671 



SOBIESKT, JOHN. 



SOCINUS FAUSTUS. 



672 



attempts at Gothic were almost beneath contempt. On the other 

 hand, he is entitled to no small praise as being, if not the inventor 

 of a now order, the first to apply and naturalise in this country the 

 Tivoli Corinthian, employed by him at the Bank, the north-west 

 corner of which structure so far surpasses anything else that he ever 

 executed or designed, that his reputation would stand higher if that 

 were all that ho ever did. 



SOBIESKI, JOHN, eon of James Sobieski, a Polish noble, castellan 

 of Cracow, and a distinguished warrior, was born in 1629, in the 

 district of Olesko, in the present Gallicia, or Austrian Poland, near 

 the sources of the Bug and the Bog, on the feudal estate of his 

 ancestors. He was carefully brought up under the superintendence of 

 his father ; he completed hia education at Paris, served for some time 

 in the mousquetaires, or body-guards, of Louis XIV. ; and travelled 

 with his brother Mark in France, Italy, and Turkey. The young 

 Sobieskis were staying at Constantinople when the news of a fearful 

 insurrection of the Cossaks, who were joined by a multitude of Polish 

 serfs, made them hasten home. They overran Polish Russia, and 

 destroyed many people, especially priests and Jews. Out of hatred 

 of Rov an Catholic intolerance, they obliged all the monks and nuns 

 whom they could seize to marry each other under pain of death : the 

 khan of the Tartars had also espoused their cause. The king of 

 Poland, John Casimir, a weak prince, harassed by the proud indepen- 

 dence of the magnates, opposed but a feeble resistance to the de- 

 vastating torrent. At last the insurgents met with a check under the 

 walls of Zamosc, and a peace was made with the Cossaks, but it was 

 soon broken ; and the Poles suffered many reverses, in one of which 

 Mark Sobieski was killed by the hands of the Tartars. His brother 

 John continued to serve in the army with distinction against the 

 Cossaks and Tartars, as well as against the Swedes and Russians ; 

 for at that time Poland was assailed on every side, and nearly ceased 

 to exist as a nation. In 1660 John Sobieski gained a victory over 

 the Muscovite general Sheremetoff ; and for several years after he con- 

 tinued to fight with success against both Muscovites and Tartars, in 

 consequence of which he was raised to the dignities of grand marshal 

 and grand hetman of Poland. 



In 1667 Poland was invaded by 100,000 Cossaks and Tartars. 

 Sobieski marched to meet them at the head of only 20,000 men. At 

 first te kept on the defensive in order to weary out the assailants ; 

 but seizing a favourable moment, he sallied out of his intrenchments, 

 routed the enemy, and compelled them to sue for peace. Poland was 

 thus again saved from destruction. In 1671 he routed the Turks, who 

 were led by Sultan Mahomet IV. ; and some time after he took from 

 them the fortress of Kotzim, till then considered impregnable. On 

 the death of King Michael Wisniowietski, in 1674, the diet assembled 

 to name a successor. Several candidates appeared : Charles of Lorraine 

 was countenanced by Austria, and Pbilip of Neuburg by Louis XIV. 

 Sobieski himself proposed the Prince of Conde"; but the palatine 

 Stanislaus Jablonowski having stated in an eloquent speech his objec- 

 tions to those candidates, concluded by saying, " Let a Pole reign over 

 Poland," and he proposed the conqueror of Kotzim, John Sobieski. 

 The effect was electrical ; all the Polish and Lithuanian nobles shouted 

 " Long live John III.," and John was proclaimed king. The country 

 was in a state of exhaustion ; the regular army consisted of only a 

 few thousand men, the treasury was empty, and the crown jewels 

 were pledged to the Jews. Sobieski redeemed the jewels, raised 

 several regiments at his own expense, and then marched to oppose the 

 Turks, who were advancing with a large force. He was obliged to 

 shut liimself up within Lemberg, which was speedily invested ; but 

 taking advantage of a heavy fall of snow, which a high wind blew in 

 the face of the Turks, he issued from the town with a small bxit 

 devoted band, and the cry of "Christ forever," and completely routed 

 the besiegers. A fresh Turkish army came, at the head of which was 

 the brave pasha of Damascus, who had acquired in war the surname 

 of ' Sha'itan,' or ' the Devil,' accompanied by a formidable artillery. 

 Sobieski intrenched himself, with about 10,000 men, between two 

 villages on the banks of the Dniester, and there sustained for twenty 

 days the attacks of the enemy and a continued cannonade. At 

 last, on the 14th October 1676, the Polish king issued out of his 

 entrenchments with his few remaining followers, whom he drew up 

 in order of battle. The Turks, who numbered between two and three 

 hundred thousand, were astounded, when they began to cry out that 

 it could not be a mere man who risked such odds, that Sobieski must 

 be a wizard, and that it was useless to contend with the wizard king. 

 The 'Sha'itan' pasha was superior to such superstition; but he 

 knew that the ' pospolite,' or levy en masse, of the kingdom was 

 at hand ; and he offered Sobieski an honourable peace, which was 

 accepted. 



A few years of peace followed, at least external peace, for Poland 

 was seldom if ever at peace within herself. The king's authority 

 was sot at nought by the nobles, who would not listen to reform or 

 redress of grievances, and by their veto dissolved every diet in which 

 the attempt was made. In his own family, Sobieski was teased and 

 tormented by his wife, a French woman by birth, an ambitious 

 domineering woman, whom he had not the heart to restrain. But 

 a new storm was gathering to draw out Sobieski's energies. This 

 time the attack of the Turks was directed against Austria. The 

 Turks were countenanced by Louis XIV. of France, who wished to 



humble the house of Austria to the dust. A most formidable army, 

 commanded by the grand-vizir Kara Mustapha, after sweeping over 

 Hungary, in the mouth of July 1683, invested Vienna, from which 

 the emperor Leopold and his family had fled. Germany, Italy, all 

 Europe were in consternation. All eyes were turned towards Sobieski. 

