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with his appeals, or to gladden Presburg with his presence; and, entirely re-assured by the congress of Vienna, he ruled Hungary till the year 1825, without having once convened the states, though encountering the most strenuous and threatening opposition from the counties. It was during these years of absolute rule that the spirit of national action began to manifest itself, especially in the department of literature, which will be referred to in the following chapter.

FOURTH PERIOD.-1825-1850.

CHAPTER VIII.

CONTINUATION OF THE REIGN OF FRANCIS I.KAZINCZY-COUNT SZECHENY-KÖLCSEY-REVI

VAL IN LITERATURE AND POLITICS-ACCESSION

OF FERDINAND V.—(1825-1840.)

THE characteristic of the present period is the reawakening of the national spirit, as manifested in the literature of the country. One of the chief causes of these new manifestations in Hungarian society was undoubtedly the reactionary policy of the crown, which evoked a spirit that otherwise might have remained dormant for a longer time. The modern Hungarian civilization is thus, as it happened with many an unfortunate nation, partly indebted to the denationalizing measures of Joseph II. and the tyranny of Francis I.

The toilsome, unrelenting war against deep-rooted prejudices and inveterate habits was the peculiar characteristic of the few literati who stood up for the cultivation of the Hungarian language, and who, in

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REVIVAL OF THE NATIONAL SPIRIT.

unison with a new race of politicians, succeeded in leading the national genius from one step of progress to another, till they caused the feudal institutions, doubly endeared to the nobles by the incessant efforts put forth by the crown for their destruction, to give way to salutary, and by this time indispensable, ameliorations. As the progress in literature took precedence of that in politics, the former will first be glanced at. But before proceeding further, it is well to bring back to recollection the calamities with which the language and general culture of Hungary were visited during the middle ages, and not to forget that the fifteenth century, which was an era of preparation for the modern progress of the rest of Europe, turned Hungary into a battle-field. Nor did the subsequent ages prove more favourable. Like the rule of Charles V. and Philip II. in Spain, the reign of the younger branch of Austria was, during the last three centuries, irrespective of the protracted wars, most detrimental to the spread of science and literature. In Hungary, it is true, the Hapsburgs had not much to destroy; but the deeper were felt the effects of a reign, which alternated between political tyranny and ferocious fanaticism, and struck with the same reckless fury the adherents of national independence and the defenders of religious liberty. The dead Latin, rendered predominant since the time of St Stephen, and zealously cultivated by the clergy and laity, to the almost entire neglect of the living idiom, experienced the first shock from Francis Kazinczy, the founder of modern Hungarian prose. Kazinczy reached the age of manhood at the time of the general effeminacy of the nobles, and when Joseph II. strove to sweep away the last remains of historical and traditionary Hungary. This

LITERARY REFORMS OF KAZINCZY.

203

latter circumstance, as may be imagined, served only to redouble the energy of Kazinczy in treading the path of literary reform upon which he had determined. To meet the common cry of the shallow pedants who, desirous of hiding their ignorance in a dead idiom, expatiated on the poverty of the Hungarian tongue, Kazinczy began by collecting the numerous expressions which had fallen into disuse, and by purging the native idiom from many Latin words, that had crept into it in the lapse of ages. By the aid of his neological powers, he soon astonished his countrymen with productions adorned with all the niceties of grammar and euphony, coupled with variety and elegance in expression. As far back as the year 1788, Kazinczy started a periodical entitled the Magyar Museum, the first production of that kind in the Hungarian language. This was, a few years later, followed by another, named the Orpheus, which was crowned with equal success. The activity of Kazinczy soon attracted the attention of the government, which saw in the slightest effort at reflection in politics or religion some hidden revolutionary spirit, and thought that from wit and elegance of language there might spring up regicides and demagogues. While living peaceably in the house of his mother, in the county of Zemplin, Kazinczy was seized by an armed force and thrown into prison. The Regal Court of Pesth sentenced this man of letters, accused of revolutionary plottings, to death -a sentence which, by special grace, was commuted into seven years' imprisonment (1794-1801). After having spent the days of his captivity in the prisons of Brun, Kufstein, and Munkacs, Kazinczy resumed his task with increased vigour. Of his poetical productions, the most successful are his epigrams and satires,

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LITERARY REFORMS OF KAZINCZY.

which were not a little influential in stirring up the slumbering spirit of Hungarian society; while his prose works, treating chiefly of historical, æsthetic, and philosophical subjects, had no small share in dispelling prejudices and refining the taste.

In order to exhibit the riches of the Hungarian idiom, and improve the national taste by one and the same means, Kazinczy applied with all his might to the translation of foreign classics, and the master creations and beauties of Shakspeare, Ossian, Lessing, and Göethe were soon resounded in the language of Arpad.

The adversaries of the language-reform attempted to throw ridicule on the labours of Kazinczy, by publishing a lampoon entitled Mondolat; but they were soon obliged tacitly to respect a man who, urged on by patriotic feelings, laboured unremittingly to remove the mental inactivity and torpor that lay heavy upon the national body, and who felt convinced that, with the revival and culture of the sonorous native idiom, the people would regain the self-esteem, buoyancy, and which once openness, formed the chief features in their character. Kazinczy was far from being an original or powerful thinker. His powers mainly lay in his aptitude for applying to the taste and opinions of his own country the ideas and general knowledge which he culled from foreign literature. In satire this poet stood above his contemporaries, though he knew not the less how to bestow praise. The attractive and popular manner in which he advanced new rules and theories, was the chief secret of his success; and though placed in circumstances incomparably more disadvantageous, Kazinczy may be said to have done for Hungarian literature what Herder had already ac