POLISH HISTORY. 75 



ticipation. They are privileged to elect their kings, and 

 the senators have involved themselves in the greatest 

 dangers whenever they have discovered an inclination to 

 render themselves the masters of the election. 



' When the kingdom is threatened with any irruption 

 the pospolite, or the whole body of the nobility, are armed 

 and mount their horses. Besides the palatines of each 

 province, who appear at the head of their respective 

 nobility, this body is commanded by a general, even when 

 the king himself is present. The nobility who compose 

 these troops are very magnificent and courageous ; they 

 are covered in their march with the skins of tigers, leo- 

 pards, and panthers ; their horses are full of mettle, and 

 their furniture is very splendid ; but the gentlemen pay 

 no extraordinary obedience to the orders of their chiefs. 

 They neglect with impunity to assemble at the place 

 appointed by the letters of convocation, and when they 

 happen not to be paid, which is generally the case, they 

 disband themselves without any previous discharge. 

 Their march is altogether as irregular, they commit a 

 thousand disorders in the kingdom, and as there are never 

 any settlers in the Polish army, and as no care is taken to 

 erect magazines, they make no scruple to pillage where- 

 ever they come. 



' The peasants are in a slavish subjection to the gentry, 

 They have no property of their own, and all their acquisi- 

 tions are made for their masters. They are indispensably 

 employed in the culture of the earth, and they live in an 

 absolute state of servitude. They are incapable of engag- 

 ing in any state of life which would procure them their 

 freedom, without the permission of their lords, and they 

 are exposed to all the effects of the ill-disposition of 

 their tyrants who oppress them with impunity. 



' The general diets are usually held either at Warsaw 

 or at Grodno, in the Lithuanian palatinate of Troki. 

 These are always preceded by dietines, or particular 

 assemblies of palatinates, in which they choose their nun- 

 cios, or deputies for the general assembly; and their 



