Bohemian Literature has been divided his torically into five periods. The first extends from mythological times to 1409. It affords no written documents of remote antiquity. We know, however, that the language at an early period was similar to the present from the names of the gods, dukes, rivers, cities and mountains which have been preserved, such as Perun, Pfzemysl, Borzwog, Wltawa, Bila, Praha, Tetin. The Slavonian apostle Method, and the philosopher Constantine, called Cyril, made the Slavonians in Moravia acquainted with Christianity.• Thence it penetrated to Bohemia, and thus the people of this country received the Gneco-Slavonic ritual in the year 845. The same Constantine invented for the sounds of the Slavonic language the Cyrillo Slavonic alphabet, borrowed mostly from the Greek. In later times the Glagolitic alphabet sprang up, of which, however, less use was made. When the Latin Church supplanted the Greek in Moravia and Bohemia the Latin alphabet came also into use instead of the Cyrillic. In Bohemia the Cyrillic character re mained in use only with the monks of Sazawa, who observed the Slavonic ritual. As the Latins endeavored to annihilate all the writings of the old ritual, and the Slavonic language was, in many cases, obliged to give way to the Latin, Bohemian literature suffered incalculable injury; hence we possess from the earlier cen tunes but a few insignificant remains in the characters above mentioned. In the 10th cen tury the Bohemians had a school at Kudet, in which they learned Latin. Their most an cient relic is the hymn (Hospodine Pomiluyny) of Bishop Adalbert (Wegtech), a native Bo hemian, sung to the present day even by the Russians and Poles. The Bohemians possess some remains of a collection of lyrico-epic national' songs, without rhyme, which seem to have been of great merit. The manuscript ap pears to have been written in 1290 and 1310. Goethe found these national songs worthy of particular attention. Under the Emperor Charles IV, who promoted the cultivation of the Bohemian language, the University of Prague was founded in 1348. In the Golden Bull he commanded the sons of the German electors to learn the Bohemian language. Under his son, the Emperor Wenceslas, all decrees were written in Bohemian, which formerly were in Latin. Prague was then not only the most populous city in this part of Europe, but also, on account of its splendid court and the wealth of its citizens, the centre of the arts and sciences. Almost all the in tellectual currents of the West found entrance into Bohemia, and German literature in par ticular had a powerful influence. The heroes of the Alexandrian and Arthurian cycles of romance became familiar to the Czechs in their own language. Dalimil Mezericky wrote a history of Bohemia in verse; Ondreg Z. Dube, a collection of Bohemian laws, in three vol umes; Warinec Z. Brezowa, a history of the Roman emperors, and translated Mandeville's and Pribik Pulkawa, a Bohemian history. This period affords also many vocabu laries, poems, songs and translations.
With Huss began the second period, from 1409 to 1500. The prevalence of religious dis putes caused the Bible to be generally read and understood. Huss of Hussinetz translated Wickliffe's book, (Trialogus ) into the Bohe mian tongue, and sent it to tile laymen as pres ents. The (Treatise of the Six Errors' he caused to be inscribed in Bohemian on the walls of the chapel of Bethlehem. He wrote his first collection of sermons when at the castle of Kozy (1413), besides an (Appeal to the Pope,' (Commentary on the Ten Command ments,' an (Explanation of the Twelve Ar ticles,' two sermons on the Antichrist; the Cord,' and several excellent hymns.
His letters from the dungeon in Constance to the Bohemians were translated by Luther into Latin, accompanied with a preface, and printed at Wittenberg in 1536. He and Jakobellus and Jerome improved and distributed the Bohe mian Bible, of which several copies have been preserved to our times. Of Ziska of Trocnow, one of the greatest generals in history, several letters and his rules of war have been pre served. From this period have come down to us several war songs of the Taborites, also some songs of Prague. Martin Lupac under took, with the assistance of some learned men, the labor of retranslating the whole New Testament: The church service was now per formed entirely in the Bohemian language. Mladienowic, an eye-witness of the execution of Huss, wrote an account of his life. This used to be read in the Bohemian churches. Procopius continued the rhyming chronicles of Dalimil. Lodkowic related his (Journey to the Holy Sepulchre,' Sasek of Mezyhor wrote Note and TraVels Through Germany, Eng land, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy of the Bohemian Baron Loew of Rozmital and Vlatna> (whom he accompanied), a contribu tion to our knowledge of the manners of the 15th century, published in a German translation at Brunn (1824). M. Gallus, Albjk, Chrislan, Zidek, J. Cerny, J. Blowic and Sindel wrote on medicine, astrology and agriculture. As early as 1447 we have an anonymous work on the grafting of trees. We have also the rhyming legend of the 10,000 knights, a translation of the fables of /Esop, the council of the beasts and the birds, in prose and verse, in three volumes (Placj Rada). Each lesson, which flows in rhyme from the mouths of the animals, is preceded by the natural history of the animals and the moral. It was printed three times in the Bohemian language, and published at Cracow in Latin verse (1521, 4to). Of the Bible 14 translations have come down to us, besides 10 of the New Testament. The oldest, of the year 1400, is in Dresden. The typo graphic art made a rapid progress in Bohemia. The first printed work was the Epistle of Huss from Constance, in 1459; the second, 'The Trojan War,' in 1468; the third, a 'New Testa ment,' in 1474; the whole Bible, in 1488; the first almanac, in 1489.
The third age, from 1500 to 1620, may be called the golden age of the Bohemian lan guage. The cultivation of learning — in other countries, with only a few exceptions, the monopoly of the clergy—was in this favored land open to the whole nation. All branches of science were elaborated, and brought to an un commonly high degree of improvement for that time. Gregory Hruby of Geleni translated the work of Petrarch 'De Remediis utriusque Fortunn.) W. Pisecky translated from the Greek the 'Exhortation of Isocrates to De monikos.) John Amos Comenius wrote 54 works, some of which were very excellent. He published his 'Janua' and an 'Orbis Pictus,> which, translated in his lifetime into 11 languages, have passed through innumerable editions. In all the north of Europe Comenius attracted attention by his projects for improv ing education, which were deliberated upon even by the Diet of Sweden and the Parliament of England. The hymns of this and the earlier ages, part of which have been translated by Luther, may serve as standards for all lan guages. In Prague alone there were at this period 18 printing presses, in the country towns of Bohemia 7; and in Moravia also 7; many Bohemian books, too, were printed in foreign countries, as in Venice, Niiremberg, Holland, Poland, Dresden, Wittenberg and Leipzig.