b o ok « treat yet as he preferred peace to war, and wanted the
^ , enterprizlng fpirit of his brother Ladiflaus IV. he was aqcufed
by the Poles of indolence and pufillanimity. His political
fagacity appears from his predictions, that Poland, enfeebled
by the anarchy of its government, and the licenti-
oufnefs of the nobles, would neceffarily be difmembered by
the neighbouring powers. Worn out at length with the
cares of royalty, fhocked at the diftrefied ftate* of the kingdom,
difcontented with the factions of the nobility, afliiCted
at the death of his wife, and impelled by the verfatility o f his
difpoiition, he abdicated the throne in the 20th year of his
reign, and in the 68th of his age. This extraordinary event
happened on the 27th of Auguft, in the year 1668, before
a general diet aflembled at Warfaw : the fcene was affecting
; the condudt of the king manly and refolutef and his
fpeech upon that event is the fineft piece of pathetic eloquence
that hiftory has ever recorded t.
Soon after his abdication he retired into France, and again
embraced the eccleiiaftical profeffion. Louis XIV. who
prided himfelf in affording an afylum to abdicated fovereigns,
gave him the abbeys of St. Germain and St. Martin, without
which he would have had no means of fubiiftence, as Poland
foon with-held his penfion; a proof that the tears
which were ihed at his abdication were not fincere. Not-
withftanding his eccleiiaftical engagements, John Cafimir
could not withftand the attractions of Marie Mighot, a woman,
who, from being a laundrefs, had been married firft to
a counfellor of Grenoble, and afterwards to the marfhal de
L ’Hofpital. She was a widow when fhe attracted the notice
of the abdicated king, and fo powerful was the impreflion he,
* “ Eum me efle, qui primus in praeliis, lulki, Ep. v. I. p. 57..
“ poilremus in difcrimine et receffu.” Z a - f See Zaluiki, Epift. v. I. p. 57
4 received,
r e c e i v e d , that it was fufpeCted he was fecretly married to her., c h a p .
Cafimir is reprefented, by thofe who knew him in his re-'— ✓— 1
tirement, as eafy and familiar in his converfation, and dif-
p l e a f e d with receiving any honours or titles due to his former
.rank*. He furvived his abdication only four years,,
and died at Nevers on the 16th of December, 16 72 . His
body was brought to this city, and buried in the cathedral
at the fame time with that of his fuccefior Michael,, the day
before the coronation of John Sobieiki.
Upon approaching the remains of John Sobieiki, I recollected
that when Charles XII. of Sweden entered Cracow he
vifited thefe tombs, in order to pay a mark of refpeCt to the
memory of that great monarch he is reported, as he hung
with reverence over his fepulchre, to have cried out, “ What
“ a pity that fo great a man fhould ever die !” May we not"
alfo exclaim, what a pity that a perfon, fo imprefled with a,
fenfe o f Sobieiki’s virtues,fhould adopt only the military part
of his charader for the objeCt of his imitation ! How infinitely
inferior is the Swedifh to the Polifh fovereign ! The
former, dead to all the finer feelings of humanity, was awake
only to the calls of ambition; every other fentiment being
loft in the ardour for military honours. I f perfonal courage
be fufficient to conflitute an hero, he poflefled that quality
in a fuperior degree; but it was rather the bravery of a
common foldier than of a general. Sobieiki, even upon that
ground, has an equal title to fame; for his valour was no
lefs diftioguiihed, and was fuperior in this refpeCt, that it
was not clouded with rafhnefs, but tempered with prudence. .
Though the firft general of his age, he placed not his foie
ambition in military glory ; he was great in.peace .as well as >
* Vie de. Sobieiki I. p.
t o r.