463 GALLICIA AND LODOMERIA. 



to ridicule ; for it is not unusual to see the lady of a Polish grandee, 

 besides a coach and six, with -a great number of servants, attended by 

 an old gentleman-usher, an old gentlewoman for her governante, and 

 a dwarf of each sex to hold up her train ; and if it be night, her coach 

 is surrounded by a great number ol flambeaux. 



The Poles are divided into nobles, clergy, citizens or burghers, and 

 peasants : the peasants were of two sorts ; those of the crown, and 

 those belonging to individuals. Though Poland had its princes, 

 counts, and barons, yet the whole body of the nobility were naturally 

 on a level, except the difference that arose from the public posts they 

 enjoyed. Hence all who were of noble birth called one another 

 brothers. They did not value titles of honour, but thought a gentle- 

 man of Poland the highest appellation they could enjoy. They had 

 many considerable privileges ; and, indeed, the boasted Polish liberty 

 was properly limited to them alone, partly by the indulgence of for- 

 mer kings, but more generally from ancient custom and prescription. 

 Under their ancient constitution, before the last partition of the coun- 

 try, they had a power of life and death over their tenants and vassals ; 

 paid no taxes ; were subject to none but the king ; might choose 

 whom tney would for their king ; and none but they, and the burghers 

 of some particular towns, could purchase lands. In short, they were 

 almost entirely independent, enjoying many other privileges entirely 

 incompatible with a well regulated state ; but if they engaged in. 

 trade, they forfeited their nobility. These great privileges made the 

 Polish gentry powerful ; many of them had large territories, with a 

 despotic power over their tenants, whom they called their subjects, 

 and transferred or assigned over with the lands, cattle, and furniture. 

 Until Casimir the Great, the lord could put his peasant to death 

 with impunity ; and, when the latter had no children, considered him- 

 self as the heir, and seized all his effects. In 1347, Casimir pre- 

 scribed a fine for the murder of a peasant; and enacted that, in case 

 of his decease without issue, his next heir should inherit. But these 

 and other regulations proved ineffectual against the power and tyranny 

 of the nobles, and were either abrogated or eluded. Some of them, 

 had estates from five to thirty leagues in extent, and were also 

 hereditary sovereigns of cities, with which the king had no concern. 

 One of their nobles sometimes possessed above 4000 towns and 

 villages. Some of them could raise 8 or 10,000 men. The house of 

 a nobleman was a secure asylum for persons who had committed any 

 crime ; for none might presume to take them from thence by force. 

 They had their horse and foot guards, which were upon duty day and 

 night before their palaces and in their ante-chambers, and marched 

 before them when they went abroad. They made an extraordinary 

 figure when they came to the diet, some of them having 5000 guards 

 and attendants ; and their debates in the senate were often determin- 

 ed by the sword. When great men had suits at law, the diet or 

 other tribunals decided them ; yet the execution of the sentence 

 must be left to the longest sword ; for the justice of the kingdom was 

 commonly too weak for the grandees. Sometimes they would raise 

 6000 men of a side, plunder and burn one another's cities, and besiege 

 castles and forts ; for they thought it below them to submit to the 

 sentence of judges, without a field-battle. As to the peasants, they 

 were born slaves, and had no idea of liberty. If one lord killed the 

 peasant of another, he was not capitally convicted, but only obliged 

 to make reparation by another peasant equal in value. 



