consultation at Warsaw on a matter of great importance, and coming to a decision, a Lithuanian, named Sicinski, recorded his veto, and the assembly broke up in distay. Tradition asserts that Sicinski's family and himself and his house were de stroyed by lightning, and that his body, preserved in a mun.mified state, was for many years, on the anniversary of his crime, carried round his native town, attended by the reproaches and execrations of his townsmen. This example has been unhappily imitated on several occasions. Our kingly or imperial neighbours have not failed to induce this or that unprincipled person to prevent good measures from passing, when not agrecable to their own sublime and selfish wishes, "Our kings are obiged to assemble the diet once, at least, in every two years. When need presses, they convene an extraordinary diet. The king dispatches to ea h ncbe having a seat by right of fiiy or by the votes of the Stolniks of a district, a paper setting forth the objects for which the am) ly is convered. So by the time the members take their sats, they have made up their minds tos me purpose, whether induced by bribes or influenced by patrictie motives. If they cannot poss the measures by acclimation, they break up in admired disorder, and return home, "Now the evident power this custom affords to the ne gi kompig Governments to frustrate the patriotie e'forts of our best and wisest councillus, the extensive sway of hibry, the want of a middle class, the circumstance of our ku g being but a puppet in the hands of the jfluential nodes, the evis 17hnding on the institution of slavery, and the goat prevalence of gaa' e zand d ́s Cute Falts amng our young nobuty, hive caused more than ore far sing man to foretel our evving to le anton a nod t, ut date. “Jilin Sobeski, on his d ́ath, bed in 1995, refós i to make a will alleong ti at whe,e cotrupton by bri «ry prevazed to such an extent, any led me a cire could be posse lande w'd be a fly to expet ti at pop'e who would it oby 1, m when living, saldir et l'is w ́ Lesafter death. Join C..-.ir, on the csa ion of his n'shcation, twenty seven years be fore, prophesied the dismemberment of our plain (Polsk) by the three neighbouring powers, though the political influci.ce of Russia was then much less than it is now. It would appear that we are not able nor willing to bring a cure to the inherent disorders in our system, and that the neighbouring royal and imperial surgeons will undertake the office for their own emolument. Well, weil, the condition of our serfs cannot le worse than it is. The wisest and best of us can do but little to re laim them from their indolent and thriftless lives, and their filthy habits." HOW THE GREAT FOLK AMUSED THEMSELVES, But our travellers in quest of knowledge were not always holding grave and useful discussions with sensible and patriotic councillors such as these. They were invited, soon after their arrival, to a royal entertainment in the open air, and enjoyed it exceedingly. There were present thirty ladies and thirty gentlemen, and a sumptuous Lanquet was given to all in the Saxon palace, Augustus II., dis aking the ancient bundir 2 on the high, steep kana of the Vistuls, from whose windows nothing letter was to be seen tian the wretched suburb of Praza, on t. e e; tern back, raised in new baigne; and Lore it wastust our thirty lagres and thirty gentimen sat down to dinner. One may conceive the p'easure cur Et 7 shmen experienced in a party cons: tang of royai and noble men and women, deposed to enjoy the present good and contribute to the enjoyment of their neighbours, Kirg a d Queen were as anxious to p'a eti ar re bles as were the latter to be ngrecable to them. Dinner over, they repured to a temporary thestre to with-- the performance of a French comedy. After the performance the ladies withdrew, and the gentlemena sumed the costume of the ancient Greeks, and cabarking on the Vi tu'a in qvi ly barges, they approached an island apparently fortihed. A challenging blast being blown by the trumpeter of Trecus the king, an Amazon appeared beland waat terht be taken for battlements, She was aired with helmet, shield, spear, and on 1985, and in a ban,hity tine de matrici who the stranges were, and what they needed. The herald set forth the style and title of the mighty son of Egeus, his past achievements, and his present purpose to take the famed city of Trebizond, for which purpose he and his noble Greeks had braved the dangers of the Bosphorus and the stormy Euxine Sea. The beauteous warrior defied them in the name of her puissant sovereign, the lovely and heroic Hippolyta, and then followed trumpet peals on each side. Soon in gallant style, Hippolyta, represented by the Queen, issued forth from the gates, clad in the genuine costume of the famous warrior-queen, whose territories were invaded by the coarse and restless "Duke of Athens." Her ladies followed similarly attired; and the warriors in the boat, inspired by martial ardour, hastened to land, and engage the charming and resolute Amazons. The strife was but of short duration. After a few mock thrusts and blows received on their bucklers, the invincible warriors of Trebizond laid down their spears. The king embraced his queen; every noble followed his