DOBROVSKY. (16-br(oc's1.0%, .10sEr ( I 7.53. 18'29 . \ Bohemian writer, the 'patriarch of Slavonic philology.' Ile was born in hung:try. where leis father was stationed in garrison. His eduea t ion was carried on in I lid h.• his 11:111re f S1'11111/11110.1'ti !err 1 boy of ten. he studied in Dentschbrod. ;loud Prague. and entered the Order of Jesuits, hut ten months later, on its di.•,soluition. in 177:1. returned to Prague and aemoired It solid reputation through his knowledge of Ilelorcw and his theological so-Warship. \\*toile tutor in the family of Count Nostitz I1776 yi ), he had the leisure to devote .loiniself to scientific and gradually developed into an ardent student of everything connected with the Bohemian nationality, antiquities, lan guage. and literature. and during 1780-87 issued several periodical publications dealing with those questions. Appointed subrector and then rector (1789) of the General Seminary at Ilra disci', near ()blintz, lie acquired many enemies by his outspokenness and fearless criticisms of men prominent in the political awl social life of the country. In 1790 the seminary was closed and 1)obrovs14 retired into private life. Two years later the Royal Bohemian Scientific So ciety. founded shortly before, sent him on a -cientitie mission, At the society's expense, Dobro•s14 visited Denmark. Sweden, Finland, and Russia. in 1792, and Germany. Switzerland, and Italy, in 1794, in search of ancient Bohemian manuscripts and books plundered daring the Thirty Years' War. In 1801 lie manifested symptoms of insanity. Though he presently re covered, the fits of mental aberration kept re curring until his death. Whenever in the throes of the malady Dobrovskf was eager to destroy his works, and it was during one of these tits that he burned the Lusatian Dictionary, which was ready for the picas. Although one of the
most important figures in the period of the revival of Czech literature (q.v.). be did not believe in the possibility or even desirability of Bohemian renaissance, his favorite advice to the enthusiasts being: "Leave the dead alone." Ilk interest in the literary remains of the nation was nothing beyond that of scientific investiga tion. This difference from the point of view of the younger enthusiastic scholars turned into a serious breach when DobrovskS• attacked the authenticity of the famous Judgment of Libusha, discovered by Hanka in 1517. .Tungmann, Hanka, Palaek5•, and even P.afaTik bitterly denomwed him as a 'Slavonizing German.' but Dobrovsk:C, though keenly grieved at the ani mosity of his erstwhile friends. never changed his views. His principal works are: Scriptores Rerum Bohemicarum (1783-84) Gesehiehte der b6hinisehen sprach( and ii/tern Lit terat ur (17!!2: 2d ed. Bildsam•eit der slascischt n Sprach(' ( 1799 ; Den /sr)/ -hoh misrhes 1171rte•bueli (1802-21) ; Lehrgebande der ldihmischen Spraehe 11809: 2d ed. 1410i—the first scientific exposi tion of the structure of the Czech language, re markable for its analysis of the formation of words from roots and for the simplified theory of intleethm, classifying declensions and conjuga tions according to their stems; and Institntioms Lingua Nlaviece Dialeet l'r teris (1822 )—an epoch-making work in that field.