S T A 



with all his fooli(h pedantry, was certainly a fcholar. He 

 had a fon, who became a Jefuit, and wrote various moral 

 asd religious woriis. 



STANISLAUS I., Leizinski, king nf Poland, born 

 at Leopold i:i 1677, was fon of a diltingiiifht-d Polifh noble, 

 who, after occupying feveral important polls, was raifed to 

 that of grand treafurer of the crown. His fon, tlie fubjecl 

 of this article, difplayed at a very early period talents and 

 difpofitions which announced a charatter equally amiable 

 and eftimable. " His countenance," fays his biographer, 

 "exprelTed courage joined with fweetnefs, together with that 

 air of opennefs and fincerity which is more perfuafive than 

 eloquence itfclf. He was brave, and enured to hardfliip and 

 fatigue. He flept on a Itraw matrafs, required fcarcely any 

 perfonal fervices from his domeltics, was temperate, econo- 

 mical, adored by his vafl'als, and beloved by his friends." 

 When Charles XII. of Sweden entered Poland, for the pur- 

 pofe of dethroning Auguitus, Staniflaus, then palatine of 

 Pomerania, was deputed to that prince from the confede- 

 ration of Warfaw. In the conference with the monarch, he 

 appeared to him in fo favourable a light, that the Swede 

 immediately took the refolution of raifing him to the crown 

 of Poland, wiiich was efFefted at an eleftion held July 12, 

 1704, when Staniflaus was in his twenty-feventh year. The 

 unexpefted entrance of Auguitus into Warfaw, when the 

 king of Sweden was at a dillance with his army, obliged 

 Staniflaus to make a precipitate retreat : but by another 

 change he was brought back, and crowned at Warfaw with 

 his wife, in October 1705, and by a treaty in the following 

 year, Auguitus was compelled folemnly to abdicate the 

 crown of Poland in favour of his rival. Staniflaus remained 

 poflelTor of the kingdom till the fatal defeat of his patron 

 Charles, at Pultowa, in .luly 1709. Being now unable to 

 maintain himfelf in Poland, he withdrew with the Swedes 

 into Pomerania, and tiience croflcd into Sweden, where he 

 palled fome time in retirement, while negociations were 

 carrying on to rellore the peace of the north. As his abdi- 

 cation of the Polilh crown feemed a neceflary preliminary, 

 he readily fignified his own concurrence, and wrote to 

 Charles at Bender to obtain his confeiit. Not being able, 

 by letter, to pcrluade him, he rcfolved to try the efFeft of 

 a perfonal conference ; and accordingly alTumed a feigned 

 name, and, accompanied by two officers, proceeded for the 

 frontiers of Turkey. On his arrival in Moldavia he was 

 arreltcd, and brought before Hofpodar, who difcovered iiis 

 true perfon, and lent him to Bender, where he was detained 

 as a prifoncr, but was extremely well treated. He was 

 fuffered to depart in 1 7 14, when he went to Deux Ponts, 

 where he was joined by his family. A Saxon officer made an 

 attempt to airalTmatc him, but the defign was difcovered 

 before it could be put into execution, and he pardoned and 

 difmilied the confpirators. In 17 19 lie received intelligence 

 of the death of Charles XII., and ft-eling himfelf now de- 

 prived of his proteftor, he applied to the court of Frar.ce, 

 which gave him a retreat in Allace. Here he lived in a 

 ftate of great obfcurity, until his daughter, the princels 

 Mary, was unexpeftedly chofen as queen to Lewis XV. 

 This was in the year 1725, when Staniflaus removed to the 

 caille of Chambord. On the death of Auguitus in 1733, an 

 attempt was made by the French monarch to replace Stanif- 

 laus on the Polilli throne, and he repaired to Dant/.ic, in 

 order to fnpport the party which aftually proclaimed him ; 

 but his competitor, the fon of Auguitus, and eleflor of 

 Saxony, favoured by Auilria and RufTia, was more fucceil- 

 ful, and Stanillaus was obliged to quit Dantzic in dilguife, 

 and through many dangers cfcaped to Komglberg. He 

 Supported this reverfe of fortune with philofophital rtfig- 



S T A 



nation, and at the peace of 1736 he formally abdicated all 

 claim and pretcnfions to the kingdom, on condition of re- 

 taining the title, and being put into pofhfrion for hfe of the 

 duchies of Lorraine and Bar. Thenceforth he lived as the 

 fovereign of a fmall country, which he rendered happy by 

 the exercife of virtues, that cauled him to be named by the 

 general voice of his fubjefts, " Staniflaus the Beneficent." 

