80 FORESTRY IN POLAND. 



extremes by independence and impunity, Arms are 

 their only occupation, they discover but little curiosity to 

 cultivate the polite arts, and commerce is transacted 

 among them by none but strangers. In a word, the Poles 

 are only solicitous to distinguish themselves in war, to 

 defend their frontiers, and to be vigilant over the conduct 

 of their kings, since they think it degrading to indulge 

 themselves in any other occupations. As an air of sincerity 

 is diffused through all their conduct their friendships are 

 constant, but they are easily rendered the dupes of their 

 enemies. As they are very disinterested in their desires 

 they seldom amass great riches, and frequently dissipate 

 their patrimony. If they are at any time reduced to a 

 melancholy state of indigence they borrow without any 

 intention of making a proper restitution, and they think 

 themselves privileged to dispose of the property of others 

 with the same prodigality in which they waste their own. 

 They appear serene and undisturbed amidst the greatest 

 calamities, and behold the miseries of their friends and 

 countrymen, and nearest relations, with an aspect of 

 indifference equal to the insensibility with which 

 they support their own misfortunes. They are naturally 

 couragous and intrepid, and habituate themselves to all 

 sorts of fatigue, and would indeed be invincible if they 

 paid a due respect to their chiefs. This is the general 

 character of the Poles, whose history I have undertaken 

 to write,' 



The history by the Abbe* des Fontaines, brings us down 

 to 1733, and tells of endless revolutions ; later history tells 

 of partitions of the kingdom. 



In an article in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia it is 

 stated : 



' The Crown of Poland, with the exception of five 

 centuries previous to the year 1370, was purely elective. 

 Its sovereigns, whose authority before the era just men- 

 tioned was unlimited and absolute, were originally termed 



