Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/168

 a free education. The college naturally became a centre for the friends of church-reform, and it was understood that the preachers of the Bethlehem chapel should be chosen from its members. Venceslas Kriz, son of the founder of Bethlehem, appears to have nominated the first scholars of the reorganised college. We find among them the name of Peter of Mladenovic, the disciple and biographer of Hus, whose account of the last sufferings and death of his master has been translated into many languages and read by countless people to whom the name of Mladenovic is unknown.

While the more pious and enthusiastic priests drew closer to Hus and closer to each other, some more worldly members of the clergy of Prague began to desert Hus—often to become afterwards his most venomous enemies. Some of these men had during the disputations at the university gladly taken part in the defence of Wycliffe’s teaching, and had even upheld some opinions that Hus, never an unconditional adherent of Wycliffe, had not sanctioned. These men were, however, strongly opposed to all innovations that might limit the liberty, or rather licence, of the clergy of Prague. Besides the spy Protiva, always an opponent of Hus, Stanislas of Znoymo and Stephen Palec, formerly a friend of the Bohemian reformer, now became his bitter enemies. Palec stated in a letter that the writings of Wycliffe were indeed delightful, but that he very much doubted whether any of the Bohemian priests would suffer death for the truth. He preferred, he said, a faith which would allow him to go safely anywhere. This mean letter, as Mr. Wratislaw rightly calls it, was no doubt the result of the great physical fear which Palec had felt when detained at Bologna. This does not, however, excuse the animosity and rancour with which he pursued those whose lofty thoughts raised them to a height to which his mean and cowardly nature could not attain. All personal relations between Hus and Palec ceased at this period, and Hus ex-