Rudolph was a great patron of literature and science; and was quite favourably disposed towards the Bohemian language. Nearly two hundred writers were numbered under his reign; and among these many ladies and gentlemen of his court, of which Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and other scientific foreigners were the chief ornaments. Zeal for the cultivation of their mother tongue, seemed to be the point in which all religious denominations in Bohemia united. But during this century, as in the preceding one, the language of the country existed only side by side with the Latin; which was still preferred by many, for the sake of a more general reputation. It became the chief object of other eminent men, to make their countrymen acquainted with the cla.s.sics in a Bohemian dress; and to improve the language by a strict imitation of Latin and Greek forms. Among these a rich and n.o.ble citizen of Prague named George Hruby must be first named;[30] also Pisecky, ob. 1511, who translated Isoerates" Epistle to Demonicus; Nicholas Konacz and Ulric of Welensky, the translators of Lucian; Krupsky, of Plutarch; Ginterod, of Xenophon"s Cyropaedia. Kocyn, celebrated for his eloquence and other gifts, translated the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius and Ca.s.siodorus; Orliczny, the Jewish wars of Josephus, several of the Latin cla.s.sics, etc.
When we consider this general zeal for the cultivation of the language, it is a matter of surprise that the first Bohemian grammar should not be older than A.D. 1533. Its author was Benesh Optat, who also translated Erasmus" Paraphrase of the New Testament. Another grammar was published by Beneshowsky in 1577, a third by the Slovak Benedicti in 1603. But the individual to whom is justly a.s.signed the chief merit in regard to the language, is Weleslawin, ob. 1599, professor of history in the university of Prague, and the proprietor of the greatest printing establishment in Bohemia. Partly by his own works, original and translated, and among these three dictionaries for different purposes; partly by the encouragement he gave to other writers, and the activity with which he caused works whether old or new deserving of a greater circulation, to be printed; he acquired a most powerful influence among his cotemporaries.
The field however which was cultivated with the most diligence, was that of theology; and fortunately, during this whole period, with an equal measure of talent and zeal. The writings of the Bohemian Brethren, Thomas Prelavsky, Laurentius Krasonicky, and more especially of Lucas, belong partly to the former, partly to the present period. The latter was a most productive writer; and as being one of their best scholars, he was generally chosen to answer the charges made against the United Brethren, in learned and elaborate pamphlets.[31] Several of the productions of the Brethren, mentioned in the former period, were written and printed in the beginning of this. Among these in 1508, Procopius" question. "Whether it is right for a Christian to compel infidels or heretics to embrace the true faith?" is remarkable, as one of the earliest instances in which this position of intolerance was made the subject of public debate, or at least answered in the negative. In 1563 the New Testament was first translated directly from the Greek, by J. Blahoslav, another president of the Bohemian Brethren, a man of profound erudition. The first translation of the whole Bible from the original languages, did not take place until several years later. The first edition of this latter splendid work, for which the patriotic and pious baron John of Zherotin expressly founded a printing office in his castle of Kralicz in Moravia, and advanced money for all the necessary expenses, was printed in 1579. This version is still considered, in respect to language, as a model; and in respect to typography, as unsurpa.s.sed.
On the fidelity of the translation and the value of the commentary, Schaffarik remarks, that "they contain a great deal of that which, two hundred years later, the learned _coryphaei_ of exegesis in our day have exhibited to the world as their own profound discoveries."
The translators were Albert Nicolai, Lucas Helic, Joh. Aeneas, George Stryc, E. Coepolla, J. Ephraim, P. Jessenius, and J. Capito.--G.
Stryc wrote also a good translation of the Psalms in rhyme, and several theological works. J. Wartowsky likewise translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew and left it in ma.n.u.script; but his version has never been published. Of his translation of Erasmus" Paraphrase of the Gospels, only that of the Gospel of Matthew has been printed.
Among the Bohemian Brethren, Augusta surnamed Pileator, ob. 1572, Stranensky, the above-mentioned Blahoslav, Zamrsky, ob. 1592, were distinguished by great erudition. They and many others wrote voluminous works on theological subjects, e.g. biblical researches, systematic divinity, sermons, etc. Several of these writers, and also many others, were authors of numerous religious hymns; among which not a few are still considered as unsurpa.s.sed in any language.
