Page:A grammar of the Bohemian or Cech language.djvu/15

Rh His works were written between 1430 and 1456. The most celebrated are his Postils and the Net of Truth. He was a great denouncer of war, somewhat anticipating the views of the Quakers and some of the recent Russian sects.

In the sixteenth century the country felt the full influence of the Renaissance, and many translations from the classics appeared. Especially to be mentioned are Adam Daniel Veleslavín and Hrubý z Jelení, or Gelenius as he was called, according to the prevalent fashion of latinizing names. To the sixteenth century also belongs the chronicler Václav Hájek, a very interesting writer, although somewhat inaccurate and fond of fables, as our own Holinshed was.

In spite, however, of the spirited attempts of the Bohemians to preserve their constitution and language, as shown by the enactment of the Statute of 1615, that no one could hold office in Bohemia who was unacquainted with Čech, their independence was crushed at the terrible battle of the White Mountain in 1620.

For two centuries Bohemia practically disappears from the literary history of Europe. Such books as were produced were almost exclusively the works of exiles, as those of the great pedagogue Komenský, called among us by his Latin name Comenius (1592–1670). Besides his Latin works he wrote many in the vernacular, and the loss of the MS. of his great Bohemian dictionary is especially to be regretted. Towards the close of the eighteenth century and in the earlier part of