Unjust Mandates against the Bohemians 100 John Amos Komenský (Comenius) 110 Komenský’s first work translated into English 120 Komenský’s History of Bohemian Persecution 130 Augustine Herrman’s Map 140 Wenceslaus Hollar 150 Wenceslaus Hollar’s Memorial Tablet 160 Sir John Bowring’s Bohemian Anthology 170 Bedřich Smetana 180 Antonín Dvořák 190 Count Francis Lützow 200 Thomas G. Masaryk 210 The Bohemian Voice 220 The Bohemian Review 230 NOTE ON BOHEMIAN PRONUNCIATION A noted authority has said that “no other modern language can translate the ancient classics so readily, and yet so completely and forcibly as the Bohemian.” The Bohemian is the most developed of the Slavic tongues. Consistently a phonetic tongue, it is pronounced as it is written. The vowels are pronounced as in Italian. Invariably the accent falls on the first syllable, irrespective of the length of the word. Before Hus’s time Bohemian orthography resembled somewhat that of the present day Polish. By introducing the diacritic mark, the reformer did away with groups of consonants such as cs, cz. The diacritic mark occurs on the following letters: á, é, č, ď, í, ň, ř, š, ť, ú, ů, ý, ž. Ď and ó are used least of all. The mark tends alike to soften and shade the sound of the letter. á is pronounced long as in darling. é as a in care. ě as ye in yellow. č as ch in cherry. í and ý as ee in tree. ň as ñ in cañon. ř is thought to be unpronounceable by a non-Bohemian. The Germans taunt the Bohemians with the ř. The rsh in Pershing approaches the sound though it does not quite express it. š as sh in shall. ú and ů long as in rule. ž as in j in the French word jour. ch as in the Scottish loch. INTRODUCTORY It sounds incredible, yet it is literally true, that every Slavic nation was, before the war, and probably still is, better known to the English speaking people than the Bohemians (Čechs). What is the reason? That the Bohemians, who are the most literate of all the Slavs, have remained undiscovered may be attributed to three main causes: They are not a free nation. They are a landlocked nation. They are rated a small nation.