Quite  a  different  result  was  obtained,  indeed,  by  the  sons  of
Xioyola  in  Poland,  in  which  country  the  Catholic  religion  still  pre-
vailed, even  after  the  Reformation,  although  not  a  few  of  the  in-
habitants, to  the  extent  of  something  like  a  fourth  part,  recognised
the  Protestant  faith.  The  first  person  in  that  country  who  brought
the  Black  Fathers  into  it  was  the  Bishop  of  Wilna,  under  whose
protection  Father  Magius  founded  a  college  there,  which  was
afterwards  regarded  as  a  nursery  for  all  the  later  Jesuit  colonies
in  Poland  and  Lithuania.  The  Jesuits  had  chiefly  to  thank  for
their  prosperity  Stephan  Bathori,  who,  in  the  year  1576,  was
elected  by  the  Poles  to  be  their  King,  for  the  cunning  Fathers  so
contrived  to  ingratiate  themselves,  during  the  ten  years  in  which  he
held  the  reins  of  government,  that  he  almost  overwhelmed  them
with  riches.  In  this  way  there  were  established  in  the  territory
of  Cracow,  in  addition  to  a  profess-house  and  novitiate,  not  less
than  seventeen  colleges  and  seminaries,  besides  eight  residences,
the  number  of  members  of  the  Order  amounting  to  about  six
hundred  ;  while  in  the  territories  of  Warsaw  and  Livonia  there
were  two  profess-houses,  one  novitiate,  fifteen  colleges,  and
four  residences,  with  about  five  hundred  members  of  the
Order.  They,  indeed,  even  pushed  their  advanced  posts  as  far
as  Eiga  and  Smolensk,  obtaining  a  settlement  in  the  dis-
tant town  of  Novgorod.  Whatever  advantages,  however,  they
in  this  way  obtained  for  themselves,  they  caused  infinitely
greater  injury  to  the  Polish  nation ;  for  as  soon  as  the  sons  of
Loyola  got  a  really  firm  footing  in  any  locality,  they  began,
partly  with  closed  and  partly  also  with  open  vizor,  to  take  the
field  against  the  Protestant  and  non-Catholic  party,  which  had,
up  to  this  time,  according  to  established  law,  enjoyed  complete
religious  liberty,  and  there  arose  then,  in  consequence  of  this

18   *


276  HISTOEY  OP   THE   JESUITS.
