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A HISTORY OF BOHEMIAN

LITERATURE

The result has been to the ancient history of Bohemia. " that the glory of the Bohemian Livy," as Hajek was formerly called, has been completely obscured. It has been proved that Hajek's work is totally untrustworthy, and that he not only copied from earlier writers without any attempt at criticism, but that he was often intentionally mendacious, and for party purposes distorted his account of historical events. The great Bohemian historian Palack^'s judgment on Hajek has often been quoted. Palacky wrote : " Hajek is the most narrowminded slyboots, the most naive humbug, and the apparently most innocent calumniator whom I have met in the course of my historical studies." It is hardly necessary to mention that at a period when the rule " Scribitur ad narrandum, non ad probandum," was ignored by all Bohemian historians, Hajek's work shows traces of party spirit almost on every page. The author, who was a Romanist priest, writes as a strong Catholic, and as a strong partisan of the Bohemian aristocracy. Among the adherents of Rome, who were then few in number in Bohemia, and who were Hajek's principal protectors, were found several of the greatest Bohemian nobles. These Catholic lords were always the most decided enemies of the Bohemian cities, while the Utraquist and Protestant nobles — though their caste

pride may have been as great — regarded the townsmen as valuable allies in their struggle against the sovereign, while the democratic character of the community of the " Bohemian brethren " naturally also influenced the nobles who belonged to it. In his preface already Hajek enters into the question of the rank and precedence among the Bohemian estates, He of course in a sense favourable to his patrons.