THE AGE OF DECADENCE 71 were written during the stirring and enthusiastic years of Rákóczy's campaign. It is chiefiy the poetry of the camp, sung by soldiers to soldiers. The poems were recited, sung, and occasionally copied, but never pri nted and published. It was not until one bundred and fifty years later that they were collected. The songs are among the finest treasures of Hungarian popular poetry, the rich ness of which inclines us to say that the greatest H ongarian poet is the H ongarian people. As they were songs for the camp, they naturally contain at times an element of aggressive and crude strength. But the good fortu ne of the Kurucz army waned, and the foreign and imperial party gained the upper hand, a fact that accou nts for the note of melan choly so common in the songs. Moreover, as the Kurucz party were often prosecuted for their Protestant faith, it is only natural that a fervent religious element should reveal itself in their poetry. Its dominant feature is the exaltation of racial and national feeling. No other pop ular poetry can be compared with it. Even its bursts of anger, indig nation, sorrow, or bitter sarcasm contain a certain noble dignity. Some of the poems are p urely lyrical, breathing the prevailing sentiments of the times fervent patriotism, or ernbittered hatred of the enemy ; others, however, are of the nature of epics, relating the events of th e campaign i n the form of a dialogue, and so resembling the Scottisb ballads. One of the best is the song about Ocskay's Treason. Another is a plaintive song of the hometess soldiers, who, with no secure shelter, wander about the plains and forests. Very touching is the Farewell of Q.ák4czy. There are several songs written by Protestant pastors, who had been carried away to