Nicholas Klaudian, who was at the same time physician, printer, and theologian, wrote an apology in favour of the Brethren. This individual, who, besides being the printer and editor of several medical works written by himself and others, was in part the translator of Seneca and Lactantius, has further the merit of having published in 1518 the first map of Bohemia. Luther"s sermons and other writings were translated into Bohemian; and the religious affairs of Germany began to excite an intense interest among all cla.s.ses.
The theological productions of this period written by Roman Catholics--among which we distinguish the names of Pishek surnamed Scribonius, Makawsky, and the Jesuits Sturm and Hostowin--are mostly of a polemical character; while some also are translations of the fathers, especially of Augustine"s writings; or original ascetic productions in the form of allegorical novels. Among the Utraquists several individuals were celebrated as preachers; above all Ctibor Kotwa, who was called the Bohemian Cicero, and Dicastus Mirkowsky.
Others wrote theological treatises and interpretations of portions of the Scriptures. Such were Beransky, author of an interpretation of Daniel, of the gospels, and the epistles; Orliczny, or, as he is called in Latin, Aquilinas, known chiefly as a translator of the cla.s.sics;[32] Turnowsky, a Slovak by birth; Bydzhowsky, Bilegowsky the writer of a Bohemian church history and of a history of the Hussites and Picardites; Rwaczowsky, Zeletawsky, Tesak, author of many popular religious hymns; Palma, who published towards twenty theological works; Peshina, Maurenin, and Borowsky, who wrote interpretations of the epistles and gospels; Wrbensky, author of a biblical Synopsis, a Harmony, etc.; Rosacius Sushishky, distinguished as a Latin poet; Martin of Drazow, Jacobides Stribrsky, Jakesius Prerowsky. and others.[33]
There are few among the theological writers of this century,--of whom we have named perhaps the twentieth part,--who have not left at least ten volumes of their own writings; while many have reached twice, and some thrice the number. More than one third of the printed works in this department contain sermons. The eloquence of the pulpit acquired a high degree of cultivation; and besides the two Utraquist preachers mentioned above, many other names were celebrated among them. In respect to erudition, however, the Brethren occupied decidedly the first rank. In religious hymns all sects were equally productive; and there are, as we have mentioned already, not a few among them of a high excellence. To the names of spiritual poets alluded to in the preceding paragraphs, we may here add the following: T. Sobeslawsky Reshatko, Gryllus, Herstein of Radowesic, Horsky, Mart. Pisecky, Taborsky, Sylva.n.u.s a Slovak by birth and called by way of eminence _Poeta Bohemicus_, Chmelowecz, Mart. Philomusa, Karlsberg, Ha.n.u.sh; and more especially Lomnicky, _poeta laureatus_, who is regarded as the first Bohemian poet of that age.
These names comprise also nearly all we have to say of the state of Bohemian poetry in general. Not that some of them did not occasionally desert the sacred muse, and compose specimens of secular poetry; for some of Lomnicky"s larger and most celebrated works belong to this cla.s.s, as may be seen by the t.i.tles; e.g. "The arrows of Cupid," "The golden Bag," etc.[34]
But every thing of real poetical value is of a religious character; and bears too much the stamp of its age, to be relished at the present day. The secular poets of the time wrote, with a few exceptions, in Latin.
Among the historians of merit we may name the following writers of Bohemian history: Hagek of Liboczan, Kuthen, Procopius Lupacz, Paprocky a Pole who however wrote some of his works in the Bohemian language, Racownicky, and the above-mentioned Weleslawin and Bilegowsky. In respect to universal history, or that of other lands, we find the names of Placel, Sixt von Ottersdorf, Konstantinovicz, Kocin, and others. This period is equally rich in valuable books of travels. Count Wratislaw of Mitrowicz, ob. 1635, described his interesting emba.s.sy from Vienna to Constantinople; C. Harant, a courtier and statesman, published his travels in Egypt and Palestine; Prefat of Wlkanow likewise gave a description of his journey from Prague to Palestine; Charles of Zherotin, the son of the munificent patron of the United Brethren, and like him their protector and friend, left letters and a description of his travels.
