieczin and Prossovia for the Palatinate By the Constitutions of the Year 1667. In the Palatinates of Sendomir and Lublin In the Citys Towns of Opatow and Lublin In the Great Dutchy of Lithuania In the Palatinates of Vilna in four Places In the Cities and Towns of Vilna Osmian Wilcomitz Braclaw Troki in five Places In the Cities and Towns of Troki Grodno Cowno Lida Ponienwiez Polocz In the Cities and Towns of Polocz Novogrodec in two Places In the Cities and Towns of Slonim Wolkowizko Witebsko in two Places In the Cities and Towns of Witebsko Orska Briescia or Polesia in two Places In the Cities and Towns of Briescia Pinsko Mscislaw In the Cities and Towns of Msceislaw Minsk in three Places In the Cities and Towns of Minsk Modzir Reczycza In the Province of Prussia In the Palatinates of Pomerania Marienburg Culm Elbing In the Cities and Towns of Imprimis in all the Districts then in Stargar-Stuma die Michalovia and Graudentz Elbing In the Province of Russia In the Palatinates of Russia in five Places In the Cities and Towns of Leopol Praemislaw Sanoch Halitz Chelm Belsko Podolia In the Cities and Towns of Belsko Caminiec Since Caminiec's being taken by the Turks its Little Diet meets at Leopol In the Palatinates of Kiovia Braclaw In the Cities and Towns of
the Little and Poorer Sort think it no Disgrace to serve them that can maintain them 'T is true the Gentleman they serve is commonly very civil to them for the eldest of them generally eats with him at Table with his Cap off and every one of them has a Peasant-Boy to wait on him which the Master maintains yet if any one of these Gentlemen-Servants neglects his Duty his Master punishes him severely tho' he has no Power to take away his Life because he is a Gentleman but he may get him whipt naked with a certain Formality which I have mention'd before It may not be here amiss to observe to your Lordship some few Maxims whereby the Republick of Poland might always subsist and the Gentry retain their ancient Privileges First By reducing all the Gentry of the Kingdom to an equal Authority in the Election of a King and other publick Deliberations by which the King or Senate would be depriv'd of a Power of raising any considerable Factions and the Grandees be discourag'd from affecting and hunting after Foreign Titles which commonly ensnare them to the Prejudice of their Country Secondly By keeping up the free Choice of their Nuncios which would disable the Court and Senate from getting their Creatures elected to the utter abrogating of the Privileges of the Gentry wherein the Poles now follows the prudent Example of the Roman Common-wealth Thirdly By preserving the Custom of the Gentries appearing in great Numbers at the Diet which animates both the Senate and Deputies in the Prosecution of Affairs for the Good of the Kingdom and deters them from being biass'd by any sinister Means Fourthly By obliging both Senators and Deputies to give an Account of their Proceedings which must needs encline them to act with a great deal of Precaution Fifthly By prohibiting the Army to come near the great Assembly of the States for Rome never enjoy'd so great Happiness as when the Gown had Preference of the Sword Sixthly To maintain the Law of Equality in Matters of Descent whereby the Gentry would be kept at an even Lay and hinder'd from disturbing the Government by too great a Power Seventhly Never to prefer any Native to the Crown because of the great Disorders it might in all Likelyhood occasion Eighthly To maintaim the Authority of their Democracy establish'd for so many Ages by the Prudence of their Ancestors and all along continu'd with no small Hazards and Trouble And Ninthly Never to permit any Foreign Princes to intermeddle with their Affairs There is no Country where Embassadors are oblig'd to make so great a Figure as in Poland especially if they have any Interest of the Prince their Master to maintain or carry on in the Diet or among the Gentry for the Great Men there generally despise all such as either do not or cannot make the same Figure with themselves which is so excessive that an Embassador must have three remarkable Qualities to keep up with it For first he must have a great Train of Coaches and Servants proportionable next keep a plentiful and open House continually to Treat and Fuddle the Gentry and where he must be very humble and familiar with them they being generally very civil and easie in their Conversation And lastly which is the surest way to gain their Affection and Suffrages he must give 'em ever now and then a little Money and he still promising them more for Reasons I have mention'd before When the Great Men of Poland have any Suit at Law or other Difference to be determin'd the Justice of the Kingdom is commonly too weak for them for tho' the Diet or other Tribunals had decided the Matter in Favour of one of the two Parties yet the Execution of their Judgment must be left to the Power of the strongest Sword for these Grandees generally think it beneath them to submit to the Sentence of a Company of Judges without a Field-Battle Sometimes they will raise five or six Thousand of a Side plunder and burn one anothers Towns and Cities and besiege each others Castles and Forts and after a great deal of Blood-shed Fatigue and Expence the unjuster Cause shall commonly get the upper Hand Dr. Connor says When he was in Poland there was a Quarrel between Duke Raazivil and Prince Sapieha about whether of the two should be Guardian to the young Princess of Newbourg Neece to the present Empress for her Mother was Dutchess Radzivil of Lithuania and Heiress of the greatest Estate in the Kingdom Both Parties had their Troops in the Field and had some Skirmishes but it was thought that Prince Sapieha being Great General of the Forces of Lithuania would get the better tho' it seems Duke Radzivil as being her Mother's Relation had more Right to the Guardianship of her All this while the King never concern'd himself in the Quarrel nor declar'd for either Party As to Matters of Descent The Father's Estate is always equally divided among his Children in like manner as in Italy Germany and most Foreign Countries but when the Father is dead the Mother can enjoy all his Estate for Life and it is absolutely in her Breast to allot every one of the Children their Quota or to keep all the Estate to her own Use during her Life Some Mothers Marry after the Husbands Deaths and so spend their first Childrens Fortunes with their second Husbands This makes the Children more than ordinary obedient to their Mothers especially during their Widdowhood Altho Estates in Poland are equally divided among the Children which one would think should absolutely weaken or ruin their Families yet do they generally find Means to support and keep them up for most commonly some of the Brothers turn Monks and so get to be made Abbots or Bishops whose Revenues are here sufficient to enrich any Family and the rest look after State-Employments which are likewise considerable Some of the Daughters also many times become Nuns so that being in the Church Service they are oblig'd to live in Celibacy and consequently leaving no Heirs all their Goods or Estates fall to their Marry'd Brothers or Sisters or to their Children In this Country the Daughters always walk before their Mothers as in Italy and the unmarry'd Sisters before the marry'd I cannot but admire at the honest and good Temper of the Polish Gentry for tho' their Liberty is extraordinary tho' they have Power of Life and Death over their Subjects tho' they are in a manner above their own Laws and tho' Justice is administer'd in Poland more slightly than in any other Country yet Dr. Connor says that all the while that he was in that Kingdom he neither saw nor heard of any Murther or Slaughter or of any Barbarity or Cruelty committed by the Gentry on their Subjects nor what is a greater Wonder of any High-way Robbers but always observ'd the Poles in general to be good humour'd harmless and generous When it is certain had
