Page:Lectures on The Historians of Bohemia by Count Lutzow (1905).djvu/69

 in this world”; and during the plague [which preceded the troubles of 1546] we heard little innocent children say to their parents, who wept over them: “You weep over us, but after a few years you will, in consequence of the troubles that will come over you, wish yourselves dead rather than alive!”’

Before dealing with the national movement, Sixt gives a detailed account of the meetings of the Bohemian Diets, at which he was himself present as one of the representatives of the city of Prague. He writes: ‘The public Diets, that were formerly a general meeting of the Estates, have already been reduced to this, that two or three men only meet—and, what is worse, the king, with his German and Italian councillors, examines all decisions and overrules them when he sees fit to do so, and he suppresses all that is displeasing to him; the Estates have thus no longer the power and liberty of deciding on anything that may be good and useful for the kingdom, and the disorder has become so great that for some years, indeed, almost since the beginning of his reign, we find no decree inscribed in the statute-book that was useful to the commonwealth, but only such as dealt with taxes, contributions, and other matters tending to strengthen the royal prerogative.’

The weakness and irresolution of the Bohemians, who could not decide upon either supporting their king or aiding the German Protestants, their indignation that the king should engage in foreign warfare without the consent of the Diet, and that he should introduce foreign mercenaries into the land—all this is very ably set forth by Sixt. He writes: ‘The conviction that