As lawyers, orators, and political writers, the following names may be adduced: Baron Kocin of Kocinet, whom we have had occasion to mention repeatedly; the counts Sternberg, Wratislaw of Mitrowicz, and Slawata; the latter known as one of the persons thrown from a lofty window of the castle by the violence of count Thurn--one of the introductory scenes of the thirty years" war; Baron Budowecz of Budow, equally excellent as a Christian and a statesman, the protector and public defender of the Bohemian Brethren, and faithful to his religious conviction until his last breath; Christopher Harant, another n.o.bleman of great merit, whom we have mentioned above as a traveller in the East. Both these last were executed in 1621. Writers of merit in the department of jurisprudence, were also the counsellors Ulric of Prostiborz under Ferdinand I, Wolf of Wresowicz, the chancellor Koldin, and others. But on topics like these, by far the greater number wrote only in Latin; and these of course we do not mention here.
Writers on the medical and natural sciences we cannot well separate; since, in most cases, the same individuals distinguished themselves in the departments of medicine, astronomy, and mathematics. The following, along with many others, are named with distinction: Th.
Hagek, body physician of the emperors Maximilian and Rudolph, and a celebrated astronomer; Zhelotyn, author of medical and mathematical works; Zaluzhansky, physician and naturalist, who antic.i.p.ated Linnaeus in his doctrine of the s.e.xual distinction and impregnation of plants; P. Codicillus, historian, philosopher, theologian, and astronomer, who wrote on all these different subjects; Huber von Reisenbach, a physician and rector of the university of Prague; Shud, a celebrated astronomer; and many more.[35]
The number of books printed during this period cannot well be ascertained; since by far the greater number were burned, or otherwise destroyed, in the dreadful catastrophe which signalized its close.
Prague alone had eighteen printing offices; and fourteen more existed in other places in Bohemia and Moravia. Besides these, many Bohemian books were printed at Venice, Nurnberg, Wittenberg, and some in Holland and Poland.
In 1617, the emperor Matthias succeeded in obtaining the crown of Bohemia for his nephew Ferdinand, archduke of Austria. This was the signal for the Romanists, in spite of the _Literae Imperatoriae_ of the emperor Rudolph, to make new attempts for the suppression of the Protestants. The Estates belonging to this denomination brought their complaint before the emperor, who gave them no redress; and thus the spark was kindled into flames, which for thirty years continued to rage throughout all Germany. At the death of Matthias in 1619, the Bohemians refused to receive Ferdinand II as their king; and elected the Protestant palatine Frederic V, a generous prince, but incapable of affording them support. The battle at the White Mountain, near Prague, in 1620, decided the destiny of Bohemia. Twenty-seven of the leaders of the insurrection were publicly executed; sixteen were exiled or condemned to prison for life; their property, as also the possessions of seven hundred and twenty-eight n.o.blemen and knights, who had voluntarily acknowledged themselves to have taken part in the insurrection, and of twenty-nine others who had fled, was wholly confiscated; and thus the amount of fifty-three millions of rix dollars transferred from Protestant to Romish hands. The _Literce Imperatorice_ were annulled; the Protestant religion in Bohemia abolished; and that kingdom declared a purely catholic hereditary monarchy. All non-catholic preachers were banished; thirty thousand families, who preferred exile to a change of their religion, emigrated. Among them 185 were n.o.ble families; the others artists, mechanics, merchants, and labourers. Yet in the villages, among the woods and mountains, where neither soldier nor Jesuit had penetrated, and there alone, many Protestants remained, buried in a fortunate obscurity. From the time of this catastrophe, the Bohemian language has never again been used in public business. The thirty years" war completed the devastation of this unfortunate country. In 1617, Bohemia had 732 cities and 34,700 villages; when Ferdinand II died in 1637, there remained 130 cities and 6000 villages; and its three millions of inhabitants were reduced to 780,000.
FOURTH PERIOD.
_From the battle at the White Mountain, A.D_. 1620, _to the Revival of Literature in A.D_. 1774-80.
