says the
Russian savant Petrovski in speaking of his _Ribanje_ (Fishing), "is
the intimate friend of his fisher-folk, the singers of national songs,
and with his remarkable realism he was three centuries before his
time." When we finally note that at Zadar in the sixteenth century
there was written _Planine_ (The Mountains), in which Zorani['c] gave
us the most patriotic work of mediaeval Yugoslav literature, we may say
at least that the Dalmatian Yugoslavs did not abandon hope.

By the way, these remarks on the Slav literature of Dalmatia may be
thought otiose, for the national aspirations would not have been less
fervent if they had been expressed in Italian. One is reminded by the
well-known Italian writer, Giuseppe Prezzolini,[28] that until last
century the ruling classes of Piedmont spoke French; Alfieri and
Cavour had to "learn Italian," but who would on this account pretend
that Piedmont is a French province? There is really nothing strange
in the fact that the Pan-Slavist newspaper _L'Avenire_, published at
Dubrovnik from August 1848 until March 1849 by Dr. Casna[vc]i['c], was
written in Italian, or that those Irish who desire to be free from
their hated oppressor have not completely given up the use of his
language.

HOW SHE SMOOTHED HER WAY

We have alluded to the caution of Dubrovnik, and one must confess that
in her story are such parlous situations, out of which there was
apparently no rescue, that in reading of them one is more and more
astonished at her customary enterprise. How did she succeed, for
instance, in contributing thirteen vessels to the fleet which Charles
V. sent against Tunis in 1535 without disturbing in the slightest her
good relations with the Sultan? All that she asked for was peace, and
so she paid a large sum to the Sultan every year, as also to the
pirates of Barbary, so that she could continue to navigate freely; in
the fifteenth century she had three hundred ships that were seen in
all parts of the Mediterranean and even in England. She had been wont
to pay five hundred ducats a year to the Kings of Hungary, and now and
then, when it was opportune, she sent this tribute to the Austrian
Archdukes, the rightful heirs of Hungary. To the captain of the Gulf
of Venice she dispatched every year a piece of plate, to the King of
the Two Sicilies she presented a dozen falcons, with a very respectful
letter, and the Pope, who was not forgotten, overlooked her annual
tribute to the Turk