Memoirs of the Courts of Berlin, Dresden, Warsaw, and Vienna, in the Years 1777, 1778, and 1779 Memoirs of the Courts of Berlin, Dresden, Warsaw, and Vienna, in the Years 1777, 1778, and 1779 2 Volume Set Series

Nathaniel Wraxall (1751?1831) worked for the East India Company before becoming an MP in 1780. He travelled extensively in Europe and moved in royal and diplomatic circles, collecting anecdotes which later made their way into several popular travel narratives and memoirs that were to bring him great fame. In this work, published in two volumes in 1799 and using an epistolary form, Wraxall gives his impressions of a number of European courts that he visited in the late 1770s. Volume 2 describes Poland as a country in decline, and discusses the historical background to its present condition. He also provides anecdotes of the court and people of Vienna, and especially of the Habsburg monarchs Maria Theresa and Joseph II.

18. Journey from Cracow to Warsaw; 19. Examination of the causes of the decline of Poland; 20. Origin and history of the family of Poniatowski; 21. Decline of the Court of Warsaw, since the succession of the present king; 22. Journey from Warsaw to Konigsberg; 23. Aspect of Dresden, and security of that capital; 24. Review of the Saxon history; 25. State of Ratisbon; 26. General opinions entertained at Vienna, relative to the conduct of the campaign; 27. Concern of the Empress, at the birth of a French princess; 28. Aspect of the court; 29. State of society at Vienna; 30. Reigns of Leopold, Joseph the First, and Charles the Sixth; 31. Character and anecdotes of the Emperor Francis; 32. State of the public mind at Vienna; 33. Joseph the Second; 34. Character and anecdotes of Prince Kaunitz, first minister of Maria Theresa; 35. Appointment of the Congress at Teschen, for the conclusion of a definitive peace.