When the Poles make a Feast they never serve at Table either Spoons Knives or Forks but the Guests are to bring those along with them or their Servants for them They also have a broad Piece of starch'd Linnen to serve for Napkins sow'd round the Table Cloath for fear it should be stollen away The Guests being set down at Table immediately the Gates of the House are shut and are not open'd till all the Company are risen and the Plate taken Account of and lock'd up for should it be otherwise the Footmen are generally so light-finger'd that they would infallibly Nim some of it and this is the Reason also why they do not lay Spoons Knives and Forks on the Table Every Person of any Fashion has his Banquetting Hall in his House peculiarly set a part for Feasts and Entertainments Here there is a Place made up with Ballasters for the Side-board Table from which the Cloath is never taken till it is very dirty being always loaded with a great Quantity of Plate Over this Place there is a Gallery for Musick usually consisting of Violins and Organs Those that are invited always bring their Footmen along with them to whom as soon as they are seated they cut half their Bread and as much Meat and give it over their Shoulders This Servant being thus provided stands and eats what is given him behind his Master If the Master asks twice for Wine the Servant brings him as much again and after his Master drinks out of the same Glass without rincing Altho' there are great Quantities of Victuals brought from the Kitchin yet do they rarely carry any back for the Servants immediately seize on what is left and their Ladies make them carry each of them a Napkin to prog for dry'd Sweet-meats or Fruit. After the Cloath is taken away the Poles are accustom'd to sit a good while drinking The Genteelest Part of them at least have a very decent way of eating They never once touch the Meat with their Hands but carve with so great Address that they dexterously cut a Partridge into six Parts in a Trice holding it on the End of a Fork While they are eating they mind nothing else and tho' any body sends in for them they never stir from Table till they have done After their Meals they generally take a Pipe of Tobacco as the Custom is with us and other Countries the Manner whereof may not be unpleasant to be related They generally smoak Tobacco without injuring either their Heads or Stomachs and that by these Means They have a Pipe stuck thro' a little round Box into which they have before put Sponge that had been soak'd in distill'd Vineger this Sponge by means of a few little Holes thro' the Pipe communicates its Mildness to the Smoak and besides sucks away all the Oyl of the Tobacco whereby the Heat is exceedingly lenify'd and the Pleasure of smoaking consequently improv'd When they would render smoaking Tobacco yet more agreeable over and above this lenifying the Heat they have a way of persuming the Smoak by placing another Box of a lesser Size than the former nearer to the Bowl of the Pipe wherein they are wont to put Cotton dipt into some Sort of Essence which by means of the like Holes made as before within that Box and thro' the Pipe transmits its odoriferous Quality to the Smoak They generally place this Box five Inches from the Bowl of the Pipe and the other as many more These Feasts are made alternatively by every Friend and Relation that are Neighbours whether Men or Women for it must be understood that the Poles converse freely with the Female Sex without occasioning them any Scandal and especially where the Women are young if they have but their Parents or nearest Relations along with them By these Means Matches are frequently promoted and Friendships propagated or continu'd Nevertheless sometimes by immoderate tipling intestine Jars arise and bloody Broils ensue yet that Master of a Feast will always be esteem'd an unreasonable Niggard that does not allow his Guests wherewithal to work them up to such a Pitch Those we call Brimmers are very much in Request among the Poles for they will scarce ever excuse a Man unless he pledges them Super-naculum This Vice reigns equally in Feasts and Taverns and Saints Days are not excepted out of their Drunkards-Calendar which is notwithstanding wink'd at and tolerated on Account of the great Revenues and Excise it brings to the State However now a-days this Custom is not so much in Practice among the better Sort of Gentry as formerly yet they all still retain their ancient Luxuries of other Kinds The Customs and Manners of travelling in Poland with other Circumstances come next to be inspected It must first be understood that there are scarce any Inns in this Country except those the Natives call Karczma's where Travellers are oblig'd to lodge with the Cattle Those Inns or rather long Stables are all built up with Boards and cover'd with Straw Within there is no Furniture neither are there any Windows but all the Light comes in either at Holes made by the Weather or the Crevices of ill join'd Boards 'T is true at the further End they have a little Chamber with a Fire-Hearth but then there is no lodging in it because of the Flyes Fleas Bugs and especially the noisom Smells that incommode it for if they happen to have a little Window there yet do they never open it tho' the Weather be never so hot so that Strangers choose rather to lye in the aforesaid Stable where the Gospodarz or Inn-Keeper lodges himself with his whole Family than to be suffocated by the Stink and Smell of so close and small a Room In the long Room likewise there is an intolerable Smell occasion'd by a Parcel of rotten Cabbages which those People always keep by them And this tho' it may be agreeable enough to the Natives who are us'd to it yet to Strangers it must needs be very offensive In these Inns or Stables there are no Tables or Beds except one of the last in the little Room before mention'd but however scarce any body cares to lye in it because they can have no Sheets but what are very coarse and have been often lain in before neither is the Straw in the Stable much better because even of that every Company can't have fresh for the Gospodar after his Guests are gone generally gathers it up and preserves it for New-Comers yet it is still preferable to the Bed by Reason that he most commonly Airs it after it has been us'd All along this Karczma or Inn there are great Numbers of wooden Pins fixt for Travellers to hang up their Cloaths Portmantues c. This Sort of bad Accomodation many avoid by lying in Barns where they get fresh Straw By Reason of this ill Entertainment on the Roads all Travellers in this Country are
