Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/125

 CHARLES KISFALUDY III Later on, when an old national institution (the right of the nobility to raise troops thernselves for . the country's defence) was attacked in literary works and in the Press, Alexander Kisfaludy tried to defend it. But unluckily for him, the writer with whom he got into controversy was the most brilliant publicist of the century, Louis Kossuth. As an elderly man he saw a young man heginning to acquire a celebrity that put his own into the shade •. As that success was due to the drama, he also tried to write plays, but failed. And the suecessful rival was his own younger brother, Charles Kisfaludy. CHARLES KISFALUDY (1788- I83o), the second of the great reformers of H ongarian literature, was the y ounger brother of Alexander Kisfaludy. The two brothers difiered widely from one another in character, in talent a nd in their outward life. Charles was a thorough bohemian, of a dreamy yet light-hearted disposition. Alexander, on the other hand, had a well-balaneed mind. As a· gentleman farmer he managed his property judiciously, and he was an excellent bushand and father. He was of a cheerful temperament, and it is only in his works that we find him sad and serious, for his life was tranquil .and happy, while that of his brother Charles was restiess and full of adventure. Charles had a profound knowledge of human nature, while Alexander showed bimself an indifferent explorer of it ; his own soul he could reveal in his lyric poetry, but he did not thoroughly understand the souls of other men. The first troubles in Charles' life sprang from a quarrel with his father. His vehemen t and unyieiding disposition caused him to be disowned. Charles, like his brother, became a soldier, and he, too, fought agaiost Napoleon at the hattie of Leoben.