she roused them from slumber, drove them to the walls
and aided them in beating off the attacking Pragers, Then the Bruexers
went to sleep again. It is also pleasant to reflect that Agnes's refusal
to marry Frederick did not mar the excellent relations that sprang up
between that monarch and Ottokar whenever the latter happened to want
something out of the former. It is true that Ottokar had changed about a
good deal between one rival emperor and another, but he remained loyal
to Frederick in the end, and the latter outlived him by some thirty
years. The relations between the two must have been quite pleasant and
comfortable, as you may judge from the concessions made by the Emperor
of the Holy Roman Empire to Bohemia's King. A pretty and tactful
compliment it was on the part of Frederick to allow Ottokar's heralds,
when preceding their royal master to the Imperial Diet, to carry lighted
torches on poles before him, and this to signify that the Bohemian
excursionists were at liberty to burn down anything they had a mind to.
It is these little considerations that have ever played such an
important though unrecognized part in the diplomatic relations between
nations. The Bohemians are still quite nice about accepting little acts
of kindness and consideration from anybody.

P[vr]emysl Ottokar I had reigned for twenty-eight years when his son
Wenceslaus, first King of that name, succeeded him, and, strange to say,
practically without opposition. By this time Bohemia had risen to a
position of importance in the councils of Europe not only by the
skilful, not to say artful, policy of its rulers, but also owing to the
growing prosperity of the country which was reflected in the life of
Prague its capital.

Prague consisted of three distinct settlements each apparently under
separate administration. There was the old original settlement on
Vy[vs]ehrad which seems to have been under the sway of the abbot
presiding over the monastic institutions on that hill. Then there was
Libu[vs]a's foundation on the Hrad[vs]any and extending down to the
river, probably under the rule of the King's lieutenant or burgrave,
and finally the Old Town on the right bank with its own municipal
institutions. These three parts of Prague were separately walled in, but
little remains of any architectural work earlier in date than the Kings
of Bohemia of whom this Wenceslaus is generally counted as the first
though his father's royal rank had been recogn