Chap, II. ’ and its Inh 
venue afTigned for that Purpofe, over and above the 
Penfion, v/hich the Dyet fettles upon the King and 
Queen ; which, in that clieap Country,, ferves to main- 
tain them as high as our Kings live here. 
The King of Poland has great Incomes of his own •, 
for the Poles never care to ele6l a poor Prince, for fear 
his Children may come to be a Charge to them after his 
Death. He gets befides vaft Sums of Money for Nomi- 
nations to Employments •, which the late King did not 
fcruple to fell, though direflly contrary to the Conftitu- 
tions of the Kingdom j nay, the Ecclefiaftic'al Benefices, 
which are very confiderable, are alfo put under Contribu- 
tion by fome cunning Artifice or other •, thus the Promo- 
tion of the Bilhop of Cracow^ whofe Bilhopric is worth 
eight thoufand Pounds per. Annum ^ which will 
go further than twenty thoufand Pounds in England', was, 
in the Reign of King John Sohiejki procured, by laying 
a Wager with the Queen of fifty thoufand Crowns, that 
he did not obtain that Preferment, wKich as foon as the 
King knew he bellowed upon him, and fo the Queen won 
her Wager. The Crown Revenues arife from Cuftoms 
and Excifes, from Part of the Duties ot the Port of 
Dantzick, from the heavy Tax laid upon the Je'^jos, and 
from the Salt Mines, which all together bring in rather 
more than lefs than three hundred thoufand Pounds of our 
Money annually. But the King’s Power in beftowing 
Preferments does not extend to Foreigners ; neither can he 
take av/ay any Pofl; that he bellows, or leflen its Revenues 
or Privileges. His eldeft Son has the Title of Prince of 
Poland while his Father lives, but he lofes it upon the 
Accefiion of a new King, and is ftiled Prince, by the 
Name of his Family ; and fuch Precautions are taken, 
that it is very difficult for a King of Poland to make the 
Crown hereditary in his own Family. 
y. We come now to fpeak of the Nobility of Poland, 
which comprehends all the Gentry in that Country, and 
even all tliofe whom in E^igland we ftile only Freeholders. 
Of thefe every Gentleman or Nobleman has his Coat of 
Arms granted by the P..epub!ic ; but then he, or fome 
of his Family, mull have an Eftate in Land. They are 
capable of the greatefi: Offices in the Kingdom, and may 
buy Lands where they pleafe, and have a Right to be 
elected King, if their Credit and Intcreft can procure it. 
Every Gentleman is a fovereign Prince in his own Lands, 
and has Power of Life and Death over his I'cnants, who 
have no Laws nor Privileges to proteft tliem. They dare 
not leave his Lands to go to others, on Pain of Death, 
unlefs he fells them ; and if he do his Tenants pafs with 
his Lands. But if their Lords ravilli their Wives, or 
Daughters, 'the lenants may leave his Service. 
If one Lord kills another’s Servant he is not pnnifiied 
for it, but only obliged to give him another in his room, 
or as much Money as will buy one, and to maintain the 
Family of him that is killed. If he kills one of his own 
Slaves he only pays a Fine ; nay, if one Gentleman kills 
another, he cannot be apprehended or imprifoned, unlefs 
convidled by a Court of Jufiice, which .gives him Time 
enough to efcape, and when condemned he cannot be 
executed without the King’s Confent. No Soldiers can 
be qiiartered upon the Gentry ^ if any Officer does it, the 
Dyet either fentences him to die, or declares him infa- 
mous. The Houfes of the Nobility are Sanctuaries, fo 
that no Delinquent can be taken there by force, though 
he has been arretted. If a Nobleman will fwear that his 
Goods were not bought; but are the Produft of ‘his 
Lands, he may fend them any v/here out of the King- 
dom, and without Cuftom j and after he has fworn, his 
Certificate fuffices, to exempt the Purchafer from 
the Duty. In Prujfia the Nobles are not only free from 
Cuftoms, but Hkewife all other Inhabitants by the Magna 
Charta of Culm. The Polijh Noblemen have alfo the 
Privilege of Pre-emption. All the Gentry of Poland are 
equal by Birth, and therefore they don’t value Titles of 
'■ Honour ; but think that of a noble Pole, or Gentleman 
of Pola 7 id, the greateft they can have. Neither the King 
nor the Republic beftow the Title of Prince, which be- 
longs only td the Sons of the Royal Family ; for though 
fome are made Princes of the Empire, and as fuch enjoy 
A B 1 T A N T S. 511 
the Title of Prince ; they have no Precedency, upon that 
Account. Nor have they any Dukes, Marquiffes, 
Counts, Vifeounts, or Barons, but what have foreign 
Titles, which the reft generally defpife , for they do not 
value any borrowed Charadler, or external Denomination ", 
but fay, that it is intrinfic Worth and Service done to 
their Country, that deferves Preferment. King Sigip- 
mtmd III. eftabliffied an Order of Knighthood of the 
immaculate Conception, created feveral Knights, and al- 
lowed them Privileges and Superiority above others, but 
they were fo much undervalued and defpifed by the reft 
of the Gentlemen, that the Order (in fpite of the royal 
Protedlion) foon came to nothing. 
