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Account of the late King of Poland,

In this critical fituation of affairs, the Diet was convoked, and the debates be came tumultuous. The election was cárried on, in exprefs violation or one of the conftitution laws, which declares every nomination void, during the continuance of foreign troops within the territories of the republic, and the deputies now voted under the menaces of a hoftile army, and even within the reach of their cannon. At length, on the 7th of September, 1764, Count Poniatowsky was proclaimed king, by the name of Stanilaus Augustus. A fimilar event had before occurred in the hiftory of the republic; for Auguftus, elector of Saxony, was called to the throne in 1697, by means of a fham election, and under the protection of a Saxon army; Auguftus, however, was a foreigner; Stanislaus a native; and but little could be expected from the reign of a prince, whofe firft public at was a violation of the liberties of his country It is, notwithstanding, proper to remark here, that the mildnels of the king's difpofition, inclined him to manage the internal affairs of the nation with great moderation, and that he was but ill feconded by the nobles and clergy; who, boating a favage feudal independence, kept the peafantry in the moft abject state of flavery, and thus, in the end, paved the way to their own fubjugation. Another preponderating caufe, that effentially attributed to the approaching ruin, was the fituation of the Diffidents: thefe confifted of fuch as followed the rites of the Greek, Calvinistic, and Lutheran churches; and being protected by the treaty of Oliva, their grievances afforded a fpecious pretext for the interference of foreign powers. Under Sigifmund Augutus, the feparatifts of every defcription, were indulged with a feat in the Diet, and admitted to all the honours and privileges before confined to the Catholics; fince that period, the members of the established church had wantonly excluded all but themfelves from public employment, and even interdicted the profefion of any other faith but that of the church of Rome.

Thofe appertaining to the Greek church, beg powerfully protected by the court of St. Petersburgh, and thofe profelling the reformed religion, by the courts of London, Copenhagen, and Berlin; a petition was prefented to the king in 1765, in which the Diffidents demanded to be reinftated in their ancient rights and privileges, and to be placed on the fame footing as the Roman Catholics:

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for, as they very juftly obferved, “the difference of fentiments upon fome points of religion, among Chriftians, ought not to enter into any confideration with regard to the employments of the state. The various fects," added they, "although they differ in opinion among themselves, with respect to fome matters of doctrine, yet agree in one point, that of being faithful to their fovereign, and obedient to his orders: all the Chriftian courts are convmced of this fact; and, therefore, having always this principle in view, and without paying any regard to the religion they profefs, Chriftian princes ought only to feek after thofe whofe merits and talents enable them to ferve their country." This pe tition was referred to the Diet, but the fanatical and intolerant clergy who fat there, oppofed every attempt for the melioration of the condition of their fellow fubjects, and thus, by a narrow and defpicable policy, prevented a powerful body of men from affitting their country in the difturbances that enfued.

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Hitherto Staniflaus had experienced but little public oppofition to his gove. nment, being prohibited by a powerful army of Ruffians; but this femblance of tranquillity did not continue long. The Ottoman Porte, indignant at the conduct of the empress towards Poland, and inftigated by the promifes of the French* court, refolved upon war. Accordingly, the Ruffian minifter, Obrefkoff, was thut up in the feven towers, and hoftilities proclaimed in 1768.

This appeared a favourite moment for the Poles, who had hitherto been terrified rather than fubdued. Prince Radzivil, and a powerful body of the nobility, accordingly affociated together, and they were cordially fupported by the dignified clergy; lefs, however, out of a love of liberty, than a harred to the protectress of the Diffidents! At length a regular infurrection commenced, and the confederation of Bar, as it was termed, began to affume a formidable appearance.

The confederates were protected underhand by the court of Vienna, and more publicly by that of Verfailles; the latter, indeed, fupplied them with money, arms, and ammurition, provided them with fome veteran officers, and the duke of Choifeul actually fent Dumouriez thither with diplomatic powers.

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Account of the late King of Poland.

of horfemten; and had it not been for the treachery of Kofzintki, he would have been carried to the camp of Pulawski, and given an unwilling, but formidable fanction to the proceedings of the confederates.

