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His father (he tells me) was a farmer, whom, up to his 16th year, he assisted in the labours of the field, and had no time for study but the wintry hours which he could dedicate to the school. From the spring to the autumn he kept his father's sheep. The elements of the latin tongue he learned at home, and afterwards completed his knowledge of it at Hradeckrálowé (Königgratz). He studied philosophy at Prague—law at Vienna: his mother-tongue was always the object of his admiration, and in early life he "moralized in song." Polish and servian troops had been quartered on his father's farm, and from them he learned their native idioms. Having excited some notice, Dobrowsky became his patron and his instructor. His literary discoveries were the signal to his welcome into many distinguished societies—obtained for him the gold medal of the russian academy—marks of imperial favour from the emperor Alexander—and the most deserved respect and gratitude of all who feel any interest in slavonian antiquities.
