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George III's extraordinary envoy Daniel Hailes was stationed in Warsaw in the years 1788–1792. On the one hand, he was an astute observer of the Polish political scene, capable of making an accurate and in-depth analysis of the events described, as evidenced by his extensive reports sent to the Foreign Office in London. On the other hand, when reporting on the May coup in the Commonwealth and the changes it aroused, the diplomat was unable to be completely impartial. This became clearly evident from the autumn of 1791 onwards when the envoy's reports increasingly contained unduly harsh criticism of the reformers and their great work.

The article shows the transformation that Grodno underwent in the 18th century in the light of accounts of peregrinates from Western Europe. In the first half of the century, a provincial, uninteresting Lithuanian town reluctantly visited by Western European travelers, in the second half of the century gained significantly a power of attraction. To a large extent, the city owed its transformation to Lithuanian Court Treasurer Antoni Tyzenhauz, which the travelers emphasized unanimously. The change in the face of the city was also reflected in eighteenth-century Western European publications.