the Diet is to march against them So the Turk once coming towards Poland with 600000 Men the King did not care to trust even to 70000 hir'd Foreigners but convok'd the Gentry together at Leopol with whom if he had set forward as speedily as he was advised he might have totally extirpated the Infidels for ought I know out of Europe The Gentry are oblig'd to be in Arms as long as the King or State has occasion for them They all serve on Horseback not only for Honours sake but likewise that they may the more speedily intercept and oppose the Enemy before they reach their Frontiers When the Wars are over the Nobility are not ipso facto Discharged but must wait till they are methodically dismiss'd the Roll or Register by the Palatins the reason of which is for fear they might otherwise misuse the Citizens and Boors in a tumultuous Return Of the hir'd Soldiers I have spoken something before All that I think proper to add is that the Hungarian Foot which the Poles call VVegerska Piechota were first instituted by Stephen Batori in his Wars against the Muscovites to the maintaining of which almost every Diet contributes something yet which seldom or never suffices them Formerly the hir'd Foot consisted as well of Natives as Strangers The Auxiliary differ from the hir'd Forces in regard that the former are such as have been agreed to be furnished the Poles by Foreign Princes in a Treaty of Peace and the latter are such as have been levied in other Countries by permission Of this first sort were a certain number allowed Boleslaus Crivoustus by the Russians and to Casimir IV. by the Tartars against the Prussias which were to have some Rewards from the Poles These Rewards the Tartars afterwards requir'd yearly as a Tribute nay tho' they did no manner of Service for them whereupon King Stephen repell'd their Importunacies with an absolute Refusal as I have observ'd before in that King's Life which occasion'd great heats and disturbances but at length a Peace was concluded between these two Nations under the Reign of John Casimir whereby the Poles were oblig'd to pay a certain Stipend to the Cham and on the other hand the Cham was to be assisting to the Poles whenever they had occasion but it is certain that the latter broke his promise which induced a non-performance in the former There are other Examples of these kinds of Soldiers and at present some Allies are still obliged by such Contracts These Soldiers are both Horse and Foot as the Agreement is made This breach of Alliance by the Tartars occasion'd the Poles a new sort of Soldiers for Sigismundus Augustus to prevent their Incursions into his Kingdom allotted a fourth part of his Crown-Revenues to maintain a Guard on the Frontiers towards Tartary This fourth part was sometimes augmented and that as often as Exigencys required It was to be supervised by two Senators and two of the Gentry in conjunction with the High-Treasurer of Poland The Starosta of Rava had the Custody of it and was to give in his yearly Accounts how he had distributed it From hence these Soldiers had the Name of Quartarians Before this time the like Institution had been attempted at a Diet held at Vilna to guard the Frontiers of Lithuania against the Muscovites but this met with Opposition and consequently was laid aside These Forces generally consist of Foot and are always kept in Garrison Besides all these Soldiers before-mentioned some of the richest Gentry in Poland have all along been accustom'd at their sole costs and charges to raise several Troops of Horse for the publick Service some few Examples of the Power of which it may not be amiss to insert By the help of these Zamoski in the Reign of Sigismund III. worsted Carambeius the Scythian with 3000 Men only who with 70000 came to Invade Poland but with the loss of many thousands of his Tartars was quickly forced to return home And in the same Reign Zolkievi with only 3000 Horse set upon 80000 Muscovites unawares and routed them entirely bringing away three German Regiments that served among them Also in the late Reign Andrew Trzebicki who afterwards was made Primate when but Bishop of Cracow and Duke of Severia rais'd a considerable number of Forces at his own proper Expence to be sent against the Turks and which performed Wonders under the then General John Sobieski I omit many others that have done the same thing These Soldiers have been for the most part selected out of the Nobility which has been the occasion of their so frequent success in but small numbers in respect to those of their Enemies From this voluntary raising of these Soldiers they have had the Name given them of Volunteers tho' in other Countries that Title is appropriated to such as serve of their own Accord and without Pay Notwithstanding the great number and Warlike Disposition of all these several kinds of Soldiers yet their Power is very much abated by their want of Discipline and the neglect of the State and their Officers in the due administration of Affairs for first as to the State the Diet consisting of so many Persons of differing Sentiments is so exceeding tardy in fitting matters for Action that like a Clock made up of many contrary Motions its Progress must consequently be very slow and likewise before the Senators and Gentry can meet together there are so many Ceremonies to be past which they scarce ever abridge in the greatest Extremities that a Potent Enemy may over-run the Kingdom before the Pospolite can well be got ready to oppose them This was experienced when the Czar of Muscovy took Polocz and Smolensko from Sigismundus Augustus who by reason of the disagreements at that time in the Diet was never afterwards able to revenge it The same Czar likewise invaded Livonia without opposition thro' the like Defect which he could never have effected with so good success had the Poles been in a readiness to have marched against him but they are generally so long in fitting out and so unwilling to part with their beloved Luxury at the Diet that they cannot easily change to the rougher exercise of War Boterus in his Description of Poland says that four things are indispensibly requisite to the Defence of a State and they are 1. Native Force 2. Numerous 3. Potent And 4. Expeditious First their Force ought to be Native that they may not be betray'd by trusting it in the Hands of Strangers who have not so great Interest in the Success as themselves Secondly Numerous that they may always be able to bring on fresh Supplies in cases of Extremity Thirdly Potent because Numbers without Courage would rather contribute towards their Defeat than Victory And fourthly Expeditious and Active that they may be qualified for hasty Marches and to rally upon the greatest Rout. Now tho' the Poles have a sort of Claim to the three
the Title and Dutchy of Prussia thought himself oblig'd in the Name of his Order to enter Protestations against it He resign'd his Office to the Chapter after 8 Years Administration The Thirty Ninth Great Master of this Order and Administrator of Prussia was Maximilian Arch-Duke of Austria who had earnestly Sollicited the Electors for that Charge and offer'd to wear the Habit of the Order Afterwards being invited to the Crown of Poland this Order was in great hopes of being restored to their Dominions of Prussia but upon his being defeated by Sigismund III. they soon lost all those hopes He nevertheless continu'd their Great Master and being a brave Prince was nam'd for their General against the Turks in Hungary when he had a Company of Guards all Knights of the Order He held his Administration 34 Years and ended his days at Inspruck where he was likewise buried The Fourtieth Great Master was Charles Arch-Duke of Austria who after 5 years Regency died at Madrid whither he had been invited by the King of Spain to go his Vice-Roy into Portugal The Fourty first Great Master was John Eustache de Westernach who was Elected at Mergentheim the 19th of March in the Year 1625 and died 82 years old in the Year of our Lord 1627. The Fourty second Great Master was Gaspard de Stadion Provincial Commander of Alsace and Burgundy and particular Commander of Altschausen He after having governed this Order with great Reputation for fourteen years desir'd the Chapter to Elect Leopold William Arch Duke of Austria for his Coadjutor in the Administration of his Office and which being done he gave him the Cross of Prussia as a Testimony of his consent The Fourty third Great Master was this Leopold William who succeeded Stadion by Virtue of his former Election He govern'd this Order alone to the Year 1662 when he died at Vienna the 20th of November and was buried there The same Year the Chapter was Conven'd and would have chosen Charles Joseph Arch-Duke of Austria to have succeeded Leopold William his Brother but he died the same Year and thereby their designs were frustrated Afterwards the Chapter being Assembled at Mergentheim in the Year 1664 chose for their Fourty fourth Great Master one of their own Knights call'd John Gaspard of Ambringens Provincial Commander of the Circle