n by the Sclave Piastens of the thirteenth, was concluded
by the German Hohenzollern of the eighteenth, century.

CHAPTER II.

A GERMAN LADY OF THE ROYAL COURT.
(about 1440.)

Many incidents may be found in the descriptions of the struggles
between the Silesians and Hussites, which are characteristic of the
minds and manners of the people in their epic period. We are made
sensible of the great dissimilarity between the past and present by the
style of Martin's narration. In his scanty yet graphic description he
gives us the facts, but makes no reflections on them. The writer
undoubtedly feels how noble and manly was the death of the Pastor
Megerlein; but he does not consider it necessary, and, indeed, seems to
want the facility and confidence requisite, to give expression to his
judgment.

Decisions hastily taken were on the impulses of the moment as hastily
given up. The pastor, even when abandoned by his flock, still advised
resistance to the young men that remained, though there was little hope
of saving himself; but he rejected the proposal of his Hussite friend,
and met death like a man. Little value was set upon human life: hard
hearted and cruel, the people murdered each other without compunction;
yet the infuriated Bohemians kept respectfully out of the sick woman's
room, and the plunderers with touching zeal requited past kindness. We
find unbridled egotism together with heroic self-denial, rude levity
with the deepest religious convictions: the minds of individuals moved
in a narrow circle, but with firmness and decision.

An insight into the mental struggles of the fifteenth century may be
supplied by another narrative, in which the life and feelings of a
clever and strong-minded woman are made known. The circle in which she
moved was the court of the German emperor's daughter. Few of our court
officials are aware, how much their office has increased in comfort,
honour, and decorum since the days of their predecessors, at whose
heads the Emperor Wenzel threw his boots, or on whom Margaret Maltash
used to inflict blows with her clenched fist. It was necessary for the
men and women of a court in former centuries to have strong nerves and
good health, to bear heat and cold, to endure in winter the draughts of
badly constructed dwellings, and in summer whole days of riding on
rough hacks: men had to drink deep and yet keep