Of this melancholy period we have but little to say. A dull pressure lay upon the nation; it was as if the heavy strokes inflicted on them had paralyzed their very limbs. Innumerable monks came to Bohemia from Italy, Spain, and the south of Germany, who condemned and sacrificed to the flames every Bohemian book as necessarily heretical. There were individuals who boasted having burned with their own hands 60,000 literary works. They broke into private houses, and took away whatever Bohemian books they could find. Those which they did not burn, were deposited in separate chambers in the convents, provided with iron grates, bolts, and chains, drawn before the door, on which was written. _The h.e.l.l_. They distributed pamphlets respecting h.e.l.l and purgatory, the reading of which produced derangement of mind in many weak persons; until, at last, the government was wise enough to lay a severe prohibition upon these measures. The Bohemian emigrants indeed continued to have their religious books printed in their foreign homes; but they wrote comparatively few new works. These however they contrived to introduce into Bohemia, where they were answered by the Jesuits and Capuchins in thick folio volumes, written in a language hardly intelligible. There were however some honourable exceptions among these fathers; some persons, who, independent of religious prejudices; continued to labour for the benefit of a beloved mother tongue. The Jesuits Konstanz, Steyer, and Drachovsky, wrote grammatical works, and the two first attempted to translate the Bible anew. Plachy, ob. 1650, Libertin, and Taborsky, were distinguished preachers; Peshina, ob. 1680, Hammerschmidt, ob. 1731, and Beckowsky, ob. 1725, wrote meritorious historical works; Rosa, ob. 1689, composed another grammar and a dictionary. Others wrote in Latin; and among these must be named the Jesuit Balbin, ob. 1688, who prepared several historical and bibliographical works of importance, part of which, however, were not published until long after his death.[36]
We turn once more to the unfortunate emigrants, and in the midst of the distress, privations, and sacrifices, which were the natural accompaniments of their exiled condition, we rejoice to meet with a name, which owes its splendour not alone to the general poverty of the period; but which outshines even the most distinguished of the former age, and is indeed the only one in the literary history of Bohemia, which has acquired a _European_ fame. This is Comenius, the last bishop of the Bohemian Brethren. Although he belongs partly to the former period, and, in respect to his style, decidedly to the golden age of the Bohemian. literature, the time of his princ.i.p.al activity falls within this melancholy interval. A few words may be devoted to the life of this remarkable individual. He was born A.D. 1592, in the village of Komna in Moravia. His baptismal names were John Amos; his father had probably no family name, as was frequently the case at that time among the lower cla.s.ses throughout all Europe. According to the custom of the time, he was called Komnensky from his native place, the Latin form of which is Comnenius, or more commonly Comenius. His parents, who belonged to the community of the Brethren, sent him to school at Herborn. He distinguished himself so much as to be made rector at Prerow, when only twenty-two years old; and two years later was transferred to Fulnck. In 1618 this latter city was plundered by the Spaniards, and Comenius lost all his books and other property.
When the great persecution of the Protestants broke out, he fled to Poland. Here he found many of his countrymen, of the sect of the Brethren, whom the persecutions of the former century had already driven hither, and who had here gathered themselves into communities essentially of the same const.i.tution; although in some measure they were amalgamated with the dissenters in Poland. In 1632 they elected him their bishop. In 1631 he published his _Janua linguarum reserrata_, a work which spread his fame over all the world, and which was translated into twelve European languages, and also into Persian, Arabic, and Mongolian. His object in this work was to point out a new method of teaching languages, by which they were to be used as keys for acquiring other useful knowledge. In 1641 he was invited to England to prepare a new arrangement of the schools; but the civil war having prevented the execution of this project, he went from England to Sweden, whither the chancellor Oxenstiern had invited him for a similar purpose. After protracted journeys through half Europe, he returned to Lissa, the princ.i.p.al seat of his activity. In 1659 be published his _Orbis pictus_, the first picture-book for children which ever appeared, and which acquired the same reputation as the work above-mentioned. The war and the destruction of Lissa compelled him some years later to leave Poland; he sought another asylum in Germany, and settled at length at Amsterdam, where be died in 1671, occupied with literary pursuits until his last hour. According to Adelung, he wrote not less than ninety-two works, of which only fifty-four have come down to us; and among these, twenty are in the Bohemian language. His style has a cla.s.sical perfection; the contents of his works are manifold, and have mostly lost their interest for the present age.[37] In the last years of his life Comenius is said to have devoted himself to a mystical interpretation of the prophetic Scriptures; he discovered in the Revelation of St. John the state of Europe, as it then was; awaited the millennium in the year 1672; and believed in the far-famed Bourignon, as an inspired prophetess.
