586 



BOH KM I AN LI TEH ATlJ K F. - IK) I All DO. 



ni Mrnnn, I8V4. M. Galltis, All.jk, Chrislan, Zidek, 

 J. Oniy, J. Blowic, niul Siudel, \vni* on medicine, 

 astrology, and agriculture. As early as 1447. \\ 

 have an anonymous work on the grafting of tn-es. 

 \\'t> have also the rhyming legend of tin- 10,000 

 knights, a translation of the f.ibles of vEsop, the 

 comic. I of the beasts ami birds, in prose and \ervc. 

 in three vols. (I'liicj lim/ii). Each lesson, which 

 flows in rhyme from the mouths of the animals is 

 |.rr<vilr,l liy (lie natural history of the animals and 

 the moral. It was printed three times in tile Bo- 

 hemian language, and published at Cracow in Latin 

 , 4to. There is likewise, a satire, in 13* 

 verses, on the persecution of the priests of the Ta- 

 lx>rites ; the .Maitrniiiinti Hynek of Podiebrad, the 

 younger son of king- George ; besides several voca- 

 bularies and romances, among which is Tkutlleccki 

 wliic-h has h'-en published at Vienna, in a German 

 Initiation. Of the Bible, fourteen translations have 

 Mine il.iwn ID us. besides ten of the New Testament. 

 The olde>t, of the year MOO, is in Dresden. The 

 typographic art made a rapid progress in Bohemia. 

 The first printed work was the epistle of Huss from 

 Constance, in 1459; the second, the Trojan U'ar, in 

 1468; the third a New Testament, in 1474; the 

 whole Bible, in 1 488; the first almanac, in 1489. 



The third age, from 1500 to IG20, may be called 

 the golden age of the Bohemian language. During 

 those dreadful tumults, in which, not only in this 

 kingdom, but also in the neighbouring countries, 

 populous cities became heaps ot ashes, and innumer- 

 able villages entirely disappeared, the peculiar in- 

 clination of the nation to investigation, and their 

 predilection for science and art, developed themselves. 

 The cultivation of learning in other countries, with 

 only a few exceptions, the monopoly of the clergy 

 was, in this favoured land, open to the whole nation. 

 All branches of science were elaborated, and brought 

 to an uncommonly high degree of improvement for 

 that time. The purpose ofthis work does not allow 

 us to enumerate all the authors of this age, since, 

 under Rodolph II. alone, there were more than 150. 

 Gregory Hruby of Geleni translated the work of 

 Petrarch, De Remcdiis ulriusqne Fortunes. W. Pi- 

 secky translated from the Greek the Exhortation of 

 Isocrates to Demonikos. John Amos Comenius wrote 

 fifty-four works, some of which were very excellent. 

 He published his Jnnmi and an Qrlis Pictus, which 

 were translated, in his life-time, into eleven languages, 

 have passed through innumerable editions, and are 

 not yet surpassed. In all the north of Europe, 

 Comenius attracted attention by his projects for im- 



E roving education, which were deliberated upon even 

 y the diet of Sweden and the parliament of Eng- 

 land. The hymns of this and the earlier ages, part 

 of which have been translated by Luther, may serve 

 as standards for all languages. In Prague alone, 

 there were, at this periodV eighteen printing-presses ; 

 in the country-towns of B. seven, and in Moravia 

 also seven : many Bohemian books, too, were printed 

 in foreign countries, as in Venice, Nuremberg, Hol- 

 land, Poland, Dresden, Wittenberg and Leipsic. 



