SERBIA LITERATURE - For some account of the Servian language, see SLAVS.

Under Servian literature the Dalmatian and Croatian in the limited sense of the term must be included. The latter, however, is somewhat meagre. This literature is divided into three periods - from the earliest times to the fall of Servian independence at the battle of Kosovo, 1389; (2) from the rise of the importance of Ragusa in the 15th century till its decay towards the end of the 17th ; (3) from the time of Dositci Obradovich to the present day.

First Period. - The earliest composition which has come down to : us in the Servian or Illyrian language, to use a term in which we may include time Dalmatian Slays, who are essentially the same I people, is the production of an unknown priest of Dioclea (Doclea), now Duklya, a heap of ruins, but formerly a city of considerable importance on the river Moratza. His title in Latin is "Anonymus Presbyter Diocleus," or in Slavonic "Pop Dukljanin." He must have lived about the middle of the 12th century, as the chronicle compiled by him extends to the year 1161. It is a tedious production, and possesses only antiquarian interest ; it is printed by KukuljevII Sakcinskil in the Arkin za Povestnicu Jugoslavensku (Agram, 1851). The oldest documents of the Servian language in the narrower sense of the term are a letter of Kulin' the ban of Bosnia in 1189, and the letter of Simeon or Stephen Nemanya to the monastery of Chilander on Mount Athos. These productions are simply PalRoslavonic with a mixture of Serbisms. The history of early Servian literature has been thoroughly investigated by Schafarik in his Serbische Lesekorner (Pesth, 1853). We have only space to mention the more important productions. (1) The Life of St Simeon by his son St Sabbas or Sava, the first archbishop of Servia, was written about 1210. The early manuscripts have been lost and the oldest copy known only dates from the 17th century. Besides this work, Sava also compiled a tipik, or collection of statutes for the monastery of Studenitza, of which he was hegoumen or abbot. He was the founder of the celebrated Chilander monastery.

The History of St Simeon and St Sabbas by Dometian was compiled in 1264, and is preserved in a manuscript of the 14th century.

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A NIINSIIA k4,4 t1114 r 01140 $la\r Ana imitslations pubs 114,,1 Iht,t b, Ills sots AittlioNat Venioe lit laZtk And r't'tiuted INt At Ats,inut be 1817s A \ 'ay interesting isoern by this AIUAf'r 1* hIt 11.8.w of the oity of Ivratrovitik \,\\toe of 0,a0.4,1,asata0 vapatatioa, NiAoldet Vatrani,,t.e401,5 v1481111 •,`'t<\ Attolvveat lvotone it wouk and IKZWIt V41# t/tos i■IA1011 \\11 t)tt, )214111.41tWA %WA., hte has lett several Maya and, besides tranolating the Hecuba of Euripides, wrote oevend myoteriee, In the style of the religions plays once so popular throughout Europe ; of threw the Saertfrx of JAI-alum is the Ilia Inic111 entitled Poly is remarkable for the warm affection it exprtileettl for the country of him education. Peter I fek torevi4 (1486- 1572j was a rich proprietor of the inland of Zara, and is worth mentioning ns having shown a tote for the national poetry of his country. lie lust* Introduced some Kongo in his Rilianjc i Piburs•o PrIgovorwife (Fliohlog and a Dialogue of Fishermen)• Very celebrated In IN time was the JegliTku ur Gip), of Andrew Cubranovid (1500•559), who wail originally re silversmith. His poem of the (//psy 1m said to hove been evoked In the following manner. Culn•anovl6 was On olio occasion following a young lady and urging hit mill, when s310 turned roiled and said scornfully in Italian to her rittenilant, In the bearing of the poet, "Cie vuolo da mo questo %lupin) I" ("Whet duo. tills Gilley want with me I"). The despised lover took lip the word of reproach and wrote a poem in which be in trod Ileed a 111pay tiroplicaying to n company of ladies their various fortimeo end concluding with an expostulation to the hard-hearted beauty fur bur obduracy. Sehafarik tweaks of this piece with great entluishoint and calls it "a truly splendid flower in the garden of the Illyrian Muses." The Russian critic Ilpin supposes, with great that the poem wen written as a sort of masquerade for the carnival. It enjoyed considerable popularity and was frequently Imitated. A oinillar story is 'mid to have suggested the Demise (De•viith)) of Stjelio atitilt15, hi which Lilo author represents himself as it Tut. hilt 110111 11111. These two pieces are elegant productions in Us', Dalian 111111111• Nieholite NeiljAkovh5 (1510.1587) was a native of Ragusa and author ol' moveral pastoralplaya in the style then so much in vogue througliont Europe. Of the Immo description are the productions or /Grillo Dalt( (1520.1580), of whom his contemporaries praised nil punt, vago, a dolco canto." Mention may also be made of Dleko Itindina and Mauro Orbini (d. 1614). Another celebrated poet wits Domino° Ziatarid (1556.1607)1 who, besides translating the ./..leeleu of &Idiocies, produced a version of the A,thn s'& of "asso awl has left several 11111101' pieces. 'rho chief of the Ragusan poets, however, 11114 Ivan011111111W lll (soe EU; M called by Id I IrisItalian nano of (iondola). Very few facts are known of his life ; but ho died in 1658 aged fifty, 'Laving discharged several important vatic offices. Ills death, mays Sehafarik, urns not too early for his fame but too early fur litentture anti the glory and prosperity of his country. l le himself published but little, and many of his writings perished in the earthquake in 1667, after which Ragusa never regained her former prosperity. The so-called Petrarchan school of Illyrian poetry languished after this and wasted its enera on elegant trifles. Dalitialian poets of the 18111 and 19th centuries have not made any considerable figure. Tho 0$1Plag of (11111da16, on which lils fame rests, is an epic sit twelve books, and was written to celebrate the victory id' the Poles tinder Ci101ikie•Iez over the Turks and Tatars in 16.22 at Choelin (Khotin). Schafarik 1)rnises Gunduliti for the richness of his imagination, the lofty tone of his verse, and its perfectly coustrueted rhythm. We aro willing to allow that tkonait pomesses considerable spirit end that the versification is ineloiltoms but on the whole it seems a tedious poem. The short iptatrailit in WIlirll it is written lack the true epic dignity. Leaving Ile Daltnatianaf the only writer worthy of mention among the Serbt is George Ilmitkovieli (1645.1711\ the last despot, who compiled A llidery Qf &Ma tin Me end V (A. 11th Century, which has been edited by Chedomil Miyatovich, ambassador from the court of Servia to St Lines's t1880), Front this period till the close of the 1St31 century there is no Servian literature: the spirit of the people stes11s to have best crushed out of them by Austrian persecutors on the one hand and by Turkish on the other. Till the reign of Milosh Obeenovielt in the Mt eentur• hardly a Seryian printed book was tf 114 atrtu. The works of Yuri Krizhanich, who, although a Serb, wrote in Russian, are 1111`1160111•11111111ler 1ZtSSIA (p. 105).

