try and the
limitations of their age. Ottokar II and Charles IV, George Podiebrad
and Waldstein, all these saw the inner meaning of Libu[vs]a's prophecy:
"I see a grand city, the fame of which reaches to the skies."

Libu[vs]a's prophecy has been fulfilled, her forecast of Prague's place
in the world has come true. In the days of Ottokar II, Prague held high
place as a capital of a great State. Charles IV rescued this city that
he loved, and made of it the rallying point of Central European culture.
King George Podiebrad felt the high importance of this his native
country's capital, and from it he wove his web of treaties and
agreements for the betterment of Central Europe by means of his League
of Peace. Dark Waldstein had formed great and ambitious plans, possibly
not so altruistic as those of his spiritual kinsmen, the great men
mentioned above. You have seen how one after another these giants of
Bohemia saw their plans brought to nought. Ottokar II succumbed to the
first Habsburger that threw his shadow over Bohemia. The successors of
Charles and George Podiebrad could not stand up against the forces of
reaction that beat down Bohemia's efforts towards finding herself and
taking her rightful place in the comity of nations. Of Waldstein's plans
and ambitions there are only dark traces, obscure indications; he, a man
of penetrating vision, must have realized the possibilities of his
country, and must have been bent on securing for it the place it is
entitled to. But he in his turn perished at the instigation of a
Habsburger. And so we see the searching light of greatness light up the
city from time to time, and in almost regular intervals of a century at
a time; then came heavy banks of cloud to obscure the fair prospect. The
clouds have rolled away again; again bright sunshine draws out the
memories of Golden Prague and raises hopes of a glorious future. This
time the fate of Prague and the land and people she stands for does not
depend upon dynastic considerations nor the will or vision of one ruler
or another. The destinies of Prague are in the hands of a sovereign
people; it is theirs to make or mar them.

Here is matter for deep study, such as will in time justify prediction.
Mark also well the signs of the times as you look out over Prague, and
note whether the spirit of the great departed has not returned to inform
the people of Bohemia and of the lands that make up the Succession State
of the old Austrian Emp