“ The revival of the Czech nationality and the inroads made by the Czech language upon the German, tended to a limitation of intellectual development which would have boded ill for the Czechs, had these evils not been arrested before they had time to spread. ”

“ J. V. Sládek, who lived for some time in America, is the author of the Czech version of Shakespeare's plays, and of Longfellow's "Hiawatha," besides translations from Tennyson, Byron, Polish and Swedish poets. Neruda, besides excelling as a poet, in his "Cosmic Songs" and "Simple Motives" became famous as a writer of short stories and sketches of Prague life. Čech was also a skilful story-writer.
Julius Zeyer (1841-1901) and Adolf Heyduk (1835) form a kind of transition between the old and the new generation. Zeyer travelled extensively, and his poetry is mainly epic in character. ”

“ Note on the Pronunciation of Bohemian Names.
The chief Bohemian sounds which require notice are:—
č=ch.
š=sh.
ž=French j as in jour.
ř=French rg as in berger (approximately) .
ě=ye.
c=ts.ch is a guttural sound as in the Scottish "loch." The acute accent over a vowel denotes length. ů—long u. The letters "r" and "l" between consonants form a syllable without any interveningvowel. The name Vrchlický, for example, is divided up thus:
Vrch-lic-ký. The main accent falls in Bohemian on the first syllable of a word. ”

“ With this rise of Czech poetry are intimately associated the names of such men as V. Hálek (1885-1874) , Svatopluk Čech (1846-1908) , J. V. Sládek (1845) , and Jan Neruda (1834-1901) .
Hálek's "Songs of Evening" are full of a sentimental melancholy, which sometimes lapses almost into insipidity. A few extracts from these poems are given here, but it is scarcely fair to judge of Hálek by a translation. The fact is, the contents of his verse are almost too fragile to endure the ordeal of transformation into another language. ”

“ Bohemian forms derivatives and compounds with great ease, and is remarkably vigorous and expressive. As a rule, it employs far more purely native words than Polish, but some of the modern writers are beginning to introduce words of foreign origin to a greater extent. ”

“ Many of these are quite young, some even in their early twenties, but their verse is already marked by a vigour and sense of melody which augur well for the future. Numerous examples of their work will be found among these translations.
The greatest Czech poetess is Eliška Krásnohorská (b. 1847) , a fervent lover of her native country. Patriotism is the key-note of her poetry. She has shown her sympathy with the Slavonic cause in a practical manner by learning Russian and Polish, and producing admirable translations of Puschkin's poems and of the "Master Thaddeus" of Mickiewicz. ”

“ This enormous activity could not fail to leave its stamp upon Czech literature. On the one hand Vrchlický's translations set the example to numerous other writers, with the result that the series entitled: "Sborník Světové Poesie," of which Vrchlický is editor, comprises the best poetry of all nations, translated by prominent authors. On all sides arises the desire to become acquainted with the productions of foreign nations. ”

“ PRAGUE.
patriotic scholars revived their native tongue, which for so long had waged an unequal contest with German. The poetical production of these men—Jungmann, Kollár, Šafařík—is largely represented in Sir John Bowring's book. But there is little token in their work of the splendid fruit their labours were to hear, fifty and a hundred years later. ”