 The Polish king had no reason to love Austria, but, as a Christian 

 prince, he determined to defend the Eastern bulwark of Christian 

 Europe against the dreaded Ottomans. Having assembled at Cracow 

 an army of 16,000 men, he marched to the banks of the Danube, and 

 was met on the way by the Duke of Lorraine and other German 

 princes with their contingents, and at length found himself at the 

 head of 70,000 men. Having crossed the Danube, he ascended the 

 ridge of the Kalemberg, which overlooks the Austrian capital. On 

 the morning of the llth of September, the allied army, reaching the 

 summit of the ridge, saw before them the wide-spread tents of the 

 Ottoman host in the plain below. On the following day Sobieski' s 

 army descended the mountain to attack the vizir, and, after a hard 

 struggle, drove the Turks into their intrenchments, which were fortified 

 with great care, and appeared even to Sobieski too strong to be forced. 

 It was five in the afternoon, and he had given up. all idea of attack 

 for that day, when he spied the vizir sitting at the entrance of his 

 splendid tent, tranquilly sipping coffee, with ids two sons beside him. 

 This composure provoked Sobieski, and he gave orders for an imme- 

 diate attack. The Polish hussars cleared- the ditch and rode into the 

 camp, the infantry followed, and, after a rude shock, the Ottomans 

 were driven in a confused mass towards the tent of the vizir. Kara 

 Mustapha attempted to make a stand, but in vain : at last he fled 

 with the rest; and Sobieski remained master of the whole camp, 

 artillery, baggage, and all. On the news of the deliverance of Vienna, 

 all Europe resounded with acclamations. Sobieski pursued the Turks 

 into Hungary, and he experienced a defeat at Parany, where he was 

 exposed to great personal danger ; but he defeated them again at 

 Strigonia, and at last cleared the whole country of them. 



Returning to his own kingdom, he found himself again involved in 

 domestic troubles. Every attempt that he had made for the regeiu'ra- 

 tkfn of Poland was thwartei by some of the turbulent nobles by 

 means of the veto which the constitution gave to each. Sobieski was 

 even called a tyrant and traitor because he fretted at his own impo- 

 tence to do good to his country. At the close of the stormy diet of 

 1688, he addressed the assembly in a sad and almost prophetic tone : 

 "What will be one day the surprise of posterity to see that after 

 being elevated to such a height of glory, we have suffered our country 

 to fall into the gulf of ruin; to fall, alas ! for ever. For myself, I 

 may from time to time have gained her battles ; but I am powerless 

 to save her. I can do no more than leave the future of my beloved 

 land, not to destiny, for I am a Christian, but to God, the High and 

 Mighty." 



Sobieski was an accomplished scholar, and very fond of learning : 

 he acquired the Spanish language at an advanced age, amidst the cares 

 of his kingdom. In 169(3 Sobieski was suddenly taken ill, and died, 

 on Corpus Christi day, and with him Polish greatness may be said to 

 have expired. He was the last of its really patriot kings. 



(Lettres du JRoi de Pologne Jean Sobieski, publiees par de Salvandy, 

 Paris, 1826 ; Histoire de Pologne, by the same author.) 



SOCI'NUS FAUSTUS. The Socini were an ancient family of Siena. 

 Marianus Socinus, a lawyer, is highly extolled by yEneas Sylvius, 

 Pope Pius II., with whom he was contemporary. This Mariauus had 

 a son Bartholomew, whom Politian calls the Papinian of his age; 

 and also a son Alexander. Alexander had a son Marianus the younger, 

 also a distinguished lawyer, who was the father of Alexander Socinus 

 the younger and Lailius Socinus, by Camilla, who was related to the 

 Salvetti of Florence. Alexander was a distinguished lawyer and a 

 teacher of jurisprudence. 



Lsclius, the uncle of Faustus Socinus, was born at Siena in 1525. 

 He was brought up to the law ; but he turned his thoughts to the 

 study of the Scripture, for which he was qualified by his knowledge 

 of the Greek and Hebrew languages, and, it is said, the Arabic also. 

 Having detected, as he supposed, various errors in the doctrines of 

 the Roman Church, he left Italy in 1547, either that he might insure 

 his safety, or have the advantage of prosecuting his theological 

 studies more diligently. He was only about twenty-one years of age 

 when he commenced his travels, which extended to England, France, 

 Switzerland, Germany, and Poland. He first visited Poland about 

 1551. and a second time about 1556. He finally settled at Zurich, 

 where he died in 1562, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. His 

 nephew Faustus, who then happened to be at Lyon in France, suc- 

 ceeded in getting possession of his papers. Lselius was on intimate 

 terms with all the great scholars of the time. By his prudent con- 

 duct he secured his personal safety amidst men who were the enemies 

 of his opinions, which however he communicated freely to his friends, 

 ' and principally to his countrymen who were in voluntary exile in 

 j Switzerland and Germany. He also corresponded with his family in 

 I Italy, and brought several of them over to his opinions. Lselius 

 Socinus had put various questions to Calvin, among other great 

 theologians. Calvin declined to answer his "portentous questions," 

 and in a rough but well-meant letter, told him that " if he did not 

 timely correct this itch of inquiring, he would draw on himself great 

 torments." Calvin's letter was written in January 1552; and in the 