Taint Period Win 17$O\-The spark of nationality was still burning Among the Serbs, in spite of their degradation, and men vitro found to fan it. Such a man was Reach 0720-1801N a I thorongh patriot. lie was halt in Slavonia, a province of Austria inhabited 1'y Serbs, the sou of ',loot parents, but he tutu all the eethusiasut for lotrnillI; that animated the Russian Loniontxa3ff, whom h. very meth resemblok Thus we find him making his vyN• on foot thutil his native town to Kieft', where he was receivol into the ecelosiastioal midway and devoted himself to theolmv. After spending three yams: at kieff, he betook himself to Moscow.

on its return to his native country, with a cold reception from those whom he had rain-tea to foster his studics, he went back to Russia, and while at Kieft resolved to write the history of the :avirtu nation. Know* that the Slavonic monasteries in Fampoon Turkey /.\\1113.1110,1 man unpublished manuscripts Jam- bets of which have sine* perished the wars which hare devastated the vvantry or have Isms dft-troyed by the Greeks\ he visited C\anstantineple aria many other parts of chat empire in order to collect materials. On his return to -kustria he to.* up his able at Nem-eta on the Danube kw the headquarters of ::-*c.hlarik.`4 and worked at his history, which ho finished in 1768, but it was not published till upwards of twenty years later. In 1772 lie became a monk, and he died in 1801. The work of Raich, though interesting as a monument of learned industry, does not now possess much critical value. The style is harsh and a great deal of the ethnology (a science then in its infancy) unsound. Thus, among other strange statements, he holds the Bulgarians on the Volga to have been Slays.. After Raich we come upon two indefatigable Servian workers, Dositei Obradovich (1739-1811) and Vuk Stephanovich (1787-1864). The life of the former has been written by himself. Ile was a man of varied learning, and his career was marked by many curious adventures. After having visited nearly every part of Europe (including England, where he was received with great hospitality),1. Obradovich returned to Servia and became tutor to the children of Tsrni George. He was a man sprung from the people, and an indefatigable and successful labourer for national education. The list of his compilations and translations is considerable. Acting on the wise principle that the language as it is spoken should be cultivated and not a jargon overloaded with archaic and supposed classical forms, lie did good by destroying the influence of the Paheoslavonic among his countrymen. Before his death his services to his country were recognized by his appointment. as member of the senate and superintendent of national education. The man, however, who was destined to bring the Servian language into the greatest prominence was Vuk (Wolf) Stephanovich Karajich, whose collection of songs was mentioned above. Vuk was an indefatigable scholar and patriot. Till his time the Servian language had been, so far as all foreigners were concerned, simply rudis indigestague moles, He wrote a good grammar, which has formed the basis of all published since, and to this Jacob Grimm furnished a preface. To him also we owe a Servian dictionary and a collection of tales and proverbs. His supposed innovations in the Servian language with regard to the rejection of archaisms and the introduction of a new system of orthography raised up a host of enemies against him, so that not only was he forbidden to enter Servia but his books were excluded from the country. Ile died at the beginning of 1864, but permission to make use of his innovations was not given till four years afterwards.

