PALACKY, PBANTISEK, a Bohemian philologist, critic, and historian, was b. June 14, 1798, at Iledslavitz, in Moravia, and studied at Presburg and Vienna, confining his attention chiefly to philological and historical investigations. In 1831 be was appointed by the states of Bohemia historiographer to that country, and was intrusted with the compilation of a general history of Bohemia. In furtherance of thiswork, he ransacked all the libraries and archives in Bohemia, and made long visits to Germany and Italy in search of materials. He took in the political agitation of 1848, and was the leader of the Slav or national party as opposed to the German at the diet of Kremsier, after the disso lution of which he returned to his literary labors. His great and justly celebrated work, History of Bohemia (in German and Bohemian, Prague, 1836-67 5 vols.), was received with enthusiasm by the whole Bohemian nation. Besides an early treatise on
Palacky published many volumes of documents pertaining to Bohemian history, and a series of monographs on the same subject; a work on the most ancient monuments of the Czech tongue; an account of a literary tour to Italy in 1837; and in 1872 his Political Testament. "Father Palacky," as he was fondly called by his Czech fellow-country men, was beloved by them as the first to give access to the real history of Bohemia; and, though himself a Protestant, was regarded by Catholics with perfect confidence. Throughout. life a zealous contender for the crown rights of Bohemia, he persistently but vainly opposed the reconstruction of Austria on a German-Hungarian basis; and when in 1861 he was elected into the Austrian house of lords, he declined to attend. Ile died in May, 1876.