An Account of the Kingdom of f o h a n Book If. 
wadding Feafts of the Gentry lafl: commonly three Days. 
If a Lady marry any of her Waiting-Maids, fhe cofts 
her aim oft as much as one of her Daughters. On the 
fecond Day all the Guefts prefent the Bride with fome- 
thing new, which makes a good Part of her Portion. 
The Princefs of Poland^ when married' to the Elector of 
Bavaria^ had above one hundred thoufand Crowns pre- 
sented her. 
Among the Boors a Maid never marries till flie be 
twenty-four or thirty Years of Age, and has wrought, 
with her own Hands, feveral Balkets full of Cloths, of 
different Sorts ; which, at the time of her Efpoufals, 
fhe is to diftribute among the Guefts that her Hulband 
brings with him. She muft alfo have ferved her Mother 
for a certain time. The fame Right is obferved with 
refped; to their Sons ; it is alfo obfervable, that thofe 
employed to make up the Match, always enquire more 
ftridlly into the Manners and Behaviour of the Perfons, 
f han as to their Stock of Corn and Cattle. Their God- 
fathers and Godmothers are always accounted Relations, 
though they be nothing a-kin, and they cannot marry 
fuch Kindred without a Difpenfation from the Biftiop. 
The Burials of thofe of Quality are celebrated with 
fuch Pomp -and Magnificence that they are more like 
Triumphs. The Corpfe is carried in a Hearfe, or Cha- 
riot, with fix Elorfes, all covered with black ; the 
Coffin has a large black Velvet Pall over it, with a Crofs 
of red Sattin in the Middle, and fix long black Silk 
Taffels, fupported by as many of the deceafed domeftic 
Servants in clofe Mourning ; feveral Priefts, Monks, 
and others, march before the Hearfe ; each of which 
carries a white Wax Torch in his Hand. Immedi- 
ately before the Elearfe come three Men on Horfeback, 
who carry the Arms of the Deceafed j one his Sword, 
another his Lance, and a third his Dart. After the 
Burial Service is over, thofe who , carry the Armour en- 
ter the Church on Plorfeback, and riding furioufty to the 
Coffin, break the Arms of the Deceafed upon it, after 
which the Body is interred. Then there is a Feaft, 
where the Lay-Guefts not only drink to excefs, but 
likewife force the Clergy to follow their Example. 
When the King dies he is laid on a Bed of State ; and a 
certain Number of Senators, Ecclefaftical and Tempo- 
ral, are appointed to attend his Corpfe. The Republic 
defrays the Expences out of the Revenues of the Crown. 
The deceafed (^een has the fame Ceremonies and Ho- 
nours allowed her. When Women of Quality mourn 
they wear a coarfe black Stuff, and their Linnen is not 
much finer than Canvas ; and the greater their Quality 
their mourning Weeds are the coarfer. All Senators, 
Deputies, and others, that appear at the Diet for eleft- 
ing the new King muft be in black. 
I I. The I.anguage of the Poles is the Sclavonian ; but 
there are fo many different Dialedls of it fpoken in the 
feveral Parts of this Kingdom, that one Part of the Peo- 
ple fcarce underftand the other ; they all agree, how- 
ever, in multiplying Confonants and if they did not 
found more Vow^els when they fpeak, than are contained 
in the Words they, write, it would be impoflible to utter 
them.. The Latin is almoft as univerfally fpoken as the 
^ Sclavonian, there being a School in every Village for 
the teaching if ; and the Girls learn it in the Nunneries. 
Their Terms of Art are chiefly German, and indeed there 
are whole Towns and Villages m Prujfia which are of 
German Extrad, and ftill fpeak the German or High 
Butch Tongue. The Armenian, Perfian, and Tartarian 
Languages, are alfo fpoken upon their Frontiers ■, and 
the Jm’i’ have introduced the Hebrew in fome Places •, 
but with ail thefe Languages, it is obferved, that their 
Learning is but fuperficial. 
As to theif Divines, their Learning, it is faid, con- 
fifts in adapting Arifiotle'% Logic and Metaphyfics to 
their School-Divinity ; and they value themlelves more 
on being verfed in the Signification of logical Terms, 
than in the Nature of the Things they reafon about. 
