Page:Poetry of the Magyars.djvu/59

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MAGYAR BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
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Juris of Hungary. His Lyrics he published under the Latin title of Tintinabulum Tripudiantium. Some of his poems were translated into Latin by Sztrákos, and he himself wrote in Latin elegantly, as is evidenced by his Chronolographica Budæ composita (1706), and Antidota Melancholiæ (1722). He spent the latest part of his life in his Castle of Csábrág, where he died in 1730, leaving a reputation for integrity, which has passed into a proverb.

We come now to an epoch of absolute barrenness.

The extinction of the Transylvanian Court was a serious blow to the Hungarian tongue; for its employment there made it the language of courtesy and of commerce. The constant attraction of Vienna drew away from the land of the Magyars those who might best have given encouragement to the idiom of their forefathers; and if they returned home, they returned with other tastes. Latin and German seemed gradually preponderating, and driving out the Magyar from the circle of civilization.

But a reaction at last occurred, and we discover a marked revival of Magyar literature. Intercourse with Germany, which at first was the bane, became afterwards the blessing, of Hungary;