FOOTNOTES:
[120] Edited and published by Dr. Erben in 1851.
[121] It is impossible to translate this pun. Bartholomew plays on the similarity of the name "Vrat" to the words zvratiti and převratiti (to overturn and to overthrow).
[122] It is impossible to paraphrase in fewer than eight words the Bohemian word nemistrovany.
[123] See my Bohemia, an Historical Sketch, pp. 231, 232.
[124] See Chapter IV.
[126] The Life (or rather Captivity) of John Augusta was edited and published by Franta-Sumavsky in 1837. The work has recently been translated into German by Dean Joseph Müller of Herrenhut.
[127] See Chapter V.
[128] Professor Léger in his Nouvelles Études Slaves has translated into French some of Žerotin's letters which refer to his French campaign.
[129] See Chapter V.
[130] This work has been translated into English by the late Rev. A. H. Wratislaw.
[131] Edited and published by Dr. Erben in 1854 and 1855.
[132] It is not easy to recognise this word in Harant's self-coined translation or rather adaptation, trucelman.
[133] A proverbial expression. Senftenberg is a small town in North-Eastern Bohemia. I don't know how its inhabitants acquired this invidious distinction.
[134] See pp. [343] and [344].
[136] In Bohemian sekretaričky.
[137] The Altstädter Ring, where the executions took place.
[138] It has often been asserted that Slavata, who was a personal enemy of Wallenstein, was the cause of the estrangement between him and the emperor, and indirectly of Wallenstein's murder.
[139] This portion of Slavata's works has been edited and published by the late Dr. Jireček.
[140] Slavata uses the German word Knecht.
[141] Readers of Schiller's Wallenstein will remember the scene at the banquet at Pilsen (Die Piccolomini, act iv. scene 5), when the servants are listening to the conversation of the generals.
[CHAPTER VII]
THE REVIVAL OF BOHEMIAN LITERATURE
The misery and degradation of Bohemia that were the result of the battle of the White Mountain are beyond all description. Perhaps no country has, in comparatively modern times, suffered as Bohemia did at that period. Gindely, than whom no historian is less given to exaggeration, has written: "The misery under which the land (Bohemia) groaned can, as regards its extent and its depth, be compared only to that which, at the time of the migration of nations (Völkerwanderung), was inflicted on the inhabitants of Gaul and Northern Italy by their Frank and Lombard conquerors." From the battle of the White Mountain, Bohemian literature becomes, and continues for many years, an almost complete blank.
It was at this time that the great destruction of Bohemian books, so frequently alluded to in these pages, began, though it continued far into the eighteenth century. Catholic priests, generally Jesuits, accompanied by soldiers, visited the houses of the Bohemians; even the cottages of the peasants were not exempt. As these priests were generally unacquainted with the Bohemian language, it was thought best to destroy all books written in that language. The famous, or rather infamous, destroyer of Bohemian books, the Jesuit Konias, continued his bonfires—he boasted of having burnt 60,000 Bohemian volumes—up to the year 1760. It is, of course, only possible to attempt conjectures as to the value of the lost works, but Bohemian writers agree in thinking that many had considerable historical merit. Second, of course, to non-Roman theological writings, the book-destroyers relentlessly pursued all works of a historical character which might suggest to the Bohemian people the contrast between their glorious past and their present servile and miserable condition. It may be mentioned as a proof of this, that even the historical work of Pope Pius II. (Ænæas Sylvius) which deals with Bohemia was ordered to be destroyed.
The numerous emigrants from Bohemia continued indeed for some time, as already mentioned, to write in the national language, and only the death of Komenský marks the cessation of such writing. In Bohemia itself, from the fatal year 1620 to the end of the eighteenth century, no book appeared in the native language that is worthy of general notice. Jungmann,[142] in his patriotic endeavour to conceal the complete cessation of Bohemian literature, enumerates many writers of prayer-books, collections of sermons, and calendars published at this period. Whatever historical and philological value such writings may have, they do not belong to literature.
The nobles and the educated classes in Bohemia at this period wrote—as far as they wrote at all—in German or in Latin. It is curious to note that Bohemian continued to be spoken long after it had ceased to be written among all classes of the population. When, in 1697, Peter the Great visited Prague, he was able to converse with the nobles in his own language, so similar to that of Bohemia. This would have been impossible a century later, and even at the present day more German than Bohemian is spoken in the salons of the Bohemian nobility at Prague.
Of the scanty German and Latin works written in Bohemia during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, a few are noticeable as having, though indirectly, contributed to preserve the ancient national memories which are so inseparably connected with the national language. The earliest of these writers is the learned Jesuit Balbin or Balbinus, who was born in 1621, a year after the catastrophe of the White Mountain, and died at Prague in 1688. His very numerous works, all written in Latin, deal principally with the history of his country. Balbin's writings are, of course, in absolute accordance with the doctrine of Rome, and, besides, teem with legends of saints, pedigrees of the newly-established nobility of Bohemia, and other matters that should have insured him the favour of the ruling powers. Still Balbin found many difficulties in his path when he attempted to publish his works. It is hardly doing injustice to the Government officials if we suppose that these difficulties were raised, firstly, because it was considered desirable that the history of Bohemia should be altogether buried in oblivion; secondly, because Balbin's writings give evidence of a degree of fairness which necessarily displeased them. Balbin's fairness has already been alluded to when referring to the biography of Milič, which is contained in his Miscellanea. Balbin's judgment of Komenský also shows a degree of tolerance very unusual at that time. He writes in his Bohemia Docta: "He (Komenský) published very many works, but nothing whatever that was directly aimed at the Catholic Church. Reading his works, it has always seemed to me that he wrote with so much reflection that he did not wish to award superiority to any one religion, nor to condemn any."
Of Balbin's many works we may mention the Miscellanea, a vast compilation into which he admitted writings of earlier authors; the Epitome Rerum Bohemicarum, his most valuable work; the Bohemia Docta; and a curious work in defence of the Bohemian language entitled Disertatio Apologetica Linguæ Slovenicæ. The difficulties which Balbin encountered when he attempted to publish his works have already been alluded to. Great objections were raised, in particular, against the Epitome Rerum Bohemicarum; but after long negotiations, influential friends of Balbin induced the Emperor Leopold I. in 1677 to give his consent to the publication of the book. The Disertatio Apologetica, on the other hand, was totally condemned by the Austrian authorities, and was, indeed, only published a century after the author's death.
Another Catholic priest whose historical labours were valuable for his country was Tomas Pešina, who was ennobled and granted the title of Cechorod (born 1629, died 1680). The Latin works of Pešina, who was a friend of Balbin, treat principally of Moravia, and are still of interest. To the eighteenth century belong the German works of Joseph Bienenberg, which deal with the archaeology of Bohemia. In 1778 Bienenberg published his Alterthümer in Königreiche Böhmen, and two years later his History of the Town of Königgrätz. The latter work has a far wider interest than its name suggests. Bienenberg gives many interesting details concerning Zižka's wars, and he prints the celebrated "Articles of war" of the great Bohemian general.
The fact that these and other writers who sympathised with the Bohemian people yet wrote in foreign languages, proves how deep the national language had sunk. Become little more than an idiom used by the peasantry in some parts of Bohemia, it was no longer available for literature of a more elevated character.
Within the second half of the eighteenth century a change took place. The Emperor Joseph II. was indeed a determined enemy of the Bohemian national aspirations, and his regulations, as well as those of the Empress Maria Teresa, excluded the Bohemian language from even the humblest schools to a greater extent than any of their predecessors had attempted to do. On the other hand, the enlightened mind of the Emperor Joseph disapproved of the exaggerated system of restriction and coercion which during the reigns of his predecessors had been enforced on all the lands of the Habsburg empire, though it weighed with exceptional heaviness on Bohemia. During his reign a newspaper written in the national language was allowed to appear at Prague, a permission that even since his reign has several times been refused by Austrian Governments. It was also a result of the comparative freedom granted by Joseph that there began to appear new editions of ancient Bohemian works, and translations of foreign works into Bohemian, which contributed greatly to regain for Bohemian the character of a written language. These workers live in the grateful memory of their countrymen, but it seems unnecessary to enumerate them in a book written for non-Bohemian readers. It will be seen, however, that in the nineteenth century also even the most prominent writers considered this editing and translating as an important duty towards their country. During the reign of Joseph II. the Bohemian Society of Sciences was established. The publications of the society at first appeared in German only—they are now printed both in German and in Bohemian—and German only was used in its deliberations. Still, the historical studies which the society published reminded the Bohemians of their glorious past, and revived the feeling of pride in their country, which had greatly decreased. It was at the end of the eighteenth century also that a professorship of the Bohemian language was established at the University of Vienna, and somewhat later at that of Prague.
Before referring to the group of men who in the early years of the present century successfully effected the revival of the Bohemian language and literature, we must notice a writer who, though an enthusiastic student of the Bohemian language, did not believe that that language would continue, or perhaps rather again become, one of the languages of Europe that possess an independent literature. I refer to Joseph Dobrovský. Born in 1753, his earliest years coincide with the time when the decadence of the Bohemian language was most marked. His books, mostly written in German or Latin, give evidence of a knowledge of the science of languages that was very unusual at that period. The early education of Dobrovský, "the patriarch of Slavic philology", as he was called in later years, was entirely German. It was only when studying at the "Gymnasium", first of Deutsch Brod, then of Klattau in Bohemia, that he acquired some knowledge of the Bohemian language. An indefatigable worker, he soon devoted his entire energies to the study of the historical development of the Bohemian language and of its connection with the languages of other Slav countries. When very young Dobrovský became a member of the Society of Jesus, and after the suppression of that order lived for a few years as a tutor in families of the Bohemian nobility. During the later years of his life he, though he had been ordained as a priest, led the life of an independent scholar, living either at Prague or in the country residences of the Bohemian nobles, where he was always a welcome guest. Palacký quotes his own remark as to the uniformity of his life: "What interest," he said, "can the rather monotonous life of a private person have? One works, that is, one writes; has one's writing printed; then rests, and then begins another work of a similar character."
Dobrovský was entirely devoid of the enthusiasm for the national language that animated Jungmann, Kollar, Šafařik, Palacký, and the minor writers of the first half of the present century. He was, on the other hand, a philologist of the highest rank. Not only the Bohemians, but all Slav races, are indebted to him for his studies on Slav philology, a subject which at that period, when even in Russia the national language had to a great extent given way to Latin, French, and German, was absolutely uncultivated. Of his works we may mention the (German) "Detailed Grammar of the Bohemian Language" (Ausführliches Lehrgebände der Böhmischen Sprache). This work has become the model of all Bohemian grammars that were published subsequently, as well as of those of other Slav nationalities which have recently attained to the dignity of possessing written languages. The book was first published in 1809, and again in an enlarged form in 1818. Dobrovský's "History of the Bohemian Language and its Older Literature" (Geschichte der Böhmischen Sprache und aeltern Literatur) first appeared in 1792, but subsequently so completely rewritten, that when it was republished in 1818 it appeared almost a new work. The book has become somewhat antiquated and incomplete, as so many Bohemian books have been rediscovered since it appeared, but it still has considerable value. While these and other works of Dobrovský were written in German, he employed the Latin language for his Institutiones Linguæ Slavicæ Veteris. In this, his most important work, Dobrovský, as in his grammar, paved the way for later workers. The Institutiones have been the foundation of the work of the many important Slav philologists of the present century.
