tribes into Germany. The Czekhes, a people from Belo-Chrobatia, on the Upper Vistula, settled in Bohemia. The name of this tribe is by some supposed to have been derived from their chief, Czekh, and by others from czeti, or cziti, to begin.* The Moravians, or as they called themselves, Morawczik, from Morawa, a morass, were a kindred race, but the two nations remained entirely distinct until the year 1029.

The early history of the Bohemians is enveloped in fable. There are myths of the founder Czekh, the hero of the old chronicles, Samo, of Krok, the wise and just, and of the beautiful princess Libusa, who is said to have founded Prague, and who chose for her husband the peasant Perzmislas, in preference to any of the noble suitors by whom her hand was sought. How much is truth and how much poetic fiction in these legends, it is impossible to determine. For a long time Bohemia was an independent nation, at first under dukes, and from the year 1198 under kings, until 1306, when the last descendant of Perzmislas was murdered. Soon after the crown fell to the house of Luxemburg, and became united to the Roman empire. The country was at the acme of its greatness during the reign of the Emperor Charles IV., who founded the University of Prague.

Schools were early established in Bohemia. The old chroni. clers tell us that at a remote period a school was founded at Budecz, and another, in which Latin was taught, in Prague. Soltykowicz, a Pole, says that Casimir the Great founded the high school at Cracow in 1347.7

Of the literature of Bobemia, we have no well authenticated remains previous to the conversion of the people to Christianity, which event took place in 845. In that year fourteen Bohemian princes were baptized at Ratisbon. In 894, Duke Borzivog, then the head of the nation, received Christian baptism. The greater portion of the people, however, afterwards relapsed into idolatry, and Christianity was not firmly established until the later part of the tenth century. Methodius and Cyril were the principal instruments in the early conversion. The latter translated the Bible into Slavic, and this is still considered an excellent monument of the old language. He also celebrated mass in the native tongue, for which he was at first censured by Pope John VIII., but on representations by Methodius, was permitted to have singing in Slavic, and to explain the Latin words of the service in the vernacular. Wenceslaw introduced from Saxony and Swabia a number of German priests who aided greatly in enriching the language. Of the period previous to the introduction of Christianity there remain no literary records but some Latin chronicles which contain merely the names of Slavic poems. What is regarded as the oldest perfect specimen of Bohemian is a hymn credited to Adalbert, second bishop of Prague who lived in the tenth century.* It is simply a translation of the Kyrie eleison. A version of the Lord's Prayer is assigned nearly the same date.

In the year 1822 there was published in Krok,+ a Bohemian literary periodical, a poem called “Sand Libusin,” or judgment of Libusa. It was reprinted, and copied into a translation of the Russian Imperial Academy, and made a decided sensation, its apparent antiquity and considerable excellence exciting admi. ration and controversy. The authenticity of these fragments has been vehemently maintained and as strongly denied by em. inent Bohemian authority; but the weight of probability seems to be against their genuineness. The “Sand Libusin ” is a simple narrative possessing more of a tender and romantic, and less of a warlike character than is usual with poetry of the period at which it is claimed to have been written. We give some extracts, of which the translation fails to do justice to the simple beauty of the original:

“Our sun, our protection,

Thou Vyssegrad fortress,
Though haughty and daring
Above the steeps rising,
Upon the rocks standing,
The enemy's terror,

“My wings should convey me

To roam with my loved one,
Late, late in the evening,
When love is inspiring
All life, all creation,
And passionate longings
Through nature are throbbing,
I long, hapless mortal,
For thee, thou divine one;
O pity my sorrow !"

O were I the songster,
Deep, deep, in the forest

The most valuable remains of ancient Bohemian literature are contained in the celebrated manuscript known as the “Königinhof” (Rukopis Kralodworsky) manuscript of the queen's court, discovered by the librarian W. Hanke, in a chamber of the church of Kralodworsky buried among rubbish and value. less parchments. The MS. is supposed to belong to the period between 1290 and 1310.* The work appears originally to have been comprised in three books, of which a part of only one is preserved. The date of the original composition of the poems was undoubtedly the eighth or ninth century. The pieces in this work are mostly ballads and lyrical poems, of an historical character. They are remarkable for simplicity and strength, and for smooth versification. The first fragment is the “Oldrich o Boleslaw," of which not enough remains to make the story intelligible. The second is the “Benêsh Hermanow," an account of the overthrow of the Saxons. The third, “Jaroslaw," is a description of a battle between Christians and Tartars near Olmutz in 1241.

