DOBROW'SKI, JOSEPH, the founder of SlaviC philology, was b. Aug. 17, 1753, at Gyermet, near Raab, in Hungary, where his father, a Bohemian by birth, was stationed in garrison. He studied at the gymnasium of Deutschbrot, and subsequently at Klattau and Prague. In 1772, he entered the order of the Jesuits at I3rtliin, but on its dissolu tion ten months after, lie returned to Prague, to continue his theological studies, and in 1776, became tutor in the family of the count von Nostitz. During the years 1780-87, he edited a critical journal of Bohemian and Moravian literature. This soon involved him in various strifes, and ultimately the review was ".stopped" by the authorities, but not before it had added largely to D.'s reputation. In 1792, at the expense of the royal Bohemian scientific society, he made a journey to Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, to search after the fate of those Bohemian books and MSS. which the Swedes bad carried off from Prague during the thirty years' war. Two years after, he traveled
through Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. On his return, he manifested symptoms of a disordered mind, and in 1801, had to be confined for some time, He speedily recov ered, but was subject to intermittent fits of insanity until his death, which happened Jan. 6, 1829. D. is reckoned one of the highest, if not the very highest, authority on all matters connected with Bohemian history and literature. His principal productions a`re—Scriptores return Boherakarum (Prag., 2 vols., 1783-1784); Geschichte der Bairn. Sprache unrl altern Literatur (Prag. 1792); Die Bildsamkeit der Slaw. Sprache (Prag. 1799); Wtirterbuch (2 vols., Prag. 1S02-21), in which he was largely assisted by other eminent Bohemian scholars; Lehrgebetude der (Prag. 1809); and Institutions Lingua Slaronica Dialecti Veteri8 (Vienna, 1822).