Ebook The History of Poland

The singular orthography of the names is not the least difficulty we have to encounter in the minutiae of Polish history, and it has been greatly increased by the attempts of most writers to reduce them nearer to their pronunciation. Chevalier, in his Preface to the Histoire de la Guerre des Cosaques, published in 1663, justly complains of the custom of authors, even in his time, to estropier, as he terms it, these words; and the Revue encyclopedique also points out the absurdity of it. The Author has endeavoured to give the Polish spelling as correctly as possible, and sub joins the following hints for pronunciation, taken principally from the Letters, Literary and Po litical, on Poland, Edinburgh.