The fourth period begins with 1620, and ends with 

 1774. After the battle at the White mountain, the 

 whole Bohemian nation submitted entirely to the 

 conqueror. The population of most of the cities and 

 of whole districts migrated, in order not to be false to 

 their faith. More than 70,000 men, and almost the 

 whole of the nobility, all the protestant clergy, 

 scholars, and artists, in general, the most cultivated 

 part of the nation, left their native country. Of these 

 emigrants, the greater part formed the flower of the 

 army of count Mansfeld. Hence the thirty years' 

 war depopulated Bohemia more than any other coun- 

 try since these fugitives endeavoured to regai:i tlieir 



native country by repeated invasions. Nothing, how- 

 ever, was so disadvantageous to Bohemian literature 

 as the introduction of monks, who were mostly 

 Italians, Spaniards, and Southern Germans, who con- 

 demned every Bohemian work, as heretical, to tin- 

 flames, so that individuals boasted of having burnt d 

 al>out 60,000 manuscripts, which they took from the. 

 people by force, after searching their houses. Such 

 works as escaped the flames were shut up in monas- 

 teries, in careiully-secured rooms, fastened with iron 

 grates, doors, locks, bolts, and chains, and often 

 inscribed with the warning title Hell. Instead >f 

 these excellent remains of the classical times of the. 

 country, they gave the Bohemians nonsense of all 

 kinds ; accounts of hell and purgatory' the reading 

 of which made many of the populace maniacs ; though 

 even this stuff was, in many cases, burned, and mostly 

 forbidden. The fugitives established at Amsterdam, 

 Dresden, Berlin, Breslau, and Halle, printing-prcsM's, 

 and sent to tlieir brethren in Bohemia, Moravia, and 

 Hungary, a number of books, mostly new editions. 

 Some Bohemians, who observed the decay of their 

 language, strove to remedy it ; as Pesina Z. Cechoro- 

 du ; Jon. Beckowsky, who continued the Bohemian 

 history to 1620 ; W. Weseley, who wrote a work on 

 geometry and trigonometry, c. ; but the decay was 

 too great to admit of being checked ; the nobility 

 had become strangers, and the government encour- 

 aged only German literature. From this time, there- 

 tore, the Bohemians wrote more in the German 

 language. 



In the fifth period, from 1774 to the present timt, 

 a new ray of hope shone on Bohemian literature ; 

 when, under the emperor Joseph II., a deputation ot* 

 secret Bohemian Protestants, trusting to his liberal 

 views, made him acquainted with the great number 

 of their brethren of the same faith. He perceived 

 the necessity of introducing toleration, and hundreds 

 of thousands of Protestants, in Bohemia and Moravia, 

 came to light: their concealed works were printed 

 anew, their classical language was again acknow- 

 ledged and cultivated. 1 his is done still more under 

 the present government, who perceive the necessity 

 and utility ofthe Sclavonian language, which, in the 

 Austrian states, is spoken by 14,000,000 people, and 

 of which the Bohemian is the written dialect. Un- 

 der this protection, many men of merit, mindful of 

 the fame of their ancestors, have endeavoured to 

 cultivate anew all branches ofthe sciences, and to 

 reach, if possible, their more advanced neighbours. 

 In particular, the members of the Bohemian society 

 of sciences, of the national museum, and of other 

 patriotic societies, above all, count Kollowrath- 

 Liebsteinsky and count Caspar of S'ernberg, deserve 

 to lie named with high respect. 



The Bohemian has natural talents for mathematics, 

 as Copernicus, Vega, Strnad, Wydra, Littrow, &c., 

 may prove. The corps of Austrian artillery, which 

 are recruited in Bohemia and Moravia, have always 

 contained men distinguished for acquaintance with 

 this science. In philology and music, the Bohemians 

 are likewise eminent. The teacher of Mozart was 

 Kluck, a Bohemian. Recently, Adalbert Sedlacz* k, 

 canon of a chapter of the Pitemonstratenses, has dis- 

 tinguished himself by physical and mathematical 

 compendiums in the Bohemian language. Compare 

 the t'ollstuniligc Dohtiiische Litcrulur of professor 

 Jungmann (Prague, 1825. 2 vols.). 



BOIARUO, Matteo Maria, count of Scandiano, was 

 born at a seat belonging to his family near Ferrara, 

 in 1 434. From 1 488 to 1 494, the period of his death, 

 he was commander of the city and castle of Reggio, 

 in the service of his protector, Ercole d'Este, duke 

 of Modena. This accomplished courtier, scholar, and 

 knight was particularly distinguished as a poet His 