example; and if the salute was not conferred upon the lady to whom it was lawfully due, he received a knock from a shield's edge, or a buffet from a gauntlet. By this time the warlike fatigues and the open air had conferred respectable appetites on knight and lady, and within the fortress into which they penetrated, two by two, they found a supper provided. There was even more hilarity and cordiality at this than the mid-day meal; and after a suitable rest, all repaired to an improvised ball-room, where the progenitors, in the fourth or fifth degree, of our modern polkas and mazurkas were executed with grace and enthusiasm. When it became dark (it was then summer) fireworks of all varieties were discharged from this and the neighbouring isles; and so at last, overpowered with fatigue and enjoyment of the varied recreations of the day, they returned to the city, this time the knights and ladies in the same boats, and every hero doing his endeavour to guard his heroine from the discomforts of the passage and the cold night air. VOL. LXV.-NO. CCCLXXXVI. A GREAT POLISH BEAR. The splendour and fine taste with which the entertainments of this day were got up, formed the subject of conversation through the city for some time. It only ceased to interest when the news of an approaching entrée of the great Lithuanian chief, Prince Radzivil, was announced. It was whispered that his chariot and the beasts harnessed to it would form a surprising sight. And surprising indeed it proved. The city turned out to meet the Prince as he ap proached in his heavy-built and gilded vehicle; but those who first neared the equipage were surprised at the low stature of the six animals that were at work, all covered with white housings, which left nothing visible but the eyes. Each was attended by a stout-built follower, who found all his faculties fully needed to make his beast proceed in the ordinary fashion. From the size and the mode of making progress, and the muttered growls heard from under the cloths, the crowd began to get an idea of the nature of the beasts, and their suspicions were disagreeably verified when, on entering the city, the attendants withdrew the body-clothes, and revealed six fierce-looking white bears from the Lithuanian forests. On finding themselves freed from the drapery, their impatience and disgust at serving as a gazing-stock to so many clowns began to manifest itself in prolonged growls, and various attempts at walking on their hind legs, and getting a few of the shouting multitude into their arms. This proceeding tended very much to the disturbance of the harness, and the equanimity of the Prince. He shouted to his slaves to keep better order among their charge; but it required some hard application to the animals' noses to bring them to a sense of what was expected from them. The coach was pulled to this and the other side, and the crowds put what space they could between themselves and the imperfectly trained animals, whose appearance at every plunge and rear had something very terrifying about it. Instead of the admiring and triumphant reception expected by the semi-barbaric Prince, much confusion, great personal discomfort, and some censure were the result. 15 The six savages were not again seen in public. Their coats were added to the princely stock of household furs, and bears grease experienced a fall in price. This failure, however, detracted but little from the bustle and glitter which about that time enlivened the streets of Warsaw. The nobles vied with each other in the splendour of their equipages, as they hastened to do honour to the new king and to themselves, by crowding into the city and presenting themselves at court. THE MEN AND WOMEN OF POLAND. However self-satisfied might be the Polish nobleman as he proceeded to court in his cumbrous and showy chariot, he preferred to witch the eyes of the crowd by his graceful and perfect management of his steed. His ancestor in the thirtieth degree, careering over the Tartar steppes, could scarcely exhibit more mastery over the will and movements of the fleet and docile animal he bestrode. As our friends when left to themselves at rare intervals, passed in review the acquaintances they had made in the different cities which they had visited, they agreed that in all the qualities that render social re-unions of wellbred men and women agreeable and attractive, the Polish nobles excelled. They were eminent for their urbanity, gaiety, unreserve, and that respect for their company and ease of manner which constitute the idea of perfect good-breeding. Most of them had paid a visit to Paris, and spoke French with the ease and fluency of a resident in the Faul- r; St. Honoré, In their entertainments they were disposed to magnificence and show; but to an exp lisive taste they united delicacy of sentiment and a creative fancy. With all these advantages our tourists detected a certain waht of sincerity, of consistency, of steadiness, of economy, of jud.ment. They wire engrossed by a frantic love of play, and Venus was the goddess to whom, alternately wit i Fortune, ther worship was ungru ig nga pand. With regard to the lades, we eleerfully quote from N. W. Wraxa.l. His observations, though dieted by the daughters of the ladies in whose smiles the