in the
university of Prague; the use of that language in all the schools was
ordained by several decrees of the government; and by a law of A.D.
1818, a knowledge of it was made a necessary qualification for holding
any office.

In the very outset of this revival of Bohemian literature, there
appeared so great a multitude of writers; such habits of diligence and
productiveness were immediately manifested throughout the whole
nation; and such a mass of respectable talent was brought to light;
that the long interval of a dull and deathlike silence, which
preceded this period, presents indeed an enigma difficult to be
solved. No small influence may be ascribed to Germany. The principles
of the government were changed; the country, physically as well as
morally exhausted, could recover but gradually; but all this could not
create talents where there were none; nor could all external
oppression and unfavourable conjunctures destroy the germs of real
talent, if they had been there. The list of modern Bohemian writers of
merit is very extensive; but we must be satisfied with bringing
forward the most distinguished of them, and refer the reader to works
less limited than these pages, where he may find more complete
information.

Among those whose desert is the greatest in respect to the revival of
Bohemian literature, Kramerius, born 1753, ob. 1808, must be named
first. He was one of those indefatigable and creative minds, which
never sleep, never lose a moment, and by a restless activity and happy
ingenuity know how to render the difficult easy,--the apparently
impossible, practicable. From the year 1785, he was editor of the
first Bohemian newspaper; from 1788, of the annual called the
_Toleranz Kalender_, or Almanac of Toleration; and published besides
this more than fifty works, written by himself and others, but
accompanied with notes or commentaries of his own. None of his
productions surpassed mediocrity; but according to the best judges,
they were well and perspicuously written; they became popular and
exerted a very favourable influence.

As literary historians, Slavic philologians and antiquaries, Pelzcl,
Prochazka, Durich, Puchmayer, Negedly, Jungmann, Tomsa, Hanka, and
above all Dobrovsky, must be distinguished. One of the principal
merits of most of these scholars consists in their preparing for the
press and editing valuable old manuscripts; or in the judicious
commentaries which they added to new editions o