The interview of fovereigns are but too often fatal to the interefts of the human race. During the conference at Neifs, in Silefia, in 1769, between Jofeth II. and the king of Pruffia, the latter firit broached the idea of the diimemberment of Poland; and fent his brother, Prince Henry, to Peterburgh, to found the difpofition of Catherine, on that fubject. In a fecond interview, at Neustadt in Auftria, the project of fpoliation was fettled; and in 1772, this grofs violation of the law of nations was perpetrated, and the Diet forced to announce its pretended affent, by means of a folemn act of renunciation. Thus Poland was deprived of large and fertile territories, bereaved of five millions of inhabitants, and forced to relinquish half her annual income, by the arts and arms of Ruffia, Auftria, and Prussia. It is not a little memorable, and it is worthy of the attention of those who mark the revolutions of empires, that* one of thole eftates was formerly held in vaffalage by the Poles; another had feen its capital and throne poffeffed by them; and a third had been indebted to a king of that nation, for the prefervation of its metropolis, and almoft for its exiftence as an inde pendent kingdom.

Catherine temporized. The flower of her army was employed in a diftant warfare, against the Muffulmen on the bor ders of the Danube and the Dncifter. She therefore had recourfe to artifice, and fet up a counter-confederation, at the head of which the placed a king of her own creation. Her generals, Gallitzin and Romanzof, had, however, no fooner acquired a decifive fuperiority over the Turks, than the prepared for cffenfive operations, and carried on a centeft against the Poles, in the name of Poland, with a ferocity that would have difgraced the moft favage nation. The nobles of the patriotic party, when taken, were generally maflacred; a few palatines were referved for a more dreadful fate; for, of fome the tongues were cut out, and of others, the members were mutifated; and, in this fituation, they were expofed to the unrelenting fcorn of their foes, and the unavailing compaffion of their countrymen*. The house of Auftria alfo, was induced by the allurements of freth acquifitions, to declare against them; and even France, which had hitherto given affiftance underhand, at length withdrew her aid. Thus left to their own fcanty refources, it affords but little rooni for wonder, that a nobility, which thought itself degraded by carrying arms in any other manner than on horieback, and an enflaved peafantry, reluctantly ferving on foot, in a quarrel in which they did not deem themfelves interefted; fhould prove an unequal match for a powerful domestic party, headed by their own The bad faith of thefe imperial and Ling, and a numerous foreign army, fup royal fpoilers, is fo much the more noported by all the clergy of a great empire. torious, when it is recollected, that in We ought rather to be aftonished, how 1764, the emprefs of Ruffia had tranía handful of brave nobles, could have mitted to the court of Warfaw, a rebeen able to fupport fuch an unequal nunciation of all claims on Poland, figned conteft, during the years 1769, 1770, with her own hand, and fealed with the anl 1771; this, however, they actually feal of the empire; that in the very fame effected, and, had they been but properly year, the king of Pruflia alfo folemnly feconded, by any foreign power, would relinquithed all claims and pretenfions, suredly have proved triumphant. As and that the empreis-queen in 1771, not it was, the king was obliged to that him- only ab.olutely difclaimed any right to & up in Warlow, and was indebted for any of the dominions of the republic, his perfonal feurity, to a body of fo- but even affected to confider herself as the reign mercenaries: even then, indeed, he guarantee of the integrity of its territowas not entirely fafe from the enterprie ries. "The partionary policy of the of the confederates; for on the 3 of continental defpots," as it is termed by of September, 1771, he was feized in the an English bithopt, may appear to fuperfrreets of his capital, by a refolute band ficial obiervers, to be attended only with

*The booty taken by the Ruffians, was immenfe; and, if we are to give credit to a late publication of fome celeb ity, the empreis herfelf received the famous library of Prince Radzivil, as her the of the spoil!

* Poland could never be prevailed on to acknowledge Pruffia as a kingdom until 1764. John Sobieski.

Dr.WATSON, "Chemical Effays," vol. iv. Pref. page 7.

local

Account of the late King of Poland.

local and temporary confequencès; it is not to be concealed, however, that it gave a fatal blow not only to European policy, but alfo to the fuppofed faith of princes, and prepared the way, in fome meafure, for the revolutions that have fince enfued.