They' enquire but little into Church-Hiftory, or the 
Pradice of the Primitive Times, but feem to have an 
implicit Faith, and to be entirely governed by the De- 
cifions of the Church of Rome j nor will they fuffer any 
Perfon to enquire into' the Reafonablenefs of their 
Tenets. 
There are fev/ native Poles that ftudy Phyfic. The 
Phyficians are generally Germans, French, or Italians, 
An illiterate Quack of this Kingdom, Dodor Connor 
mentions, however, who lived in a Wood about fix 
Miles from Warfaw, undertook to cure the Venereal 
Difeafe in feven or eight Days by Bathing and Sweating. 
In the Water the Bath was made of, he boiled feveral 
Plants, which the Man made a Secret of ; but the 
Dodor fays, as well as he could difeover, the chief of 
them were Hellebore, After, and the Capillus Veneris 
or Maiden-hair. That he bathed his Patients in a hoc 
Decodion of thefe Herbs for four Days together, and 
made them drink of it while they were in the Bath fre- 
quently ; that for four Days afterwards he laid them 
over the Tub to receive the hot Steams, covering them 
with Blankets, and making them drink of the De- 
codion as before. And thus by fweating, bathing, and 
drinking, he was affured he had done many wonderful 
Cures in venereal Cafes •, and for the whole Cure de- 
manded but two Rix-Dollars, wffiich is iefs than ten 
Shillings Englifh. They feldom ufe Salivation in this 
Country, though venereal Diftempers are very com- 
mon. 
The Difeafe peculiar to the Poles, is that called the 
Plica, in which the Flair of the Head is matted toge- 
ther, and grows fo long, that it fometimes reaches down 
to the Middle, covering their Backs, but generally 'it 
hangs in twifted Ropes ; others have their Hair only 
matted clofe to their Pleads, without growing to any 
length •, and the Hair will be thus intangled and matted 
together in one Night’s time, though never fo much Care 
is taken to prevent it if the Hair be cut off it occafions 
a Dimnefs in the Sight, and fometimes a totalBlindnefs ; 
it alfo occafions Pain in the Head and Limbs, and Puftules 
to come out all over the Body ; the Foreigners that have 
been infedted with this Difeafe, relate, that they have 
cut off their Hair without any Inconveniency attending 
it. The Bifliop of Pofen acquainted Doctor Connor that 
he was afflidled with this Diftemper in his Youth, and 
that cutting off his Hair, unknown to his Friends, he 
felt a thoufand racking Pains, which left him as his Hair 
grev/ again, but then the Diftemper returned. He ob- 
ferved alfo, that on the cutting off his Hair he could 
fenfibly perceive a volatile Matter pafs in great Abun- 
dance through the Tubes of his Hair, which twifted and 
contradled the Locks, that when he put a Cap on his 
Head, it occafioned an intolerable Pain and Heat, 
which he fuppofed proceeded from the Preffure, by 
which the Humours were repelled, . and forced back 
upon the Head. As to other Difeafes, it feems, the 
are very little troubled with them. The Scurvy, or 
malignant Fevers, and Pleurifies, are feldom of fuch ill 
Confequence in Poland as in other Countries. 
By the Laws of Poland the Eftate of the Father is 
equally divided among his Children, except any of them 
go into a Monaftery, and then their Parts are equally 
divided among the reft *, and the young Children here, 
as in other Popjh Countries, are encouraged by their 
Parents to take the Vow upon them, that their Eftates 
may be preferved entire to the eldeft Son, which would 
otherwife dwindle away to nothing, where there happens 
to be a numerous Iffue. 
. 12. We are fo apt to be biaffed in our Sentiments, 
by what happens in our ownTimes, and as it were under 
our own Eyes, that we can fcarce bring ourfelves to think 
things ever were otherwife than as We no\V perceive 
them. But it is certain, that as reftlefs and turbulent as 
the Poles now are, they were formerly of a different 
Difpofition, and very much attached to the Perfons and 
Families of their Princes : , Thus for feveral Ages they 
obeyed the Family of Piafius, who v/as raifed to the 
Throne by his Merit ; and upon the Death of Lewis, 
King of Poland and Hungary, the laft Male-Heir of his 
Family, they chofe his Daughter, and refolved to be- 
ftow their Crown upon her Hufband, who was Jagello, 
Duke of Lithuania, who took upon him the Name of 
Uladijlaus^ by whofe Pofterity they were governed 
