Warned
thus, during their pleasant travel, of the coming events whose
shadows seemed to rise on every side of Poland, in forms appalling to
the luxurious, the avaricious, the indolently selfish, of every
description in the land, but which only roused and nerved the hearts
and arms of her two sons, courageous in the simplicity of their
purpose--Poland's preservation! they hastened in that moment to her
bosom.
The events of this her mortal struggle, in fast union with these
faithful sons, and other filial hearts, commemorated in the foregoing
narrative of Thaddeus Sobieski, need not be recapitulated here. It
amply tells the fate of the great kingdom which had stood as with
gates of brass, until the intestine rivalries of an elective
monarchy--the worshipped idol alike of presumptuous private ambition
and pretended patriotic liberality--the true masked priest of public
anarchy--rent them asunder, and the watchful nations, ready for
plunder and extended dominion, poured into them a flood like the
rivers of Babylon, over all her walls and towers.
We have read that part of her bravest sons were swept away into
distant lands; some to die in homeless exile, others to meet the
honorable compassion and the cheering hopes of sympathy from a people
like themselves, who had formerly fought the good fight for England's
laws, liberties, and royal name in Europe.
Pages:
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738