e applied to the Bohemian, so far as writing was requisite
for religious instruction. According to the old chronicles, there were
even some regular schools erected in those early times, one at Budecz,
near Prague, and another somewhat later in Prague itself, where Latin
was taught. Be this as it may, the Latin and German languages had an
early influence on the formation of the Bohemian. Many foreign words
were adopted and amalgamated with the language; still more were formed
from native roots, after the model of those two idioms. In later times
this capacity of the Bohemian has been greatly improved; it being one
of the few languages, which, in philosophy, theology, and
jurisprudence, have not borrowed their terminology from the Latins and
Greeks, but formed their own technical expressions for ideas received
only in part from other nations. The extraordinary refinement of the
Bohemian verb we have mentioned in our remarks upon the Slavic
languages in general. In respect to free and independent construction,
the Bohemian approaches the Latin; by its richness in conjunctions it
differs essentially from the Russian, and is able to imitate the Greek
in all its lighter shades. Thus it yields neither in copiousness nor
in pliability, neither in clearness nor in precision,[9] to any other
Slavic language; while in respect to lexical and grammatical
cultivation it is superior to all of them. The Bohemian alone, of all
the Slavic languages, has hitherto succeeded in imitating perfectly
the classic metres; although the same degree of capacity for them is
acknowledged in the Southern-Slavic dialects.

After so much well deserved praise, we must also mention, that in
respect to sound, the reproach of harshness and want of euphony has
been made with more justice against none of the Slavic tongues. It
is true that all the reasons, by which we have above seen the Slavic
languages in general defended,[10] apply with equal weight to the
Bohemian in particular. It appears also, that this apparent harshness
is more a production of modern times, than a necessary ingredient of
the original language; for the ancient Bohemian of legends and popular
songs sounds by far more melodious; and the dialects spoken by the
Slovaks, which are kindred to the Old Bohemian, are full of vowels,
and are even distinguished from the other Slavic tongues by
diphthongs. On the other hand, it cannot be denied, that the
accumulation of consonants, in which the Bo