the embassy, and afterwards succeeded in winning the favour of Catherine,
then Grand Duchess, but soon to become empress.

This young man was Stanislas Poniatowski, son of Constance Czartoryski
and the celebrated Poniatowski, the friend of Charles III. As luck would
have it, a revolution was unnecessary to place him on the throne, for the
king died in 1763, and gave place to Prince Poniatowski, who was chosen
king on the 6th of September, 1776, under the title of Stanislas Augustus
I. He had reigned two years at the time of my visit; and I found Warsaw
in a state of gaiety, for a diet was to be held and everyone wished to
know how it was that Catherine had given the Poles a native king.

At dinner-time I went to the paladin's and found three tables, at each of
which there were places for thirty, and this was the usual number
entertained by the prince. The luxury of the Court paled before that of
the paladin's house. Prince Adam said to me,

"Chevalier, your place will always be at my father's table."

This was a great honour, and I felt it. The prince introduced me to his
handsome sister, and to several palatins and starosts. I did not fail to
call on all these great personages, so in the course of a fortnight I
found myself a welcome guest in all the best houses.

My purse was too lean to allow of my playing or consoling myself with a
theatrical beauty, so I fell back on the library of Monseigneur Zalewski,
the Bishop of Kiowia, for whom I had taken a great liking. I spent almost
all my mornings with him, and it was from this prelate that I learnt all
the intrigues and complots by which the ancient Polish constitution, of
which the bishop was a great admirer, had been overturned. Unhappily, his