THORN and ELBING, both on the Vistula, in Prussia Royal, are also places of great trade. These towns belong to the King of Prussia. Poland is 680 miles long, and 625 broad. It lies between 48° and 57° North latitude.

SECTION LIV.

OF POLAND.

THE chief Rivers are, the Vistula or Wezel ;

the Duieper, or Boristhenes, between Poland and Russia; the Neister between Poland and Turkey in Europe; and the Bog.

The Gulfs are, that of Riga, which runs in from the Baltic, between Courland and Russia; the Gulf of Dantzic, another arm of the Baltic, which surrounds the coasts of Prussia.

The Mountains are, those called Krapac, or the Carpathian mountains, between Poland and Hungary; they are covered with everlasting snow, which has been known to fall in the middle of summer; except these, Poland is in general a level country, and though cold, is yet very fertile and healthy.

It is said that there is here a singular production, which is peculiar to Poland; it is a kind of manna, which in May and June, the inhabitants sweep into sieves with the dew, and it serves for food dressed in various ways. Buffaloes, elks, deer, &c. are common in the forests.

The

The Polanders are well made, and handsome; the nobility are generous, polite, and affable to strangers; jealous of their liberty, even to excess; and fond of high and luxurious living. They are sovereign princes in their own estates, and have the power of life and death over their tenants and vassals; but if they engage in trade, they forfeit their nobility. The peasants are born slaves, and have no notion of liberty; they are clownish, and well adapted to their servile situation.

The language of the Polanders is the Sclavonic, mixed with the German. The latin is also very common, and the nobility and gentry speak French. Their religion is the Catholic; but Jews, Turks, and Infidels, are tolerated. The clergy are extremely rich, powerful, and ignorant.

Poland was anciently the country of the Vandals, who emigrated from it to invade the Roman empire. It became a kingdom in 1000; Otho III. emperor of Germany, conferred the title of king on Boleslaus I.

Poland has been twice dismembered by the emperor of Germany, the empress of Russia, and the king of Prussia; first, by an infamous treaty they seized the most valuable territories in 1772. The government was at that time feeble, being a mixture of aristocracy with an elective monarchy; but the nobility, with a patriot king at their head, (viz. Stanislaus Augustus III. formerly Count Poniatowski) in a manner that did them honour, voluntarily took off the shackles of slavery from their vassals, in 1791. The three despotic powers last mentioned,

mentioned, viewing these exertions of Stanislaus with jealousy, effected, conjointly, a total partition of Poland among themselves in 1795. This event, which will be an everlasting stain on their characters, was accomplished in 1794, and attended by the most horrid massacres. Some other changes in the political division of this country, have also been made by the influence of the French *.

SECTION LV.

OF PRUSSIA.

PRUSSIA is a small kingdom, lying upon the Baltic, which bounds it on the North;

South and East, it is bounded by Poland;

West, by Germany.

It may be divided into Ducal Prussia; now callled the kingdom of Prussia; and Polish Prussia, or Prussia Royal.

Ducal Prussia is that part on the east side of the Vistula, which runs up to Samogitia; it be came a kingdom in 1701, when Frederick II. Elector of Brandenburg, crowned himself king of Prussia.

Polish Prussia lies on the west side of the Vistula, and borders upon Pomerania, in Upper Saxony;

Since the expulsion of the French from Poland, it has been proposed to erect it into a kingdom, by the Emperor Alexander.

this country the late king of Prussia took from Poland, as has been already mentioned.

KONINGSBURG is the capital of the kingdom of Prussia; it is a large beautiful city, containing about 56,000 inhabitants, and makes a considerable figure in commerce and shipping. It is seated on the river Pregel, over which it has seven bridges : there are many fine public buildings, and a celebrated university.

Ducal Prussia and Polish Prussia, together, are something above 200 miles long, and 180 broad, situated between 53° and 56° North latitude.

SECTION LVI.

OF PRUSSIA.

THE Rivers are, the Vistula, the Pregel, and

the Memel.

The soil of Prussia is fruitful, and the forests abound with venison and wild fowl. The rivers and lakes are well stored with fish; and amber is found on the coasts of the Baltic. At Pillau, a town on the sea coast, there is a large sturgeon fishery.

The chief articles of commerce are, timber, naval-stores, amber, linseed, hempseed, wax, honey, fish, caviar, &c.

The manners and customs of the Prussians differ but little from those of the Germans.

The

The religion is Protestant, but all are permitted and protected.

The government is despotic, and succession hereditary.

The ancient inhabitants of Prussia appear to have been a brave and warlike people; they made a noble stand against the kings of Poland, one of whom, Boleslaus IV. was by them defeated and slain. They continued independent, and pagans, till the time of the crusades; when about the year 1230, the German knights of the Teutonic Order, who were just then returned from the Holy Land, undertook their conversion by the edge of the sword, and after a bloody war of fifty years, reduced them to obedience, and obliged them to embrace Christianity. The inhabitants of Prussia were almost extirpated by the religious knights during these conflicts, and the country peopled with Germans.

They maintained their conquest till 1525, when Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg, the last grandmaster of the Teutonic Order, having taken possession of all Prussia, was acknowledged Duke of the eastern part, (for that reason called Ducal Prussia) to be held as a fief of Poland. The elec tor, Frederic-William, surnamed the Great, by a treaty with Poland in 1657, obtained a confirmation of Ducal Prussia to him and his heirs, freed from vassalage, and was soon after declared an independent and sovereign Duke.

With those titles they continued til. 1701, when. Frederic, son of Frederic-William the Great, raisea

the