Page:A history of Bohemian literature.pdf/216

Rh Several other poems in the same sense, and dating from about the same time—the end of the year 1619—have been preserved. The battle of the White Mountain, in the following year, produced an immediate change in the views of the unscrupulous time-server Lomnický. He celebrated the executions at Prague on June 21st, 1621, in a ballad, of which I shall quote a few lines. The song begins thus:—

"An evil beginning almost always has an evil end: He that writes this song knows that this is no lie. Ill began the Calvinists, ill ended the Estates, Rebels all. Yes, they roused up the whole world from vain pride, from wickedness; They conspired together against his Highness (i.e. Ferdinand). Having a king, their lord, already lawfully chosen And crowned, They yet chose another for themselves, one of their band, Who was of the Calvinist faith, of that blind community; They wanted to have superiority in everything, to be lords and freemen, To insult the others."

After this not very veracious account of the origin of the Bohemian troubles, Lomnický refers to the details of the executions. He writes:—

"Every one received punishment according to his offence. He also did not remain without torment who had sinned with his tongue, And, as the right demands, who had committed greater offence Had severer punishment.