spent the last years of his life at Freiberg
in Saxony. It was at this period of his life, after his political
activity had ceased, that he wrote his historical works. His first work
was a short book which is a mere series of chronological tables.
Somewhat later he undertook a vast work entitled _Histoire cirkevni_
(history of the church). In spite of its title the book, which consists
of ten enormous MS. volumes, deals as much with political as with
ecclesiastical matters. The most valuable part, that dealing with events
of 1602 to 1623, of which Skala writes as a contemporary and often as an
eye-witness, has been edited and published by Prof. Tieftrunk. A
contemporary and a political opponent of Skala was William Count Slavata
(1572-1652). He was a faithful servant of the house of Habsburg, and one
of the government officials who were thrown from the windows of the
Hradcany palace in 1618, at the beginning of the Bohemian uprising. In
1637 Slavata published his _Pamety_ (memoirs) which deal exclusively
with the events of the years 1618 and 1619, in which he had played so
great a part. During the leisure of the last years of his long life
Slavata composed a vast work entitled _Historicke Spisovani_ (historical
works). It consists of fourteen large MS. volumes, two of which contain
the previously-written memoirs. These two volumes have recently been
edited and published by Dr Jos. Jirecek.

19th-century revival.

After the deaths of Skala, Slavata and Comenius, no works of any
importance were written in the Bohemian language for a considerable
period, and the new Austrian government endeavoured in every way to
discourage the use of that language. A change took place when the
romantic movement started at the beginning of the 19th century. The
early revival of the Bohemian language was very modest, and at first
almost exclusively translations from foreign languages were published.
The first writer who again drew attention to the then almost forgotten
Bohemian language was Joseph Dobrovsky (1753-1829). His works, which
include a grammar of the Bohemian language and a history of Bohemian
literature, were mostly written in German or Latin, and his only
Bohemian works are some essays which he contributed to the early numbers
of the _Casopis Musea Kralovstvi Ceskeho_ (Journal of the Bohemian
Museum) and a collection of letters.

It is, however, to four men belonging to a time somewhat subsequent to
that of Dobrovsky th