One of the sonnets of the third book contains a curious prophecy of the future greatness of the Slav race. Kollar writes:-- "_What will become of us Slavs a century hence? what of all_ _Europe? Slavic manners, as the floods of a deluge, will extend_ _their strength in every direction._ "_That language, which the Germans falsely believed to be but a dialect fit for slaves, will be heard even under the ceilings of_ _palaces and in the mouths of our very enemies._ "_By means of the Slav language science will be developed. Our_ _dress, the customs, the songs of our people will be the fashion on the Seine and on the Elbe._ "_Oh! had it but been granted to me to be born at that time when the Slavs will rule, or might I at least then rise again from my tomb!_" The recent development of the Slav races is so little known in England, that these lines will probably appear to many readers far more absurd than they really are. Professor Léger, who has devoted his life to the study of Slavic history and literature, and is wondrously in touch with the national feeling, writes of the sonnet which I have just quoted: "These lines were written about the year 1830. Is it necessary to state to how great an extent the predictions have been fulfilled? The Slav language, then considered a jargon of peasants, is now the recognised language of the courts of St. Petersburg, Belgrade, Sophia, and Cettigne, of the parliaments and representative bodies of Prague, Brünn, and Agram, of the universities of Russia, Bohemia, Poland, and Illyria. ... Russian is ardently studied at Berlin, Paris, Vienna, and Budapest. Muscovite novels invade the libraries of Paris."[158] The two last cantos of Kollar's great poem have little literary merit, and their always rather local interest has, as I have already mentioned, decreased with the lapse of time. I shall, however, translate the last sonnet of the fifth canto, which forms the conclusion of the whole work. Mina, in heaven, addresses thus the Slavs who are still on earth:-- "_Oh you, brothers and sweet sisters who yet live in the world,_ _grant me willingly your ear that I may briefly instruct you._ "_Beware of that smooth path which the devil has interwoven with nets that he may entangle the souls of traitors in his deceitful_ _snares._ "_Come here and find (in heaven and hell) an example in the good and a warning in the evil. Learn above all to love your country._ "_May these words resound from your summits, O Carpathians, to the Černa Hora (Montenegro), from the Giant Mountains to the Ural: 'Hell for traitors, heaven for faithful Slavs!'_"