Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/13



History of Bohemia, by Count Lützow, whose untimely death during the War was equally lamented by the Czech and English peoples, presents the English reader with an accurate picture of our past. In this work Count Lützow succeeded in correctly interpreting the spirit of Bohemian history, the significance of which lies as much in the nation's fight for freedom of conscience as in a struggle for national existence against the mighty pressure of Germanism. There is much in Bohemian history that will appeal to the English reader. What Englishman could fail to find interest in the history of that nation which was once ruled over by the "Goode King Wenceslaus" of the old English carol and by the blind King John, the news of whose valiant death brought tears to the eyes of Edward III; of that nation which gave England one of her most popular queens—Queen Anne, wife of Richard II and daughter of the greatest of our Czech kings?

Bohemia, though one of the lesser nations, gave more than one man to the world," revered in all hearts that love light." Huss, whose teachings and death gave rise to the Hussite Reformation and thus brought about the inauguration of modern spiritual life; ChelčickỳChelčický [sic], the founder of the Unitas Fratrum, the Church of Bohemian (Moravian) Brethren, who in his interpretation of Christian love in its form of