The Picture Of England And Englishmen In Polish Memoirs During The Reign Of Stanislaus Augustus (1764–1795)

Abstract

England of the second half of the eighteenth century was hardly known in Poland. The English style was on a moderate scale followed by small elites, mainly those interested in systems of government. The king of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus can, though not quite undoubtedly, be counted among them. Little was written in Polish memoirs about England and Englishmen because, in fact, little was known about them or at least the knowledge was not so common as was that, say, about France. In the picture of England and Englishmen created by the Polish memoirists the views expressing enthusiasm over the supremacy of the British Empire and superlatives about the national character of the English prevail. Despite the stereotyped image of the insular nation, the best among the European nations, the Poles of the second half of eighteenth century seldom chose England as a place of permanent emigration. Keywords: England; Polish memoirists; Polish memoirs; Stanislaus Augustus