When, in 1825, the Hungarian Academy of Science was founded by a group of patriotic leaders, the movement was little more than an attempt to revive the Magyar tongue. Count Stephen Széchenyi’s words on this occasion betray the consciousness of the intimate relation between language and nationality which is felt in every country during periods of actual danger. “I am not here,” he said, “as a great dignitary of the kingdom; but I am an opulent landowner, and if an institution be established that will develop the Magyar language and, by so doing, advance the national education of our countrymen, I will sacrifice the revenues of my estates for one year.” The impetus given by this statesman, and a few equally earnest compatriots, to the cultivation of national literature in Hungary became a potent factor in the shaping of the country’s modern political destiny. It liberated the Magyar from the Germanizing influences of Austrian rule and ultimately paved the way to the establishment of a dual government in the Empire. The linguistic boundary between Hungarian and German is found in the eastern extremity of the Austrian Alps. The southern side of the valley of the Danube between Pressburg and Raab is German. Magyar spreads however to the north to meet the Slovak area. South of Pressburg the shores of Lake Neusiedler are included in the German area. The line then crosses the upper valley of the Raab and attains the Drave, which forms the linguistic boundary between Croatian and Hungarian. East of the Theiss, contact with the Rumanian of Transylvania begins in the vicinity of Arad, on the Maros river, and extends northward in an irregular line, hugging the western outliers of the Transylvanian Alps and attaining the sources of the Theiss. In the northeastern valley of this river, Hungarian and Ruthenian languages replace each other. The area of Magyar speech thus defined lacks homogeneity in its western section lying west of the Danube. Important enclaves of Germans are solidly intrenched in this portion of the Hungarian domain. The central portion of the monotonous expanse unfolding itself between the Danube and the Theiss is, on the other hand, characterized by uniformity of the Hungarian population it supports. Enclaves however exist all along the border of this eastern area.