Page:Lectures on The Historians of Bohemia by Count Lutzow (1905).djvu/101

 tance of Šafařik, the celebrated philologist, who was one of the principal promoters of the Bohemian revival. This acquaintance developed into a lifelong friendship. Palacký, however, by no means restricted his studies to Slavic languages. With that facility for acquiring foreign tongues which is said to be innate in the Slav, he also acquired several languages of Western Europe. As Professor Kalousek tells us in his contribution to the Palacký memorial, a volume published in 1898 on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of the great historian, Palacký studied English writers with great attention. Bolingbroke’s Letters on the Study and Use of History, and particularly Blair's lectures on rhetoric and belles-lettres, greatly influenced the youthful Palacký. Recently looking over the pages of the last-named now forgotten book, I was struck by the fact that Palacký’s great historical work so largely conforms to the rules laid down in Blair’s lecture on ‘Historical Writing.’

I must add that the interest which Palacký always manifested in England and English literature has not obtained much recognition for him on the part of English writers. When the Palacký memorial, which I have already mentioned, appeared in 1898, I was requested to contribute a small note on the references to Palacký in the works of English writers. I was surprised to find how scanty they were, and that only the late Bishop Creighton had obviously thoroughly studied Palacký’s historical writings.

The Hungarian government was even at that time hostile to the pursuit of Slavic studies, and Palacký resolved to establish himself at Prague, where he enjoyed the protection of the Abbé Dobrovský, one