von Criegern[1] tells us that in 1749 a list of "dangerous and forbidden books," published at Königgrätz, included the "Labyrinth." Even early in the nineteenth century an edition of the book was suppressed. I shall refer to these facts again later when mentioning the various editions of the "Labyrinth" and dealing with Komensky's religious views; yet it may be mentioned here already that the "Labyrinth" is singularly free from "odium theologicum." The Bohemians have always been devoted to the "Labyrinth." Its mysticism was very congenial to them, and the variety of picturesque incident that it contains appealed to an imaginative people. The book being prohibited, the few copies that escaped destruction passed from hand to hand secretly, and were safely hidden in the scattered cottages of the Bohemian peasants. The many Bohemian exiles who left their beloved country rather than forsake their creed often took the "Labyrinth" with them. With the "Bible of Kralice,"[2] it was almost their only worldly possession, according to the words of their song, quoted by me on the title-page of this book.
Komensky—or Comenius, as he has generally been called in England—never shared the fate of many Bohemian writers; that is to say, complete
- ↑ "Johann Amos Comenius als Theolog."
- ↑ This refers to a translation of the Bible that was the joint-work of several divines of the "Unity," assembled at Kralice, in Moravia, about the end of the sixteenth century. It is a model of Bohemian diction, and Komensky modelled his style on it, to a great extent, when writing the "Labyrinth."
