owards the south,
towards Austria, descends precipitously to the River Losnice, a striking
contrast to the placid lake which first greeted you. This lake was
called Jordan, the city Tabor, by those who, following the teaching of
Hus, ordered their lives and thoughts by Holy Writ. The Hussites under
their leader [vZ]i[vz]ka, one of the ablest generals of all time, had
decided to build them a city and fixed upon this site for the sake of
its undoubted strategic value and its capacity for defence.

Tabor, however, takes me rather too far afield; I mentioned it for the
benefit of those who study archaeology; these will find interesting
instances of Bohemia's fifteenth-century architecture in this the
stronghold of [vZ]i[vz]ka and the followers of Hus.

* * * * *

[Illustration: TABOR BY THE WATERS OF JORDAN.]

In these my reflections on things seen and noted from "a Terrace in
Prague" I have endeavoured to arouse your interest in this grand old
city. I have pointed out to you from the terrace of my choice monuments
to a glorious past, to a glowing vital history of this the capital of an
ancient realm. I leave it now to you to fill in the gaps I have left,
either purposely--for I want you to come here and see for yourself--or
inadvertently; and I have already admitted my limited knowledge of a
great subject. So come out here and choose your point of view, and carry
on the reflections I have started; there is endless scope. As Luetzow
says: "When throwing a stone through a window in Prague you throw with
it a morsel of history." This is not meant to encourage stone-throwing,
a practice that meets with little appreciation here. What is meant is
that there is a vast field lying before you, as you look out over the
city, a field which will render you good returns for any attempt you
make to cultivate it. If your outlook be academic, at your feet lies one
of Europe's oldest universities; if your interests turn to architecture,
this little work alone should give you some idea of the wealth of
material lying here to your hand. If you are one of those rare mortals
who study history for the sake of applying its moral to the conduct of
the world's affairs, then you have here a deep well from which to draw
inspiration. Look at those figures that rise above the heads of their
fellows in the shadowy pageant of Bohemia's capital, at those whose
vision carried well beyond the narrow frontiers of their coun