nature of fire. There are five stages, the Limen, the Janua, the Atrium, the Odeum, and the Adytum. A short extract from the Atrium will suffice to show the fantastic nature of the composition. The actors are Uriel, Pyrodes, and Caius Carbo, and they elucidate the subject as follows:—
P. Quis iste concursus hominum et clangor insolens tinnitusque extra numerum?
C. Incendium excitatum est.
P. Ubi ergo exarsit?
C. In ædibus nescio cujus; in platea cui ab arce nomen factum est.
U. Atque hoc quomodo . . .? etc.
The Odeum is more advanced, while the Adytum gives, still in dialogue form, a long philosophical and historical disquisition on fire. The idea was not new, having been already employed by the Jesuits, and the dialogues are written with no dramatic power. The work is dedicated to Comenius and his friends and well-wishers-Hartlib in London, Schneider in Leipzig, Evenius in Weimar, Mochinger in Dantzig, and Docemius in Hamburg.
In this year Comenius succeeded Henrici as Rector of the Gymnasium; but his reforming ardour was damped by the death of his friend and patron Count Raphael, over whose grave he preached a funeral sermon. This was afterwards published under the title “The mirror of good government, in which out of the prophet Isaiah, and from the example of the pious Eliakim, the true qualities of right and praiseworthy government are depicted and set forth as a model to all good rulers.”
The death of their patron made no serious difference to the safety of the Brethren, as his son Bohuslaw promised to protect them as his father had done. It was for Bohuslaw that Comenius composed his Faber Fortunæ, The Moulder of Fortune. This work starts with the conception of man as a free agent. We are not dependent on circumstances, but control them; we must first, however, learn to control ourselves and thus to identify our will with
