75
A brzo prawdu poznala
W okamženj dokonala,should rather be:
Dwa nože w čepenj měla
Geden si k srdci wrazila.It is to be regretted that few ballads such as these are to be found among the traditional poetry of Bohemia.
Attempts were made, as early as the year 1515, to introduce the rules of latin prosody into bohemian verse; but as the accent invariably falls on the first syllable, it is clearly impossible that the bohemian language should be adapted to a versification whose character so much depends on the changing position of the accents. Komenius made such an experiment, and, in 1662, printed his "Cato" at Amsterdam, in bohemian hexameters; and Wenzel Rosa, overcome with delight at the attempt, reprinted the volume in 1670, but he confesses he was obliged to "count the feet with his fingers."
E 2