of Austria and this they did to prevent the Intrigues which several Princes always made to get Elected to this Dignity This Great Master Convening the Chapter at Mariendal receiv'd Duke Lewis Anthony of Neubourg Abbot of Fescamp and third Son to Philip William Duke of Neubourg into this Order Ceremony of Creation and present State of Knights THe Ceremony was perform'd in the Great Church whither he had been conducted by the Great Master the Commendadors and Knights The Counts of Ottingen Hatzensten and Fugger who had been nam'd Commissioners to inspect his Titles of Honour reported upon Oath that they had examin'd and found his Honour to be unquestionable After which he was sworn to Chastity Poverty and to go to the Wars against the Infidels whenever occasion should so require When they gave him the white Mantle with the black Cross being the Ensigns of this Order and withal pronounc'd these Words according to Custom We Promise to give you as long as you live Water Bread and a Habit of our Order Next day the Great Master propos'd to the Chapter to Elect this Prince for his Assistant in the Government of the Order which the Electors desir'd time to consider of and after several Meetings had about it they answer'd they were content to Elect him providing he would sign a Capitulation offer'd him which he agreeing to do he was accordingly Elected The Teutonic Order at present consists of 12 Provinces which are Alsace and Burgundy for one Coblentz Austria and Etsch these four still retain the Name of Provinces of the Jurisdiction of Prussia as the eight following do that of Germany being the Provinces of Franconia Hesse Bressen Westphalia Lorrain Thuringen Saxony and Utrecht altho' this last is now altogether under the Dominion of the Hollanders Every one of these Provinces has its peculiar Commanderys of the Commendadors of which the Provincial is Chief Of these Provincial Commendadors there are 12 counting one for every Province It is these Commendadors who compose the Chapter of the Electors The Great Master's ordinary Residence has been at Mariendal in Franconia ever since this Order has been driven out of Prussia This My Lord is a short account of the Origin Progress successive Great Masters and present State of the Teutonic Order which I hope your Lordship will favourably accept being all that the propos'd brevity of this Undertaking would admit of I am My LORD Your Lordship 's most Obedient Humble Servant J. S. LETTER IX To Sir THOMAS MILLINGTON President of the College of Physicians Of the State of Learning and present Language of Natural Knowledge and particularly of the Practise of Physick in Poland with an account of some Natural Things and chiefly of a Disease in the Hair peculiar to the Poles commonly call'd Plica Polonica SIR THIS Letter courts your Acceptance on a double score your Learning and your Profession As to your Learning tho' it will doubtless be on all Hands allow'd that it has no need of Superstructure yet nevertheless sometimes it may require those Diversions which are here design'd and possibly in part unknown to you And as to your Profession being highly sensible of my imperfect account of the state of Physick especially in Poland I thought no Protection so safe to pass it under as yours My presumption I hope will be justifi'd upon Dr. Connor's first intending these Subjects for your Perusal and as to my Performance I entirely submit that to your Candour and Generosity SIR In the Kingdom of Poland and Great Dutchy of Lithuania there are two famous Universities with all sorts of Professors The former of these was Founded at Cracow by Casimir the Great and was finish'd by Jagello or Uladislaus V. in the Year 1401 conformable to the last Will and Testament of his Queen Hedwigis And the latter at Vilna being at first but an Academy Founded by King Stephen but afterwards was erected into an University by Pope Gregory XIII at the Request of Valerian Bishop of that City who had very much augmented the Colleges and Endowments In both these Universities the Chief Study is to speak good Latin for as to all parts of Polite Learning the Poles are not so curious as in other Countries yet have they a great many that will write good Verses for their Genius is mightily bent that way and besides they are very apt to quote Classick Authors in their Discourse and this particularly when they get Drunk which is very frequently Their Poet Sarbievius Casimir is no small Ornament to his Country who in his Odes has endeavour'd to imitate Horace and
Friar that had Orders to see it done or it would certainly have been effected notwithstanding her Majesty was admonish'd to the contrary The Plica is to be met with more commonly in Lithuania than in any other part of Poland It is so entirely peculiar to this Kingdom that none of the bordering Countries have it as Muscovy Tartary c. The Cure of this Distemper was often effected by one Dr. Jonas a Jew and Physician to the late King of Poland after this manner He Salivated his Patients by Friction and Unction and afterwards cut off the Hair without any dangerous consequences This Disease is often accompani'd with the Alopecia or Falling off of the Hair Of the cause of the Plica the Poles give this Account They say that the Tartars having made a great irruption into Poland in the Year 1279 and slain great numbers of People there rip'd out their Hearts and poyson'd them and afterwards threw them into the Rivers by which means the Waters became infected and those that have since drank of them afflicted with this loathsom Disease Notwithstanding this assertion Dr. Connor says the true cause thereof continues yet a secret to Physicians Strangers generally attribute the cause of it to slovenliness and they are confirm'd in this opinion because they are seldom troubled with it for reasons given before Another Account of this Distemper I have met with in Dr. Connor's Memoirs asserted to him by the Bishop of Posnania That Bishop it seems inform'd him that even while he was young he had the Plica and that upon cutting it with his own Hands he became dim-sighted for some considerable time and withal felt several pains and contorsions in his Limbs He told him moreover that he found divers seeming Incurvations of his Bones Afterwards the Hair growing again it began to mat as before but however he was forbid both by his Parents and his Tutor to make use of the same remedy to get rid of it during which time his pains totally left him but at length being weary of so loathsom a Companion he secretly cut off his Hair again when immediately the former symptoms began to return with greater Violence than ever Hereupon all the Servants of the House were caution'd against letting him have either Knife or Scissars for the future to do himself so much injury as he had formerly done notwithstanding which a Kinsman of his commiserating his deplorable condition privately convey'd a Knife to him wherewith he cut off his Locks a third time when he assur'd the Doctor he felt a thousand racking pains and had various other symptoms of this Disease renew'd upon him He inform'd him moreover that in one Night the Hair will be thus Matted even in those that take never so much care in Combing of it He told him likewise that the Symptoms and Pains were much greater when the Hair was often cut than when it was let grow to any length He also said that the first and second time that he cut his Locks he could sensibly perceive a vaporous and volatile matter pass in great abundance thro' the Ducts of his Hair which he said in its Passage very much frizled and contracted his Locks He moreover affirm'd that when he put a Cap upon his Head it occasion'd him intolerable heats and pain by reason said he that the pressure thereof repell'd the eruption and forced back the Humours of the Disease upon his Head From this Account of the Bishop of Posnania besides what we know