Beauplan.
covering them with a thick Woollen Blanket, or a Wolf's Skin, and wash'd my Face with good Spirit of Wine, as also my Hands and Feet, and wrapp'd them in Cloths dipp'd in the same Liquor, which I never suffer'd to dry up: and by these means, with the assistance of God, I prevented all the ill Consequences before-mention'd, to which a Man is more subject if he does not take some hot Meat or Drink, such as for example what they usually take three times a day; which is made of hot Bear, a little Butter, Pepper, and Bread, and serves them instead of Pottage, fortifying their Bowels against the Cold.
Election of the King.
The King being dead, the Archbishop of Gnesna takes upon him the administration of Affairs; and two or three Weeks after the King's Death, holds a great Assembly at Warsaw, where he presides: All the Senators meet there to debate and conclude upon the Time and Place for electing a new King. This Point being settled, every Senator returns to his Palatinate, there to hold a little Diet of that Territory; that is, he assembles all the Nobility under his direction, at a certain Time and Place appointed, where none of them fail to come; and being all together, they confer about naming a new King. Every one shows Reasons, according to his Inclinations; and after all their Contests and Debates, they fix upon several Princes; one of whom the Deputies appointed for the Election make choice of, and no other, after every one has shown his Commission for being at the Election, and consenting to one of those five or six nam'd; so that every one of the Senators has done the same thing in his Palatinate at the same time.
Thus all the Deputies of the Palatinates, or Provinces, are the first Voters, and have the plurality of Voices in the Diets above the Palatines; yet they always deliver themselves in the Name of all, for before they come there they have all conferr'd Notes, and are agreed upon what is to be done without contradicting one another; so that all depends on them, for nothing can be concluded on there, which all the Deputies have not consented to; and if there be but one that opposes, and cries out aloud Nievolena (which is, you are not allow'd it ) all would come to nothing: for they have this Power, not only at the Election of Kings, but may in any Diet whatsoever break and disappoint all that the Senators have concluded upon; for they hold these as Fundamental Maxims in their Dominions.
1. That no Nobleman can pretend to the Crown, or name or give his Vote for another to be so.
2. That whosoever is chosen King, must be of the Roman Catholick and Apostolick Religion.
3. That he who is elected be a Foreign Prince, that he may have no Lands in their Dominions : and tho the Sons of the Kings of Poland are Princes, and born within their Territories, yet that does not hinder them from being look'd upon as stranger Princes among them; and they may not purchase Lands of Inheritance as the Native Nobility may : And for this reason they may be chosen Kings, as happened to Vladislaus the 4th, who was then eldest Prince, after the death of Sigismund the 3d his Father, who was succeeded by John Casimir his Brother now reigning; and yet this is to be no Precedent to render the Crown Hereditary.
The manner of their Elections is thus: It is generally made in open Field half a League from Warsaw, the Capital of Masovia, where the King usually resides; and in the Castle of which, Place the Diets are commonly held, that Town being as it were the Center of all the Provinces belonging to the Crown of Poland. The Place of Election is half a League from Warsaw towards Dantzick, where there was a small Inclosure made about 1000 or 1200 Paces in compass, inclos'd by a pitiful Ditch about five or six foot wide, which serves only to hinder Horses from going into the said Inclosure; in which there are two great Tents, one for the Election where all the Senators fit, and the other where all the Deputies of Provinces meet, who conser together before they go into the Great Audience of the Senate.
Every one shows his Commission, and what he may consent to; and in this Conference they all agree upon what they may oppose or grant. They meet thus every day before the Audience, which every time lasts six or seven hours; during which time they propose all they can think on towards preserving their Liberties. At least a fortnight was spent at the Election of the late King Vladislaus; during which time there were no less than 80000 Horse about that little Inclosure, all Soldiers following the Senators; for every one of them had a little Army, some greater, some less, as the Palatine of Cracoq who then had seven thousand Men; and so others accord-ing