Englishmen la-ked, were no less applicable to the mothers in their youth and early materiaty, "If the men excel in personal endowments and accomplishments, the Polish women of rank or condition are equally pleasing. The world does not produce females more winning, polished, or calculated neither the shyness and coldness of the English, nor the reserve and haughtiness of the Austrian women. Ease joined with grace, and animated by the wish to please, render them infinitely agreeable. In beauty they may dispute the palm with any country, and their attractions are commonly heightened by all the refinements of coquetry. I do not mean to apologise for their levity, but their imperfections and faults are more the result of situation than of natural dispsisaw, it is not easy to resist the seduction of tion. In a court and capital such as Warexample.... and laws, which model individuals, and It is society, morals, call into action every thing valuable in our nature." to charm in conversation. They have It was not only by personal charms and grace that the Polish ladies distinguished themselves. They have at all times exhibited a love of their country, and a degree of personal courage and passive endurance in her cause, unparalleled by the women of any country in Europe. Instances of this were frequent enough be fore the period of which we are speaking, and have since been still more numerous. The Polish Indies of the present day seem to have retained all the excellent qualities of their great grandmothers, including a deep-seated love of country, and the energy to struggle or suffer for her sake; and they seem gifted with that womanly virtue without which all the others are comparatively of little account. Were we sure that the present generation of Poli h women were as regardless of the dictates of that female demon so wor-hipped by Austrian, French, and English women, as the ladies who sined on the Englishmen, we might be tempted to assume cockle shell, slouched hat, and pilgrun's staff, and go on a primaza to the shrine of St. Jace', or St. F, wh, or St. Eins your Savonians at the hoy men of the Oμi Testa tt, ad a-sue crrclves of the fact that there are stii weli informard ladies on the carth who prefer the graceful entours of M.,toi ́s Eve to the of the mecida al hour-glass, A Lurdred and thirty years 429 they located what monstrosities pleased the eyes of London, Paris, or Vienna beauties. Dining on a hot day in the gardens of a princess in the neighbourhood of the city, our visitors observed the summer attire of their hostess, which the younger of them took the trouble to describe to his mother in his next letter to England. "Her head-dress had no resemblance to anything that I ever beheld in other parts of Europe, for she neither wore powder, nor was her hair frizzed, but, on the contrary, simply combed down over her forehead, and bound by a muslin fillet. Two twistedtresses which fell from the left side were negligently pinned to a sort of turban, composed likewise of muslin, that encircled her head. Her robe was a pale rose colour, bordered by a rich embroidery, and de scending to her feet, but without concealing them. About her waist was fastened a girdle or cestus of silk near nine inches in breadth. It is exactly the zone of the Greeks and of Homer, which is still worn in Wallachia. A broad Medicis of Dresden lace surrounded her bosom and shoulders, which were partly uncovered, partly veiled by her shift and a Turkish gauze. She showed us her maids, who had just returned from bathing-young Poloneze girls, resembling nymphs in loose drapery, with their wet hair floating down I have found her conversation not less interesting than her person, and I regret that my approaching departure from Warsaw will soon interrupt our acquaintance." their backs. "SOMEWHAT OF BITTER ARISES." Notwithstanding the great mental and personal attractions of these ladies, divorces were as plenty as blackberries were in the days of Prince Hal and his fat friend. "The way to keep him" is harder to find than the "way to win him." So at least it proved in Warsaw and the illimitable plain round it. With so many exterior and interior enemies at work, it is surprising that the nationality of Poland was not extinguished long prior to 1771. A ROYAL ABDUCTION. In illustration of the neglected condition of the capital of Poland, even later than the period of our Grand Tour, we quoted the abduction of a king from the heart of the city. We will close this article with a few details of the daring and successful attempt. The sovereign on whom the experiment was made was that Stanislas Poniatowski, erewhile favourite of Catherine II. of Russia, and by her placed on the throne of Poland, whether the Poles were willing or no. A conspiracy of confederate nobles was formed; and the three chiefs, Lukawski, Strawinski, and - with Kosinski-euphonic names about thirty-seven associates, swore to extract the obnoxious king from his capital, and deliver him, dead or alive, to the great man of all, Pulawski. Cordons of sentinels being posted round the unwalled city, it being a time of plague, the adventurous conspirators made their entry, disguised as countrymen; having concealed their saddles, arms, and clothes, in loads of hay which they