On October 11, 1414, Hus left Prague accompanied by Lord Venceslas of Duba, Lord John of Chlum, whom King Sigismund had deputed to escort him, Peter of Mladenovic, private secretary to Lord John, and some attendants. A large crowd, including many magisters and other members of the university, accompanied him to the city gate. Many expressed fears that Hus would never return to his native country.
It has already been mentioned that the years 1412–1414 were the years of Hus’s greatest literary activity. It will be well to notice first his Bohemian writings, which are more interesting as giving a clearer insight into the individuality of the writer. The recent researches of scholars have added so largely to the number of works rightly or wrongly attributed to Hus that I shall here confine myself to the mention of a few that are particularly valuable.[1] To the earliest part of this period, if not to a yet earlier date,[2] belong two treatises entitled Zrcadlo Hrichuv (the Mirror of Sin), an almost literal translation of fhe work entitled Speculum Peccatoris that has been attributed to St. Augustine, and a similar shorter work entitled Mensi Zrcadlo (the Smaller Mirror). To the year 1412 belong a series of expositions (Vyklad) dealing consecutively of the faith, the commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer[3] and a short work entitled Dcerka (the Daughter) dedicated to one of the pious women who had taken up their abode near the Bethlehem chapel. An ancient and interesting tradition states that the book was dedicated to Anezka, the daughter of Thomas of Stitny. The teaching of Hus is here quite in accordance with that of the Roman Church. He here and
- ↑ The late Rev. A. H. Wratislaw in the chapter of his John Hus entitled “John Hus as a writer in his native language,” refers to some of the Bohemian works of this period, though many would not now agree with his appreciation of their relative value. In my History of Bohemian Literature I refer (pp. 121–131) to the Bohemian works of Hus.
- ↑ See Dr. Flajshans, Literarni cinnost Mistra Jana Husi (Literary Activity of Master John Hus). It is not—according to Dr. Flajshans—certain that the Smaller Mirror is a work of Hus.
- ↑ My History of Bohemian Literature (2nd ed., pp. 123–127) contains translations from the Vyklad.