Thofe great Privileges make the Polijh Gentry power- 
ful ; many of them have large Territories, with a defpo- 
tic Power over their Tenants, whom they call their Siib- 
jedls ; fome of them have Eftates of five, fome fif- 
teen, fome twenty, and fome thirty Leagues in extent. 
But the poor Gentry have their Votes in the Dyet as well 
the richeft. Some of them are hereditary Sovereigns of 
Cities, with which the King has nothing to do. , Euho- 
mirjki pofleffes above four thoufand Towns and Villages ; 
fome of them can raife five, fix, eight, and ten thoufand 
Men, and maintain them at their own Charge. The 
Gentry of Note have Horfe and Foot Guards, which 
keep Gentry Night and Day at their Gates. They make 
an extraordinary Figure when they come to the Dyet ; 
fome of them have five- thoufand Guards, fome had for- 
merly ten thoufand. They efteem themfelves, efpecially 
the Senators, above any Prince in Germany, and w^ant no- 
thing of fovereign Power, but the Liberty of coining 
Money, which is referved to the Republic. Foreign 
Embafladors are obliged to make a great Figure here, 
otherwife the Gentry defpife them. When great Men 
have Suits at Lawq the Dyet, or other Tribunals de- 
cide them ; yet the Execution of the Sentence muft be left 
to the longeft Sword ; for the Juftice of the Kingdom is 
commonly too veeak for the Grandees. Sometimes they 
raife five or fix thoufand Men of a Side, plunder and burn 
one another’s Cities, and beficge Cattles and Forts •, for 
they think it below them to fubmit to the Sentence of 
Judges without a Field Battle ;.yet formerly, their No- 
blemen were little better than Slaves. Cromer cus fays, 
that they were obliged to keep the King’s Dog. The 
firft Rife is aferibed to the Privileges granted by Bokjlaus 
the Chajle to the Clergy, and afterwards when Poland was 
harrafled by Civil Vfars ; the Gentry obtained many Pri- 
vileges from their Kings, which they have fince taken 
Care to get augmented at every new Eledion. 
The moft fiouriffiing Families in Poland 2Xt thofe of 
Radzivil, which has the Title of Prince ; the Dukes of 
JVifniowee and Zharaw, one of v/hich Family was defied 
King of Poland in 1664 ; the Prince of Lubomirjky, 
whofe Family are Princes of the Empire ; the Princes of 
Czartorijky th.e Princes of Sapieta, great Governors 
of Lithuania, the Family of Lezeinjki ; the Family of 
JallenoesoJld ; the Family of Priyemjki ; and that of Lipjki. 
Thofe that are not noble by Birth, may be created No- 
blemen. This was formerly at the King’s Pleafure, but 
' of late is at the Difpofal of the Senate or Dyet. All the 
little Dyets of the Republic muft give their Confent % 
and this muft afterwards be approved by the great Dyet, 
before they have their Patent. A Jew is made a Gen- 
tleman by marrying a Chriftian, and by fignalizing 
himfelf in the Vfars ; but the King muft propofe it, 
and the Dyet approve it. The new made Nobility are 
liable to feveral Impofidons and Inconveniencies, from 
which others are exempted ; if any one be a Magiftrate 
in Cracozv or Vilna, he and his Pofterity are noble. 
Nobility is forfeited here three Ways •, by fome heinous 
Crime ; for Inftance, when a Nobleman permits one 
that is ignoble to nfurp his Coat of Arms ; by exercifing 
any Trade dr Merchandize ; fometimes Pofterity are re- 
ftored, when Parents have quitted their Title through 
Poverty, and by bearing Office in any City that is not 
privileged. _ All the Nobility love to make a Shew, and 
to be fplendidly clad. 
They formerly delighted in foreign Fafliions ; when 
they had Wars againft i\\q Mujeovites they followed 
I theirSj, 