already by Microscopes it evidently appears that every Hair is a kind of a little Tube thro' which the nourishment as well as those steams he mention'd may be reasonably suppos'd to pass to the utmost Extremities The other Disease peculiar to the Poles is the Rose which Hauteville says is a sort of Erysipelas chiefly shewing its self in the Face They are accustom'd to cure this Distemper by applying Powder of white Chalk to the part affected without letting Blood for they look upon that to be dangerous if not Mortal in this Case SIR What particulars have been here compil'd for your Diversion I hope may be favourably receiv'd as they are tender'd with all imaginable respect by SIR Your Most Obedient Humble Servant J. S. LETTER X. To the Honourable Mr. BRIDGES Eldest Son to my Lord CHANDOIS and Fellow of the Royal-Society Of the Dutchy of Curland its present State and Government with an Account of the Origin and Progress of the Livonian Order comprehending the several Successions of its Knights down to Gothotred Ketler the first Duke of Curland As also a succinct Relation of the several Administrations of this Duke and his Successors SIR I Hope the Addressing this following Letter to you needs no Apology since you were at first design'd to bear a part in the Patronage of this History What your great Merits intitle you to I shall not pretend to determine here reserving that Honour for a more favourable Opportunity and a better subject or at least a more correct Performance Sir The following Account is only the product of a hasty Compilation gather'd out of a confus'd Account of this Country which I could only meet with in Books But however if there be any Beautys discover'd they are to be ascrib'd to the ingenious Baron Blomberg his late Highness the Duke of Curland's Minister who by means of Dr. Connor has furnish'd me with some short Account of the Present State of Affairs in that Dutchy His Authority I presume will not be question'd by reason of his suppos'd Knowledge of those matters A much farther Account was promis'd by and expected from him but the urgency of time a consideration too much regarded by Booksellers requir'd this Abrupt Publication Sir the Dutchy of Curland which comprehends the Provinces of Curland and Semigallia is bounded on the North and West by the Baltick Sea on the East by the Great Dutchy of Lithuania and on the South by the Dutchy and Province of Samogitia In length it is about 50 great German Leagues computing from Memel in Prussia to Riga in Livonia and reckoning at least six Prussian Leagues to a Mile The breadth is different from the Baltic to Lithuania and Samogitia being in some places 30 and in others but 24 Leagues broad and moreover in some places less This Dutchy is a Plain Champion Fruitful Country and has always been well Inhabited It is a part of Livonia and when under the Teutonic Knights was the better half of it but now its Limits are not a little Abridged Some have divided Livonia into Regal and Ducal the former at present being under the King of Sueden and the latter under the Duke of Curland Formerly about the IXth Century this last was likewise Subject to Sueden but then it paid only a certain Tribute for it was never enter'd upon by the Swedes Some Authors have affirm'd it to be a Peninsula but those are easily confuted
and those of Curland on the other After this the Envoy is permitted to sit down to cover his Head and has great civilities paid him This Duke has all the Regalia that the German Soveraign Princes have He Coins Money in his own Name and has high and low Justice over the Noblemen of his Country only in some extraordinary cases Appeals may be made to the Court of Poland He has great Demesns of which his Revenue chiefly consists and keeps a very pretty Court having all his great Officers as other Princes have The chiefest of which are The Landhoff-Meister or chief Minister The High Chancellor The Supreme Marshal and The Supreme Burgrave These are the Four great State Officers The more inferiour are The Councellors of State which are the Supreme Starostas whereof two are for Curland viz. The Supreme Starostas of Goldingen and Tuczkon And two for Semigallia viz. The Supreme Starostas of Mittaw and Selburg These Staâ—ostas ought all to be Noble Natives and Landed-Men Next follow the Governors of Places Military-Officers c. The Gentry of this Country are very Antient and very free being exceedingly Jealous of suffering any Upstart Nobleman to come among them esteeming nothing so much as Ancient Families and Creations Before I proceed to give a farther account of this Country I must add a word or two more concerning the Livonian Order and which I could not have done before unless I had broke the Chain of the Connection The Provincial Master of this Order was wont to be chosen by the Great Chapter of Prussia whereupon when in the Year 1439. the Livonian Knights had Elected one Henry a Bukenode for their Master they were forc'd to give a reason for their having so done and notwithstanding were afterwards oblig'd to submit to a new Election in Prussia Next the Provincial Master of the Livonian Order was the Marshal of the Order After whom came the several Commendadors and the Advocates The Commendadors were in number Eleven whereof the two first were in Curland and the third in Semigallia The Advocates were Nine two having been of Curland and one of Semigallia These Knights had the Title of the Order of Sword-Bearers and their Habits Arms were a White Mantle with a Sword on the Breast in Pale and a Star Gules in Chief but after their joining with the Teutonick Order they had likewise their Habit and Cross For a Geographical Description of this Country I must acquaint you Sir that the two Dutchies of Curland and Semigallia have these several principal Cities and Towns for I cannot meet with any sub-division into Jalatinates or Districts as I have perform'd in Poland In the Dutchy of Curland are the several Cities and Towns of Goldingen Cap. Vinda Bish Pilten Liba Erdwalen Angermund Grubin Tuczkon Frawenburg Vschwend Talsen Candaw Durben Hasenpot and Oendange Of all which the chief City is Goldingen in Latin Goldinga a City that stands on the Banks of the River Wete about seven German Miles from Vinda or Windaw to the West and near fifteen from Mittaw in Semigallia to the East This City has a large Jurisdiction Vinda or Windaw call'd by the Poles Kiescz is a City and Palatinate It has a Castle built on the Sea-shoar and which was formerly Residence to the Livonian Knights as likewise the place where they conven'd their Parliament or General Assemblies Now it has usually a Garrison of Poles but which are nevertheless under command of the Duke of Curland This City is one of the Sea-ports of Curland the other being Liba Pilten is a Town and Palatinate of this Dutchy whose Gentry being Protestants and offering themselves to the King of Poland's Protection he endeavoured to re-establish a Popish Bishop there this having formerly been a Catholick Bishoprick whose Lands they then possess'd whereupon they alter'd their Resolutions and forthwith submitted to the Duke of Curland These are the richest Gentry in this Prince's Dominions whereof the principal Families are those of Maydel Beher Sacken Mandevil c. In the Dutchy of Semigallia are the Cities and Towns of Mittaw Metropolis of these Dominions Bauske Doblin Selburg Radziwiliski Nithaw Birze Pozwole Lunka Dalen Schudding Pilkall Beher Nersten and Salatt Of all which the Capital of this Dutchy and Metropolis of the Duke of Curland's Dominions is Mittaw in Latine Mittavia or Mittovia the usual place of Residence of the Dukes of Curland This City is built on the River Musza and is a pretty large place containing about Twelve Thousand Inhabitants It has a weak Wall tho' nevertheless a well Fortifi'd and stately Castle with two Bastions which are surrounded by Marshes and