most at heart, and it deserves to be noticed first because, of all the changes introduced after the battle of the White Mountain, it has proved the most permanent. Bohemia presents the nearly unique case of a country which formerly almost entirely Protestant, has now become almost entirely Catholic. The popular optimistic fallacy which maintains that in no country has the religious belief of a country been entirely suppressed by persecution and brute force is disproved by the fate of Bohemia.
It is a proof of the thorough knowledge of the mind of his master which the victorious Bouquoi possessed that he, but a few days after the battle of the White Mountain, forwarded to Vienna a large case containing all the parchments which recorded the ancient rights and privileges of Bohemia. Among them was of course the famed "Letter of Majesty," the object of Ferdinand's particular hatred. The Emperor greatly rejoiced, and with his scissors cut through the abhorred document, thus indicating that it had become invalid.[1] Ferdinand had in early life vowed to the Madonna of Loretto that he would exterminate all heresies in the lands which he was destined to rule. It must be admitted that he never swerved from the task which he had undertaken. As soon as the messengers of victory arrived, he determined to undertake a pilgrimage to Mariazell. The first celebrations however took place in Vienna itself. The Emperor and the whole court proceeded to the cathedral of St. Stephen, where a Te Deum was sung, and Cardinal Dietrichstein, in an eloquent sermon, celebrated the triumph of the Habsburg arms. Yet more impressive was a sermon preached on the following day by a Capuchin friar, Brother Sabinus, who was a great favourite of the Imperial court. The Emperor was present at this sermon also. Friar Sabinus reminded Ferdinand of all the insults he had endured from the Bohemians, and insisted on his duty now to act mercilessly; he should conform to the words of the Psalmist: "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."[2] The Emperor—Friar Sabinus continued—must exterminate the nobility of Bohemia, and he must deprive
