COPIA LITERARUM Serenissimi Regis Poloniae Ad Summum Pontificem.
MIraris (Sanctissime Pater) me usque adhuc in otiosis Regni curis Vitam duxisse, positurum eandem inter Martis discrimina Contra Mahomet quartum Turcarum Imperatorem; Sed quod non potuit Musulmanna, potuit equidem civilis dissensio, quoe exitum à Regno ad infaustam Lunoe ecclipsim morabatur. Videns ergo me nullius notoe hominem fore, Sceptrum, Dixi, Coronam & chlamydem renunciaturum, ut Sanguinem liberos & vitam (quoe pro fide & Sanctitatis vestroe gloriâ sum profusarus) tanquam ut humillimus Miles in Hungaricis agminibus funderem. Hoec à Senatoribus & Regni Magnatibus audita, tanquam verba cum tonitru prolata à Deo in Monte Sinai, corda verterunt, & conciliatis corporis animíque viribus, ducam in hâc Augustissimâ die (dies quam fecit Dominus pro Vienna loeta, pro securitate Christianitatis jucunda, pro Sanctitatis vestroe gloriâ memoranda) 40000 Cosacorum, Lituanorumque 12000, Polonorum 15000, (exceptis famulis majoris numeri) exterarúmque Provinciarum 10000, ad Biologrodum Principalem Tartarioe Arcem; quam si mihi debellare licebit, liceat Sanctitati vestroecredere: me ad Turcarum Regiam ducturum, & debellaturums effroenatam Barbarorum licentiam, quoe anno proeterito ausa est Germaniam devastare, & Principalem Christiani Imperii Civitatem aggredi. Vadam ergo, & ut Spero, Liberator Orientis rediturus, vel pro Christi side, & Sanctitatis vestroe glorià moriturus.
A Copy of a LETTER Of the most Serene King of Poland To his Holiness.
YOU perhaps admire (most Holy Father) that I should hitherto lead my life among the quiet and peaceable cares of my Kingdom, who am going to stake it upon the hazard of a War against Mahomet the Fourth, Emperour of the Turks: but what the Musulman could not do, Civil Dissention hath effected, which hath deferr'd my march out of my Kingdom, until such time as there happened an unlucky Eclipse of the Moon. Seeing therefore how much my Fame was like to suffer, if this ill Omen should occasion any farther delay, I, declared that I would resigne my Scepter, Crown, and Royal Robe, that so I might list my self a Common Souldier in the Hungarian Troops, and there pour out my own and my Childrens bloud and lives (which I am now going to spend for the Faith, and for your Holinesses Glory). Which Words, like those God spake in Thunder from Mount Sinai, being heard by the Senators and Nobles of my Kingdom, quite turned their hearts: And now having recovered the Vigour of my Body and Mind, I will on this most August day, (a day which God made joyful for the deliverance of Vienna, pleasant for the preservation of the Christian Religion, memorable for your Holinesses Glory): On this day, I say, I will march forth in the head of 40000 Cosacks 12000 Lithuanians 15000 Polanders, besides a greater number of Servants, and 10000 of the foreign Provinces; with these I will march to Biologrode the principal Fortress of the Tartarians; which if it be my fortune to subdue, your Holiness may assuredly believe that I will march on even to the Imperial City of the Turks, and correct the unbridled presumption of the Barbarians, which the last year was so daring as to Ravage Germany, and Attack the chief City of the Christian Empire. I will go therefore in hope to return the Deliverer of the East, or to die for the Faith of Christ, and your Holinesses Glory.
LONDON: Printed for R. H. and are to be sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-hall. 1685.