g in 1716. Another was
instituted at Wittenberg, A.D. 1749. Their literature continued to be
almost exclusively of a religious kind; and consisted mostly of
translations from the German. Another _Wendische Grammatica_ was
written by G. Matthei, one of the translators of the Vendish Bible. A
dictionary was prepared by Frencel.[7] Both works can now only be
considered as curiosities. The latter proceeds upon the firm
conviction, that the Slavi were originally Hebrews; and contrives to
point out in all the substantives or nouns of the Sorabian language a
certain degree of analogy. The only philological works, which will be
of use to those who may wish to study this Slavic dialect in our day,
is a short grammar by Seiler,[8] and a more modern one by J.P. Jordan.
The latter has adopted the system of orthography best adapted to the
language, viz. that introduced by Dobrovsky for the Bohemian.[9]

The Upper Lusatian dialect has acquired in this way a degree of
cultivation, which of course, since most of those who speak and read
it are of the common people, comparatively few are able to appreciate.
In religious hymns, there is no deficiency; and several cantos of
Klopstock's Messiah have been translated into it by Moehn, in the
measure of the original. In regard to the popular songs of the
Sorabians, a kind of poetry in which most Slavic nations are so rich,
no pains was taken until recently to discover whether they had any or
not. But when on the publication of the remarkable Servian ballads,
the interest of the German public in this species of poetry became
strongly excited, the Saxon minister of state, baron Nostitz, himself
an esteemed German poet, turned his attention particularly to this
subject; and succeeded in collecting several little songs full of that
sweet, half pensive, half roguish feeling, which characterizes Slavic
popular poetry in general. They were translated by him and
communicated in manuscript to his friends: but whether they have ever
been printed we are not informed.

This subject, however, was not long suffered to rest. Two societies
have been formed within the last twelve years, one at Breslau among
the students of the university natives of Lusatia; the other at
Bautzen among the scholars of the Gymnasium or High School; for the
promotion of their native language and extending the knowledge of the
antiquities of their country. Both these societies of the rising
generation are favoured and assisted b