of the nobles during the Swedish invasion had urged the necessity of choosing a successor to the throne who might be able to fight their cause, and many went so far as to wish the monarchy to become hereditary*. The Emperor was proposed by many, but the Queen, Maria Louisa, exerted herself to ensure the succession to the French prince, Condé; and in the diet of 1661, the king himself made the proposal. This unconstitutional proceeding produced great murmurs among the nobles; the diet was dissolved, and the seeds of serious revolt were thus sown which harassed Casimir during the rest of his reign.

* "I have seen some of the Polish ministers who have stated, that if the war continues with Sweden, &c., they shall be obliged to elect a successor who will be capable of re-establishing their affairs, and they see none who is more able to do so than the Archduke Leopold. . . . Besides, the vice-chancellor, who follows this party, did not hesitate to say, that the liberty of the Poles was prejudicial to them, and that it was desirable they should have an hereditary king."-De Lumbres, 21 Feb. 1657. MS. Despatches.

In this diet Casimir pronounced these remarkable words, which have been construed as a singular prophecy of the dismemberment of Poland: "I hope I may be a false prophet, in stating that you have to fear the dismemberment of the republic. The Russians (Moscus et Russi) will attempt to seize the grand duchy of Lithuania as far as the rivers Bug and Narew, and almost to the Vistula. The Elector of Brandeburg will have a design on Greater Poland and the neighbouring palatinates, and will contend for the aggrandizement of both Prussias. The house of Austria will turn its attention to Cracow and the adjacent palatinates." Rulhière pretends that Casimir had the mysterious treaty in his eye when he spoke these prophetic

Casimir, worn out by these and other troubles, took the resolution of resigning the sceptre which he could not wield, and resuming his religious habit. He had been told in the diet, "That the calamities of Poland could not end but with his reign," and he addressed that diet in the following words :

"PEOPLE OF POLAND,

"It is now two hundred and eighty years that you have been governed by my family. The reign of my ancestors is past, and mine is going to expire. Fatigued by the labours of war, the cares of the cabinet, and the weight of age; oppressed with the burdens and solicitudes of a reign of more than twenty-one years, I, your king and father, return into your hands what the world esteems above all things, a crown; and choose for my throne six feet of earth, where I shall sleep in peace with my fathers."

After his abdication he retired to France, where he was made abbot of the monastery of St. Germaindes-Prés.

It was in this king's reign that the liberum veto, or privilege of the deputies to stop all proceedings in the diet, by a simple dissent, first assumed the form of a legal custom. "The leaven of superstition and

words, but a more natural solution of the question is found in the letters before mentioned, which shew that the apprehensions Casimir expresses were not confined to him.

bigotry," says Rulhière, * began to ferment and blend itself with all the other vices of the constitution; they then became closely united, and their junction defied all remedy. It was then that in the bosom of the national assemblies sprung up this singular anarchy which, under the pretext of making the constitution more firm, has destroyed in Poland all sovereign power.. The right of single

opposition to general decrees, although always admitted, was for a long time not acted upon.

There remained but one step to complete the destructive system, and that was taken in 1652 ́under the reign of John Casimir. A Polish noble, named Sizinski, whom his cotemporaries have denounced to the indignation of posterity, having left the diet at the period allotted for its resolutions, and by his voluntary absence preventing the possibility of any unanimity, the diet considered that it had lost its power by the desertion of this one deputy." A precedent so absurd but so easily imitated could not fail to have the most pernicious effects.

There can only be one opinion on this king's reign; he deserves any character rather than that of " The Polish Solomon," nor can we agree with the whole of the assertion that,

"He made no wars, and did not gain

New realms to lose them back again,

*Histoire de l'Anarchie de Pologne. V. I. p. 42.

And (save debates in Warsaw's diet)

He reigned in most unseemly quiet.” *

His reign, unfortunately for Poland, was any thing but an "unseemly quiet," and has added another proof of the bad effects of engrafting the sceptre on the crosier.

The introduction of the Jesuits by Batory had a great effect on the progress of learning in Poland. The curious, however, count up 711 Polish authors in the reign of Sigismund III. The Polish language became more generally diffused in Lithuania, Gallicia, Volhynia, &c., where formerly the Russian was the prevalent dialect. The close intercourse which commenced with France during the unfortunate administration of John Casimir, introduced many of the comforts of civilization; travelling was improved in Poland, inns were built on the high roads, and carriages came into general use. But sadly did learning languish in this stormy reign. The incursions of the Swedes, Cossacks, and Tartars, swept away the libraries; broke up all literary society, and commerce shared the same fate.

Mazeppa.

CHAPTER IV.

Michael Wieçnowieçki elected.-Intrigues against him.-War with Turkey.-Treaty of Buczacz. Royal Confederation.-Treaty broken.-Death of Michael.—Battle of Chocim.-Election of Sobieski.-Sobieski's Ancestry.-Life, &c.-Battle of Leopol.-Coronation.-Sobieski's Danger.— Treaty of Zuranow.-Alliance with Austria.-Siege of Vienna. Sobieski succours Vienna and defeats the Turks. -Leopold's Ingratitude.—Sobieski defeated by the Turks. -Consequences of this War.-Intrigues.-War renewed.Complaints of the Diet.-Religious Persecution.-Sobieski takes the Jews into Favour.--Disorders of the Government. - Sobieski dies.

MANY were found ready to take up the crown which Casimir had laid down, and among other candidates appeared the eldest son of the czar, the Duke of Neuburg, Prince Charles of Lorraine, and the Prince of Condé. But neither of these was considered an eligible person; and faction which makes nations the dupes of trivial circumstances and feeble individuals, raised an obscure monk to the sovereignty. This event seems to have disappointed more than the ostensible competitors. The "famous" John Sobieski who was now both Grand General and Grand Marshal, which offices gave him almost absolute power both in civil and military affairs

"thought one step higher

Would set him highest,"