nfirmed their kings. But all these they now lost.

"Till this fatal period the Bohemians were daring, undaunted,
enterprising, emulous of fame; now they have lost all their courage,
their national pride, their enterprising spirit. Their courage lay
buried in the White Mountain. Individuals still possessed personal
valor, military ardor and a thirst of glory, but, blended with other
nations, they resembled the waters of the Moldau which join those of the
Elbe. These united streams bear ships, overflow lands and overturn
rocks; yet the Elbe is only mentioned, and the Moldau forgotten.

"The Bohemian language, which had been used in all the courts of
justice, and which was in high estimation among the nobles, fell into
contempt. The German was introduced, became the general language among
the nobles and citizens, and was used by the monks in their sermons. The
inhabitants of the towns began to be ashamed of their native tongue,
which was confined to the villages and called the language of peasants.
The arts and sciences, so highly cultivated and esteemed under Rhodolph,
sunk beyond recovery. During the period which immediately followed the
banishment of the Protestants, Bohemia scarcely produced one man who
became eminent in any branch of learning. The greater part of the
schools were conducted by Jesuits and other monkish orders, and nothing
taught therein but bad Latin.

"It can not be denied that several of the Jesuits were men of great
learning and science; but their system was to keep the people in
ignorance. Agreeably to this principle they gave their scholars only the
rind, and kept to themselves the pulp of literature. With this view they
traveled from town to town as missionaries, and went from house to
house, examining all books, which the landlord was compelled under pain
of eternal damnation to produce. The greater part they confiscated and
burnt. They thus endeavored to extinguish the ancient literature of the
country, labored to persuade the students that before the introduction
of their order into Bohemia nothing but ignorance prevailed, and
carefully concealed the learned labors and even the names of our
ancestors."

Ferdinand, having thus bound Bohemia hand and foot, and having
accomplished all his purpose in that kingdom, now endeavored, by
cautious but very decisive steps, to expel Protestant doctrines from all
parts of the German empire. Decree succeeded decree, depriving
Protestants of their rights