A complete enumeration of the Servian and Croatian authors of the 19th century would far exceed the limits of this article. But Matthias Anthony Relkovid (1732-1793) deserves mention, because lie wrote in a dialect but little cultivated, viz., the Slavonian in the restricted sense, as applied to the Austrian province of that name. Ho published in 1761 a successful satire entitled Satir iliti Diri Csorik (Satire or the Clever Man), at Dresden. A few names, each of which marks a definite feature of the literature, must suffice. Lucian Mushitzki (1777-1851), an archimandrite, afterwards bishop of Carlowitz, was highly esteemed by his countrymen as a poet. His odes are full of patriotic feeling. Yovan Hadchich (1799-1870) wrote under the nom de plume of Milosh Svetich. For seine time he was an authority in Servian literature, but ultimately his influence waned. Simeon Milutinovich, a noted writer, whose life was full of strange adventures, composed an epic poem entitled Serbianka, which describes the chief incidents of the Servian war in 1812. It was published at Leipsic in 1826. We have previously alluded to his collection of Montenegrin songs. Ho is also the author of a tragedy on Milosh Obilich, who slew Sultan Murad. Milutinovich, who was a Bosnian, died in poverty in 1847. Yovan Popovich (1806.1856), a native of the Banat, was a writer of much industry and merit, and gained a considerable reputation by his plays, the subjects of which were taken from Servian history and were put upon the stage with considerable effect. Without being a great dramatic writer, he had the art of constructing pieces to which people would listen, - something like Sheridan Knowles. To this circle belongs also Yuri Maletich, author of Spomenik Lukianom Nushitzkom (A Memorial to Lucian Mushitzki), and also the _Apotheosis of Kara George. In 1347 the well-known journal Glasnik (The Messenger) was founded, which has continued to the present time and contains many valuable papers on Servian history and literature. Schafarik had previously founded at Neusatz (Novi Sad) the Matitza Srbska, an excellent society for printing Servian books.

The Croats have also been active in modern times. The remarkable poem, Death of the Agha Ismail &vie, by Ivan Malurani6 (born in 1313), is said to be so popular among the Serbs, as stimulating their hatred of the Turk, that it has been called "The Epos of Hate." Ismail was the descendant of an old Bosnian family who had turned Mussulmans to keep their estates when the country was first invaded. These renegades, as might be expected, are more fanatical than the Turks themselves. His exploits were chiefly directed against the Uskoks and the Montenegrins. The poem is composed in the same metre as that of the Servian ballads collected by Yuk. It is spirited, but has a savage air about it, engendered by the scenes described, the fierce border wars of long hereditary hatred. The account of the cruelties committed by the Turks while collecting the harach and the conclusion, where the body of the slain Agha is brought to the hermit, are dramatically conceived.