A few names only among the emigrants require to be mentioned as writers, after Comenius. They may find their place here: Paul Stransky, who was exiled in 1626 and found an asylum as professor at Thorn, wrote a history of Bohemia in Latin in 1643, which was translated and accompanied with supplements and corrections by Cornova, in 1792. Elsner, pastor of the Bohemian Brethren at Berlin, and Kleich at Zittau, printed works for religious instruction and devotional exercises for Protestants.
The greater part of what was written during this period proceeded from the Slovaks in Hungary, a nation related to the Bohemians in race and language, who after the Reformation had adopted the Bohemian dialect as their literary language.[38] Although also constantly struggling against oppression and persecution, the Protestants in Hungary were not formally annihilated, as in Bohemia; but belonged rather to the tolerated sects, so called. A certain degree of activity in behalf of their brethren in faith was consequently allowed to them; especially later under Maria Theresa. We meet among them, with hardly any other than theological productions, or works for religious edification.
The two pastors Krman and Bel, who both died towards the middle of the eighteenth century, men of no inconsiderable merit as Christians and as scholars, prepared a new edition of the Bohemian Bible, and also translated several works of Luther, Arndt, etc. Ambrosius, their cotemporary, wrote a commentary on Luther"s catechism, and several other useful religious works. G. Bahyl published an introduction to the Bible, a history of the symbolical books, and a.s.sisted Comenius in his _Orbus pictus_. Matthias Bahyl became the object of a cruel persecution, on account of a translation of Meissner"s _Consultatio orthod. de fide Lutherana._ Numerous religious hymns were written in Bohemian by Hrusbkowic, the two Blasius, Glosius, Augustini, and others. Michalides translated the _Summarium biblic.u.m_ of the theologians of Wittenberg; and another Protestant minister, Dolezhal, wrote in 1746 a Bohemian grammar. But their books, with a few exceptions, were little read beyond the frontiers of Hungary; and had consequently little or no influence on the Bohemians. The works written in the Slovakian dialect do not belong here.
FIFTH PERIOD.
_Revival of Bohemian Literature, from A.D_. 1774-80 _to the present time_.
In A.D. 1774, the marshal count Kinsky published a work on the advantages and necessity of a knowledge of the Bohemian language. At that time so great was the neglect of the mother tongue, that even for a work of so patriotic a nature, he had to employ a foreign language in order to be understood! One year later appeared an apology for the vernacular tongue of the country, written a hundred years before by the Jesuit Balbin in Latin,[39] and edited by Pelzel. These two writings created a deep sensation; and even the government would seem to have taken notice of them. We find, at least, that in the same year teachers of the Bohemian language were appointed in the university of Vienna and in two other inst.i.tutions in that city. At the same time, the royal normal school at Prague began to print several Bohemian books for instruction. When the tolerant views and principles by which Joseph II was actuated, became known, more than a hundred thousand concealed Protestants immediately appeared; their hidden books were brought to light again; and many works, of which only single copies existed, were reprinted. In 1781 the severe edict of Ferdinand II was repealed, and a censorship established upon more reasonable principles. In 1786, the Bohemian language had gained friends enough to induce the government to inst.i.tute a Bohemian theatre; which, with a short interruption during the present century, has ever since existed. The unfortunate system of general centralization adopted by Joseph II, was on the whole not favourable to the cultivation of any but the German language; but during the reign of his two successors, the Bohemian received more encouragement. In 1793 a professorship for the language and literature of the country was founded in the university of Prague; the use of that language in all the schools was ordained by several decrees of the government; and by a law of A.D.
1818, a knowledge of it was made a necessary qualification for holding any office.
