se enough to
know, that a monarch's greatness is best enhanced by the prosperity of
the people over whom he reigns, failed to give ample encouragement, at
the same time, to learning and to the arts. Under Rodolph the halls of
the Hradschin were adorned, with the productions of the best masters,
which he purchased in Italy, and brought with him into Bohemia. His
court, likewise, became a centre of attraction, round which Tycho
Brahe, Kepler, and other foreigners of high renown, were gathered;
while the native nobility, catching the impulse which their sovereign
afforded, devoted themselves, in numerous instances, to the cultivation
of letters and of science. There are several histories yet extant,
which came from the pens of Rodolph's courtiers; while the same class
gave professors and teachers, not only to the university, but to many
of the most distinguished seminaries in Italy and Germany. Moreover,
schools were multiplied both in Prague and elsewhere with unwearying
zeal; till, in addition to the sixteen which flourished in the capital,
there were at Laun, Salz, Klattau, Leitmeritz, and Chrudim, seminaries,
each of which was presided over by a master, of whose fitness to
communicate sound and wholesome learning, the Carolinum itself had
approved. And it is worthy of remark, that one great object of which
these promoters of mental culture never lost sight, was the improvement
and extension of their native tongue. There was no country in Europe
which could boast of so many statesmen, historians, and professors, by
whom the vernacular language was habitually employed, as Bohemia. The
printing-office of the Moravian brethren, of which Charles of Zierotin
was the founder, multiplied copies of the Bible in the Bohemian tongue.
In the same dialect, Radowsky of Husterzan put forth his treatise on
astronomy. John of Hdiejouna used it as well as Charles of Zierotin,
and Hajek, Dembrawricky, Wartowsky, and Blahoslaw, all demonstrated its
fitness for the purposes of the chronicler. In a word, Bohemia was
great, and flourishing, and happy; and her prosperity rested on a basis
which, if wisely dealt with, must have rendered it as enduring as it
was conspicuous.

Every movement on the part of the people had for its object, the
establishment of a perfect nationality in Bohemia;--the leaning of the
court was, perhaps naturally, towards Austrianism. Maximilian, Rodolph
II., and for a time Matthias, gave, indeed, no countenance to the