Among the schools of a less
elevated rank, those of the Bohemian Brethren at Bunzlau, Prerow, and
other places, were distinguished.
Rudolph was a great patron of literature and science; and was quite
favourably disposed towards the Bohemian language. Nearly two hundred
writers were numbered under his reign; and among these many ladies and
gentlemen of his court, of which Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and other
scientific foreigners were the chief ornaments. Zeal for the
cultivation of their mother tongue, seemed to be the point in which
all religious denominations in Bohemia united. But during this
century, as in the preceding one, the language of the country existed
only side by side with the Latin; which was still preferred by many,
for the sake of a more general reputation. It became the chief object
of other eminent men, to make their countrymen acquainted with the
classics in a Bohemian dress; and to improve the language by a strict
imitation of Latin and Greek forms. Among these a rich and noble
citizen of Prague named George Hruby must be first named;[30] also
Pisecky, ob. 1511, who translated Isoerates' Epistle to Demonicus;
Nicholas Konacz and Ulric of Welensky, the translators of Lucian;
Krupsky, of Plutarch; Ginterod, of Xenophon's Cyropaedia.
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