from A.D. 1556 another of the Jesuits
existed, was by that treaty given entirely into their hands. This
institution, although in consequence of the foundation of so many
similar schools it never recovered completely from the shock it
received in 1410, and though for more than a hundred years it had been
decidedly on the decline, yet rose in reputation towards the middle of
the sixteenth century; and among the professors who filled its chairs,
there were always celebrated names. Among the schools of a less
elevated rank, those of the Bohemian Brethren at Bunzlau, Prerow, and
other places, were distinguished.

Rudolph was a great patron of literature and science; and was quite
favourably disposed towards the Bohemian language. Nearly two hundred
writers were numbered under his reign; and among these many ladies and
gentlemen of his court, of which Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and other
scientific foreigners were the chief ornaments. Zeal for the
cultivation of their mother tongue, seemed to be the point in which
all religious denominations in Bohemia united. But during this
century, as in the preceding one, the language of the country existed
only side by side with the Latin; which was still preferred by many,
for the sake of a more general reputation. It became the chief object
of other eminent men, to make their countrymen acquainted with the
classics in a Bohemian dress; and to improve the language by a strict
imitation of Latin and Greek forms. Among these a rich and noble
citizen of Prague named George Hruby must be first named;[30] also
Pisecky, ob. 1511, who translated Isoerates' Epistle to Demonicus;
Nicholas Konacz and Ulric of Welensky, the translators of Lucian;
Krupsky, of Plutarch; Ginterod, of Xenophon's Cyropaedia. Kocyn,
celebrated for his eloquence and other gifts, translated the
ecclesiastical history of Eusebius and Cassiodorus; Orliczny, the
Jewish wars of Josephus, several of the Latin classics, etc.

When we consider this general zeal for the cultivation of the
language, it is a matter of surprise that the first Bohemian grammar
should not be older than A.D. 1533. Its author was Benesh Optat, who
also translated Erasmus' Paraphrase of the New Testament. Another
grammar was published by Beneshowsky in 1577, a third by the Slovak
Benedicti in 1603. But the individual to whom is justly assigned the
chief merit in regard to the language, is Weleslawin, ob. 1599,
professor of history in the university of Prague