It has already been mentioned that Dobrovský had no enthusiasm for the Bohemian language, to the development of which he so largely contributed. His early recollections carried him back to the time when it was little more than an idiom used by the peasantry in the outlying country districts of Bohemia. When, in the present century, the movement in favour of the national language acquired greater strength, Dobrovský never sympathised with it. When the publication of the Časopis Musea Království Českého ("Journal of the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia") in Bohemian, as well as in German, was first discussed, Dobrovský expressed the wish that the new journal should appear in German only. It must, in justice to Dobrovský, be added that in the last years of his life he wrote a few Bohemian essays for the journal. They are, indeed, with a collection of letters, the only writings in the national language which he has left. Dobrovský's critical nature and his thorough philological training induced him to deny from the time of its discovery the genuineness of the "MS. of Grüneberg",[143] an opinion that is now shared by almost all Bohemian scholars. Dobrovský expressed himself strongly on the subject He wrote: "It (i.e. the MS.) is a knavery which they (the "discoverers") committed from hatred of the Germans, and from exaggerated patriotism, for the purpose of deceiving themselves and others."
Dobrovský died in 1829, at a time when the question whether the Bohemian language should live or not was already decided in the affirmative sense. He had during the last years of his life become very unpopular among the Bohemian patriots, but events have proved that his critical faculties sometimes guided him better than enthusiasm did others. As a philologist of the Slav languages Dobrovský was in advance of his time. Etymological monstrosities, such as Kollar sometimes committed in his Staroitalia Slavjanská, would have been impossible to Dobrovský.
Very different from the calm scholarly nature of Dobrovský was the temperament of the four enthusiastic patriots to whom, with, of course, the co-operation of minor writers, the revival of Bohemian literature is due. I refer to Jungmann, Kollar, Safařik, and Palacký.
Joseph Jungmann was born in 1773 at Hudlice, a small village near Beroun in Bohemia. As Hudlice was even then a thoroughly Bohemian village, Jungmann first acquired his native language; but when sent to school at Beroun—where, as indeed everywhere in Bohemia at that time, the teaching was entirely German—he almost forgot Bohemian, and soon found it far easier to express himself in German. When on a visit to his native village an old relation playfully accused him of "stammering" whenever he spoke Bohemian. This remark; as Jungmann has himself told us, made a great impression on the mind of the young student. "From that moment," he afterwards wrote, "I became a true Bohemian, at least to my best knowledge and will." Jungmann's life was by no means eventful, and requires little notice. He, soon after finishing his studies, became professor at the gymnasium of Leitmeritz, from which he was afterwards transferred to Prague. Here he spent the greatest part of his life, and died in 1847, a year before revolutionary events obliged so many Bohemian patriots to emerge from their seclusion and become popular leaders.
I have already alluded to the great activity the Bohemian writers of this period displayed as editors of the works of their ancient literature, as well as translators from the works of more advanced foreign literatures. The two tasks were closely connected, as the writers could only render in Bohemian the classical works of other countries by availing themselves of the rich verbal treasury which is contained in the works of their own ancient authors. Jungmann himself at the beginning of his life became known as a translator, and, in contradiction with his later vocation, oftenest attempted translations of poetical works. It may interest English readers to know that many of Jungmann's translations are from the English. Of all his translations, that of Milton's Paradise Lost, written in five-footed trochees, obtained greatest celebrity. It is really a wonderful achievement, if we consider that it was written in 1811, when the Bohemian language was only just awakening from its winter-sleep of nearly two hundred years. Jungmann also translated Gray's Elegy in a Churchyard, Goethe's Herman und Dorothea, and poems by Schiller and Bürger. From the French Jungmann translated Chateaubriand's Atala. It is stated that Jungmann planned a great original poem in the national language, but if this is true the plan was never carried out. In later years Jungmann devoted whatever leisure his official duties left him to studies of a scientific, and particularly of a philological character.
Great as were his merits as a translator, the last-named works constitute his principal claim to the gratitude of his countrymen. The earlier of the great works of Jungmann is his History of Bohemian Literature. Jungmann did not follow Dobrovský's example, but wrote in Bohemian. The book was first published in 1825, and a second enlarged edition appeared in 1849, after the author's death. The book is scarcely what in the present day would be called the history of a literature; perhaps such a task was impossible at the time Jungmann wrote. Jungmann's history contains an enumeration of all writers, great or small, of whom writings in the Bohemian language have been preserved. Jungmann's intense patriotism induced him to attempt to prove that at almost all periods works on almost all subjects written in Bohemian had existed. Every translator of even the most valueless work, every preacher who had caused even the most worthless Bohemian sermon to be printed, therefore finds a place in this book. Yet this very minuteness and absence of criticism which we find in the book render it very valuable as a collection of materials; and even now, seventy years after its first appearance, it is indispensable to all students of Bohemian literature. The introductions to each of the "odděleni" (divisions) contain a valuable historical and etymological account of the development of the Bohemian language and literature in each of the periods into which Jungmann has divided his history.
Jungmann also wrote numerous literary articles for the Bohemian newspapers and reviews, which gradually sprung up in spite of the constant opposition of the Austrian Government. These articles contributed greatly to the success of the Bohemian movement. As I have noted elsewhere, that movement was, at its beginning, necessarily a purely literary one. No political paper that was not directly or indirectly under the control of the Government, then entirely German in its views, was allowed to exist.
The second great work of Jungmann that ranks with his history of Bohemian literature is his vast dictionary of the Bohemian and German languages, published in five large volumes between 1835 and 1839. Jungmann's preparatory studies, both for this work and for the History, however, began as early as the year 1800. The work is a monument of indomitable energy and application. A work such as that of Jungmann would, if undertaken by a whole academy, have been most meritorious; but Jungmann worked almost alone, aided only in the merely mechanical part of his task by a few students of the University of Prague. His difficulties cannot be compared with those which the compiler of a dictionary of a more developed language encounters. A large part of ancient Bohemian literature, that within the last fifty years has been carefully edited and published, could then only be found in MSS. that were often difficult of access. Jungmann's work contains words that he only found once or twice in his sources; it was his desire to include all, for he laboured not only for the then scanty readers who wished to study the works of ancient Bohemian literature, but also for the modern Bohemian writers, whose vocabulary he endeavoured to enlarge.
Even now, when Bohemian literature has obtained an almost miraculous development, Jungmann's dictionary has not been superseded; and the same, as regards completeness at least, can be said of his History of Bohemian Literature.
The originators of the Bohemian revival, drawn together by a common passionate love for the national language, were mostly on terms of intimacy, and their correspondence, very voluminous, as was formerly the custom, gives a very clear insight into the views of the writers, and the disheartening circumstances under which they pursued their work. Of Jungmann's letters, the most interesting are those addressed to Kollar, who will be mentioned presently, and to Anthony Marek, an intimate friend of Jungmann, who was one of the minor Bohemian writers of this period. The degree of intimacy which existed among the small band of patriots is well described in one of Jungmann's letters to Kollar, written in February 1821: "I am writing to-day," he says, "to our dear Šafařik also, and to Palacký. You three form indeed my most beloved Trinity." The general impression of Jungmann's letters is distinctly a depressing one. The writer refers constantly to the incessant, often very puerile, vexations which he encountered from the Austrian authorities. Jungmann complains incessantly of the "censors", and we shall find the same complaints later when dealing with Palacký. Every book published in Austria had at that period to be previously submitted to the "censure-office" for inspection. There were two "censors" to each book, one of whom had to guard against anything contrary to the views of the Austrian Government being printed, while the other suppressed everything contrary to the teaching of the Church of Rome. Kollar had sent some sonnets, that were afterwards printed in his Daughter of Sláva, to Jungmann for the purpose of submitting them to the censors. Jungmann writes in answer: "The poems confided to me I should be glad to get published, but the censure suppresses everything.... Those beautiful (O most beautiful) parts of your poem which refer to Sláva I cannot even present to the censors without much danger to the good cause" (i.e. the revival of the Bohemian language). "The other part also it will hardly be possible to publish. The other day Ziegler[144] complained that the censor had struck out thirty sheets from his writings, even love-songs set to music. We must touch neither Eros nor politics; such are the orders and commands of the censure."
Jungmann's letters to Marek, written in a very familiar manner, also give an interesting insight into the lives and thoughts of the little group of Bohemian literary men; they show their intense devotion to the national language, their firm belief in the solidarity of the Slavic races, which was intensified by the Russian victories over Napoleon, their heartfelt delight when one of the then almost Germanised Bohemian nobles appeared to be favourable to the national cause, their dissatisfaction with the Government of Vienna, which always regarded them with suspicion. To the last-named subject Jungmann refers in some of his earliest letters to Marek. Writing on May 29, 1809, he says: "On me truly falls every burden of human life. On one hand the malice of neighbours, magistrates, school directors, vintagers and ploughers,[145] soldiers (who give it me well[146]), and other ruffians oppress me; on the other hand, I have little hope of obtaining my object (which, between us, is to obtain the professorship of physics at the University of Prague), because of the fearful number of competitors, and also because of the injustice of the Austrian Government, which recently transferred to Prague three professors from Vienna, as if we Bohemians were all donkeys." ... The passage of the Russian army through Bohemia naturally greatly interested the Slavic enthusiasts. On September 24, 1813, Jungmann writes to Marek: "The Russian troops march through here (Leitmeritz) constantly. To-day 120,000 (?) are expected, whose passage will cost the town 9000 florins. I diligently govorju [Russian for talking] with them, and find that there are among them very good-natured men, and that that which is—principally by Germans—said of their stealing and robbing is not their fault, but that of the badly organised commissariat.... On the whole, they are not worse than our own soldiers. It will not be to the disadvantage of the Bohemians that they should become better acquainted with the Russians. They will at least know that there are more Slavs in the world than they fancied." On May 4, 1814, Jungmann writes to Marek: "The Germans and half-Germans here" (at Leitmeritz) "are very angry with the newspapers, because they always—so they say—mention the Russians as if they were everything. This war has been advantageous to the Slav world, and has contributed in no slight degree to its advancement. Not in vain has Europe learned to know the Slavs and they Europe. I think the Slav languages will become better known than they are now. It is already certain, now that the Muses are establishing their realm in the North. I must endeavour to obtain a few Russian books.... Perhaps Count Waldstein[147] will be favourable to the Bohemians, as he knows Slavic languages. God be praised there is another nobleman who is not a German!"
When more peaceful times began, Jungmann's correspondence deals mainly with literary matters, but he continues to uphold the principle of solidarity or mutual intercourse (vzájemnost Slovanská) between the Slavs. On January 3, 1827, Jungmann writes to Marek: "Of what else should I write but of the subject which we both carry in our hearts—Slavic literature. Yes, Slavic literature, I say, for I may at least name in writing to my friend what in print we can scarcely mention. So low have we fallen through the misdeeds of our countrymen,[148] that we scarcely dare openly to profess that we are Slavs.... They treat even the word 'Slav' with great suspicion at the censure-office, and Palacký has made it a rule to mention the Slavs as little as possible in the journal of the Museum.... How little they love us can be seen by the fact that the censors at Vienna only gave permission to print an ancient Bohemian chronicle on condition that it should be printed in Latin characters and published at a high price, that it may come into the hands of but few, and of none that are 'unholy' (i.e. whom the Government distrusts).[149] ... We have pleasanter news from the East. According to a letter of Šafařik, the treaty of Akjerman between Russia and Turkey guarantees freedom to the Servian nationality; so a new epoch for that nation and its literature may begin. At four Russian universities—Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, and Charkov—professorships of general Slavic literature will be founded, and one at Warsaw is also in contemplation. There, then, the Bohemian language will be heard and its best works published. The Englishman Povring,[150] is translating Servian songs into English, and, stimulated by Šafařik, he will also translate the MS. of Königinhof. In England very many are learning Slavic languages, particularly Russian. Whenever a learned Englishman acquires a taste for one Slavic dialect, he wishes to learn a second," &c.[151] As a last quotation from Jungmann's letters, I shall give a short extract from one written in 1837, which is curious as referring to Count Kolovrat, one of the founders of the Bohemian Museum, who was then one of the principal members of the Austrian cabinet. It proves that Jungmann was by no means hostile to the Austrian Government, except when that Government treated its Slav subjects unjustly. Jungmann writes: "Gay,[152] the Croatian, is at Karlsbad. The Hungarians wished to imprison him because he published some national songs; now to their great grief he has received permission from Vienna to establish a printing-press. Our Kolovrat obtained this favour for him, though the Hungarian Chancellor opposed it. This minister (Kolovrat) has acted like a true Slav. Thanks and glory to him!"
