They monopolise [says Mr. Coxe] the commerce and trade of the
country, keep inns and taverns, are stewards to the nobility,
and seem to have so much influence that nothing can be bought
or sold without the intervention of a Jew.

Our never-failing informant was particularly struck with the
number and usefulness of the Jews in Lithuania when he visited
that part of the Polish Republic in 1781--

If you ask for an interpreter, they bring you a Jew; if you
want post-horses, a Jew procures them and a Jew drives them;
if you wish to purchase, a Jew is your agent; and this
perhaps is the only country in Europe where Jews cultivate
the ground; in passing through Lithuania, we frequently saw
them engaged in sowing, reaping, mowing, and other works of
husbandry.

Having considered the condition of the lower classes, we will now
turn our attention to that of the nobility. The very unequal
distribution of wealth among them has already been mentioned.
Some idea of their mode of life may be formed from the account of
the Starost Krasinski's court in the diary (year 1759) of his
daughter, Frances Krasinska. [FOOTNOTE: A starost (starosta) is
the possessor of a starosty (starostwo)--i.e., a castle and
domains conferred on a nobleman for life by the crown.] Her
description of the household seems to justify her belief that
there were not many houses in Poland that surpassed theirs in
magnificence. In introducing to the reader the various ornaments
and appendages of the magnate's court, I shall mention first,