Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/25

Rh After the pilgrim has passed twofold gates, he beholds the various estates of mankind in the order mentioned above. When dealing with matrimony, Komensky expresses very pessimistic views, largely, I think, to consistently maintain his theory that everything earthly is evil; for it may be mentioned here that Komensky, who became a widower in 1622, married again in 1624, and after losing his second wife, married again late in life.

The pilgrim now comes to the street of the tradesmen, and Komensky's descriptions here throw a great deal of light on the dangerous and laborious life then led by those who were employed in trade and the transport of merchandise. The waggoners underwent many hardships, and the fate of the sailors was yet worse. Very picturesque is the description of a sea voyage and subsequent shipwreck. It is founded on the author's experiences during his journey to England, and is therefore a later addition, which we first meet with in the edition of the "Labyrinth" published at Amsterdam in 1663. Komensky's comparison of the different parts of a waggon to the different parts of a ship is one of the many quaint conceits that render the "Labyrinth" so attractive.

The pilgrim then visits the scholars or learned men. His descriptions of school-life, written from his own experiences, are very distressing. Plagosus Orbilius had at that time many imitators in the Bohemian schools. The pilgrim then pursues his journey through the halls of higher learning, and his visit to the scholars is indeed described with