Richard II. married Princess Anne of Bohemia; how the Princess, so
the story goes, brought a Bohemian Bible to England; how Bohemian
scholars, a few years later, came to study at Oxford; how there they
read the writings of Wycliffe, the "Morning Star of the
Reformation"; and how, finally, copies of Wycliffe's books were
carried to Bohemia, and there gave rise to a religious revival of
world-wide importance. We have struck the trail of our journey.
For one person that Wycliffe stirred in England, he stirred
hundreds in Bohemia. In England his influence was fleeting; in
Bohemia it was deep and abiding. In England his followers were
speedily suppressed by law; in Bohemia they became a great national
force, and prepared the way for the foundation of the Church of the
Brethren.

For this startling fact there was a very powerful reason. In many
ways the history of Bohemia is very like the history of Ireland, and
the best way to understand the character of the people is to think
of our Irish friends as we know them to-day. They sprang from the
old Slavonic stock, and the Slavonic is very like the Keltic in
nature. They had fiery Slavonic blood in their veins, and Slavonic
hearts beat high with hope in their bosoms. They had all the
delightful Slavonic zeal, the Slavonic dash, the Slavonic
imagination. They were easy to stir, they were swift in action,
they were witty in speech, they were mystic and poetic in soul, and,
like the Irish of the present day, they revelled in the joy of party
politics, and discussed religious questions with the keenest zest.
With them religion came first and foremost. All their poetry was
religious; all their legends were religious; and thus the message of
Wycliffe fell on hearts prepared to give it a kindly welcome.