Page:A history of Bohemian literature.pdf/423

406 Charles Jaromir Erben; born in 1811, he died in 1870 as archivist of the city of Prague. Like those of so many Bohemian writers of his time, Erben's works deal with many subjects. He published several collections of Bohemian popular poetry and several interesting works on the folklore of the country. Very great are the merits of Erben as an editor of the works of the ancient writers of his country. We have to thank him for a new edition of selected works of Hus. The works of Hus, particularly the Bohemian ones, had hitherto been almost inaccessible. He also edited Stitný's books of General Christian Matters, Harant of Polzic's Travels, the Chronicle of Bartos, and other minor works. These editions have valuable notes and biographies of the writers. I have frequently availed myself of the valuable information contained in Erben's editions of ancient Bohemian authors. More limited was the range of the studies of Joseph Jireček (1825-1888). His works mostly deal with Slavic, specially Bohemian literature. Jireček's Rukovet or Handbook of the History of Bohemian Literature, is perhaps the best book on its subject. The portion that deals with the writers of the Unity, founded principally on sources that were not known before, is most valuable. Jireček played a considerable part in Bohemian and Austrian politics, and was for a short time member of the Austrian cabinet as Minister of Public Instruction.

The last twenty years have contributed immensely to the development of the Bohemian language and literature. Numerous now living Bohemian writers have added greatly to the fame of their land. Continuing in the footsteps of their forerunners, they have brought the Bohemian language to a degree of purity and polish