Kubla Khan, of Tartary, had a beautiful daughter who had heard of the western country and desired to visit those regions, the accounts of which had inflamed her imagination.

“Kublajevna, beautiful as Luna,
Heard of lands and people towards the evening."

She summons ten young men to act as her escort, and two maidens as attendants.

“Richly for her journey she provided,

All were mounted on the swiftest coursers,
And departed for the western sunset.
As the dawn of morning brightly shineth
When it rises in the gloomy forest,

Shone in dazzling and in native beauty
And magnificence Khan Kubla's daughter.
She was covered o'er with golden garments,
While her neck and bosom, each, uncovered
Wore the costliest wreaths of pearls and jewels."

She reaches Germany where the display of wealth excites the cupidity of the bærbarous Teutons :

“Such a splendor dazzled all the Germans,
And they coveted the costly treasures,
Tracked her footsteps as she hastened forward,
Overtook her in the darksome forest,
Murdered her and all her treasures plundered.”

The Khan Kuhla, informed of his daughter's murder, assembles an army, and, after consulting his magicians, marches to avenge her. A battle is joined, which at first seems to be favorable to the Christians :

“But the heathen sorcerers hurried forward.
Bearing in their hands the bar of magic ;
Re-awakened valor filled the Tartars,
And they rushed infuriate on the Christians,
And the Christians fied; anon the heathen
Sprang like raging beasts among the flying.
Shields lay here-here decorated helmets--
Here a horse dragged down his knightly rider;
There 'neath Tartar hoofs a knight was lying,
Not to conquer, no, to perish only.
There another cried on God's good mercy.”

The Tartars prevail, and possess themselves of Kiev and Novgorod, and lay grievous burdens upon the people. The Slavonians make many vain efforts to effect their deliverance. The Tartars push on to Olmutz. Wneslaw assembles the Bohemians, and they attempt to stem the advance of the heathen, but are driven to the highest part of a mountain, where they

suffer greatly from hunger and thirst. Weneslaw is killed by an arrow, and his followers are about to surrender, when Wratislaw, denouncing them as cowards and traitors, calls upon them to follow him to the shrine of the Virgin. They here entreat the pity of Heaven, and rain falls, their thirst is quenched. They attack the Tartars repeatedly; in one battle Jaroslaw thrusts his lance through the son of Kubla; the Tartars are defeated and retire eastwardly, and the land is at peace. There are three other historical ballads in this collection, all of which have features of extraordinary interest as poems of so early a date. There are also seven or eight lyric pieces.

Besides these there is little from this period but poems of a religious nature, with a few love songs and tales. There is a fragment of a rhymed history of the passion, a legend of the twelve apostles, and a hymn in praise of the Bohemian saint, Wenceslaus. There is also a Bohemian Psalter, with rhymed Te Deum, office for the dead, prayer for the intercession of saints, and other formularies. Of earliest historians Cosmas and Vincentius flourished in the eleventh century. Both wrote in Latin, and the chronicle of the first only is extant.

The increase of the German influence from this epoch, and especially in the fourteenth century, interfered greatly with the production of native literature. German fashions in dress, manners and speech prevailed at court, and the king kept a German body guard. The emperor, Charles IV. curtailed the privileges of the Germans in his kingdom, and granted to the Bohemians reciprocal rights in the German empire. This monarch was also Charles I., of Bohemia, uniting the titles of emperor and king. The capital was greatly enriched and embellished, and in the year 1348 the University of Prague was founded. From this period until 1410 it was resorted to by Polish, Swedish, Hungarian and German students. At the commencement of the fifteenth century the average number of students was twenty thousand. There were a number of German professors, besides eminent Bohemians, among whom were John Huss, Jerome, and Jacobellus, distinguished for their opposition to the Church of Rome. The decline of this university commenced in 1410. Charles IV., to attract students and professors from