In the very outset of this revival of Bohemian literature, there appeared so great a mult.i.tude of writers; such habits of diligence and productiveness were immediately manifested throughout the whole nation; and such a ma.s.s of respectable talent was brought to light; that the long interval of a dull and deathlike silence, which preceded this period, presents indeed an enigma difficult to be solved. No small influence may be ascribed to Germany. The principles of the government were changed; the country, physically as well as morally exhausted, could recover but gradually; but all this could not create talents where there were none; nor could all external oppression and unfavourable conjunctures destroy the germs of real talent, if they had been there. The list of modern Bohemian writers of merit is very extensive; but we must be satisfied with bringing forward the most distinguished of them, and refer the reader to works less limited than these pages, where he may find more complete information.
Among those whose desert is the greatest in respect to the revival of Bohemian literature, Kramerius, born 1753, ob. 1808, must be named first. He was one of those indefatigable and creative minds, which never sleep, never lose a moment, and by a restless activity and happy ingenuity know how to render the difficult easy,--the apparently impossible, practicable. From the year 1785, he was editor of the first Bohemian newspaper; from 1788, of the annual called the _Toleranz Kalender_, or Almanac of Toleration; and published besides this more than fifty works, written by himself and others, but accompanied with notes or commentaries of his own. None of his productions surpa.s.sed mediocrity; but according to the best judges, they were well and perspicuously written; they became popular and exerted a very favourable influence.
As literary historians, Slavic philologians and antiquaries, Pelzcl, Prochazka, Durich, Puchmayer, Negedly, Jungmann, Tomsa, Hanka, and above all Dobrovsky, must be distinguished. One of the princ.i.p.al merits of most of these scholars consists in their preparing for the press and editing valuable old ma.n.u.scripts; or in the judicious commentaries which they added to new editions of ancient works already printed. Pelzel we have named above as the editor of the writings of the Jesuit Balbin. Most of his works are in German, but some also in Bohemian. In 1804 Prochazka and Durich translated the Bible for Roman Catholics; the former had already translated the New Testament in 1786. His princ.i.p.al labours besides this were in the department of history. Durich wrote in Latin; but his researches were nevertheless devoted to the Bohemian language and history. Tomsa and Negedly have written Bohemian grammars, and several other Slavic-philological works and essays.[40] Puchmayer published a large collection of poetry,[41]
consisting partly of his own productions, a token of the reviving poetical genius of the nation, which had slept for centuries; while his elaborate Russian grammar is also a valuable contribution to Slavic literature in general.
Joseph Jungmann, besides a translation of Chauteaubriand"s Atala and of Milton"s Paradise Lost, which Bowring calls "the most admirable among the many admirable versions of that renowned and glorious heroic," [42] has written many important essays scattered in periodicals; and also published in 1820 a Bohemian chrestomathy, in 1825 a history of Bohemian literature, and in 1830-31 a complete dictionary of that language.
W. Hanka. librarian at Prague, has made himself particularly known by critical editions of valuable writings out of the golden age of Bohemian literature. In 1817 he was so fortunate as to discover a ma.n.u.script of high importance, as well in a philological respect, as for its intrinsic poetical value; which he published in 1819 with a modern Bohemian translation, and also a German translation by Swoboda.[43] He has written several works, and also essays in periodicals, of a bibliographical and antiquarian character.
Joseph Dobrovsky, born 1753 in Hungary, but of Bohemian parents, ob.
1829, is called the patriarch of modern Slavic literature, and was one of the profoundest scholars of the age. His merits in regard to Slavic philology and history are so generally acknowledged, and we have so often had occasion to cite his name in these pages, and to refer the reader to his authority, that without attempting to present a critical view of one, or an a.n.a.lysis of another of his works, we are contented to give in a note the t.i.tle of his princ.i.p.al works. We are the more willing to adopt this course, because the most of his works form in a certain measure one great whole, and mutually supply each other; and because too, the author having in part first explored unknown regions, and having of course sometimes found it necessary to retract hypotheses started in his earlier writings, his works cannot well be separated. He wrote mostly in German; sometimes in Latin; while comparatively very few of his numerous books are in the Bohemian language. In this way only could they gain that kind of universality, which the subject required; and which has so much contributed to promote the cause of Slavic literature in general.[44]
There were also some scholars among the Slovaks, who aided the same cause with diligence and talent. Leska, ob. 1818, published from 1785 onward the first Slovakian newspaper, and was a diligent and judicious compiler in respect to Slavic lexicography. Palkowicz published a Bohemian dictionary, and prepared in 1808 a more correct edition of the Bible. Plachy, besides many volumes of prose and poetry, published a valuable periodical; Schramko wrote some philological works; Schaffarik and Kollar, of whom more will be said in the sequel, were also Slovaks.
