Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/147

 XI

MICHAEL VÖRÖSMARTY

dawn of the nineteenth century was bright with promise for Hungary. On December 1, 1800 was born (1800–1855), the son of a steward of an estate in the province of Fehér.

Vörösmarty became the first member of Hungary's great literary triumvirate. He took his degree in jurisprudence, but never practised as a lawyer. He was the first Hungarian author to make a good living by his pen. The great er part of his life was spent in Pest, which in the third and fourth decades of the century was the centre of the country. During the war for freedom he was made a judge of the Court of Appeal, with the right of recommending to the mercy of the king, such a post being congenial to him both as a lawyer and as a poet. But during the latter years of his life, his hopeful and energetic spirit was crushed by the catastrophe of 1849. It was with profound sorrow that he beheld his country deprived of her liberty and even of the hope of future progress. He died on November 19, 1855, after years of grief and despondency, not however quite unillumined with hope.

Vörösmarty's first poems ushered in the golden age of Hungarian literature. His importance is due to three great achievements. The first was the creation of a new