defended by a strong and numerous Garrison The streets of this City are not Pav'd for want of Stone and the Citizens Houses are either of Brick or Timber as in Poland This place lies about seven Polish Miles from Riga in Regal Livonia and only four from the Prontiers of Samogitia It has been twice taken of late by the Swedes but has been since regain'd and is at present wholly subject to its Duke Bauske another strong City in this Dutchy which has a well Fortifi'd Castle and a numerous Garrison The Religion of this Country is generally Lutheran tho' there are some few Roman Catholicks and Calvinists there In favour of the first the late Duke at the King of Poland's request gave leave for the building of two Roman Catholick Churches one at Mittaw and the other at Goldingen The Jesuits pretend to have bought this Cureteship of Mittaw and upon that account to have settled there but nevertheless they are frequently oppressed and their College was broke down not long since yet notwithstanding they still subsist The Dutchesses of Curland having been all hitherto Calvinists have always had one Church at Mittaw set a part for them and their Religion where the Calvinists and Protestants of Livonia as likewise the English Merchants of Riga come to Exercise their Devotion there being no liberty of Conscience allowed throughout the King of Sweden's Dominions except at Stockholm only where the French Huguenots have been permitted to build a Church As to the Government of Curland there is first The Parliament or General Assembly of the States of this Duteby which is conven'd after this manner The Duke as often as any Urgencies of State so require it sends out his Letters of Summons to all the Starostas of his Dominions together with a Schedule of the Points propos'd to be debated on requiring them and every of them to cause Deputies or Representatives of the Gentry to be forth with Elected in their respective Jurisdictions whereupon they are soon Elected accordingly and furnished with Instructions from their Electors how they shall behave themselves in like manner as in Poland These afterwards meeting at Mittaw together with the four Supreme Counsellors consult
His Power and State 38. Power as Inter-Rex 39. Why he is intrusted so much 40. His See ibid. Who officiates where no Inter-Rex 127. Inter-Rex resigns 162. Physicians Polish Their Abilities 81 * Not allow'd to study till qualify'd ib. * Palatins What 35. Their Number and Precedence from 55 to 59. Duty and Office 59. Palatins Vice How they must be qualified 59 c. Posnan Bishop of Extent of his Diocess 43 c. Plosko Bishop of His Jurisdiction and See 44. Premislaw Bishop of 44. Premislaw City A Greek-Bishop here 44. Here first Maintain'd that Priests might marry ib. c. High Podolia Palatinate of Honorary 57. Protho-Notary of a District 78. Projects in the Diet easily annull'd 107. Punishments in Poland Various and how differ 122. Manner of Chastising Servants ib. c. Pacta-Conventa Articles of Election 144. When taken by Ambassadors 145. By whom drawn and how administer'd 146. The Form ib. Occasional Articles 149. The Oath taken by the King 150. Peasants Polish Their Condition 5 184. Wherefore enslav'd 5. Incapable of Preferment except a few 167. How first enslav'd 182. Live satisfy'd notwithstanding 183. Enrich their Lords 184. How fix'd in a Farm 185. Their Service annex'd thereto ibid. Meet to Reap their Lords Corn 186. Their Customs at Bed and Board 186. Children how taught to go 187. Habits of both Men and Women ibid. Peasants Condition in Lithuania 226. Work on Sundays ibid. c. Pay rigid Duties 227. Their Habits and Carriages 228. Description of the last by a Poet ib. Character of these Rusticks 230. Potables Sorts us'd in Poland 212. Beer of what Quality 213. Mead and Wine ib. What Strong-Waters 214 Brimmers much practis'd 219. Sturdy Drinkers rewarded 231. Drink among the Rusticks of Prussia 235. Prussia Peculiar Customs there Vide Customs Pospolite What 2 * Who oblig'd to serve in the Horse ib. * Who in the Foot 3 * Penalty for Default ib. * Who excus'd ib. * Number great formerly and now 5 * Manner of Raising and Mustering them 6 * Meet at General-Rendezvouz 8 * Pay of Soldiers From what it arises and how is rais'd 26 c. * Provisions and Ammunitions What in the Army 27 * Q. Queen Consort Her Court how maintain'd 16. Artifice 17. Revenues 18. To what Amount ibid. Her Court-Officers 30. Where Crowned and where not 163 c. Place of her Coronation 164. What requir'd to confirm it ib. Cause of J. Casimir's Queen 's Death 207. Queen Dowager Revenue Conditional 18. Excludes Queen Consort while she enjoys it ib. Quartarians What and whence so call'd 17 * R. Republick of Poland Wherefore instituted 4. It s Division 10. Means to support it for ever 177. Revenues Crown What 17. Russian Bishops Why can't Marry 40 c. Their Tenets Ceremonies and Ornaments 41. Religion in Poland and Lithuania Conversion and Persuasions 47. Former Religions ibid c. Roman-Catholick how long continu'd 50. Zeal and Bigotry ib. None but Roman-Catholicks admitted of Senate c. except in Prussia ib. Bishops preside wherefore 51. Other Clergy preferr'd ib. Four Roman Catholick Churches in Dantzic 47 * Religions in Curland 126 * Russia Palatin of Why has the Title of the Province 57. Referendaries Masters of Requests Their Office Power and Qualifications 77. Registers in Chancery 77. Reflection of Hauteville 95 c. Rokosz What and its Proceedings 21 * Example ibid. * Rarities and Observables in Poland Of Wood and Earth 82 * Strange Waters and their Effects 83 * Monstrous Fish 84 * Fowls of odd Qualities ibid. c. * Beasts of strange Kinds 85 * Rarities communicated 86 * Closet of Rarities 87 * Rose Disease What and its Cure 96 * Riga Bishop and Archbishop thereof 100 * S. Senators Polish Who and their Number 5. Sit by what Authority 5 c. By whom made and their Oath 34. To what further bound 35. Not suffer'd to travel ibid. Title annex'd to Dignities ibid. Their Office 36. Who immediately becomes so ibid. Despise other Honours ibid. Their Division and Sub-division ibid. Senate Polish What and its Office 34. Samogitia Dutchy Wherein differs from Lithuania 231. Proof of great Age here 232. Inhabitants more robust ibid. Samogitia Bishop of Likewise Bishop of Curland 45. Has no See ibid. Samogitia Starosta of Why preferr'd and how chosen 56. Smolensko Bishop of Formerly subject to Lithuania and now Honorary 46. Smolensko Palatin of Honorary 57. Socinians When and how often expell'd 48. Steward Great Vide Marshal Great Secretaries Great Their Qualifications and Authority 76 c. Starosta's With Jurisdiction 79. Without 80. Vice-Starosta's 79. Jurisdiction of Starosta's ib. Power and Office 119. Starostaships Revenue from what arises 80. Have been sometimes mortgag'd ibid. Speaker of the Diet How chosen and Heats thereupon 94. Must treat the Gentry ibid. Reason of stickling in his Election ibid. Last Speaker officiates till a new one be chosen 95. Speaker-Elect goes to kiss the King's Hand ibid. His Request for the Deputies 96. His Authority ibid. His Power devolves to Great-Marshal 97. Synods Provincial Aw'd by the Pope 15. That of Leopol subject to the Archbishop of Gnesna ib. Successor Election of a Interest of Foreign Princes to oppose it 151 c. Reasons for and against it 152 c. State Four Things requir'd to defend it 19 c. * Salt Farther Particulars thereof 39 * T. Titles Polish Annex'd to Employments 5. Tartars in Lithuania Their Number and Religion 49. How long continu'd there ib. Upon what Conditions ibid. Troki Castellan of Wherefore preferr'd 56. Treasurers Great Their Office and Authority 72. Remarkable Breach of Trust in one of them 73. Treasurer of Prussia His Office 77. Travelling Customs in Travelling 219. Travellers oblig'd to carry Provisions c. 221. Travelling cheap in other respects ibid. c. Manner of Travelling 222. Incommodities in Travel how remedy'd ibid. c. Disturb'd a Winter-Nights by Boors 223. Danger of losing Noses ib. c. Trade Poles not much inclin'd thereto 35 * Commodities Exported and Imported 35 c. * Particulars of Trade 39 * No Fulling nor Paper-Mills ibid. * Concerning Leather and Fish 40 * Honey and its Produce ibid. c. * Former Trade of Prussia 41 * Teutonic Order Its Origin 53 * Who built their Hospital at Jerusalem 54 * Order confirm'd and by what Title ibid. * Their Removal into Germany and Prussia ibid. c. * Forsake Prussia and wherefore 55 * Their Statutes Habit Number and Manners ibid. c. * Are much favour'd by several Princes 56 * Lives of their Great Masters from 56 to 71 * It s Present State 72 * Tobago Island Discover'd by the Duke of Curland 106 * Is depriv'd of it ibid * Proposes to recover it 107 * A Grant from King Charles the Second 108 * French beg the Island 112. * A Second Letter from King Charles ibid. * Intercepted ibid. * Duke sends Governors 113 * Makes a Contract ib. * Description of the Island ibid. * Necessary