After the collection of poetry by Puchmayer above alluded to, several others of a miscellaneous kind appeared; poetry having been hitherto limited almost exclusively to religious purposes. Kamaryt, Palacky, Chmelensky, Zdirad Polak, Czelakowsky, Snaidr, Hnewkowsky, Turinsky, Stulcz,[45] Jablonsky, Tupi, Sabin, are favourably known as poets. A.
Marek has translated several dramas of Shakspeare; Machaczek several from Goethe; Kliczpera, Stepanek, and Sychra, are esteemed dramatic writers. Among the Slovaks, Holli translated the Latin and Greek elegiac poets; Roshnay, Anaereon.
As historical writers Tomek and Jordan must be honourably mentioned.
An excellent work on Bohemian Antiquities, written in German by J.E.
Wocel, ought also to be noticed.[46]
In the department of natural science are to be mentioned, Presl, count Berchtold, Strnad, Sedlaczek, Wydra, Smetana, etc. Others, Bohemians by birth, have written in German, e.g. Haenke, Sieber, etc. etc. Count Buquoy also is of Bohemian origin.--Writers of merit on moral and religious subjects are, Rautenkranz, Zahradnik, Parizek, and others.
The Slovak Bartholomaeides, a distinguished scholar, has written several useful works on various topics.--Periodicals full of learned researches and variety of interest were edited, _Dobraslaw_ by Hromadko and Ziegler, _Krok_ by Presl, etc. Modern journals of a more general tendency are _Wlastimil_ (the Patriot), _Dennica_, etc. Among the highest n.o.bility the national language found powerful patrons; and in the establishment of a national Museum, a Bohemian Academy of Sciences, and similar patriotic inst.i.tutions, the national literature received great encouragement. One of the princ.i.p.al objects of this inst.i.tution was to publish old works and to patronize new ones. Its first publication was an old treatise on Bohemian law.[47] The names of the counts K. Sternberg and Kolowrath-Liebsteinsky must be mentioned here; to which, in our days, may be added those of the counts J.M. and Leo Thun.
The leading poet of the present day in the Bohemian language is J.
Kollar, born 1793 at Thurocz in Hungary. In 1821 he published a volume of poems; and some years later a larger beautiful poem in two cantos, called _Slawy dzery_, the Daughter of Glory, by which he meant _Slavina_, or the Slavic nations personified; for _Slava_ means glory.
With talents of the first order, and at the same time purely national, he imitates Petrarch in some measure; making his nation his Laura, praising her beauty, and prophesying her ultimate triumph.[48]
The patriotic zeal which in our days has instigated the Slavic scholars to follow out the traces of their language and history into the remotest past, in order to clear up more satisfactorily the origin and primitive connection between the different members of the great Slavic family, and their relative position to the Germans, has nowhere been exhibited in a more energetic and disinterested way than in Bohemia. The idea of Panslavism was here first worked out systematically.[49] If we are not entirely mistaken, it was the same Kollar, the Czekho-Slovakian poet, who first conceived, or at least expressed, that idea. In a Slavic periodical, published in Hungary, ent.i.tled _Hronka_, he came out with an address to his Slavic brethren, which he himself translated into German. He urged the Slavi to drop their numerous intellectual family feuds; to consider themselves as _one_ great nation; their mutual languages essentially as _one_; their respective interests as one. He prophesied power and predominance to the Slavi _united_ as a whole. The idea was seized with eagerness; especially by the Bohemian scholars, in whom a certain irritation against the Germans, the oppressors of their nation for centuries, was far from being unnatural. At the head of this movement, so far as it respects philological investigations, was P.J. Schaffarik; in respect to historical researches, Fr. Palacky; the first a Slovak, the second a Moravian by birth; and both of them highly esteemed as scholars of great learning, uncommon acuteness, and indefatigable research; but both also, from a very laudable national partiality, inclined to favour those results of their researches, which should serve to support their own patriotic or Panslavic views. It will therefore not be found surprising, that they should have met with a strong, nay pa.s.sionate opposition.