ostensibly came to sell. Between nine and ten o'clock, P.M., on the 3rd of November, 1771, which fell on a Sunday night, the king was returning home from a visit paid to his uncle, Prince Czartoriski, the distance from the house of the prince to the palace of the king being only a quarter of a mile, through the most populous part of the city. In the carriage with the monarch was his aide-de-camp, a Poniatowski also, and a guard of about fifteen or sixteen attendants, with drawn swords, surrounded it. The night was very dark, and, as before remarked, Warsaw possessed no lamps for public convenience. Scarcely had the carriage proceeded two hundred yards, when the conspirators surrounded it, and fired several shots in through the doors. The king's appointed hour had not come, otherwise it is difficult to conceive how he was not killed on the spot. The worthless attendants fled at once, with the exception of one gallant Heyduc, who, in striving to defend his master, met with his death. The historians remark that he was a Protestant, and that his widow received a pension while she lived. The cowardly aide-de-camp slunk out of the carriage, and concealed himself under a temporary wooden bridge laid across the muddy street. The king, possessing great coolness, got out, and was making off, but was seized by the collar, fired at, and cut over the temple with a sword-stroke. Two horsemen then seizing poor Stanislas by collar and arms trotted off, holding him between them, and in this plight they reached the boundary of the city. They were challenged by a sentry, and made some answer in Russian, which he received, and allowed them to pass, under the impression that they were the patrol. The prisoner being almost dead from fatigue and the hurts received, they allowed him to mount a spare horse, and so they got into the open country. Here two of the chiefs, seizing on the royal captive, tore off his ribbon and diamond cross of the Black Eagle, emptied his pockets, and left nothing with him but his tablets and handkerchief. Leaving him in charge of Kosinski, they hastened off to report progress at head-quarters; and the reader anxious to know the fortunes of the captive and his guardians will find them in several works publish ed soon after, and copied by later writers. Our sage tutor, finding his charge in greater danger of committing an irreparable folly at this particular point in their excursion than at any other, took courage, proposed a speedy departure, and succeeded in effecting it, Telemachus looking back sorrowfully the while on the Ogygia that still held Eucharis and several Calypsos. They took the route to the newly-raised city of the great regenerator of northern beats, lemseif sharing largely in the urspe nature. After this visit to the north to inspect some of the mighty changes effected by the energy of a very unequal hero, they resolved to repose from their labours in the sunny clime, in the olive groves, under tis vine-leaf trellices, and among the wonderful ruins of that country or ce the Mistress of the Western Werd. SCENES IN THE TRANSITION AGE FROM CESAR TO CHRIST. THE CAMPUS MARTIUS. THE sun was rounding to the west, the afternoon delicious, as Publicus ordered the charioteer to drive to Pompey's Theatre, where, he found by the placards of that day's entertainment, they would be in time to witness a couple of scenes of an old Greek farce adapted by Aranins. As the driver, lashing the mules, hurried past the obelisk, and under one of the triumphal arches which stood in the open space surrounding the amphitheatre, directing their course to the west of the pain toward the Straight Way, throngh beautiful avenues of trees, and past long ranges of white pillared porticoes, Publicus ever and anon drew the attention of his companion to some of the superb structures with which the Campus Martins was embel ist,ed. "We Romans," he said, “areja tly proud of tie fine sites and prospects which interval and surround the Field of Mars, whose elties are more magnificent, of later date, and more ornate arch-tecture, than, with a few execptions, those of the City. We are now crossing the upper region toward the smaller Field, which extends across from the Capitoline yonder, to the Tiber. While we are just now passing over a rather elevated ground, let me indicate a few of the innumerable structures with which this great Park of Rome is covered. Here the verdure of the grounds,through which so many avenues lead to the different amphitheatres and theatres, porticoes, gardens, temples, tombs, and sacred groves, is perennial. How charming is the panorama by which this strue. ture-covered region and the old City is framed. Those distant bite crests which rise to the south east, over the line of turreted walls bunit by Servius Tullus, which strazzle from the river along the Quirinal, are those of Tibur and Aiba; still more to the south, those of Latium. Overh in zing the river yonder you see the Vation, whose rounded crests mingle with the stony ridges of the Janiculum. In the plain be neath the first, you recognise the Triumphal Camp, hear the Triumphal Bridge; to its left, Nero's circus Tow is the point where the Faminian Way passes the city was at the Gate of the People, those thick lines of trees and arched |