re and irony were employed with much skill and dexterity by the
Hussites.[22] Uricz of Kalcnicz wrote a satirical letter from Lucifer
to Lew of Rozhmital. Bohuslav of Czechticz partly wrote and partly
compiled the work, "Mirror of all Christendom," with many remarkable
illustrations.[23] The Bohemian brother, Chelcicky, ob. 1484, called
also the Bohemian doctor, because he did not understand Latin, and of
course neither Greek nor Hebrew, undertook, nevertheless, besides
several other works, to write an interpretation of the Sunday Lessons
of the Gospels. His most popular book, called _Kopyta_, i.e. "The
Shoe-last," (being himself a shoemaker by trade,) which was much read
by the common people, is no longer extant. A pamphlet of Martin
Lupacz, ob. 1468, called "The Sprinkling-brush," was likewise in the
hands of every body. This clergyman, however, acquired better claims
on the gratitude of his cotemporaries, by a careful revision of the
New Testament, which he undertook with the aid of several learned
friends. Indeed, both among clergymen and laymen, there was an ardent
desire for the right understanding of the Scriptures; which induced
many individuals, who were not satisfied with the existing Bohemian
translations, to undertake the task themselves anew.

Out of this period alone the manuscripts of thirty-three copies of the
whole Bible, and twenty-two of the New Testament, are still extant;
partly copied from each other, partly translated anew; all, however,
having been made from the Vulgate.[24] The Bohemian versions made from
the original languages belong to the following period.

Although religion filled the minds of the learned during this period
more than in any other, it did not absorb their interest so entirely
as to occupy them exclusively. It could not, however, be expected,
that in the midst of such struggles, both political and religious, the
minds of men could elevate themselves so far above their
circumstances, as to look at any science or art in the light of its
independent value. Poetry, at least, with a few exceptions, was only
regarded as the handmaid of religion. We find many books of legends,
biographies of the fathers and saints, both prose and rhyme, written
partly by Romish, partly by Hussite writers. The doctrines of Huss did
not, like those of Luther a century later, shake the belief in saints.
Dobrovsky mentions a very ancient printed work of 1480, in which the
letters of Huss, his life by Ml