The Poles had been overawed by the three great allied powers on the continent, but, as yet, they were not annihilated as a nation'. They perceived all the dangers of an elective monarchy, in a feeble ftate, furrounded by powerful neighbours, and they determined to remove the cause of fo many calamities. A general enthusiasm seized the minds of the people; the cities, in particular, evinced the most earnest defire for a change in the existing conftitution, and this was accordingly effected by the revolution, of the 3d of May, 1791. The republic once more caft its eyes towards Saxony, and a new dynasty was to commence in the perfon, and be hereditary in the family of Frederic Auguftus.

A great orator, now no more, has lavifhed much unneceffary praife on a fcheme that was falfe and hollow, which afforded new pretexts for fresh confifcations, and, at length, led to the entire fubjugation of Poland. "This revolution," fays he, "was effected with a policy, a difcretion, an unanimity, and fecrecy, fuch as have never before been known on any occafion; but fuch wonderful conduct was referved for this glorious confpiracy, in favour of the true and genuine rights and interests of men. Happy people! if they know how to proceed as they have begun! happy prince, worthy to begin with fplendour, or to clofe with glory, a race of patriots and of kings, and to leave

"A name, which ev'ry mind to heav'n will bear,

"Which men to tell, and angels joy to hear."

In exprefs oppofition to this, it may be obferved, that the feeming confent of Pruffia to the new conftitution, was a fnare obviously laid for the deftruction of the republic; that the king was drawn into the vortex, rather by the current of popular opinion, than the genuine impulfe of his own fentiments; and that no provifion was made for infranchifing the pealants, and peopling and defending a free country, with freemen.

"What constitutes a state?

Thick wall, or moated gate;

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Not cities proud, with fpires and turrets
crown'd;

Not bays, and broad-arm'd ports,
Where laughing at the ftorm, rich navies ride;
Not ftarr'd and spangled courts,
Where low-brow'd baseness wafts perfume
to pride;

No: MEN, HIGH-MINDED MEN,
With powers as far above dull brutes endued,
In foreft, brake, or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude:
MEN, WHO THEIR DUTIES KNOW,
BUT KNOW THEIR RIGHTS, AND KNOW-

ING, DARE MAINTAIN;

PREVENT THE LONG-AIM'D BLOW,
AND

CRUSH THE TYRANT WHILE THEY

REND THE CHAIN:

THESE CONSTITUTE A STATE.

The elector of Saxony, on being confulted refpecting a measure, feemingly calculated to illuftrate his family, coldly declined his affent, and the emprefs of Ruffia having poured in fresh troops, the new conftitution was abandoned. This attempt of a free nation to meliorate its condition, was actually confidered as an infurrection; and Zuboff, the paramour of the emprefs, is faid to have decided on the utter annihilation of Poland, as an independent ftate. But an avenger feemed to start up, in the perfon of the brave Kofeiufko, whofe brilliant actions afforded a fhort gleam of comfort to his countrymen; it was impoffible, however, to fave a nation in which the peasants had been depreffed by bondage, and the nobles had degenerated into the wort of tyrants, by means of an ufurped authority.

The ravages committed by the Ruffians beggar all defcription. The cruel Suwarroff*, acting like an exterminating angel, put 20,000 men, women, and children to the fword in Pragat alone,and fuch of the chiefs as efcaped military execution, were transferred to Ruffia, where they languished in prifon, until they ere releafed by the clemency of the prefent emperor.

ed a part merely paffive, and neglected,
King Stanislaus, who had hitherto act-
like a magnanimous prince, to choose be-
tween a coffin and a crown, was involved
in the miferies of his country.
ingly, he was obliged to remove from
Warfaw to Grodno, where he refigned all
pretenfions to the crown, on the 25th of
November, 1795. He remained in ob-

Accord

*This monster has been exiled by the pre-

Not high ris'd battlements, or labour'i funt emperor. mound,

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One of the fuburbs of Warfaw.

fcurity

206

Eminent Living Characters..... Albergati Capacellis

fcurity fome time after this forced abdication, and finally retiring to Ruffia on a penfion, fell a victim to an apoplexy, at St. Petersburgh, on the 11th of April, 1798, O. S.

