three and here I shall take my leave of you for the present, and leave you to reflect upon the impudence of those who invent these fables and the infatuation of those who believe them, dear Sir,

I am,

With true esteem and affection,

Your most obliged

And most faithful

Humble Servant,

C. HANBURY WILLIAMS.

DEAR SIR;

Dresden 8th Sept. 1748.

Simovitus succeeded his father Piast, and is said to have been the first that introduced military titles and exercise into Poland. He left a son, Lescus, who, being young when his father died, the Poles appointed a certain number of Barons to take care of the country till he came of age of him there is nothing said, but that he did not love war. He died, and left a son, whose name was Zemislaus, of whom I find little, but that he was a wise Prince, and that he left a son who was called Miesceslaus, and who was born blind; but when he came to have his head shaved and his name given. him, he, at once, had the use of his eyes given him also, and saw distinctly. This lie is invented to usher that prince into history with something extraordinary about him, because he was the first Polish sovereign that embraced Christianity; and the first, according to Dit

marus (Bishop of Mersburgh a good German historian), that owned himself a vassal of the Emperor of Germany.

The account of his conversion is not to be omitted. He was a prince (says the historian from whom I take it) greatly addicted to venery, and very powerful in feats of love: he kept no less than seven wives and concubines; but though he greatly desired one, he never could have a child. There were at that time, at the place of his residence, some Christian priests and missionaries, who told him, that he never could hope for an heir as long as he persisted in Paganism; but that, if he would turn Christian, send away all his women, and marry a Christian princess, he would soon be blest with a son. Upon this Miesceslaus sent messengers to Boleslaus, Prince of Bohemia, to demand Dabrowka his daughter to be his lawful and only wife to which Boleslaus consented upon condition that Miesceslaus should embrace the Christian religion, which he accordingly did.

There is a story that happened in this reign which I must relate: a Duke of Russia (Swatoslaus) having invaded Greece, and returning home laden with plunder, was surprised by a party of Greeks, with their Prince Bura at their head, who defeated his troops, and took him prisoner: after which, Bura cut off his head, and made a cup of his skull, which he set in gold, and which he constantly drank out of every day in commemoration of his successful victory. Miesceslaus had by Dabrowka a son, who was called Boleslaus.

Miesceslaus died in the year 992, and was succeeded by his son Boleslaus, the first who is described as a brave and expert general, and who waged war with success against the Bohemians, Russians, and Prussians.

He founded the Archbishopric of Gnesna; the bishopric of Cracow, and seven others. He ordered all his subjects to be baptized, and established this custom throughout his country, that at mass, when the Gospel was reading,

every Pole should stand up and draw his sabre half out of the scabbard, to show that he was always ready to fight in defence of that book.

Boleslaus having in vain tried at Rome to get the Pope to erect Poland into a kingdom, and declare him King of it, obtained, a little before his death, that title from Otho the Third, Emperor of Germany.

The same Emperor, going to pray at St. Adelbertus's shrine at Gnesna, was so nobly received by Boleslaus that he married his niece, Rixa, the Elector Palatine's daughter, to his son Mieceslaus.

It is said that Boleslaus created twelve Senators or Counsellors who were the first that ever were heard of in Poland.

He died in the year 1025, and was succeeded by his son Mieceslaus, who was an unfortunate prince, and whom at last the Poles despised for being entirely governed by his wife; but he certainly wanted a governor of some sort, for he was mad for a considerable time before his