only the first principal part of the name that Komensky chose for his work. It may, however, be interesting to give here the full name, which, according to the fashion of the day, is very lengthy. Komensky thus describes his book: "The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise[1] of the Heart; that is, a book that clearly shows that this world and all matters concerning it are nothing but confusion and giddiness, pain and toil, deceit and falsehood, misery and anxiety, and lastly, disgust of all things and despair; but he who remains in his own dwelling within his heart, opening it to the Lord God alone, will obtain true and full peace of mind and joy."
Following the example of all former editors of Komensky's masterpiece, I have made no external distinction between the "Labyrinth of the World" and the "Paradise of the Heart." Komensky himself made no such distinction, and here also the chapters are numbered continuously, as they are in the Amsterdam edition of 1663. It has often been stated that the "Paradise," which is much shorter than the "Labyrinth," is also inferior to it. It is certain that while a large, and perhaps the most interesting part of the "Labyrinth," describes the customs and manner of life of the six "estates" into which Komensky divides mankind, the lives of the same classes of men are described, but in a few
- ↑ In the first edition, the word "Lusthauz," derived from the German, is used. In the Amsterdam edition, and all the subsequent ones, the correct Bohemian word "Raj" is employed.