Thus died, in exile, in the 67th year of his age, Stanislaus Auguftus Poniatowsky, the laft king of Poland. It was destined, that the fame hand which had prefented, fhould bereave him of his crown; he would have loft it fome years fooner, had it not been for the generous intervention of Potemkin, who faw, converfed with, and conceived a great friendfhip for his majefty, during the emprefs's excurfion to the Crimea. This prince had two fecret interviews with Catharine; the first was at Riga, in 1764; the other after an interval of twenty-three years, in 1787, on board a yacht, in the river Dnieper. The fecond conference lafted only thirty minutes; and on its conclufion, Catharine decorated her old lover with the order of St. Andrew.

Poniatowlky had a tafte for the fine arts, and was intimately acquainted with all the best authors of France, Germany, Italy, and England. He was particularly attached to this country; and, during his refidence here as a private gentleman, was ballotted for, and elected a member of the Royal Society. His majefty is fuppofed to have been privately married to a lady who lived many years with him, and by whom he has had feve

ral children.

Of the family of the unfortunate Poniatowsky, there is ftill alive: 1. His elder brother Cafimir, Prince Poniatowsky, born on the 15th of September, 1721, who was married, in 1757, to Apollonia,daughter of Bafil Ustrzyky, Caftillan of Przemil, by whom he has two fons, Staniflaus and Conftantius.

2. His fifter LOUISA, now in her 70th year, widow of Count John Zamoisky.

3. His fifter ISABELLA, now in her 68th year, widow of Count John Clement Braniky.

4. His nephew, JOSEPH ANTHONY, fon of Prince Andrew Poniatowsky, formerly general of the troops of the repub

lic.

And 5. MARIA THERESA ANTOI NETTA JOSEPHINA, the wife of Count de TYSKIEWIEZ.

ACCOUNT OF EMINENT LIVING
ITALIANS.
(Communicated by Mr. Damioni.)

ALBERGATI CAPACELLI.
HE Marquis FRANCIS ALBER、

TUATICAPACELLA, fenator of Be.

logna, is, next to Goldoni, the greatet
comic writer in Italy. He is yet living
and about 65 years of age.
He is
a handfome man, extremely good na-
tured and facetious. He spent his early
youth in every kind of diffipation; and,
according to his own confeffion, he did
not betake himself to his ftudies in earnest,
before he had attained his thirty-fourth
year. At forty he was an author and an

actor. A fhort critique on his principal
works, with a communication of fome in4
terefting anecdotes, relative to the Ita-
lian ftage, will not be, perhaps, undeferv
ing of public notice.

"The Prejudices of Falfe Honour," one of his best comedies, could not be acted in the theatre of Venice, on account of the part of Countess Larenci, an old high-fpirited woman of quality. No actress could be found in that city to play the part of an old woman, half mad and ugly. It was acted, however, in Bologna with great applaufe. This piece refembles very much the French comedy; "Le Philofophe fans le Sçavoir. The only critique made on it was a prolixity in feveral scenes.

"The Prijoner" was the first piece that ALBERGATI compofed in verfe. Hé was well aware that blank verses are not, as is generally thought, the beft adapted to familiar dialogue; he would have given the preference to what the Italians call, Martelian verfes: but as the deputation of Parma required the former fort, he was obliged to adopt a mode of verfification not congenial to his own taste. "The Prifoner" was crowned in Parma in 1773, and acted afterwards in a country feat of the house of Aldororandi, near Bologna. This piece is coníidered as the best of the author's perform. ances; and the European journalists noticed it with the greateft encomiums.

"The Emilia" is a piece in imitation of a French comedy, which Mr. ALBERGATI did not wish to name, nor defignate its author, declaring, in a jocofe way, that he left it to the curious enquiries of the public.

"The Unfaithful Gueft," another beautiful piece, was alfo reprefented before the deputation of Parma in 1774. It was written in verfe, and highly extolled in all the journals. Some objections were made against it, on the score of the actors dining and drinking together in the 9th fcene of the 11th act: a circumftance which had also given occafion to cenfure in Goldoni.