Closely connected with Jungmann is his friend Kollar, whose name has already been mentioned frequently in this chapter. He was the greatest poet of the early Bohemian revival, though living Bohemian poets have undoubtedly surpassed him. John Kollar (1793-1852) was born at Mošovec, in the Slav district of Northern Hungary. His parents were Protestants, and it was decided that he should become a minister of that Church. In 1815 he proceeded to the then famous University of Jena in Germany, for the purpose of finishing his theological studies. The University of Jena was then one of the centres of the movement in favour of the unity of the German race, which has since been effected by "blood and iron". It does not seem improbable that the contact with the German patriots laid the germ of Kollar's passionate devotion to the idea of the unity of the Slav nations; though of course it was of a literary, not a political union of these nations—that are separated from each other by millions of aliens—that Kollar dreamt. It is, however, anticipating the future if we assume that these ideas exclusively, or even principally, occupied young Kollar while at Jena. An event during his stay at Jena influenced his whole life, and became the origin of the only one of his works that will live. He became passionately attached to Mina (or Wilhelmina) Schmidt, the daughter of a Protestant clergyman who lived in a village near Jena. How the German country girl was by Kollar transformed into the Daughter of Sláva is one of the curiosities of literature. Kollar's suit for Mina Schmidt was for the present unsuccessful. Frau Schmidt declared that she would never allow her daughter to live in a "savage country," as she termed Hungary; and it was to that country that Kollar's ecclesiastical career obliged him to return. Kollar afterwards became minister to the Protestant Church at Pest, and continued there up to the year 1849. He corresponded with Mina for some time after his departure from Jena, but news—incorrect, as it afterwards turned out—was brought from Germany announcing Mina's death. The news proved untrue, and fifteen years after Kollar's departure from Jena, and some years after he had raised Mina to the Slav heaven, she became his wife. Kollar's life, like that of all the Bohemian patriots, was a very laborious and painful one. His letters contain constant complaints of the incessant persecutions on the part of the Hungarian Government which his Slav sympathies brought on him. A plot on the part of Hungarians to murder Kollar was even discovered. Kollar several times appealed, and appealed successfully, to the Emperor Francis I. for protection. Kollar's ideas of Slavic solidarity also resulted mainly in disappointment. The separation of the Slavs on the whole continued as before, and even Kollar's own language, the Bohemian, was abandoned by Kollar's own countrymen. The Slavs of Northern Hungary, identical in race with the Bohemians and Moravians, had always used the Bohemian language. Šafařik, as well as Kollar himself, both born in the Slavic districts of Hungary, wrote in Bohemian. In the present century only the Slavs of Northern Hungary adopted as a written language a dialect that slightly differs from Bohemian. The result of this injudicious step, which Kollar from the first strongly blamed, has been the almost complete absorption by the Magyars of the isolated Slavs of Northern Hungary.
During the Hungarian revolution Kollar left Pest. Like most Slavs, his sympathies were rather with the Austrians than with the Hungarians, who had, indeed, constantly persecuted him. He spent some time travelling in Germany and Italy. One of the results of his visit to the last-named country was that deplorable work, Staroitalia Slavjanská ("Slavic Ancient Italy"). In recognition of his faithfulness to the Austrian Government, Kollar, immediately after the suppression of the Hungarian revolution in 1849, was awarded the professorship of Slavic archaeology at the University of Vienna. He did not live long to enjoy the comparative prosperity of which he was now assured. He died at Vienna on January 24, 1852, leaving his wife and children in a state of great destitution.
Kollar's Slávy Deera ("Daughter of Sláva") perhaps contributed more than any other work to the revival of Bohemian literature. Its first appearance was received with great enthusiasm, which continued for many years. Some of the Bohemian patriots boasted that they knew the whole enormous collection of sonnets by heart. The book, at first a small collection of sonnets, gradually grew to one of the largest books consisting entirely of sonnets which exists. The first collection was published in 1821, and consisted principally of reminiscences of Mina and of Jena, though Kollar's enthusiasm for the Slav race also already finds expression here. It was impossible that so fervent a Slav should love a German girl, but Kollar discovered that the family of Schmidt had come to Thuringia from Lusatia, which was formerly a Slav country, and where, indeed, a Slav dialect lingers to the present day. Mina thus being a Slav, it was possible to celebrate her as the "Daughter of Sláva", a goddess who personifies the Slavic race. Kollar firmly maintained that such a goddess had existed in the heathen mythology of the Slavs, but recent and more critical writers have expressed doubts on the subject. At any rate, Kollar gave the name of the Daughter of Sláva to the second and enlarged edition of his sonnets, which appeared in 1824. While the first collection had consisted mainly of love songs, the national Slav motive now becomes equally prominent. Kollar was greatly struck by the fact that large parts of Northern Germany, including the country near Jena, where Kollar had first loved and written, were formerly inhabited by Slavs. Constant warfare with the Germans, which began at the time of Charles the Great, has indeed long since destroyed all trace of these Slavs, but Kollar's imagination recalled them to life. Though very little is known of the Slav inhabitants of Northern Germany, there is no doubt that Kollar has greatly idealised them. The edition of the Daughter of Sláva published in 1824 consisted of three cantos. The poet, accompanied by Milek (the Slavic god of love), who has descended from heaven to bring him news of Mina, visits the countries that are watered by the Saale, the Elbe, and the Danube, and the three rivers give their names to the three cantos. Kollar and his companion everywhere search and find traces of the former Slav inhabitants of the countries which they visit. The edition of 1824 first contained the "fore-song" (předzpěv), or introduction, written in distichs, in which Kollar bewails the fate of the early inhabitants of Northern Germany. These verses rank among the finest in the whole range of modern Slav poetry. In 1832 Kollar published a third, again enlarged, collection of his sonnets. The second canto was considerably added to, and now entitled The Elbe, the Rhine, and the Vltava.[153] Two new cantos were added under the names of Lethe and Acheron. Kollar chose those names to give unity to his poem, as the former cantos had also been named after rivers. But the two new cantos are really a Slavic Paradiso and Inferno modelled on Dante. Kollar has here glorified and stigmatised those whom he considered prominent friends or enemies of the Slav race. It must be confessed that large portions of these cantos consist in a mere enumeration of names, often of persons who have long sunk into oblivion. Thus we find in hell a Miss Pardoe, who wrote a long-forgotten book of travels in Hungary, in which she, it appears, adopted the Hungarian standpoint, always hostile to the Slavs. Kollar, in his new peregrinations, is no longer accompanied by Milek, but by the "Daughter of Sláva," the glorified Mina Schmidt. The last sonnet of the poem, which I shall translate, contains an appeal of the "Daughter of Sláva" to all her countrymen, exhorting them to concord.
Though no subject could then be more original than the glorification of the then little-known Slav races, Kollar's poem yet contains many reminiscences of other writings. It has already been stated that the leading idea of the two last cantos is borrowed from Dante. The pilgrim in the earlier cantos sometimes recalls Childe Harold. Mina, or the "Daughter of Sláva," is sometimes modelled on Beatrice, sometimes on Laura. Kollar indeed never made a secret of the fact that he had studied the poetry of Western Europe. Such study was indeed a necessity at a time when, with the exception of the songs of the people, the Slavs possessed no poetry. Bohemian critics agree in asserting that the first canto of the Slávy Deera, written under the influence of a passionate love for Mina, is infinitely the best. The introduction to the poem has also been justly admired. It is interesting also as containing a general exposition of the author's views and dreams concerning the past and future of the Slavic race. Want of space will oblige me to quote only a portion of the "fore-song." Kollar, viewing the former homes of his race, exclaims: "Here before my tearful eyes lies the land, Once the cradle, now the tomb, of my nation. Stop! it is holy ground on which you tread. Son of the Tatra (Carpathian mountains), raise your head towards heaven, Or rather guide your steps towards that oak-tree Which yet defies destructive Time. But worse than Time is man, who has placed his iron sceptre on thy neck, O Sláva; Worse than wild war, more fearful than thunder, than fire, Is the man who, blinded by hate, rages against his own race.[154] O ancient times that surround me as with night! O land that art a record of all glory and all shame! From the treacherous Elbe to the perfidious plains near the Vistula, From the Danube to the devouring waves of the Baltic, In all these lands the harmonious language of the brave Slavs once resounded. Succumbing to hatred, it now has perished. And who has committed this offence that cries to heaven for vengeance? Who has in one nation dishonoured humanity in its entirety? Blush, envious Germany, the neighbour of Sláva! It is thy hands that once committed this guilty deed. No enemy has spilt so much blood—and ink, As did the German to destroy the Slavs. He who is worthy of liberty respects the liberty of all. He who forges irons to enslave others is himself a slave. Be it that he fetters the language or the hands of others, It is the same; he proves himself unable to respect the rights of others...." Kollar then proceeds to give the idealised account of the ancient Slav inhabitants of Germany, to which I have already referred. He attributes to them a very advanced degree of culture, and describes them as instructing Europe in seamanship, agriculture, and mining. Enumerating the Slav tribes, he writes: "Whither have you vanished, dear Slav nations, Nations that once drank the waters of Pomerania and the Saale, Peaceful tribes of the Sorbs, descendants of the Obotrites? And you tribes of the Ukres and Wiltes, whither have you gone? I look far to the right, I glance to the left, But in vain does my eyes seek Sláva in Slavic land. Tell us, O tree, growing as a temple, under which sacrifices were once offered to the ancient gods, Where are the nations, the princes, the towns, Who first spread civilisation in these northern lands?"
Writing as a poet, not as a politician, Kollar believed the Germanisation of these ancient Slav lands to be far less complete than it actually is. He writes: "As two rivers, though their waters have joined in one channel, yet differ in colour during a long part of their course, thus these two nations (the Germans and Slavs), though intermingled by the force of fierce war, yet still differ visibly in their manner of life. But the degenerate sons of Sláva often insult their mother, while they kiss the rod of their hateful stepmother (Germany). They are neither Slavs nor Germans in their ways. Hybrids, they belong half to one race, half to the other. Thus has the race of Osman settled down in the Hellenic lands. Its horsetails are prominent on the summit of Olympus. Thus, too, did the avaricious Europeans ruin the two Indian worlds, giving the people indeed education, but robbing them of their virtue, their land, their colour, and their language. Nationality and honour with us, too, have disappeared; Nature alone has remained unchanged. Woods, rivers, towns, and villages would not abandon their Slav names.[155] The sound still remains, but the Slavic spirit has fled...." The introduction ends thus: "It is shameful when in misery to moan over our fate; he who by his deeds appeases the wrath of Heaven acts better. Not from a tearful eye, but from a diligent hand fresh hope will blossom. Thus even evil may yet be changed to good. A crooked path may indeed lead men astray, but not humanity at large. The confusion of individuals may yet serve to the advantage of the community. Time changes everything, even past times. The errors of centuries may yet be repaired by time."
