Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/118

90 them luxury and fictitious wants, or draw a distinct line betwixt rich and poor, and compel the great mass of the latter to sell their labour at a low price; it is then only that the hands not engaged in employment for acquiring the necessaries of life, will turn to the production of articles of luxury and magnificence. Arts and sciences will embellish the cities, and bring forth enjoyments hitherto unknown; man will enjoy and suffer more; but will he be happier for all this? I know not.

Let us now return to our melancholy journal. After having left the ancient boundaries of Poland, we entered the government of Nowogorod, the theatre of the achievements and victories of our king Stephen Batory, who had conquered all this province, and had taken by assault the fortresses Wielikie-Luki, Toropec, Zawolocze, &c. Undoubtedly he would have subdued, at that time, all the empire, as was the case at a later epoch, under the reign of Sigismondus III., if the Czar had not sent ambassadors to Rome, offering to