Poetry.--Journalism.--The Fine Arts.--The Lyceum.--Mineralogical
cabinet.--Museum.--Servian Education.
In the whole range of the Slaavic family there is no nation possessing
so extensive a collection of excellent popular poetry. The romantic
beauty of the region which they inhabit, the relics of a wild
mythology, which, in its general features, has some resemblance to
that of Greece and Scandinavia,--the adventurous character of the
population, the vicissitudes of guerilla warfare, and a hundred
picturesque incidents which are lost to the muses when war is carried
on on a large scale by standing armies, are all given in a dialect,
which, for musical sweetness, is to other Slavonic tongues what the
Italian is to the languages of Western Europe.[21]
The journalism of Servia began at Vienna; and a certain M. Davidovitch
was for many years the interpreter of Europe to his less enlightened
countrymen. The journal which he edited is now published at Pesth, and
printed in Cyrillian letters. There were in 1843 two newspapers at
Belgrade, the _State Gazette_ and the _Courier_; but the latter has
since been dropped, the editor having vainly attempted to get its
circulation allowed in the Servian districts of Hungary. Many copies
were smuggled over in boats, but it was an unremunerating speculation;
and the editor, M. Simonovitch, who was bred a Hungarian advocate, is
now professor of law in the Lyceum. Yankee hyperbole was nothing to
the high flying of this gentleman. In one number, I recollect the
passage, "These are the reasons why all the people of Servia, young
and old, rich and poor, danced and shouted for joy, when the Lord gave
them as a Prince a son of the never-to-be-forgotten Kara Georg." A
Croatian newspaper, containing often very interesting information on
Bosnia, is published at Agram, the language being the same as the
Servian, but printed in Roman instead of Cyrillian letters. The _State
Gazette_ of Belgrade gives the news of the interior and exterior, but
avoids all reflections on the policy of Russia or Austria. An article,
which I wrote on Servia for an English publication, was reproduced in
a translation minus all the allusions to these two powers; and I think
that, considering the dependent position of Servia, abstinence from
such discussions is dictated by the soundest policy.
The "Golubitza," or Dove, a miscellany in prose and verse, neatly got
up in imitation of the German Taschenbucher, and edited by M.
Hadschitch, is the only annual in Servia. In imitation of more
populous cities, Belgrade has also a "Literary Society," for the
formation of a complete dictionary of the language, and the
encouragement of popular literature. I could not help smiling at the
thirteenth statute of the society, which determines that the seal
should represent an uncultivated field, with the rising sun shining on
a monument, on which the arms of Servia are carved.
The fine arts are necessarily at a very low ebb in Servia. The useful
being so imperfect, the ornamental scarcely exists at all. The
pictures in the churches are mostly in the Byzantine manner, in which
deep browns and dark reds are relieved with gilding, while the
subjects are characterized by such extravagancies as one sees in the
pictures of the early German painters, a school which undoubtedly took
its rise from the importations of Byzantine pictures at Venice, and
their expedition thence across the Alps. At present everything
artistic in Servia bears a coarse German impress, such as for instance
the pictures in the cathedral of Belgrade.
Thus has civilization performed one of her great evolutions. The light
that set on the Thracian Bosphorus rose in the opposite direction from
the land of the once barbarous Hermans, and now feebly re-illumines
the modern Servia.
One of the most hopeful institutions of Belgrade is the Lyceum, or
germ of a university, as they are proud to call it. One day I went to
see it, along with Professor Shafarik, and looked over the
mineralogical collection made in Servia, by Baron Herder, which
included rich specimens of silver, copper, and lead ore, as well as
marble, white as that of Carrara. The Studenitza marble is slightly
grey, but takes a good polish. The coal specimens were imperfectly
petrified, and of bad quality, the progress of ignition being very
slow. Servia is otherwise rich in minerals; but it is lamentable to
see such vast wealth dormant, since none of the mines are worked.
We then went to an apartment decorated like a little ball-room, which
is what is called the cabinet of antiquities. A noble bronze head,
tying on the German stove, in the corner of the room, a handsome Roman
lamp and some antique coins, were all that could be shown of the
ancient Moesia; but there is a fair collection of Byzantine and Servian
coins, the latter struck in the Venetian manner, and resembling old
sequins.
A parchment document, which extended to twice the length of a man,
was now unrolled, and proved to be a patent of Stephan Urosh, the
father of Stephan Dushan, endowing the great convent of Dechani, in
Albania. Another curiosity in the collection is the first banner of
Kara Georg, which the Servians consider as a national relic. It is in
red silk, and bears the emblem of the cross, with the inscription
"Jesus Christ conquers."
We then went to the professor's room, which was furnished with the
newest Russ, Bohemian, and other Slaavic publications, and after a
short conversation visited the classes then sitting. The end of
education in Servia being practical, prominence is given to geometry,
natural philosophy, Slaavic history and literature, &c. Latin and
Greek are admitted to have been the keys to polite literature, some
two centuries and a half ago; but so many lofty and noble chambers
having been opened since then, and routine having no existence in
Servia, her youth are not destined to spend a quarter of a lifetime in
the mere nurseries of humanity.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 21: To those who take an interest in this subject, I have
great pleasure in recommending a perusal of "Servian Popular Poetry,"
(London, 1827,) translated by Dr. Bowring; but the introductory
matter, having been written nearly twenty years ago, is, of course,
far from being abreast of the present state of information on the
subjects of which it treats.]