The fame of Kollar's introduction is so great that I have translated a considerable part of it, and I am therefore yet more limited in my quotations from the sonnets themselves. Those of the first canto, where the love-motive is still strong and enters into a quaint rivalry with the author's Slav enthusiasm, are the earliest and most valuable fruits of Kollar's muse. Čelakovský[156] was undoubtedly right in stating that the poetic genius of Kollar left him with his younger years. In the twelfth sonnet of the first book Kollar describes his hesitation between the two subjects that inspired him. There is an easily noticeable echo of Anacreon in the song. The poet writes:—
"I wished to sing of the thrones of the Bohemian kings, of the arrival of the brothers, of Vlasta and Libussa,[157] of Attila, the scourge of God, and how he taught his Huns to use the crossbow.
"I wished to sing of the golden Carpathians, the wines of Tokay, the splendour of the moon; but when I touched the strings of my lyre, 'Mina,' and again 'Mina,' alone resounded in my ears.
"In simple style I wished to write of fables, flowers, kingdoms, but my pen, self-willed, traces other characters than those that I intended.
"My speech also does not obey my will, and what when in company my heart carefully conceals my rash tongue reveals."
The singular mixture of love and national enthusiasm already noted appears quaintly—it would be severe to say grotesquely—in another sonnet of the first book. Kollar writes:—
"Once when a heavy sleep closed her weary little eyelids, I for half an hour practised kissing her as a true Slav should.
"My kisses were not such as Roman, Greek, or German describes—sensual buffooneries. They were pure, proper kisses, such as the customs of our Russian brothers allow.
"Thus then did I kiss my love: from the forehead downward to the chin, then in the shape of a cross from one little ear to the other.
"On this voyage twice I reached the little rose-garden of her lips, through which my soul enters into hers."
Of the sonnets of the second canto I shall quote one in which Kollar's enthusiasm for "Slavia," the Slav world, which he distinguishes from the goddess "Sláva," appears most clearly. He writes:—
"Slavia, Slavia! Thou name of sweet sound but of bitter memory; hundred times divided and destroyed, but yet more honoured than ever.
"From the Ural Mountains to the summit of the Carpathians, from the deserts near the equator to the lands of the setting sun, thy kingdom extends.
"Much hast thou suffered, but ever hast thou survived the evil deeds of thy enemies, the evil ingratitude also of thy sons.
"While others have built on soft ground, thou hast established thy throne on the ruins of many centuries."
One of the sonnets of the third book contains a curious prophecy of the future greatness of the Slav race. Kollar writes:—
"What will become of us Slavs a century hence? what of all Europe? Slavic manners, as the floods of a deluge, will extend their strength in every direction.
"That language, which the Germans falsely believed to be but a dialect fit for slaves, will be heard even under the ceilings of palaces and in the mouths of our very enemies.
"By means of the Slav language science will be developed. Our dress, the customs, the songs of our people will be the fashion on the Seine and on the Elbe.
"Oh! had it but been granted to me to be born at that time when the Slavs will rule, or might I at least then rise again from my tomb!"
The recent development of the Slav races is so little known in England, that these lines will probably appear to many readers far more absurd than they really are. Professor Léger, who has devoted his life to the study of Slavic history and literature, and is wondrously in touch with the national feeling, writes of the sonnet which I have just quoted: "These lines were written about the year 1830. Is it necessary to state to how great an extent the predictions have been fulfilled? The Slav language, then considered a jargon of peasants, is now the recognised language of the courts of St. Petersburg, Belgrade, Sophia, and Cettigne, of the parliaments and representative bodies of Prague, Brünn, and Agram, of the universities of Russia, Bohemia, Poland, and Illyria. ... Russian is ardently studied at Berlin, Paris, Vienna, and Budapest. Muscovite novels invade the libraries of Paris."[158]
The two last cantos of Kollar's great poem have little literary merit, and their always rather local interest has, as I have already mentioned, decreased with the lapse of time. I shall, however, translate the last sonnet of the fifth canto, which forms the conclusion of the whole work. Mina, in heaven, addresses thus the Slavs who are still on earth:—
"Oh you, brothers and sweet sisters who yet live in the world, grant me willingly your ear that I may briefly instruct you.
"Beware of that smooth path which the devil has interwoven with nets that he may entangle the souls of traitors in his deceitful snares.
"Come here and find (in heaven and hell) an example in the good and a warning in the evil. Learn above all to love your country.
"May these words resound from your summits, O Carpathians, to the Černa Hora (Montenegro), from the Giant Mountains to the Ural: 'Hell for traitors, heaven for faithful Slavs!'"
Kollar's merit as a writer depends mainly on the "Daughter of Sláva," though he was a copious writer of prose as well as poetry. A small German pamphlet by Kollar entitled, Ueber die literarische Wechselseitigkeit zwischen den verschiedenen Stämmen und Mundarten der Slavischen Nation ("On the Literary Solidarity of the various Branches of the Slav Nation"), which appeared in 1837, caused great sensation, and for a time acquired even political importance. In Bohemian Kollar wrote, besides his Slávy Deera, an account of his travels in Germany and Italy and several archaeological works. Of these, the Staroitalia Slavjanská ("Slavic Ancient Italy"), written in the last year of Kollar's life, and dedicated to the Emperor Francis Joseph, is the largest. The author endeavoured, on the slightest evidence and by means of the most fantastical suppositions, to prove that a large part of the population of Italy—particularly in the north—is of Slav origin. Kollar is here constantly carried away by his exuberant imagination, and the book has no scientific value. It is, indeed, scarcely an exaggeration to call it a tissue of absurdities. Kollar's recently published correspondence with Jungmann, Šafařik, Palacký, and others has great interest.
While Kollar devoted to the revival of the Bohemian language and literature his enthusiastic eloquence and poetic talents, Šafařik employed for the same purpose his vast erudition and unusual ability as a philologist. His works deal principally with the early origins of the Slav language and race, and of the early literature of Bohemia. The latter works were very valuable at a time when the Bohemian language was again acquiring the dignity of a written language. Like Jungmann, Šafařik also endeavoured to forward the advancement of his language by means of translations from more cultivated languages, and in his youth he also wrote poetry. But it is on his philological and archaeological works on the Slav race that his fame is principally founded. Equal to Dobrovský, and perhaps superior to Jungmann in erudition, some of his writings on these subjects are still standard works.
Paul Joseph Šafařik (1795-1861), like Kollar, was a native of the Slav district of Northern Hungary. As the son of a Protestant clergyman he received his first education in his own country, and from his early youth gave proof of his enthusiasm for the Slavic race, which inspired him during his whole life. In 1815 he visited the then far-famed University of Jena in Germany, and on his return to Hungary accepted a situation as private tutor at Pressburg. He here became acquainted with Palacký, and the friendship that sprang up between them continued during the whole of their lives. In 1819 Šafařik was appointed director of the gymnasium at Nový Sad (Neusatz), in Southern Hungary. His life here was embittered by constant persecution on the part of the Hungarian authorities, whose aversion to the Slav aspirations was as great as that of the German officials in Austria.
Šafařik's writings had meanwhile attracted attention at Prague, and some of the Bohemian patriots, though by no means opulent, subscribed a sufficient sum to enable him to proceed to Prague. His life here also was a wretched one. He was in constant financial distress. While occupied with learned works of the highest importance, he was obliged to gain his living by writing in popular journals, and he had at one time even to accept the humiliating and invidious office of a "censor." Writing on Slav subjects is not at the present day a very lucrative occupation. It was yet less so at the time of Šafařik, when interest in these matters was still more limited. Šafařik's health began to fail in consequence of constant anxiety, but he continued his studies on the history and language of his country and race undauntedly. A speaker at the meeting of Bohemian scholars that in 1895 celebrated the centenary of Šafařik's birth, rightly described him as a "martyr of science." While the Austrian Government continued to regard Šafařik's researches with indifference, the attention of the Prussian authorities was attracted to his profound knowledge of Slavic philology and archaeology, sciences that were then in their infancy. Šafařik was offered a professorship both by the University of Breslau and that of Berlin, but the Austrian Government, not wishing that he should expatriate himself, now appointed him professor of Slavic philology at the University of Prague. He, however, gave up this appointment a year later, when he became librarian of that university. In 1848 Šafařik made a brief appearance in the political arena. He was a member of the Slav congress that met at Prague in that year, and a speech in favour of the solidarity of the Slav nations which he delivered there caused great sensation. The failure of the congress and the German reaction,[159] which lasted from 1849 to 1859, were deeply felt by Šafařik. He now confined his studies to the remote antiquity of the Slav race. Every allusion to Bohemian history of later times again became inadmissible during these years. Šafařik, whose health had long been failing, died on June 2nd, 1861. Some time before his death his mental faculties had been affected.
I shall only mention a few of the most important of Šafařik's numerous writings. His many Bohemian essays on Slavic philology and archaeology—mostly published in the Journal of the Bohemian Museum—have indeed inestimable value for those who devote themselves to these studies, but little interest for others. Šafařik's first work was a small collection of Bohemian songs, written when he was only nineteen-years of age, and entitled Tatranská Músa s lyrou Slovanskou ("The Carpathian Muse with Slavic Lyre"). Early works also were several translations, of which that of the Clouds of Aristophanes and that of Schiller's Maria Stuart are the most important. A work which had already occupied Šafařik at Jena, but which he only completed during his stay at Neusatz, was his German Geschichte der Slavischen Sprache und Literatur ("History of the Slavic Language and Literature"). Neusatz or Nový Sad, a town in the south of Hungary, close to the frontier of Croatia, and not far from that of the present kingdom of Servia, was situated very favourably for the purpose of studying the various Slav languages. In his book Šafařik, contrary to the now generally accepted method of dividing the Slavs into three branches, distinguishes two classes of Slav nations only, and divides his book into two parts in accordance with this system. The first part deals with the Old Slavic language, the Russian, Servian, Croatian languages, and some minor dialects. The second part contains the history of the Polish and Bohemian literatures, and notes on the now nearly extinct dialects of the Slavs of Northern Germany, The book became antiquated even during Šafařik's lifetime, and he planned a new revised and enlarged edition, which was to have been published in Bohemian. Failing health and other occupations prevented Šafařik from carrying out this work. Even in its first state the book, which was only reprinted after Šafařik's death, long remained the standard authority on the little-known subject of which it treats. It is only since Mr. Pypin and Mr. Spasovič; published in 1865 their (Russian) History of the Slav Literatures that Šafařik's work can be considered as superseded. Another fruit of Šafařik's residence in the South Slav countries was his Serbische Lesekörner, an historical and critical analysis of the then little-known Servian language. This book also was written in German.
During his stay at Prague, Šafařik produced his most important work, which rendered him famous in all Slav countries. I refer to the Starožitnosti Slovanské ("Slavic Antiquity"), which was published in 1837. The book—written in Bohemian—is an attempt to record the history and culture of the Slavs in the earliest times. The subject, still very obscure, was then entirely unexplored. Šafařik intended the work to consist of two parts, but only the first, which is purely historical, was completed. Of the second part, only some essays on the ancient ethnography and archaeology of the Slavs were published. The historical work, which Šafařik again divided into two parts, deals, in the first, with the history of the Slav race from the time of Herodotus to the fall of the West Roman empire. The second part continues that history to the time when most Slavs were converted to Christianity—that is to say, speaking roughly, to about the year 1000. Šafařik's work entirely revolutionised the then current ideas on the origin of the Slavs and their early history. The more recent writers who, particularly in Russia, have studied these subjects, acknowledge that Šafařik's great work has been the foundation of their researches. One of his minor works requires notice, as it is connected with the much discussed question of the antiquity of the MSS. of Königinhof and Grüneberg. In 1840 Šafařik published jointly with Palacký a German work entitled Die ältesten Denkmäler der Böhmischen Spracke. In this book the two authors maintain the ancient origin, not only of the MS. of Königinhof, but also of that of Grüneberg, in which scarcely any Bohemian scholar now believes. Of course the question had not then—more than fifty years ago—been so thoroughly thrashed out as is now the case. Šafařik was an indefatigable worker. Besides his many published works, a large number of MSS. in his handwriting dealing with Slavic research were found. They prove that, had circumstances been more favourable, and had his health not failed him, he might have produced yet more works on the subjects to the study of which he devoted his life.