"The Wife Friend" got the author much

Eminent Living Italians....Albergati Capacelli.

mach ill will among the ladies, on account of the intrigues of hair-dreffers, which he expofed on the ftage. This was done with fuch great adroitnefs, that all the fpectators judged that M. ALBERGATI must have converfed very much with hair-dreffers, either as rivals or fpies. When it was performed in Bologna, a lady in a box fainted away at the fight of one fcene, and another lady applied to the cardinal legate to have it forbidden. The ladies' hair-dreffers alfo combined in a plot to thrash the comedians and the poet.

"Love-not to be Concealed" is the laft work that ALBERGATI wrote in verfe: it was published in 1775, and performed by the author himself and his private

company.

"The Fits" was a petite piece, intended to turn into ridicule the exceffive delicacy of the fair fex: its keeneft ftrokes, however, were directed against those who followed, feduced, or flattered them. The goodness of a husband, the vile adoration of a gallant, the affected affiduities of a phyfician, do more injury to the ladies than they are able to do themselves.

The play called "What a ftrange Accident!" was taken from a French novel inferted in the Tales of Mifs Uncy. Its aim was to correct certain faults of perfons in high life. This play was highly approved of by all in the middle ranks of life, but much difliked by the Italian nobility. "It is very fingular," faid M. ALBERGATI, "that we can relifh on the stage, all forts of vices and crimes in kings and queens exhibited in tragedy, and yet not fuffer princeffes and ducheffes to be turned into ridicule."

"The Enamoured Widows" is a play which deferves particular attention, for the manner in which it was written. The author was at his country-feat, with two of his friends. They agreed that their names fhould be thrown into a box, from which the firft that should be drawn out was to compofe the first act of a comedy, at his fancy; the fecond was to continue the fecond act, and so on. No one was informed of the preceding act till the piece was delivered for continuation. It is truly curious how, in fo jocofe a way, an excellent comedy could have been written.

"The Slandering Quack" appears to be among dramatic works what the Treatise on Crimes and Penalties of Bec

66

MONTH, MAG. No. XXIX.

207

caria" is in philofophy, a remedy for curing a barbarous cuftom-that of caf trating children. The author turns into ridicule the caftrated musicians. He declares, however, he does not intend to derogate from their merits in learning and honefty, but inveighs merely againft their profeffion, and against the dishonourable ufe of preferving and encouraging fuch degraded beings. It is high time, indeed, that the Italians fhould drop the practice of facrificing those innocent victims; degrading human nature only to footh our ears with a fong!

"The Deferving Man" is a piece of ridicule, attaching to thofe reputed wife men, who are a calamity to families. It is very common, in Italy, for families to fubmit themfelves to the direction of an unworthy adminiftrator. This kind of perfons are the most defpicable of any, and very often, under pretence of governing, ruin the best houses. M. ALBERGATI, however, had no intention to make this character appear odious on the ftage: he reprefented it only as a mixture of ignorance and prefumption, of honesty and of carelessness.

"The Virtuous Revenge" is the last comedy written by the Marquis ALBERGATI, and moft probably it will be his laft work. The title of the play feems to imply fome contradiction. But virtue and revenge may be united when we act lawfully. A young lady, from whom a father is, by calumnious artifices, taken away by the hangman, and who is thus condemned to fuffer infamy, fo exerts herfelf as to reftore the reputation and glory of her father, and the afterwards forgives his calumniators.

A complete edition of ALBERGATI'S works was published in Venice in 1783, in 2 vols. 8vo. and a judicious collection of his chefs d'œuvres was published last year in London, in two large volumes in 8vo. by M. ZAVELLI, an Italian, who dedicated it to her majesty. M. ALBERGATI will probably write no more. "I am old," fays he, "and my fancy is yet older than myself: it was never indeed very strong; and the many trifles I have written have ferved to weaken it more and more. Should I ever find myself, however, among a humourous company, who would affift me with their abilities and corrections, I might yet afpire to write fome other plays, of which I have the plans in my mind, and the originals under my eyes.”

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