Page:Lectures on The Historians of Bohemia by Count Lutzow (1905).djvu/107

 that Palacký began to publish his history first in the national language.

From the year 1836 the history of Bohemia became the life-work of Palacký. It was indeed only in 1876, the year of his death, that the last sheets of the revised edition of the work were ready for the press. The book was a political event in Bohemia, and largely contributed to further the political career of its author. The book proceeded slowly, and in the face of constant opposition of the government officials who were known as the ‘censors.’ Palacký has, in one of his German works, written most entertaining pages on his struggles with the censors. These conflicts turned principally on Palacký’s account of the career of Hus. It is hardly necessary to say that the police-officials, who did duty as literary critics, were absolutely incapable of judging the career of Hus. This did not prevent them from interfering with Palacký’s work. When the latter wrote that the courage displayed by Hus during his trial forced even his adversaries to admire him, the censor declared that ‘the Catholic Church does not see in Hus’s attitude undaunted courage, but insolence and obstinacy founded on utter blindness.’ Palacký had also ventured to quote Poggio Bracciolini's well-known account of the death of Jerome of Prague, which from the time of Aeneas Sylvius downward has been frequently reproduced. The censor, none the less, had his doubts concerning the authenticity of the letter, and also stated that, in any case, it described Jerome as a philosopher, a man worthy of admiration, and one whose death should be regretted. This judgement (the censor continued) is out of place, and likely to lead astray those who are little versed in history.