Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

among them a few men of good talent and great
erudition. At the beginning they were at pains to
teach well, and to send forth from their seminaries
accomplished Latin scholars, that so they might
establish a reputation for efficient teaching, and
spread their educational institutions over the
kingdom. They were kind to their pupils, they gave
their instructions without exacting any fee; and
they were thus able to compete at great advantage
with the Protestant schools, and not unfrequently
did they succeed in extinguishing their rivals, and
drafting the scholars into their own seminaries. Not
only so: many Protestant parents, attracted by the
high repute of the Jesuit schools, and the brilliant
Latin scholars whom they sent forth from time to
time, sent their sons to be educated in the
institutions of the Fathers.
But the national mind did not grow, nor did the
national literature flourish. This was the more
remarkable from contrast with the brilliance of the
era that had preceded the educational efforts of the
Jesuits. The half-century during which the
Protestant influence was the predominating one
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