Schaffarik, whose valuable work on the Slavic languages and their history we have chiefly consulted in our present sketch, (not however without due regard to his own altered and corrected views, as given to the public in his later works,) was born in 1795 at Kbeljarowo in Northern Hungary. He received a German education; and, following the example of other leading Slavic scholars, like Dobrovsky and Kopitar, notwithstanding his partiality for all that is Slavic, he wrote most of his earlier works in German. His "History of the Slavic Language and Literature," although a production of his youth, and written before the full maturity of the author"s views, has perhaps contributed more than any other work to a knowledge of the Slavic literature in general, and of the cla.s.sification and mutual relation of the Slavic languages. After further researches, he prepared a "History of the Southern Slavi;" which however, so far as we are informed, has never been printed. Instead of it he published a work on "Slavic Antiquities" in the Bohemian language. It was patriotism which induced him not only to choose this language in preference to the German, and thus give up a far greater field of influence; but he also declined a well endowed Slavic professorship in the university of Berlin, from the same generous and patriotic motive, and settled in Prague. Here he undertook the editorship of a periodical founded by Palacky; and operated in connection with him and other Slavic scholars for the promotion of Slavic, and princ.i.p.ally Bohemian, literature. For this end a society was founded among the Bohemian and Slovakian scholars and gentry, called the _Stalci_, the Constant. They bound themselves to buy every respectable book, which should be printed in the Bohemian language. In 1842 Schaffarik published a "Slavic Ethnography," a small introductory work, but founded on extensive studies. Of this he himself prepared a German translation.[50]
The faithful fellow-labourer of Schaffarik is Francis Palacky, a scholar of great diligence and research, a few years younger in age; who however seems to have adopted an opposite course, in so far as his early works were written in Bohemian, while his later and princ.i.p.al ones are in German. In 1829 he was appointed Historiographer of Bohemia by the Estates; but he was too warm a _Bohemian_ to hope for the confirmation of the Austrian government under the emperor Francis, and it was not obtained until under his successor. By means of the "Journal of the Bohemian National Museum," of which he was the founder and editor, he had early gained a leading voice in all that concerned the revival of Bohemian literature; and, in that capacity, had to fight his way through a series of literary struggles and combats, sometimes conducted with personal vehemence and bitterness. He had the satisfaction, however, of finally coming off as victor in the more essential points. His most important work is his _History of Bohemia_; of which two volumes were published in the German language in 1836. A Bohemian edition, with additions and a historiographical introduction, appeared in 1848.
The spirit which pervades this great work makes the author to a certain extent the representative of his nation. One of the objects of the work is to point out the _primitive_ relations of Slavism on the one hand, and of Germanism, the heir of Romanism, on the other; their contrasts and necessary conflicts; the Germans, warlike, conquering, oppressing all their neighbours, and bearing the germs of privileged castes in their earliest inst.i.tutions; the Slavi, peaceful, industrious, living in patriarchal communities, and in their fundamental elements purely democratic. Hence, the author says, the princ.i.p.al idea and fundamental feature of Bohemian history is the uninterrupted clashing and struggle of Slavism and Germanism; and in another place he remarks, that "the history of Bohemia consists chiefly in the combat with Germanism; or in the alternate reception and rejection by the Czekhes of German manners and inst.i.tutions." [51]
Our own days have witnessed the enthusiasm with which the thought of a total separation between Slavism and Germanism was received, when the events of the month of March 1848 seemed to open an unexpected prospect of realizing a long cherished idea. A great congress of all the Slavic nations was convoked at Prague. But at that very moment, at the gathering together of so many members of that wide-spread family, it became strikingly apparent that they were a _family_ of nations; but could never again become, what for thousands of years they had not been, _one_ nation. In order to be understood, several of their deputies had to speak in German; and even for the journal founded as the great central organ of Slavism, the _German_ language had to be employed.
The patriotic efforts made to prevent the Bohemian language from gradually yielding to the German, are honourable and laudable; but whether they will have any ultimate result seems to be quite doubtful.