THE VELESLAVINS

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work, that only appeared after the death of Konac in 1546, is entitled The Book of Lamentation and Complaint ofJustice, the Queen and Mistress of all Virtues. It would be easy to continue this enumeration of Bohemian humanists. Though these translators devoted themselves rather too much to the works of the fathers of the Church and to contemporary writers such as Erasmus and Sebastian Brand, and too little to the real classics, yet their work greatly contributed to the improvement and development of the Bohemian language. The study of ancient literature, which was undoubtedly furthered by their work, had a refining and elevating influence on some of the men who, in the last years of Bohemian independence, played a prominent part in I shall return to this point the politics of their country. in the next chapter. Writing for readers who are not Bohemians, it will be sufficient to mention but two other Bohemian humanists, the two Veleslavins, They enjoyed great celebrity, and it became customary to call the period in which they flourished — the last years of the sixteenth and the first of the seventeenth century — " the age of Veleslavin." Adam Daniel Veleslavin, born in 1545, studied at the University of Prague, and took his degrees there. He afterwards for some time lectured on history at that university, but after his marriage in 1576 to the daughter of the celebrated printer and publisher, George Melantrich, he became a partner in the business of his In this capacity he greatly furthered father-in-law. the development of Bohemian literature, and it is due to him that many books in that language were printed. Thoroughly acquainted with the art of writing his own language, he thoroughly supervised all the books that