bo ok at once, in any particular period, or by a fingle event, b u t
i- generally refults from a feries of circumftances, many of
them fcarce feparately difcernible. In Poland, however, the
political obferver ha? this Angular advantage, that a fuccef-
fion of accurate hiftorians * (fome of whom flouriihed foon
after the sera, when the moft important branches of the Po-
liih conftitution were afcertained) have developed with un-
' common precifion and care the various occurrences and in-
ftitutions, from which the extraordinary form of government,
at prefent fubfifting in that kingdom, was gradually derived.
By means of their authentic narratives we are enabled to trace,
in what manner, and from what concurrence of circum-
ftanees, a monarchy nearly abfolute, funk m the courfe of a
few centuries, without any depofition o f the prince or violent
convuliion, into a ftate of almoft total ariftocracy.
A brief inquiry into the principal incidents which produced
this remarkable conftitution, accompanied by fuch
political reflexions as the progrefs of the detail fuggefts, will
not, I flatter myfelf, prove uninterefting; and will properly
introduce a view of Poland in its prefent ftate.
The fovereigns of Poland are ufually ranged into four
claffes. I. Of the houfe of Leiko. II. Of Piaft. III. Of
Jaghellon. IV. Of different families. Thefe claffes divide
the liiftory of Poland into four eorrefponding periods.
I. The firft + period is allowed by the beft Poliih hiftorians
to be entirely fabulous ; they therefore generally commence
their narratives at the feeand sera.
* Dlugoffius, the father o f Pbliih hiftory, f. Q u * de Lecho ejufqucfuccefforibusad'
U • - a e vears after the Piaftum ufque et ultra memorantur, funt
I r o i f e o f Cafimir the G « « , from whofe obfeura, febutof», et falfa, quare fllentio
reign Poland dates her written’ 'laws. He tranfoutttmur, ne van» narratiombivi low
begins his hiftory from the earlieft period o f moremur; are the words o f L c "S nlc^'
s s . » s “ . : a , . - » . r £ ; : s
year 14.00.
II. The earlieft part even o f this fecond epoch has an air o f c h a p .
romance ; and the account of Piaft, who gave his name to . L .
a line of kings, and from whom all the natives of Poland
who have aicended the throne, are to this day called
Piaft, is little elfe than a feries of fusions. By fome he
is faid to have been a wheelwright, by others a common
peafant, and by all to have gained the crown through
the vifible interpolition of two angels. Nor indeed can
we expect any faithful accounts of a people buried in bar-
barifm, wholly without letters, and immerfed in Pagan fu-
perftition. We cannot therefore date the authenticity of
the Poliih annals earlier than the acceffion of Miciflaus II. A- D-
964.
the fourth fovereign of the line of Piaft: from his reign '
Poland began to be connedted with Germany, the hiftorians
of which country, as well as thofe of Sweden and Denmark,
throw a confiderable light upon Poliih affairs prior to the
exiftence of native hiftorians.
Some writers have obferved, that during the whole of
the fecond period the monarchy was always eledtive, and the
fovereign limited in his power; others, on the contrary,
have affirmed, that the crown was hereditary, and its authority
abfolute : but this controverfy may be ealily reconciled ;
the crown feemed hereditary from its continuance in
the fame family, and had at the fame time an eledtive ap-
Lelko I. duke o f Poland,'' a race was ap - candidates, and made known to the people ;
pointed on horfeback, and the vi&or was to the latter rofe, mafl'.icrtd Lefzec, and probe
nominated fovereign. Lefzec, one o f the claimed the ovther duke, who afiumed th.e
candidates, in order to fecure the vi£tory, name o f Leiko II. T h e sera in which this
ftrswed part o f the courfe with nails,. leav- Leiko reigned, is fo uncertain, that fome
ing a clear paflage for his own. horfe. This hiftorians refer it to the 6th, others the 7th,
ftratagem was difcovered by another o f the even the 8th century»
p e a r a n c e ,