Ballads and ditties, known to have been sung centuries before
in Hessia or on the Rhine, rose suddenly from the night of an unheeded
existence: disguised, indeed, but easily recognized, in a Slavic
dress, which bore indications of the same antiquity.[10]
2. _Language of the Sorabians in Lower Lusatia_.
Lower Lusatia, or the north-eastern part of the Lusatian territory,
together with the adjacent circle of Cotbus in Brandenburg, has about
the same number of Vendish inhabitants as the upper province. The
dialect they speak has a strong affinity with the Polish; but is, like
that of their brethren in Upper Lusatia, corrupted by German
interpolations, and even in a still greater degree. It is obviously on
the decline; and we can only expect, that after the lapse of a hundred
years or less, no other vestige of it will be left than written or
printed documents.
The first book known to have been printed in this dialect, which is
written according to a peculiar combination of the German letters, is
Moeller's Hymns, Catechism, and Liturgy, Bautzen 1574. Their present
literature, like that of Upper Lusatia, is confined to works for
religious instruction, grammars, and dictionaries. Of the former they
possess no small number.
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