[23] I have always thus translated the Bohemian word _topička_ referred to above. [24] The Bohemian words are _veleš_ and _zmek_ names of heathen Bohemian divinities, which, after the acceptation of Christianity, acquired the signification of evil spirits. [25] _i.e._ virgins, widows, and married people. See p. 66. [26] _Sedláček_, the diminutive of _sedlák_ = peasant. The diminutive is used very frequently in Bohemian. [27] Literally "little father," _tatiku_. The frequent diminutives of the Bohemian language are very difficult to render in English. CHAPTER III HUS The life and death of Hus and the principal events of his career form perhaps the one incident in the annals of Bohemia that is familiar to most English readers. I therefore give but a summary account of the career of the great Bohemian, for here, as everywhere, the need of compression confronts me. I feel the more justified in omitting many interesting incidents, as English literature in the late Mr. Wratislaw's _John Hus_ possesses a short but trustworthy biography of Hus founded on lately-discovered documents. The work is superior to any other on the same subject. Even in Bohemian literature no equally trustworthy biography of Hus has as yet appeared.[28] The sympathies of Mr. Wratislaw are indeed very evident, but he has never attempted to slur over or to attenuate the arguments of the adversaries of Hus. The study of the life and of the writings of Hus has until recently been greatly neglected in Bohemia, and even now no complete modern edition of his works exists. A recent editor of a selection from Hus's letters scarcely exaggerates when he writes: "Two wrongs have been committed on Magister John Hus--one was committed when at Constance long ago his life was violently brought to an end; the other consists in the neglect with which his works are treated at present by the national (_i.e._ Bohemian) public." John of Husinec, or JOHN HUS as he is usually called, was, according to ancient tradition, born on 6th July 1369; neither day nor year of his birth are, however, absolutely certain.[29] Many tales told of the early days of Hus are taken from the records of the Bohemian brethren, written many years after his death. From the year 1400 onward authentic accounts of the events of the life of the Bohemian reformer exist, and from the year 1409 to the time of his death we have a continuous and detailed record of his life.