Page:Bohemian poems, ancient and modern (Lyra czecho-slovanska).djvu/26

 resemble the waters of the Moldau, which have mingled with those of the Elbe. These two united rivers bear vessels, overflow their banks, inundate the country, carry away rocks and mountains; yet it is always said, the Elbe did it, and nobody ever thinks about the Moldau.

‘The Bohemian language, which was employed in all public transactions, and of which the nobles were proud, fell into contempt. The upper classes adopted German, and the burghers were obliged to learn it too, because the monks preached in the towns in German. The inhabitants of the cities began to be ashamed of their native tongue, which being retained only by the peasants, was called the peasants’ tongue.

‘High as the Bohemians had risen in literature, science and the arts, under the reigns of Maximilian and Rudolph, they now sank equally low in all these respects. I do not know of a single scholar, who after the expulsion of the Protestants distinguished himself by any learning. The university of Prague was in the hands of the Jesuits, or rather in abeyance, because the Pope had given orders to suspend all proceedings in it, and no person could receive an academical degree. Some patriots, clergymen as well as laymen, openly murmured against such a state of things, but without producing any effect whatever,