All these names
entitle us to conclude, that their language was then essentially the
same as at the present time, though more nearly approaching the Old
Slavic. The first _certain_ written documents of the language are not
older than the introduction of Christianity. There were indeed
discovered, about thirty years ago, some fragments of poetry, which
appear to lie derived from the pagan period.[11] The manuscript has
been deposited in the Museum of Prague, and the high beauties and
evident antiquity of these poems have secured them warm advocates and
admiring commentators. But the circumstance that Dobrovsky doubted
their genuineness, induces us to regard this point at least as not
incontestable in respect to the language; in respect to the manners
they describe, and the institutions they allude to, they bear very
strong evidence of a later origin.[12] Another highly valuable
fragment is the celebrated manuscript of Koniginhof, discovered in the
year 1817 by the librarian Hanka, half buried among rubbish and
worthless papers.[13] This collection, the genuineness of which is
subject to no doubt, contains likewise several poems, the original
composition of which belongs evidently to the eighth or ninth century.
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