The works of Jungmann, Kollar, and Šafařik will always be highly valued by Bohemians, and indeed by all Slavs. But the career of Palacký, the greatest of the Bohemian leaders, whom I mention last, has a far wider interest, as have also the contents of his greatest work. Dealing mainly with Bohemian history, it incidentally throws a great deal of light on many questions connected with the general history of Europe up to the year 1526. It is much to be regretted that English historians have as yet availed themselves so little of Palacký's monumental History of Bohemia.[160]
Francis Palacký was born in 1798 at Hodslavice in Moravia, not far from Přerov or Prerau, an old centre of the Unity. The traditions of the Brethren never quite died out in this part of Moravia. Palacký's forefathers had belonged to the Unity, and the family, during the many years of persecution, continued secretly to worship according to its teaching. When the Emperor Joseph II., who, as regards religious toleration, was far in advance of his age, issued a decree authorising Protestant religious services according to the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions, Palacký's parents declared their adherence to the former creed. It may be mentioned that the Bohemian Brethren have only during the present reign again been recognised as a religious community. The traces of the traditions of the Brethren are very noticeable in Palacký's works, particularly in his masterly account of the career of Hus.
After obtaining the rudiments of education in local schools, Palacký in 1812 proceeded to the Protestant lyceum at Pressburg in Hungary. Here already Palacký gave proof of his studious nature, and his predilection for historical research was already evident Gifted with the Slav facility for acquiring languages, Palacký at Pressburg obtained a thorough knowledge of the English language. We are told that Bolingbroke's Letters on the Study and Use of History, Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres,[161] and the historical works of Robertson and Gibbon were among Palacký's favourite books. Other historical works that he read with great interest were Karamsin's History of Russia and Johannes Müller's History of the Swiss Confederation. After finishing his studies at Pressburg, Palacký continued to live there for some time, and was engaged as tutor by several noble families. It was during his stay at Pressburg that his life-long friendship with Kollar, that has already been mentioned, began. It was, indeed, probably mainly through Kollar's influence that he decided to devote his life to the study of Bohemian history and literature; he had previously thought of becoming a minister of the Protestant Church.
Pressburg, and Hungary generally, was not then a desirable residence for one who intended to devote himself to Slavic studies, which the Hungarian Government regarded with marked displeasure. Palacký, therefore, travelled to Prague, where he had the good fortune to obtain the protection of Dobrovský, who from their earliest acquaintance had realised the exceptional talent of the young Moravian. Through Dobrovský's influence Palacký obtained from Francis Count Sternberg the appointment of archivist to the family of which Count Francis was the head. This appointment left Palacký sufficient leisure to pursue his historical studies, and the small salary attached to it was very welcome to Palacký. He had, indeed, while a tutor, laid by a little money, but that could not last long, and his literary work was not likely to afford him much pecuniary gain. One advantage which Palacký obtained by his appointment as archivist to Count Sternberg will surprise English readers, but his Bohemian biographers lay great stress on it. Palacký's post secured him against all molestation on the part of the police. The Austrian police authorities in the earlier part of the present century were empowered to expel from any town "strangers of no profession," and they were particularly likely to do so in the case of a man known to be favourable to the Bohemian national movement.
In other ways, also, the modest appointment was a turning-point in Palacký's career. Through the favour of Francis Count Sternberg, and of his brother, Count Kaspar, president of the Bohemian Museum—which the two brothers had, jointly with Count Kolovrat, founded in 1818—Palacký became acquainted with many of the Bohemian nobles. He succeeded in obtaining from many of them the then quite exceptional permission to study the archives contained in their castles. Had it not been for the researches which he was allowed to make in these archives—particularly in those of Prince Schwarzenberg at Trěbon or Wittingau—Palacký would have been unable to write his History of Bohemia. The impulse to write the work, indeed, also came from the Bohemian nobles. The Diet in 1829 conferred on him the title of "Historian of the Estates of Bohemia;" but their legislative authority was very limited, and ten years passed before the title conferred on Palacký was confirmed by the authorities of Vienna.
It was on the suggestion of Palacký that it was decided that the newly-founded society of the Bohemian Museum should publish an annual journal, which was to contain principally studies on the history, ethnography, literature, and mythology of Bohemia. After some discussion as to whether the new journal should appear in Bohemian or in German—even so learned a Slavist as Dobrovský declared that it was impossible to publish a scientific periodical in the national language—it was decided to publish it in both languages. The Journal of the Museum of the Bohemian Kingdom ("Casopis Musea Království Českého") first appeared in 1827, and Palacký was its first editor. The German edition, which, though the great Goethe wrote in its favour, found few readers, was discontinued in 1831. The version which appeared in the national language, on the other hand, has been continued up to the present day. It is invaluable to those who endeavour to study the history and literature of Bohemia, and I have used its volumes extensively while writing this book. Mr. Morfill, one of the few English writers on Slavic subjects who writes with thorough knowledge and insight,[162] has truly described the volumes of the journal of the Bohemian Museum as a "mine of Slavonic lore."
Palacký's time up to 1837 was fully occupied with the duties connected with the editing of the new journal, with the composition of minor historical writings, and with his studies in the Bohemian archives. He soon, however, found that the preparations for his great history of Bohemia which the Estates urged him to write, would necessitate study in foreign archives also. Palacký, therefore, visited Munich and Dresden, and in 1837 undertook a more extensive journey to Italy, where he spent considerable time in studying the valuable documents contained in the archives of Venice and Rome. In the latter town he found some difficulty in obtaining access to the library and archives of the Vatican. Count Rudolph Lützow, then Austrian ambassador at Rome, who was himself a Bohemian, and to whom Palacký had been recommended, succeeded, however, in obtaining for him permission to examine at least some of the MSS. which he wished to see. Palacký has himself left us an interesting account[163] of the difficulties he encountered on the part of Monsignor Marini, prefect of the Vatican archives. They were caused, it was stated, principally by alleged indiscretions committed by Ranke, who some time previously had been allowed to study the archives of the Vatican.
After Palacký's return to Bohemia, the task of continuing his great historical work absorbed him so completely that he ceased to edit the Journal. His quiet and studious life was, like that of other Bohemian scholars, interrupted by the revolutionary events of the year 1848. The movement in favour of the revival of Bohemian nationality had hitherto been an entirely literary one, and the Bohemians very naturally chose their most prominent writers as their political leaders. As Bohemia, with many other non-German parts of Austria, then formed part of the Germanic Confederation, prominent Bohemians, and among them Palacký, were invited to take part in the proceedings of the German National Assembly that met at Frankfort in 1848. Palacký's reply, which caused great sensation at the time, is still worth quoting, as it became the watchword of the Bohemian patriots. He wrote: "I am not a German, but a Bohemian. Whatever talent I possess is at the service of my own country. My nation is certainly a small one, but it has always maintained its historical individuality. The rulers of Bohemia have often been on terms of intimacy with the German princes, but the Bohemian people has never considered itself as German." It is a proof of the rapidity with which Palacký acquired consideration, that one of the short-lived Austrian cabinets of 1848 (that of Pillersdorf), wishing to obtain the support of the Bohemian nation, offered him the post of Minister of Public Instruction. Though his national theories prevented Palacký from taking part in the deliberations of the German National Assembly, he was a member of the Slav Congress at Prague and of the Austrian Parliament which in 1848 and 1849 met first at Vienna, then at Kremsier.
The short period of liberal government in Austria ended with the year 1849. Palacký suffered, like all the Bohemian patriots, from the German and absolutist rule, which was re-established in Bohemia in a more aggravated manner than before.[164] A paper to which Palacký contributed was suppressed because of an article from his pen which had caused sensation, and the military authorities deliberated whether the writer should be tried by court-martial.
In 1861, when a new attempt to establish constitutional government in Austria was made, Palacký was made a life-member of the Upper Chamber of the Parliament of Vienna. He only spoke there twice, in August and September of the year that he had been named. The question of an agreement with Hungary was then under discussion. Hungary claimed almost complete independence, and Palacký rightly maintained that the establishing new small states was contrary to the tendency to union that then prevailed in Europe. Palacký advised the Hungarians, as well as the Bohemians, to make considerable concessions to the Central Government of Vienna. He seems already to have foreseen, what actually occurred six years later, that Hungary would be granted almost complete independence, and Bohemia considered a mere Austrian province.
Though Palacký, always favourable to the preservation of the Austrian empire, was prepared to concede to the Central Government in Vienna far more extensive powers than the Hungarians were, he yet claimed for Bohemia and the Parliament of Prague a very extensive autonomy, on lines similar, though not identical, with those of the ancient Bohemian constitution, which perished on the day of the battle of the White Mountain. When Palacký found that the Parliament of Vienna was discussing matters that he considered beyond its competency, and encroaching on the rights of the Bohemian representative body, he left Vienna on September 30, 1861, and never again took his seat in the Austrian Upper House. Of the Bohemian Parliament Palacký was a member from the time that it first met in 1861. He attended its meetings whenever the National or Bohemian party took part in its deliberations, which they, from political reasons, often refused to do. From 1861 to his death in 1876, Palacký was the recognised leader of the National party in Bohemia. A detailed account of his life during that time would be a record of the political struggles of Bohemia during those years, and would be out of place here. The admiration and veneration of the Bohemians for the "Otec Vlastí" (Father of the Country), as he was called, increased with his increasing years. On April 23, 1876, the completion of Palacký's great historical work was celebrated by a banquet at Prague, at which the historian was present. He seems to have felt the presentiment of approaching death, and indeed described the speech which he delivered as his testament. The speech is so characteristic of Palacký that I shall quote a few words from it. "Our nation," he said, "is in great danger, surrounded, as it is, by enemies in every direction; but I do not despair; I hope that it will be able to vanquish them, if it has but the will to do so. It is not enough to say 'I will'; every one must co-operate, must work, must make what sacrifices he can for the common welfare, particularly for the preservation of our nationality. The Bohemian nation has a brilliant past record. The time of Hus was a glorious time. The Bohemian people then surpassed in intellectual culture all other nations of Europe.... It is now necessary that we should educate ourselves and work in accordance with the demands of culture and intellect. This is the only testament that, speaking almost as a dying man, I wish to leave to my people." Palacký's presentiment proved but too true. He died, after a very short illness, on May 26, 1876. His funeral was the occasion of general national mourning in Bohemia.
Though, as already mentioned, the study of history from his early youth appealed particularly to Palacký, it was by a work of a very different character that he first became known to the small group of men who in the earlier half of the present century were interested in Bohemian literature. While still studying at Pressburg, Palacký published a translation of some of the poems of Ossian, which was enthusiastically welcomed by his friends.