 Inltead of impofing new and oppreflive taxes, he relieved 

 his people from the prefl'ureof many which they had hereto- 

 fore borne ; yet he was able, by a prudent economy, to found 

 many ufeful and charitable ellablifhments, and to patronize 

 the arts and fciences. He was himfelf attached to litera- 

 ture, and wrote various treatifes on moral, philofophical, 

 and political topics, which were publifhed under the title of 

 " CEuvresdu Pliilofophe Bienfaifant," 4 vols. 8vo. Thefe 

 volumes were puhhflied ui 1765, and the royal author of 

 them died in the following year, univerfally lamented. 



SiANisLAUs-AuGusTUi;, Po-\i.\TowsKi, king of Po. 

 land, wa? the fon of count Poniatowflvi, a Lithuanian, who, 

 after being in the fervice of Charles XII. of Sweden, and 

 of Auguitus, king of Poland, married the princefs Czarto- 

 rinn<a, a del'cendant of the great family of the Jagelloiis. 

 Staniflaus poflelled a fine perfon, and a graceful demeanour, 

 and was well received in the various parts of Europe which be 

 vifited while he was young. From England he accompanied 

 the ambaflador to Ruffia, where he acquired the particular 

 favour of Catharine, then grand duchcfs. When fhe came to 

 the crown, file exhibited her attachment by refolvingto raife 

 him to the throne of Poland on the death of Auguitus III., 

 and by means of a body of Ruffian troops, his cleflion was 

 carried in the plain of Vola, on the 7th day of September, 

 1764, when Staniflaus was in his thirty-fecond year. His 

 talents and excellent difpofiiion gave promife of a reign 

 happy to himfelf and profperous to his country ; but the 

 overbearing influence by which he had been eledtcd, and the 

 radical vices of the Polilh conftitution, adted as perpetual 

 caufes of tumult and diliention, and thwarted all the expec- 

 tations and hopes that had been formed of the government 

 of Staniflaus. The firit diforders in this reign arofe from 

 rehgious differences. The non-catholics, comprifcd under 

 the general name of Diffidcnts, had been conllantly oppofed 

 in their claims of equal civil rights by the Romanilts, and 

 had been obliged to apply for proteftion to the Protellant 

 powers and the court of Ruflia, who were guarantees of the 

 treaty of Olivia, by which their privileges had been rati- 

 fied. In 1766, at a diet, the minillers of thefe powers had 

 prefented memoirs in favour of the Diffidcnts, and the king 

 feemed inclined to fupport their caufe, while the Catholic 

 prelates and nobles violently oppofed them. The emprefs 

 of Ruffia interfered effeftually by fending troops into Po- 

 land, which advanced to the gates of Warfaw. Confede- 

 racies ilartcd up to refill tliem, and the country was 

 plunged into civil war. The king was quite unable to quell 

 tliele diforders, being regarded as having been impofed on 

 the nation by a Ruffian force, and in 1771 an extraordinary 

 attempt was made on his perfon, of which a very interelling 

 account is given in the firll volume of Coxe's Travels into 

 Poland, which is thus concluded : " So extraordinary an 

 efcape is fcarcely to be ijarallcled in hillory, and affords 

 ample matter of wonder and lurprile. Scarcely could the 

 nobility or people at Warl'aw credit the evidence of their 

 fenfes, when they faw him return. Certainly neither the 

 rfcape of the king of France from D:imien, nor of the 

 king of Portugal from the confpiracy of the duke d'Avciro, 

 were equally amazing or improbable as that of the king of 

 Poland." ' <* "^ K 



This attempt on the life of his majelly wa» planned by a 



Pohlh 