the Gentry and Citizens Rusticks and their Condition Work on Sundays Pay rigid Duties c. Their Edibles and Custom at grinding Corn. Their Habits Carriages and how made Houses Employments within and without Doors Why little Horses here Qualifications for Marriage Character of these Rusticks Samogitia differs from Lithuania Sturdy Drinkers rewarded Proof of great Age. People more robust here Manners in Husbandry Strange way of Pruning Trees Peculiar manner of Sowing Ways of ordering Corn. Peculiar Customs in Prusia Habitations and Furniture Meat and Drink The Pospolite or Polish Militia Who obliged to serve in the Horse Who in the Foot and Penalty for neglect in both Who are excused from serving The great numbers of the Pospolife formerly and now The manner of their being Raised and Mustered Things required in vain of the Polish Cavalry Meet at the General Rendezvous A Division of the Army and first of the Horse Heavy Armed Light Horse A Division of the Foot A further account of the Cosacks Proceedings in their Counsells of War Way of fortifying their Camps and Boats Their Power What the Polish Foot are and how employed Hired Foot and their Condition Why so much used and their Arms and Liveries Gentry how far obliged to March with other particulars Hungarian Foot when first hired Auxiliaries what Example Quartarians what and whence so called Volunteers what in Poland Examples Selected out of the Gentry Causes that weaken the Polish Force Four things required to defend a State Manner of paying the Army The Rokosz and its manner of proceeding Example Other inconveniencies which suppress the Pole's Power Means propos'd to avoid these Inconveniences but ever-ruâ—'d â—reat Force of Cavalry notwithstanding with Examples Two Qualities necessary in War Soldiers Pay from what it arises and how raised Provisions and Ammunition what Gun-Founders Foreign For Fortifications Pretended Advantages thereby Generals their Power and Duration Lieutenant Generals their Power Other Generals Officers Other Officers of the Army Some few particulars of the Poles Jus Belli Poles not much enclined to Trade and why Commidities Exported and Imported But little Money and why Coin most current in Poland Contributes to Poverty Other Coins Poles not very rich and why Particulars of Trade Concerning Salt No Fulling or Paper-Mills Concerning Leather and Fish Manner of Fishing Honey and its Produce Former Trade of Prussia â—antzic here Siâ—ate By whom built and whence so called How distant from other places It s Division and Strength One of the Hanse Towns Parishes Buildings Streets and Gardens Inhabitants their Number and Religion Churches Town-House Three Magazines A College Exchange c. Jurisdiction and Government Senators and their Division The Twelve Scabins and Syndic Burgrave to represent the King Centumviri their Power Manner of Electing and Ordaining Priests Four Roman Catholick Churches King's Power and Revenues here City-Power and Privileges Force by Land and Sea First Coin in Prussia Present Coin in Dantzic How often taken and regain'd Admitted to Vote in Election of Polish Kings Origin of Teutonic Order Who built their Hospital of Jerusalem Their Order confirm'd and by what Title Another Hospital with their removal into Germany and Prussia Marienburg built For sake Prussia and wherefore Their Statutes Habit Number and Manners Are much favour'd by several Princes Great Masters in Prussia I Great Master 1190. II Great Master 1200. III Great Master 1206. IV Great Master 1210. V Great Master 1240. VI Great Master 1252. VII Great Master 1263. VIII Great Master 1275. IX Great Master 1283. X Great Master 1290. XI Great Master 1297. XII Great Master 1307. XIII Great Master 1309. XIV Great Master 1322. XV Great Master 1325. XVI Great Master 1329. XVII Great Master 1339. XVIII Great Master 1342. XIX Great Master 1348. XX Great Master 1379. XXI Great Master 1388. XXII Great Master 1394. XXIII Great Master 1404. XXIV Great Master 1406. XXV Great Master 1414. XXVI Great Master 1323. XXVII Great Master 1432. XXVIII Great Master 1450. XXIX Great Master 1467. XXX Great Master 1468. XXXI Great Master 1480. XXXII Great Master 1489. XXXIII Great Master 1498. XXXIV Great Master 1512. Dantzic B sieg'd by Albert. Siege rais'd by the Poles Albert submits to Sigismund Great Masters in Germany XXXV Great Master 1531. XXXVI Great Master 1543. XXXVII Great Master 1566. XXXVIII Great Master 1572. XXXIX Great Master 1587. XL Great Master 1619. XLI Great Master 1624. XLII Great Master 1627. XLIII Great Master 1644. XLIV Great Master 1664. A Prince of Neubourg Elected of the Order Ceremony of Creation Elected likewise Coadjutor Present State of Teutonic Order in Germany Two Universities Chief Study there Learning formerly Oriental Languages dis-regarded Present Languages in Poland Polish hard to Pronounce Reasons why the Poles affect Latin Have no solid Learning How far that of Divines extends Their Divinity Lawyers their number and study Who seldom go to Law A suppos'd Judgment on a Lawyer Physicians and their Abilities Not allowed to study till qualified Discourges Learning Natural Observables and Rarities Of Wood and Earth Strange Waters and their Effects Monstrous Fish Fowls of odd Qualities Beasts of strange kinds Rarities communicated to Dr. Connor Argentum Fulminans made by chance Other Experiments Dr. Bernitz's Chsâ—t of Rarities Manner of making Glass Odd Method of Curing Wounds Practise of Physick What Medicines us'd Diseases what Venereal how Cur'd by a Quack Surprizing particulars Diseases peculiar to the Poles and first the Plica It s Description Unaccountableness Symptoms Neither Bleeds nor is painful Said to be Contagious and Hereditary Common to Men and Beasts Superstition concerning it and other cases Where most common It s Cure by a Jew Causes Asserted but Question'd Another account of the Plica Hairs Canular The Rose and its Cure Present bounds and extent of Curland It s Soil and former State When wholly Conquered Converted to Christianity by degrees I Bishop in Livonia 1180. II Bp ABp of Riga 1194. III ABp of Riga 1194. I Absolute Master of Livonian Order 1205. II Absolute Master 1223. III Master 1238. IV Master 1240. V Master 1248. VI Master 1250. VII Master VIII Master IX Master X Master XI Master XII Master XIII Master XIV Master XV Mast r XVI Master XVII Master XVIII Master XIX Master 1488. III. Absclute Master 1513. IV. Abso-Master V. Absolute Master VI. Absolute Master 1560. Residence of this Order I. Duke of Curland 1561. II. Duke 1587. III. Duke 1602. IV. Duke 1639. Discovers Tobago and enjoys it Is depriv'd of it Proposes means to recover it Agreement between the K. of England and D. of Curland Grant of Trade in Africa Upon what Conditions Grant of the Island Tabago Under what Considerations Duke obliged to Aid the King in War A Letter sent hereupon but with little Effect French beg the Island of their King A second Letter from K. Charles A Letter Intercepted The Duke sends Governours Makes a Contract with a Captain Description of Tobago Why necessary to be English Hands Tobacco whence so call'd Duke James's Marriage and Issue VI Duke His Marriage and Issue 1683. VII Duke 1698. D. of Curland Vassal to Poland His Privilege and Power Revenue and Court Chief Officers Qualifications of Supreme Stagostas Conditions of Gentry Addition concerning Livonian Order Principal Master how and where chosen Marshal of the Order Number of Comendadors Number of Advocates Title Habit and Arms of this Order Geographical Description of Curland Cities and Towns of Goldingen Vinda Residence of Knights Pilten Richest Gentry in Curland Mittaw It s Castle Streets and Houses How distant from other places How often Conquer'd Bauske Religions in Curland Two Roman Catholick Churches Calvinâ—â— Church at Mittaw Government of Curland The Parliament Court of Supreme Councellors Degrees of demanding Justice Ecclesiastical Courts City Courts Ministerial Officers Trade of Curland Corn in great request and wherefore Where Curland is to revers to Poland
