Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/173

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LO UIS KOSSUT H 159 nations. His journeys to England produced a great and decisive effect upon Széchenyi. His sensitíve nature readily took every impression. He learnd much and with enthusiasm. His great reforms were mostly suggested by English examples. He learned political economy from Bentham. It seemed to English visitors who stayed in his castle, that they were in the house of an English nobleman ; this may be partly accounted for by the fact that he was related to an English aristocratic family. " The more I learned to know the English he wrote, u the more I was compelled to love them." In the diary of his English travels we read u The Germans write much, the Fre neh talk much, and the English do much." In 1832, when he visited his " heloved England " for the third time, he wished to study thoroughly the manufacture of machinery, and he entered a factory as a workman, and laboured diligently. 1He was often the gu est of George IV., wh ile the latter was Prince Regent. It was characteristic of him that his favourite poet should be Byron, whom he resembled in his capricious melan­ choly. It was to England, above all, that Széchenyi was indebted for a righ t esti mation of the important part played by practical interests in the life of a nation. After Széchenyi, wh om Kossuth bimself called u the greatest Hungarian," Louis Kossuth and Francis Deák became the natio n's leaders. LOUIS KOSSUTH (1802·1 894) and FRANCIS DEÁK (r8o3- 1876) were Hungary's greatest orators. Kossuth's talents were in many respects in marked contrast with those of Deák. Deák was usually calm and mod erate, while Kossuth spoke in tones of excitement and passion . Deák app ealed to the intellect of his hearers, Kossuth to their imagin ation. Kossuth's fervour enehanted men ;