is much to be regretted that English historians have as yet availed themselves so little of Palacký's monumental History of Bohemia.[1]
Francis Palacký was born in 1798 at Hodslavice in Moravia, not far from Přerov or Prerau, an old centre of the Unity. The traditions of the Brethren never quite died out in this part of Moravia. Palacký's forefathers had belonged to the Unity, and the family, during the many years of persecution, continued secretly to worship according to its teaching. When the Emperor Joseph II., who, as regards religious toleration, was far in advance of his age, issued a decree authorising Protestant religious services according to the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions, Palacký's parents declared their adherence to the former creed. It may be mentioned that the Bohemian Brethren have only during the present reign again been recognised as a religious community. The traces of the traditions of the Brethren are very noticeable in Palacký's works, particularly in his masterly account of the career of Hus.
After obtaining the rudiments of education in local schools, Palacký in 1812 proceeded to the Protestant lyceum at Pressburg in Hungary. Here already Palacký gave proof of his studious nature, and his predilection for historical research was already evident. Gifted with the Slav facility for acquiring languages, Palacký at Pressburg obtained a thorough knowledge of the English language. We are told that Bolingbroke's Letters on the Study and Use of History, Blair's
- ↑ I have dwelt with more detail on this subject in a (Bohemian) essay on "Some references to Palacký in the Works of English Writers," which appeared in the Pamatnik Palackého (Palacký Memorial), published in 1898 on the occasion of the centenary of Palacký's birth.