Must always flourish for several Reasons 111. Guards Horse 29. Chief Commander of Guards in the Camp 79. Captain of the Guards against the Incursions 76. Gnesna Archbishop of Vide Primate Genius of Polish Government To what bent 31. Generals Great Power and Authority 74. Duty 75. Present Great Generals ibid. Dignity Successive ibid. Their Power and Duration 29 c. * Generals Lieutenant Their Office 75. Titles and Power 30 c. * Other General-Officers 31 * Governors of Mines 78. Of the Mint ibid. Gun Founders Foreign 28 * Glass Polish Manner of making it 88 * Gardens and Orchards Seldom any in Poland 199. H. Head-Collector of a District 79. High-Podolia Vide in P. Houses in Poland Their Description 198. Furniture 199. Houses of the Rusticks in Lithuania 197. Habitations and Furniture of the Peasants in Prussia 234. Horses Why little in Lithuania 229 c. Hairs Canular 96 * I. Jews in Poland Enjoy their Religion and Privileges 49. Restrain'd from Trading ib. Their Number ibid. Idolaters Where to be found 50. Retain Superstitions ib. Example ib. Judge and Assistant of a District 78. Jurisdiction Military Wholly in the King 's or his General 's Hands 121. Palatins and Castellans likewise exercise their Authority ib. Inns How call'd in Polish 219. Have few Conveniencies 220. Jâ—â— Belli Polish Some few Particulars thereof 32 * K. King of Poland Former Power 2. Advantages thereby 3. Abridg'd by the Gentry 4. King's Happiness 11. Unhappiness ib. c. Modern Power 13. Abroad and at home 14. What his Subjects term him ib. Great respect paid him ib. c. His Titles and Prerogatives 15 c. Pension Household-Officers and Guards 16. Patrimonial Estate and Perquisites ib. late His Riches 17. Power limited in divers respects 19 c. Other Limitations 21. Inconveniences thereby ib. Occasion of Respect 22. Cities present their Keys 23. Why he can make no Levies without consent of the Diet ib. Must not go out of the Kingdom 24. His Legitimate Issue much respected ib. Titles of his Eldest and other Sons and Daughters ib. How lost 25. Examples of the Poles Affection to the Royal Family ib. Illegitimate Issue slighted 26. Impossible to reduce his Subjects to an Arbitrary Power ib. c. King not unhappy because not able to secure Succession to his Family 28. His Interest to Head his Army 75. Where the King suspends his Opinion 97. Ought not to be present at Trials for Treason 99. Has no Regal Authority till Crown'd 153. Goes to receive Homage and Knights Citizens 161 c. Is Proclaim'd 162 c. What follows 163. His Power and Revenues in Dantzic 48 * Kiovia Bishoprick of Honorary 45. Kiovia Palatinate of Honorary 56. L. Leopol City Whence so nam'd 40. Is the Residence of three Bishops ib. Luceoria Bishop of His Diocess 44. Lutherans Abundance in Poland 48. Tolerated and Protected ib. Name in Polish ib. How the Prussians became so ib. Lay-Senators Their Division and Sub-division 54. Laws What requir'd to Establish them 97 Where cannot be Printed 98. Their Origin Progress and present State 121. Lawdifferences decided by the Sword 179. Example 180. Lawyers Their Number and Study 79 c. * Who seldom go to Law 80 * Suppos'd judgment on a Lawyer ib. * Lending and borrowing in Poland The manner of 195. Lithuania Particulars relating thereunto 224. Learning Former 75 * What discourages Learning 81 * Languages Oriental dis-regarded 76 * Present in Poland ib. c. * Hard to Pronounce 77 * Latine Reasons why the Poles affect to speak it 77 * Livonia Its first Bishop 100 * Livonian Order It s several Masters from 101 to 105 * Residence of the Order 105 * Addition concerning this Order 117 * M. Marienburg Pal. a City of Formerly Seat of Teutonic Knights 58. Built 55 * Marshal Great of Poland His Office Power and Authority 69. Duty and Privilege ibid. His Perquisites ibid. c. Who officiate in his Absence 70. Marshal Great of Lithuania His Office 70. Marshals Little Contend for Precedence 73. Mines Their Officers called Zuppars 80. Meetings General of Senators and Deputies 90. Members of the Diet How habited 103. Not to give Reason for Dissent to any Bill 106. Magistrates and Officers of Plebeian Courts 120. Their Profits 121. Marriages Description and Duration 203. Court-Marriages 204. Customs thereat ib. Presents made the Bride 205. Espousals and Ceremonies ib. c. Who can't be Marry'd without Dispensation 206. Qualification for Marriage among the Peasants 230. Mourning The manner in Poland 208. Money Little in Poland and how occasion'd 36 * What Coin most current there ibid. c. * Contributes to Poverty 37 * Other Coins ib. c. * First Coin in Prussia 49 * Present in Dantzic ib. c. * Mittaw City of Curland It s Castle Streets and Houses 120 * How often conquer'd and regain'd 120 * Calvinist-Church there 121 * N. Nuncio's Vide Deputies Nobility Vide Gentry Notaries Chief 77. Notaries Camp 76. Nuncio-Marshal Vide Speaker Naturalization and Manner of Making Noble 100. How far qualified thereby ibid. c. Nobility how acquir'd 188. A Third Way of becoming Noble 189. Ways of Forfeiting Nobility ib. Where restor'd ib. Names Polish What formerly and now 203. O. Officers Crown and Court 28. Court In Lithuania 29. In several Provinces ib. c. Some rather Honorary than Beneficial 30. Ten Crown-Officers where placed in the Diet 68. Who they are ibid. Those of the Kingdom precede ib. Extra-Senatorial Officers 74. Great Officers in the Army 76. Of Districts 78. Some why so call'd 79. Military Officers of Districts ib. Offices By whom Plurality can be held 67. Exceptions ib. Order of Knighthood Instituted in Poland but undervalu'd 179 c. Vide Teutonic Order P. Poland Undergone several Changes 2. How expos'd to Inconveniencies 12. Physick Practice in Poland 89 * Medicines us'd ib. * What Diseases 91 * Venereal how cur'd by a Quack 90 * Odd Method of curing Wounds 88 * Surprising Particulars 91. * Plica Disease its Description ibid. c. * Unaccountableness and Symptoms 92 * Said to be Contagious and Hereditary 93 * Common to Men and Beasts ibid. * Superstition concerning it ibid. c. * Where most common and how cur'd by a Jew 94 * Causes asserted but question'd ibid c. * Another Account of the Plica 95 c. * Poles Their Division 4. Love for their Kings 12. To Extravagance 13. Behaviour at Church 53. Their good Temper and its Effect 181. How occasion'd 182. Their Character 189. Complexion Constitution c. 191. Their Manners ibid. Further Character 192. Education and Learning ibid. To what they generally apply themselves 193. Worst part of their Character ibid c. Genius how inclined 194. Greedy of Money 195. Love to make a Shew ibid. Their great Extravagance 198. Great Admirers of Shew 200. How Attended ib. Not very Rich and why 38 * Primate His Court-Officers as Inter-Rex and Arch-Bishop 30. What peculiar to him 31.