The four most celebrated Servo-Croatiau poets are Stanko Vraz, Preradovid, Yovanovich, and Radichevich. Stanko Vraz (1810-1 1851) was by birth a Slovene ; he joined, however, the Illyrian ] movement under Ljudevit Gaj and used the Servo-Croatian language. The attempt of Gaj to form a common literary language under the name of Illyrian by fusing the Servo-Croat and the Slovenish languages was not successful. - Perhaps the only result, if it had been persevered in, would have been that the Slovenes would have become completely Germanized, as a pedantic literary language would not have been understood by the peasants. Besides many graceful lyrics, Vraz also published collections of national songs. Some of his shorter pieces are very elegant and have a rich Oriental colouring. Peter Preradovid (1818-1872), a native of the Military Frontier and a general in the Austrian army, is the author of many graceful lyrics, widely known throughout all Servian-speaking regions. A complete edition of his works appeared in 1873. Peter Yovanovich (born in 1801) is the author of many popular poems. But no one of the later generation of Servian authors has gained such a reputation as Brauko Radichevich, who was born in the Austrian Banat in 1824, and ended his short life at Vienna in 1853. His popularity rests upon the patriotism shown in his writings and their spirited tone. Nor have the Servo-Croats lacked important workers in the fields of history and philology. Among these must be mentioned Dyuro Danichich (1825-1882), who was educated partly at Pesth and partly at Vienna, at the latter university becoming the pupil of Miklosich. He first made himself conspicuous by espousing the cause of Vuk Stephanovich Karajich in the dispute about Servian orthography. Besides contributing valuable papers to the fliasni/c, lie was the author of an Old Servian dictionary of great service to students. He edited, as previously mentioned, tho memorials of Old Servian literature. At the time of his death he was engaged upon a great Servo-Croatian dictionary, a work which, it is to be hoped, will be continued by some of his pupils. Ljudevit Gaj (1809.1872), who has already been mentioned, was a Croat and laboured to bring about a national unity. His services were invaluable as an editor of the Old Dalmatian classics. Armin Pavid (still living) has written a good history of the Dalmatian drama (Historija Dubrorane Drame, Again, 1871). Stoyan Novakovich (born 1842), at one time minister of public instruction, besides contributing valuable articles in the Clasnik, has published an historical chrestoinathy of the Servian language and an edition of the Zakonik of Stephen Dushan. Another worker in the same field was Chedomil Miyatovich, previously mentioned. One of the most indefatigable and patriotic of modern Croatian scholars is Ivan Kukuljevi6 Sakcinski, who has edited, besides many early Croatian and Servian works, an admirable Arkiv za PovestaCU Jugoslavensku (Collection of Documents for South Slavonic History), of which several volumes have appeared, - a veritable storehouse of Slavonic history, archreology, and literature. He has found an excellent coadjutor in Dr Francis Raeli (born 1829), among whose works may be mentioned Pismo Slojensko (Slavonic Writing, Agram, 1861), Od/ovici iz Dri'armya prava Horvatskoga (Fragments of Croatian Law, 1861), and many excellent historical articles in the journals Poor (The Observer) and Rad (Labour).

After Miklosich, the most indefatigable worker in the field of; Slavonic literature now living is the Croat Iguaz Vatroslaff Jagid l (born 1835), formerly a professor at Berlin, who now occupies the 1 chair of Slavonic philosophy at St Petersburg, in the place of Sreznevski. Ho has published many valuable works on Slavonic t philology, such as (in 1867) a History of Servo-Croatian Literature, also a reading-book with specimens of early Glagolitic and Cyrillic works (Prime ri Starohervalskoga Jezika). He has also edited two of the oldest Slavonic codices, Marianus and Zog,raphensis. Moreover, in 1875 he founded the well-known Archie fur slarische Philologic, which he still edits with the co-operation of many Slavists. Sime Ljubid is another worker in the field of Slavonic history and literature. To the excellent literary journals already mentioned may bo added the Starina, published at Agram. Valuable works have been written by Balthasar Bogigvie on the house-communities of the southern Slays and south Slavonic law generally. His labours have been made use of by Sir Henry Maine. One of the most celebrated of living Servian poets is Matthias Ban, the author of several poems and plays, which have been very favourably received.

A few words may bo added here on Montenegrin history and 1 literature, the details of which are but scanty. On the death of, Stephen Dushan, a certain prince Balsha became independent ruler of Zeta. Many fugitives betook themselves to the little retreat after the battle of Kosovo. Ivan Chefnoyevich settled in Tzetinye (Cettinle) in 1485 and built a church and a monastery. In 1516 his son and successor retired to Venice, and Montenegro was governed by a national assembly and a vladika (prince bishop). The country was ruled by vladikas of various families till 1697. In that year the office became hereditary in the family of Petrovich of Negosh. Originally the ecclesiastical and civil functions were combined in the person of the vladika, but they were separated on the death of Peter II. in 1851. The latter was the author of some poems in the Servian language, the most celebrated being Loucha Mikrokozma (The Light of the Microcosm), which appeared at Belgrade in 1845. He was succeeded by his son Daniel, first prince of Montenegro, who, dying in 1860, was followed by his nephew Nicholas, the most memorable events of whose reign have been the war with Turkey and the increase of his territory by the treaty of Berlin. (W. R. M.)