It was at Prague only that he decided on writing his History of Bohemia, which made him the foremost man of his nation, and which he has himself described as "especially the work of my whole life." Palacký's preliminary labours in the archives of his own country and then in those of Germany and Italy have already been noticed. Of the immense difficulties which Palacký's historical work encountered he has himself given an interesting account. All printed writings were then in Austria and Bohemia under the control of the "censure-office," to which I have already referred. The Government, there is no doubt, was in principle opposed to the publication of a history of Bohemia founded on the best available documents, that is to say, of a work really deserving the name of a history. They were too ignorant to know to how great an extent such a work would contradict the short accounts of the past of Bohemia—written with a strongly Romanist and anti-Bohemian tendency, and founded on Hajek's chronicle—that were then in general use; but they somehow felt that this would be the case. "The Austrian Government was convinced," Palacký writes, "that its past conduct as regards Bohemia would not obtain praise from the tribunal of history. What occurred during the Thirty Years' War and since that period in the interior of Bohemia is still one of history's secrets; it makes the few who have attempted slightly to lift the veil under which these events are hidden shudder."
In 1836 the first volume of Palacký's History of Bohemia appeared. It was published in German, as were all the volumes that were issued up to the year 1848. Henceforth the book appeared simultaneously in German and Bohemian. When Palacký, towards the end of his life, re-wrote his great work, the earlier parts also appeared in Bohemian. The first volume, dealing with a period when the history of Bohemia is more than half mythical, was treated very leniently by the censors, who considered the fables of Prěmysl and Libussa very harmless. In the Austria of the earlier part of this century the words "Securus licet Ænaeam Rutulumque ferocem committas ..." were as true as in the Rome of the emperors.
Difficulties, however, began when Palacký had reached the period of Hus. The masterly account of the life and death of the great Bohemian, no doubt the most brilliant part of Palacký's work, greatly displeased the censors to whom it was submitted. The ecclesiastical censor suggested a very plain course, namely, that Palacký's work should be entirely suppressed. Prince Metternich, who was consulted, proposed that Palacký should omit all "objectionable reasoning," but should be allowed to state facts.
The correspondence between Palacký and the censors—published by the former after the suppression of that detestable institution—is irresistibly comic. The censors had not only, as is generally supposed, the power of striking out passages in an author's work that displeased them, they were also entitled to insert passages in a book that were often in direct contradiction with the writer's views. Palacký's description of the corruption of the Roman clergy in the fifteenth century was suppressed, and he was ordered to attribute the rise of the Hussite movement to the "stubbornness, inflexible obstinacy, and dogmaticalness" of Hus. Palacký patiently consented, but he ventured to remonstrate when objections were raised against his account of the courageous demeanour of Hus when before the Council. He was instructed to state that Hus had "appeared irresolute" when brought before his judges. Palacký remarked that this statement would be in contradiction with the passage quoted above which he had been ordered to insert The ignorance of the censor is proved by the fact that when Palacký quoted Poggio Bracciolini's account of the death of Jerome of Prague, he was unaware of the existence of the well-known Italian humanist, and requested to be informed who he was. He also expressed doubts as to the authenticity of the letter to Lionardo Aretino in which that account is contained, though it had then already been frequently printed, and is quoted by numerous Protestant and Catholic writers, including Pope Pius II, Palacký lived to see the abolition of censure, and to republish in their original form the volumes of his History that he had been obliged to submit to it.
Political events and the ever-increasing mass of materials, which of course proportionately increased Palacký's labours, delayed the progress of the History, and it was only in 1867 that the second part of the fifth volume, which reaches to the accession of the House of Habsburg to the Bohemian throne in 1526, was published. Bohemian historians generally end their work with the battle of the White Mountain in 1620, and this was no doubt Palacký's intention. His remark, quoted above, proves that he never intended to write the history of Bohemia during and after the Thirty Years' War. In 1861 he had, however, already formed the decision to end his narrative with the year 1526, and he informed the Estates of Bohemia—who contributed to the expenses of the publication—of that intention.
During the last nine years of his life Palacký employed whatever spare time his political engagements left him in re-writing parts of his History in accordance with fresh materials, in completing the Bohemian version of parts that had at first appeared in German only, and in eliminating the passages that the censors had obliged him to insert. This new revised edition was, as already mentioned, completed only in the year of the author's death.
Palacký's History of Bohemia is now recognised as one of the great historical works of the nineteenth century. Though less known in England than on the Continent, it has there also obtained the praises of historians, such as Bishop Creighton and the late Mr. Wratislaw. It is not easy to define the circumstances that rendered the publication of Palacký's monumental work a political event in Bohemia, contributing greatly to the revival of national feeling. The record of a glorious past came as a revelation to the Bohemians, whom the German inhabitants of Austria were, in consequence of their long supremacy, in the habit of treating with contempt. It fortified the patriots in their belief that their nation and its language would not perish. It is this conviction which alone explains the intense veneration for Palacký which all Bohemians felt, many of whom had neither the money to buy nor the time to read his great historical work. The recently published centenary memorial of Palacký contains many striking instances of the devotion with which Bohemians of all classes regarded the historian of their country. I may be permitted to quote one anecdote from the Memorial. A young tailor's apprentice from Moravia, named Breynek, during a visit to Prague, met Palacký in the street. Innumerable photographs of the great historian had rendered Breynek familiar with his features. He walked up to him, stating that he was a Moravian and a countryman. Palacký conversed affably with him for several minutes and then gave him his hand. This meeting became the principal event of Breynek's life. Every date was designated as having happened "before I met Palacký" or "after I met Palacký." He only regretted that he had been too shy "to kiss the hand that had written the history of his country." Palacký's History, as already noted, was published simultaneously in German and in Bohemian; the earliest volumes indeed at first appeared in the former language only. The book is therefore not so inaccessible as the works of the earlier Bohemian historians, from which I have given copious quotations. An English translation of Palacký's history of Bohemia is, however, still a desideratum.
With the exception of a short German biography of Dobrovský, most of Palacký's minor works are connected with his great History; some are the results of studies preparatory to the great work; others contain documentary evidence in support of statements made in the book; in others again, Palacký enters into controversies with some of the critics of his work. I shall mention some of the most important of these works. In the year 1829 the Bohemian Society of Sciences offered a prize for the best essay on the early historians of Bohemia. Palacký won this prize with his first historical work, entitled Würdigung der alten Böhmischen Geschichtschreiber. The book was written in German, and was first published in the Journal of the Bohemian Museum, that then appeared in German as well as in Bohemian. In 1830 it was republished separately in an enlarged form. The book gives short and concise sketches of the lives of the Bohemian historians from Cosmas to Hajek. It is still of value, and indispensable to all who study the works of these historians. Like this book, closely connected with Palacký's principal work, is a short historical sketch entitled Die Vorläufer des Hussitanthums ("The Precursors of Hussitism"). The fate of this little book is rather curious. In 1842 Palacký read a paper on "The Precursors of Hus" before the Bohemian Society of Sciences. Wishing to publish its contents, he, as in duty bound, submitted the MS. to the censure-office. The officials there, however, entirely declined to give their consent to the publication of the book. A copy of the MS. came into the hands of Dr. Jordan of Leipzig, who in 1846 published it there under his own name. This was done with the consent of Palacký, who was more desirous that the fruits of his research should become public than that he should obtain personal recognition. The book has since been reprinted under the name of the real author, and still has great value. I have availed myself of its contents when writing of the precursors of Hus In chapter ii. of this book.
It is not surprising, if we consider the previous general ignorance on the subject of Bohemian history, that from the moment his book began to appear Palacký became the object of violent attacks. The first attacks proceeded from German writers, but after the publication of the volume that deals with Hus, other Catholic writers also joined in these attacks. The treatment which the Slavs of Northern Germany, and sometimes those of Bohemia also have endured on the part of the Germans, could only be defended by describing these tribes as brutal, savage, and cruel barbarians. Palacký has certainly proved that these descriptions, founded on vague statements of German monks or on the mendacious Hajek, are at least grossly exaggerated. Palacký's impartial account of the career of Hus, who had in Austria previously been described in accordance with the words of the censor, which I have quoted, displeased the more prejudiced Roman Catholics, Professor Höfler, who was both a fanatical Teuton and a bigoted Roman Catholic, was the most persistent opponent of Palacký. Palacký replied to his criticism in his Geschichte des Hussitanthums und Professor Höfler which appeared in 1868. Mainly polemical also was Palacký's small work, Zur Böhmischen Geschichtschreibung, published in 1871. In this book the author defends his historical work against the attacks of Professor Höfler and other German critics. He gives here also an account of his old controversies with the censure-office, from which I have quoted.
Several collections of documents are also due to the diligence of Palacký. In 1860 he published a collection of—mostly Latin—documents referring to the reign of King George of Poděbrad. A similar but far more interesting collection of Latin and Bohemian documents was published in 1869. I have in chapter iii. frequently quoted this collection, on which, indeed, my account of the career of Hus is principally based. The Latin documents are printed in that language only, but Palacký has given a Latin translation of those that were written in Bohemian. An additional collection of documents, published in 1873, refers to the period of the Hussite wars. In the last years of his life Palacký published in three volumes a selection of the most important historical, political, and literary essays which he had written in Bohemian. This is by no means a complete list of Palacký's works. In the "question of the MS." he, as already mentioned, figured as a defender of the authenticity of these documents.
It is to the four writers whom I have now successively referred to that the revival of the Bohemian language and of Bohemian literature is principally due. They were the centre of a group of writers who, if less talented, were no less patriotic and enthusiastic. The isolated position in which they were at first placed, surrounded by Germans or Germanised Bohemians, and living under an absolute Government, that always treated them with suspicion and often with positive enmity, caused these men to draw closely together; many of them were indeed on terms of intimate friendship. The vast amount of correspondence that passed between them, to which I have already referred, is now gradually being published. It is characteristic of these writers that they rarely limited their labours to one subject, but generally wrote both in poetry and in prose, and on the most varied subjects. Their patriotic motive was the wish to prove that the new, or rather revived, literature possessed works on all subjects and in every literary form. That this sometimes led to superficiality and mediocrity cannot be denied.
Wenceslas Hanka (1791-1861) has already been mentioned in these pages as the discoverer of the MS. of Königinhof, and it is as such that he is principally known. He is, however, the author of a collection of Bohemian songs that soon became very popular, and of several works on Bohemian grammar and etymology. He also published numerous translations from the German and from the Slav languages, and edited Hus's Deerka and Dalimil's Chronicle, which were then almost unknown.
A better poet than Hanka was his contemporary Ladislav Čelakovský. The best of his many poetical works are two collections of national songs entitled respectively Echoes of Russian Song and Echoes of Bohemian Song. These books, contrary to what the title would lead one to infer, are mainly original, though Čelakovský has made thorough use of his knowledge of the legends and traditions of the Slav peasantry. Another collection of poetry is entitled The Hundred-Leaved Rose. As in Kollar's Daughter of Sláva, the love motive struggles with the patriotic motive for supremacy in this poem—not perhaps to its advantage. We possess prose works also of Čelakovský dealing with the Bohemian language. That subject was ever before the minds of the Bohemian writers of the earlier half of this century, of whom Čelakovský is one of the most correct.
It is beyond the purpose of this book to give a complete list of the modern "minor poets" of Bohemia. I may mention as among the best, Macha, who imitated Byron, Jungmann's friend Marek, Halek, Koubek, and Rubes. The last-named is the author of a song entitled Ja jsem Čech a kdo je vic? ("I am a Bohemian, and who is more?"), which is still very popular in Bohemia. The drama has only been greatly cultivated in Bohemia within the last twenty years, particularly since the establishment of the large Bohemian theatre at Prague. At present Bohemia possesses a considerable number of dramatic authors. Of older dramatists we must first mention Joseph Tyl (1808-1856), the author of very numerous dramatic works. In one of these Tyl introduced a song beginning with the words Kde je domov muj? ("Where is my home?"). This song rapidly became very popular, and can now almost be considered as the national air of Bohemia. Wenceslas Klicpera (1792-1859) wrote over fifty comedies and tragedies, and, though none of his plays are above mediocrity, contributed considerably to the development of the Bohemian stage, which then possessed hardly any dramatic works. Of novelists belonging to the early period of the revival of Bohemian literature, we should mention Mrs. Božena Němcova, who was born in 1820 and died in 1862. Her novels, which deal mainly with the simple life of the Bohemian villagers, have obtained a well-deserved popularity. Mrs. Němcova's masterpiece, the Babička ("Grandmother"), has been translated into English, French, Russian, German, and many other languages. A very talented writer of historical novels was Wenceslas Beneš Třebizky (1849-1884).
