after the battle of the White Mountain. To this book I can confidently refer my readers. Of other recent English works on Bohemian literature, the Native Literature of Bohemia in the Fourteenth Century, and John Hus, both by the late Rev. A. H. Wratislaw, must be mentioned as the best. Bohemia is justly proud of her history, and I think her recent historians, whether using the native or the German language, have done credit to her greatness; but to write even a sketch of Bohemian history requires a thorough knowledge not only of the Bohemian, but also of the English language. I am deeply conscious of my shortcomings on this point. I am not writing in my own language, and constant study of German and Bohemian books has left its impress on my use of English in writing. To numerous lapses from the most approved methods of English writing I must beg my readers' indulgence; and this I do not without hope, seeing that to some at least of them I am known personally, while all will alike recognize the difficulties to which I thus refer. I trust at all events that my meaning is clear, even when I have had to struggle with the difficulty of making it so.
I have added a chronological table giving the names of the rulers (princes, afterwards kings) of Bohemia, with the dates of their accessions and deaths.
The spelling of Bohemian (Slav) names presents considerable difficulty, and even Cech writers are not agreed on this matter. Though complete uniformity is perhaps impossible, I have generally adopted the spelling now in use. Names of towns, and especially of families, have sometimes retained an older form of spelling, which I have followed where I believed it to be in more general use. Some towns also, where the nationality of the population has varied at different times, possess German and Bohemian names, both of which are still in use. In all these cases I have without pedantry adopted the designation that seemed to me the most intelligible to English readers.
I must add one remark, which is only intended for readers who are my countrymen, in the unlikely case that this little book should come into their hands. In no country has the habit of using the events of the past
