Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/97

 Rh in the Seven Years War, and had a share in that brilliant and daring military adventure of 1757, when General Andrew Hadik suddenly made his appearance before Berlin with his troops, amongst whom were twelve hundred Hungarian Hussars, and so great was the fright occasioned by the unexpected attack that the terrified town consented to open its gates and pay tribute.

Gvadányi wrote most of his works after he had retired from active service on a pension. The best-known, A Notary's Journey to Buda (179o), is a long narrative poem. It strikes the reader as entirely free from imitation, as sincere, and wholly national. The characters and the whole atmosphere of the poem are purely Hungarian. This accounts for the immediate popularity of the book. A country notary, an honest but inexperienced man, travels on horseback to Buda. After many amusing adventures he arrives at his destination, but to his great disappointment he sees that in the very capital of the country, which ought to be the fountain-head of the national spirit, everything is foreign, the language the people speak, the books they read, the garments they wear, and even the measures they dance. People recognised themselves in the various characters, for the reign of Joseph II. had greatly tended to germanise Hungary. The notary himself is a well-drawn type of the patriotic Hungarian of that day, with his fervent national feeling, Latin education, scanty experience and little practical knowledge.

The centre of the awakening national life was the town