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Rh each of which will represent a personal guess at a final synthesis of experience, while remaining essentially undogmatic and improvable. The great variety and impermanence of metaphysical systems in the past thus find their explanation: they were all along what they are now recognized as being, viz. personal effiorescences provoked by a totality of experiences which differed in each case.

PRAGUE (Ger. Prag; Bohemian Praha), the ancient capital of the Bohemian kingdom, residence of an archbishop and an Imperial governor, and the meeting-place of the Bohemian Diet. The population of the town, including the suburbs that have not yet been incorporated with it, was 460,849 in 1906. Somewhat under a fifth of the population are Germans, the rest belong to the Bohemian (Czech) nationality. Prague is situated on both banks of the river Vltava (Ger. Moldau) in 50° 5′ N., 14° 25′ E., 150 m. N.W. of Vienna and 75 S.S.E. of Dresden. The city is divided into eight districts, which are numbered thus: I. Staré město (the old town), II. Nové město (the new town); III. Malá strana (the small side “quarter”); IV. Hradčany; V. Josefské město (Joseph’s, formerly the Jewish, town); VI. Vyšehrad; VII. Holešovic-Bubna; VIII. the suburbs Karlín (Ger. Karolinenthal), Vinohrady and Smíchov are not yet incorporated with the city. Prague was by its geographical situation naturally destined to become the capital of Bohemia, as it lies in the centre of the country. The origin of Prague goes back to a very early date, though, as is the case with most very ancient cities, the tales connected with its origin are no doubt legendary. The earliest inhabited spot within the precincts of the present city was the hill named Vyšehrad (higher castle, acropolis) on the right bank of the Vltava. Here the semi-mythical prince Krok, his daughter Libusa, and her husband the peasant Přemysl are stated to have resided. To Libusa is attributed also the foundation of a settlement on the opposite bank of the Vltava on the Hradčany hill. The ancient Bohemian chronicler Cosmas of Prague gives a very picturesque account of this semi-mythical occurrence.

It is probable that at an early period buildings sprang up in those parts of the present Staré město and Malá strana that are situated nearest to the banks of the river. These banks were from a very remote period connected by a bridge. This bridge was probably situated very near the spot where Charles IV. afterwards built the famed “bridge of Prague.” It is probable that independently of the Hradčany and Vyšehrad settlements a certain number of buildings existed as early as 993 on the site of the present Pořič Street (near the station of the state railway). The city continued to increase, and during the reign of King Vratislav (1061–1092) many Germans were attracted to Prague.

In 1235 King Wenceslaus I. surrounded the old town—that is to say, the buildings on the right bank of the Vltava—with a wall and ditch. These fortifications, starting from the river, followed the line of the present Elisabeth Street, the Příkopy or Graben—which therefrom derives its name, signifying ditch or trench—and then that of the Ovocná and Ferdinandova Streets. The Jewish quarter was included in the fortifications, but it was divided by gates and a wall from the old town. King Ottakar II. also contributed greatly to the enlargement of Prague. The still extant fortified towers of the Hradčany belong to his reign. The sovereign, however, to whom Prague is most indebted is the emperor Charles IV. (Charles I., as king of Bohemia). He has rightly been called the second founder of Prague. He founded the university, one of the oldest on the Continent. It immediately became famous all over Europe and students flocked to it from all countries. The town soon became too small, and it is probably in consequence of this that Charles determined to found the “new town." This, which includes the greater part of the modern city, was surrounded by walls, which starting from the foot of the Vyšehrad included the small already-existing settlement of Poříč and then adjoined the borders of the old town from the beginning of the present Příkopy Street up to the river. During the Hussite wars Prague suffered greatly. Two of the greatest battles of the Hussite wars, that of the Žižkov and that of the Vyšehrad (both 1420), were fought on the outskirts of Prague, and after the last-named battle the ancient Vyšehrad castle was entirely destroyed. The Bohemian nobles in alliance with the citizens of the old town attacked and conquered the new town, which for a time lost its privileges and became subject to the old town. Prague gradually recovered during the reign of King George of Poděbrad, and became yet more prosperous during that of King Vladislav.

During the reign of Ferdinand I. of Habsburg (1526–1564) Prague played a considerable part in the opposition to that prince caused in Bohemia by his endeavour to reduce both the political and religious liberty of the country. When the antagonism between the Romanist dynasty and the Bohemian Protestants culminated in the troubles of 1546 and 1547 and the Bohemians, after a weak and unsuccessful attempt to assert their liberties, were obliged to submit unconditionally to the house of Habsburg, Prague was deprived of many of its liberties and privileges. The burgomaster of the old town was one of those who were decapitated in the Hradčany Square (Aug. 20, 1547). Ferdinand had summoned a meeting of the estates on that day at the adjoining Hradčany palace, and it became known as the “bloody diet” (Krvavý sněm).

The importance of the city of Prague greatly increased during the reign of Rudolph II. That sovereign chose Prague as his permanent residence and it thus became—as Rudolph, besides being king of Bohemia, was also German emperor, king of Hungary and ruler of the hereditary Habsburg lands—the centre of his vast domains. It was in Prague that the Thirty Years’ War broke out. On the 23rd of May 1618 the Protestant nobles of Bohemia threw from the windows of the council chamber of the Hradčany palace two of the Imperial councillors who were accused of having influenced in a manner unfavourable to the Bohemians the emperor Matthias, who was also king of Bohemia. War broke out and continued when in 1619 Matthias was succeeded by Ferdinand. In the same year the Bohemians 