Two gifted sisters, whose work was of great assistance to the development of Bohemian literature, also deserve mention. I refer to the sisters Rott, who belong to a period somewhat later than Mrs. Němcova. The elder sister assumed the pseudonym of Karolina Světla (1830-1893), and is the author of many interesting novels, of which Križ u potoka ("The Cross by the Stream") obtained the greatest success. Sophia Rott—afterwards Mrs. Podlipská—(1833-1897) produced a cycle of historical novels that have great interest, though they are not devoid of anachronisms.
Of writers on scientific subjects, one of the earliest was John Presl (1791-1849). Presl was Professor of Natural History at the University of Prague, and the first modern Bohemian works on this subject are due to him. The patriots, as already mentioned, wished to prove that all subjects could be treated in the national language. Presl is the originator of the present system of Bohemian phraseology as regards the subjects on which he wrote, and he has therefore well deserved the gratitude of the Bohemian people. It is of him and of Marek that the story is told that, when they were visiting Jungmann to discuss the future of Bohemian literature, the latter remarked to his visitors: "It needs only that the ceiling of this room should fall in, and there will be an end of Bohemian literature!"
Great also are the services to the Bohemian cause of Charles Jaromir Erben; born in 1811, he died in 1870 as archivist of the town of Prague. Erben's works, like those of many Bohemian writers of his time, deal with various subjects. It is really only the establishment of the national university which has made it possible for us to have specialists in all branches of science at the present day. Erben published several collections of Bohemian popular poetry and various interesting works on the folklore of his country. We have to thank him also for an edition of selected works of Ilus, which has value until the definitive edition of the works of the Bohemian martyr is completed. The works of Hus, particularly those written in the Bohemian language, were formerly almost inaccessible. Erben also edited Štitný's books on General Christian Matters, Harant of Polžic's Travels, the Chronicles of Bartoš, the writer, and many minor works. These editions have valuable notes and biographies of the ancient writers, which I have frequently used in the earlier parts of this work.
More limited was the range of studies of Dr. Joseph Jireček (1825-1888). His works mostly deal with Slavic, particularly with Bohemian literature. Jireček's Rukovět, or Handbook of the History of Bohemian Literature, is still one of the best books dealing with the subject. That part of the work which refers to the writers of the so-called "unity", founded on entirely new documents, will not be superseded for a considerable time. Dr. Jireček played a considerable part in Bohemian and Austrian politics, and was, as Minister of Public Instruction, a member of Count Hohenwarth's short-lived Cabinet (1870-1871).
One of the results of the revolutionary movement of 1848 was the rapid development of journalism in Bohemia. Its originator was Charles Havliček (1820-1856). Endowed with an exceptional talent for satire, he strongly attacked the unpopular Austrian rule in Bohemia. He collected many of his political articles in the famed Kutnohorskí Epištoly ("Letters from Kutna Hora"). Of his satirical works, Křest' Svatého Vladimira ("The Baptism of St. Vladimir") is the most witty. During the time of reaction that followed the revolutionary years 1848 and 1849, Havliček was exiled to Brixen in the Tirol by the Austrian Government. We owe to this exile his Tyrolské Elegie ("Tirolese Elegies"), one of his finest works. Havliček was allowed to return to his country shortly before his death.
As a result of the brilliant example given by Palacký, great attention has recently been devoted to the long-neglected annals of Bohemian history. Dealing now only with those who are deceased, I will first mention Dr. Anton Gindely (1829-1888), whose studies were mainly devoted to the history of Bohemia in the early part of the seventeenth century. He did not live to complete his great work, a history of the Thirty Years' War, but his minor studies have thrown considerable light on little-known subjects connected with Bohemian history. Thus the great influence of Christian of Anhalt on Bohemian politics can be considered as almost a discovery of Gindely's. It may be said that Gindely's speciality was his liking for the study of original sources (the "Quellenstudium," as it is called by the Germans), and there may have been some exaggeration in his method.
Professor Karel Tieftrunk's (1829-1897) studies of Bohemian history deal with a rather earlier period than that chosen by Dr. Gindely. His principal work, Odpor stavuv cěských proti Ferdinandovi I. ("The Opposition of the Bohemian Estates to Ferdinand I."), is very valuable, and is founded on the contemporary record of Sixt of Ottersdorf, as well as on careful archival study.
Professor Wenceslas Tomek (1818-1905), during his long life of study, enriched Bohemian literature with numerous and valuable historical works, and he held up to his death the rank of the most prominent historian of his country. In the last years of his life he published his memoirs, which are somewhat disappointing. The extreme caution which was innate in an Austrian subject of Tomek's generation, and perhaps also the staunchly conservative views which he held after youthful radicalism had left him, induced him to avoid, with perhaps exaggerated caution, all mention of matters that might give offence to the governing powers. Wenceslas Tomek was born at Králové Hradec (Königgrätz) in 1818. His father, as he tells us, was a shoemaker, who had some time previously established himself in that town. Though Tomek for a time studied law, he soon devoted himself entirely to historical work. Even in his younger and more liberal days he appears to have been a fervent adherent of the Church of Rome; but he tells us in his memoirs that he was severely reprimanded by the then formidable "censure"-office for having stated in one of his earliest writings that Socrates—a pagan!—had been an honest man. The greatest work of Tomek, his Dějepis města Prahy ("History of the Town of Prague"), perhaps one of the greatest town-histories of the nineteenth century, which he only began late in life, remained unfinished. It is of priceless value because of the treasures of research that it contains, and is as valuable to those who frequently differ from Professor Tomek's views as to those who are always in sympathy with his opinions. A history of the University of Prague by Tomek also remained unfinished, and it may be considered as having been superseded by Dr. Winter's more recent works. Tomek is also the author of a biography of John Zǐžka, which—as indeed do all Tomek's works—gives evidence of deep and conscientious research. That the author is not in sympathy with the hero of his biography is a fact which, though it does not diminish the historical value of the book, undoubtedly detracts from its artistic worth. Zǐžka's biography remains unwritten, and the strange, totally uncritical, and fantastic Jean Zǐžka of George Sand is perhaps none the less a truer portrait of the great Bohemian hero than Professor Tomek's book. The other works of Tomek on Austrian and Bohemian history are little more than school-books.
Two writers who died recently, and whose influence on the Bohemian literature of the present day is great, are Neruda and Zeyer. As is frequently the case with Bohemian writers, these authors cultivated several branches of literature. Jon Neruda was born in the Prague Malá Strana (the part of the city which is situated on the left bank of the Vltava river) in 1834. His books, both in prose and in verse, are very numerous. Of his poems, the Písně Kosmické ("Cosmic Poems"), which are the result of deep philosophic thought, had a great success when they appeared in 1878. Some critics, however, assert that the book is somewhat obscure. Of Neruda's many prose works, some of which first appeared as feuilletons in the Narodni Listz, the foremost Bohemian newspaper, the best are the Malostranské povídky ("Tales of the Malá Strana"). Neruda died in 1891.
Julius Zeyer (1841-1901) was certainly one of the most prominent writers of the period of the literary revival in Bohemia. Though he did not begin writing in early life, he was, like most of the writers of his time, the author of numerous works both in prose and in verse. His first book, Ondry Cernyšev, a historical novel, the scene of which is laid in Russia at the time of the Empress Catherine II., appeared in 1875. Zeyer lived a considerable time in Russia, and also frequently visited Italy. Next to his own Bohemia, these two countries influenced him most. In perhaps the best of his many novels, Jan Maria Ployhar, the scene is laid in Italy. Of Zeyer's poetical works, the best is his Vyšehrad, a cycle of epic poems which deal with the legendary period of Libusa and Premysl. It is undoubtedly one of the most valuable fruits of modern Bohemian poetry.[165] Zeyer also attempted, though not very successfully, to write for the stage and he is also the author of a biography of the Bohemian patriot, Vojta Naprstek, with whom and with whose family he was on terms of friendship.
The last twenty years have contributed in a quite unprecedented manner to the development of the Bohemian language and literature. The Bohemian writers now living have added greatly to the fame of their country, and have brought the national language to a degree of purity and polish which it had never attained before. Many circumstances have contributed to this result. The foundation of the Bohemian Academy of Francis Joseph, which added to the Society of Sciences and that of the Museum a third learned society, has been very helpful. The foundation of a large national theatre has greatly encouraged dramatic authors, and the fact that the national language has to a very great extent among the middle classes, and to a lesser degree among the upper ones also, taken the place of German, has been of immense value to the Bohemian novelists. Those of the present day have naturally a great superiority over their predecessors, who, when attempting to describe Bohemian society, wrote of counts and barons, while the counts and barons of that period in real life only spoke German.
The living Bohemian writers are so numerous that I have, though reluctantly, omitted the names of many whose works are of value. The study of history continues in Bohemia without interruption, as is indeed natural in a country where the records of a splendid past afford some solace to those who feel that their country plays but a subordinate part in the present Austro-Hungarian empire. Of the living historians of Bohemia, one of the most prominent is Professor Joseph Kalousek, born at Vamberk in 1838. He showed from early youth great talent for historical research; and his writings include, besides larger works, a vast number of articles that have appeared in the various Bohemian reviews and magazines. One of the most important works of the learned professor is his Statni Pravo, a study of the ancient constitution of Bohemia. The book first appeared in 1871 at the moment when an imperial decree had assured the Bohemians that the constitution would be restored to them. Other works of Professor Kalousek are a treatise on the use of the chalice in Bohemia in the period previous to Hus—a matter the importance of which only those thoroughly acquainted with Bohemian history can gauge—and a recent book entitled Obrana Knižete Václava Svatého ("A Defence of Prince Wenceslas the Holy"). Dr. Kalousek, a firm adherent of the Church of Rome, here upholds the memory of St. Wenceslas, who has been treated rather unfavourably by Palacký and other Bohemian historians. Kalousek has also shown great interest in the history of the Bohemian peasantry during the period of serfdom. Many of the documents referring to this subject, published by him in the Archiv Česky, which he edits, are of great value.
Among the historians of the present day I should next mention Dr. Jaroslav Goll (born 1846). Professor Goll is one of the shining lights of the new Bohemian University, and his historical works are very valuable. Dr. Goll studied for a time at the German University of Göttingen, which was then, in consequence of the presence of the great historian Waitz, a centre of historical study in Germany. Somewhat later Goll for a short time acted as secretary to the historian Bancroft, then Minister of the United States in Berlin. These and other visits to foreign countries enabled Goll to acquire a thorough acquaintance with foreign languages. He has proved his knowledge of French by the translation of the Fleurs du mal of Baudelaire, which he published jointly with the poet Vrchlický. Goll subsequently devoted himself entirely to historical research. His studies, dealing with the formerly little-known community of the Bohemian brethren, which appeared both as separate works and in the columns of the Časopis Musea Českého ("Journal of the Bohemian Museum"), are of great importance to the history of Bohemia. Of great and fascinating interest also is Dr. Goll's Čechy a Prusy, a work which deals with the little-known relations between Bohemia and Prussia in the Middle Ages. Together with Professor Pekář—also a distinguished historian—Professor Goll edits the Česky Časopis historický, a review whose purpose is similar to that of the English historical review.
