CHAPTER X
Charles and the Housing Problem. The "carryings on" in the New Town, and more about "St. Mary of the Snow"; also about Rudolph II and some troublesome guests of his inviting, called the "Passauer." How Count Thurn chased the "Passauer" out of town. A word about the Salvation Army. How the centre of fashion shifted to the Old Town in the days of Wenceslaus IV, and we move with it down the Karlova Ulice, look at various matters of interest and listen to a story about a confectioner and his nocturnal visitors. The 21st of June in Prague and the Hus celebrations on the 6th of July. The Old Town Hall and the Church of Our Lady of Tyn. The "Powder Tower," night life in Prague, and a word on missionaries of long ago and of to-day. A good deal about concerts, theatres, opera and other recreations. A mention of Jungmann and Kalina, and the Slav Congress of 1848. A memory of barricades and street fighting. Something about Sokols.
HARLES, we have seen, had added a fourth quarter, the New Town, to his city of Prague, moved thereto by the acuteness of the "Housing Problem," which, by the way, is equally urgent to-day. Prague is again the capital of a free and flourishing State, and is again hard put to it to find room for all those who feel attracted to her. The New Town soon entered into the spirit of mediæval Prague, put on no airs, but just joined in any fray that happened to be going on. So New Town and Old were wont to meet in battle over some vexed question, generally of theology strongly mixed with politics, and a favourite cockpit was the ground in front of "St. Mary of the Snow." It was on one of those occasions that the steeple was brought down, together with a couple of monks who were hiding in it, and also the big bell Carolus; a gun was brought into action, and no doubt gave tone to the proceedings. This was in 1434; nearly two centuries later some visitors generally alluded to as the "Passauer," plundered this church and monastery.
This visit of the "Passauer" was again due to that noxious mixture, religion plus politics. The Union of Protestant German Princes had been broken, and Ravaillac's dagger had killed Henri Quatre, spoiling his plans towards helping Protestantism, in which plans the French King had also included Bohemia. Just about this time the Habsburger King of Bohemia, Rudolph II, who must have been rather mad, was looking out for a successor. He loathed all his relatives with complete impartiality, save one, and that one was a cousin, Archduke Leopold, Bishop of Strassbourg and Passau. Leopold was one of those fighting prelates who send others to do the dirty work; in this case an army of his, some thirty thousand bandits led by a foreign condottiere, invaded Bohemia, burning and pillaging until they came to Prague. Rudolph had probably invited them, as the imperial garrison of the Hradšany admitted these "Passauer" to the Mala Strana. In Old Prague these marauders met with resistance, though here too preparations had been made towards their visit, as gunpowder and other warlike stores had been found in monasteries and houses of the Jesuits. The Estates of Bohemia hastily equipped Count Thurn, who soon got the better of Leopold's mercenaries, and chased them and the Jesuits out of the country. Fighting about this quarter of Prague—in fact, anywhere in the city—is now discouraged by an efficient police force, and the only warlike sounds I have ever heard proceeding from out the shadows of "St Mary of the Snow" came from the band of the Salvation Army. A very good band it is too, though the tunes it plays are not up to the native standard of music. Nevertheless the Salvation Army is not only tolerated, but enjoys a certain amount of popularity; deservedly too, for that organization does a great deal of good rescue work. Jungmann's statue looks down thoughtfully upon this somewhat corybantic form of religious expression when on a Sunday afternoon the Salvation Army band is in full blast. Jungmann, who brought out the value of the Czech language, its poetic possibilities, by translating into it Milton's Paradise Lost, may wonder at this strange striving after "the Beauty of Holiness," which also comes from England. But probably he understands.