Page:Bohemian poems, ancient and modern (Lyra czecho-slovanska).djvu/22

xviii the circumstances, the aspirations, and the prospects of the Czechs, the Slavonic race inhabiting Bohemia.

‘Scarcely any country upon the surface of the globe has with so small an extent of territory been the scene of such great, memorable, and important transactions, as Bohemia; scarcely any nation, at least in modern history, has with such limited numbers stood forth so gloriously and mightily, as the Bohemian. There were times, when the princes of Bohemia ruled from the Baltic to the Adriatic; times, when all surrounding nations trembled at the sound of the Bohemian arms, and times, when the Bohemian mind was beaming with the brightness of