Dr. Anton Rezek (born 1853) is one of the prominent historians of Bohemia, though political duties—he was for some time a member of the Austrian Cabinet—and latterly ill-health, have somewhat interfered with his historical studies. His works deal mainly with the history of Bohemia during the earlier part of the sixteenth century—a momentous period; for it was then, in 1526, that the permanent rule of the house of Habsburg over Bohemia began. Many of Rezek's works have been published in the Časopis Musea Českého, and some have appeared in German also.
Dr. Joseph Truhlář has devoted himself successfully to the interesting subject of humanism in Bohemia. The humanist movement, suspected both as coming from Rome and as having what were believed to be pagan tendencies, reached Bohemia late. Its principal adherent in that country was Bohuslav of Lobkovic, whose letters Dr. Truhlář has edited and published. He is also the author of the interesting work entitled Humanismus a Humaniste v Čechach za Krále Vladislava II.
Professor Sigismund Winter (born 1846) is the author of interesting works dealing with the internal condition of Bohemia in ancient times. His history of the University of Prague, his Život cirkevni, a study of the ecclesiastical condition of Bohemia in the Hussite period, and indeed all his writings, are indispensable to the student of Bohemian history.
Of younger Bohemian historians Dr. Wenceslas Flajšhans deserves mention. He has devoted much time and talent to the study of the life and works of Hus, of whom he has recently written an excellent biography. Dr. Flajšhans is also the author of a history of Bohemian literature, to which I here gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness. Mr. Jaroslav Vlček, who, together with Mr. Hladík, edits the review Lumir, has also begun a history of Bohemian literature that is of great interest.
The study of philology has recently been greatly developed in Bohemia. One of the greatest living Bohemian philologists is Professor Gebauer, to whose writings it is principally due that the genuineness of the MSS. of Zelená Hora and Králové Dvur is now generally considered doubtful. Professor Gebauer has now begun the publication of a historical grammar of the Bohemian language on a large scale. Only Part I. and Part III. (consisting of two volumes) have as yet appeared. Another of the principal opponents of the genuineness of the MSS. was Professor Tomas Masaryk (born 1850). Besides being a philologist, Dr. Masaryk is also a distinguished writer on philosophical subjects.
Of great value to Bohemian philology and early literature are the labours of Mr. Adolphus Patera, formerly head librarian of the Bohemian Museum at Prague. For many years Mr. Patera has employed his annual holidays in searching for early Bohemian MSS., many of which, though forgotten, still exist in the libraries of the towns and monasteries of Bohemia and Moravia. Mr. Patera has been indefatigable in deciphering these very ancient MSS., and has published the results of his work in the Časopsis Musea Království Českého. The very interesting but long-neglected study of Bohemian folklore has been greatly assisted by the labours of Mr. Patera's successor, Dr. Zibrt, librarian of the Bohemian Museum. He has published many of the results of his researches in the periodical Česky Lid ("The Bohemian People"). To render his studies accessible to a larger number of readers, Dr. Zibrt very wisely publishes a French edition of his periodical. Professor Mourek, who has mainly studied philological subjects, has enriched the literature of his country by very valuable Bohemian-English and Anglo-Bohemian dictionaries. The learned professor is a thorough master of the English language. Dr. Jaromir Čelakovský (born 1846), up to recently archivist of the city of Prague, a son of the poet Čelakovský, is the author of many valuable studies concerning the ancient judicial and constitutional institutions of Bohemia. Dr. Augustine Sedláček (born 1843) is the author of a monumental illustrated work entitled Hrady a zámky české ("Strongholds and Castles of Bohemia"), of which thirteen volumes have already appeared, and which is invaluable for the student of Bohemian history and archaeology. The prehistoric antiquity of Bohemia has recently been the subject of erudite works by Dr. Píč (Starožitnost země české, "The Antiquities of the Bohemian Land") and Dr. Niederle (Starožitnosti české, "The Antiquities of Bohemia").
Novelists are at present very numerous in Bohemia and, as already mentioned, the extension of the national language enables the authors of the present day to write in a fashion more lifelike than was that of their predecessors. Of the older novelists I will first mention Wenceslas Vlček (born 1839). Of his numerous novels Věnce vavrinovy ("The Wreath of Laurels") is, I think rightly, considered the best. Jacob Arbes (born 1840) is, like most Bohemian authors, a very fruitful writer. Of his many works his Romanetta, a collection of short and very striking tales, is perhaps the best. Alois Jirasek (born 1851) has, like so many Bohemian writers devoted himself to historical romances, which have a natural fascination for the inhabitants of a country with a great past. In justice to Mr. Jirasek it should be stated that in contrast from minor writers he has succeeded in portraying in a masterly manner the period of Hus and the Taborites. Of his historical novels, the scene of which is laid in this period, I may mention the three volumes which Jirasek has named Mezi proudy ("In the Midst of the Stream"), and the book entitled Proti Vsem ("Against All"), a "Page from the Bohemian Epic". A novel entitled Psohlavci, which treats of a later period, that in which, after the battle of the White Mountain, the Bohemian peasants were deprived of their last vestiges of liberty, is among Jirasek's most popular works. Jirasek has also appeared before the public as a dramatist, and his powerful tragedy, Jan Zǐžka, which has been often and brilliantly produced at the National Theatre of Prague, appeals to me more than any of his historical novels. The last scene of the fourth act, in which Zǐžka addresses the faithless city of Prague, has an almost unrivalled beauty. William Mrštik is the author of several clever novels. Of younger writers, Wenceslas Hladík (born 1868) deserves mention. He is the author of a considerable number of novels and dramas. Hladík has very skilfully represented the life and scenery of Prague in a somewhat impressionist manner. His countrymen have sometimes accused him of imitating too closely the modern "decadent" French novelists. To me his novels have often recalled the works of Mr. George Moore. Of Mr. Hladík's novels the best is, I think, the recently published Evžen Voldan, and of his plays I admire most Zavrat ("Vertigo"), in which the ancient subject of conjugal infidelity is treated in a brilliant and original manner. Francis Herites (born 1851) is a fruitful writer of novels and short sketches, and has contributed largely to many Bohemian reviews. Of his many works I will mention one of the older ones, entitled Z mého herbáře. It contains a short tale, Kokotice; which is one of the most touching expressions of Bohemian national feeling that I have ever read.
I will now refer to a group of writers whose fame—though many of them have also written in prose—is mainly founded on their poetry. The critics of the future will probably consider as the greatest Bohemian poet of the day Jaroslav Vrchlický, though some now prefer Svatopluk Čech to him. Jaroslav Vrchlický—the pseudonym of Mr. Emil Frida—was born at Loun in Bohemia in 1853. He began writing at an early age, and has continued doing so uninterruptedly up to the present day. Like Victor Hugo, to whom he has been compared, and who certainly has greatly influenced him, Vrchlický has produced an enormous number of works. His writings, which include lyric and epic poems, dramas, numerous translations, and a few works in prose, had in 1903 already reached a total of 185 volumes. The principal characteristic of Vrchlický's poetry is his mastership of the Bohemian language, which he can almost be said to have raised to a higher level. As the late Dr. Albert wrote, "He works on his language as Paganini or Ondřiček on their violins." This is particularly obvious in Vrchlický's numerous translations from the works of English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish writers. To mention but one example, his rendering of Browning's Toccata of Galuppi is masterly. I wish, however, to devote to Vrchlický's original work the short space that remains to me. The poet visited Italy early in life, and soon acquired a thorough knowledge of the language of that country. He also studied the literatures of France and Spain. A new current of thought was a result of these studies introduced into the Bohemian language, for the writers of an earlier period, brought up in the Bohemian schools, which were then almost entirely German, had been with scarcely an exception under the influence of German literature. Of Vrchlický's early works I will mention Z Hlubin ("From the Depths"), which appeared in 1875, Rok na jihu ("A Year in the South"), which contains reminiscences of the poet's Italian travels, and Bodlaci z Parnasu ("Thorns from Parnassus "), in which is included that truly beautiful poem, Krumlovská Legenda. Vrchlický is a master of the difficult art of the sonnet, and his Sonety samotare (i.e. of a recluse) and Nové sonety samotare are among his finest works. One of the poet's latest books, entitled Episody, contains some beautiful poems referring to the period of the Hussite wars. That period, as is natural, has inspired the greatest works of many of the greatest Bohemian writers. Vrchlický has also obtained fame as a dramatist His Noc na Karlštejne ("A Night at the Karlštejn"), the scene of which is laid in the time of Charles IV., has deservedly had great success, and figures frequently in the repertoire of the National Theatre of Prague. Vrchlický's Julian Apostata deals with its difficult though fascinating subject in a very striking manner. This brilliant play well bears comparison with Ibsen's book on the same subject, and Merežkovsky's Death of the Gods. Of Vrchlický's many other works his Trilogy on the Greek tale of Hippodamia deserves mention. It is quite impossible to give in a few words even a fairly sufficient appreciation of the work of Vrchlický.[166] Some of the finest writings of the poet have recently been translated into German.
Svatopluk Čech, born in 1846 at Ostředek in Bohemia, ranks with Vrchlický as one of the greatest of modern Bohemian poets. I consider it useless to enter into the invidious and foolish question, to which of the two great poets the primacy should be awarded. Svatopluk Čech is truly great as a writer of epic poems, and here he may be considered as unrivalled by modern writers, even in larger and better known countries than his own. His first epic poem, Adamite, deals with a strange, well-known episode in Bohemian history. The Smith of Lešetin (Lešetinský Kovář), portrays in an admirable manner the life of the Bohemian peasantry. But the masterpiece of Čech is, I think, the epic poem entitled Václav z Michalovic. The hero of the poem is a young Bohemian, a son of one of the nobles who were decapitated in Prague after the disaster of the White Mountain. Some parts of this poem, such as the prologue and the speech to the people of Prague, which Michalovic delivers in the Salvator Church, are of unrivalled beauty. Criticism can obviously be founded only on individual impressions; and I do not hesitate to state that no work of modern Bohemian literature has impressed me as strongly as Václav z Michalovic. Of Čech's other poetical works, his sad, pessimistic, and—alas—truthful Písně Otroka ("Songs of a Slave") should be mentioned. Svatopluk Čech has also published a considerable number of prose works. His Povidky, Arabesky a Humoresky, in four volumes, have had a great success.
Of minor poets I will first mention Adolph Heyduk, born in 1835 at Richenburg in Bohemia. Of his many poetical works, Cymbal a husle, a tale of the life of the Slavic inhabitants of Northern Hungary, has the greatest value. Heyduk's Drěvorubec ("The Wood-cutter"), in which, as in many others of the poet's works, the scene is laid in the Sumava (the so-called Bohemian woods), has also obtained great success. J. V. Sládek (born 1845), formerly editor of the Lumir review, has translated several works of Shakespeare and Byron, as well as some of the Polish writings of Mickiewicz, into Bohemian. A talented younger writer is J. S. Machar (born 1864). His Tristium Vindobona is a very powerful work, which brilliantly describes the depression while dwelling in Vienna, and the antipathy to that city, which appear almost innate in a Bohemian. Recently a friend of Machar, V. A. Jung, has published an admirable Bohemian translation of part of Byron's Don Juan. It is to be hoped that the writer will complete his task. Mrs. Kose (whose pseudonym is Tereza Dubrovská) has recently published a clever volume of poems entitled Písně (poems). Miss Hurych, who writes under the name Marie Kalma, has produced several novels that have had considerable success. Mr. George Karasek ze Lvovic has recently published several works both in prose and in verse. Of these, his drama entitled Apollonius z Tyany is perhaps the best.