easy to fix. Some derive it from Srp, a sickle; others from Sibir, Sever, the north; others from Sarmat, or Sarmatian; some from the Latin Servus; but Dobrowsky says, Significatum radicis Srb, consultis

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etiam dialectis omnibus, nondum licuit eruere i" In the year 640, the Servians built, with the permission of Heraclius, the city of Servica, on the banks of the Danube. Little can be traced of their history till, under Vlastimir, at the end of the ninth century, they were the tributaries of the Greeks. At this period, they appear to have been engaged in wars with the Bulgarians, whom they subdued. At the be

1 Instit. Ling. Slav. p. 154.

ginning of the 11th century, Vladimir assumed the title of king of Servia. Afterwards, during the reign of Tzedomil, the Servians acknowledged the Roman au

thority, and leagued themselves with its emperors against Comnenus the Grecian monarch, in consequence of which Comnenus marched upon Servia (in 1151), subdued its inhabitants, and led their leader Tzedomil into captivity. The submission of the latter obtained his release; but the Servians, impatient of foreign control, made another attempt to free themselves, but were defeated on the banks of the Morava, by Isaac Angelos, in 1192, when Stephen Nemana was proclaimed monarch, with the title of Despot. His successor, Ste

phen Nemanich, was driven from his throne by the Hungarians, and his brother Vuk Nemanich was proclaimed king or Kral of Servia, under Hungarian authority. He reigned for a very short period, and the regal power again reverted to Stephen. At this period, however, separate from, and almost independent of monarchical authority, a number of dukes, princes, and Bans, exercised a sway in Servia; Bosnia, then called Rama, South Bosnia or Herzegovina, and Rascia, that part of southern Servia, through which the river Raska flows, were frequently detached from, and as frequently re-united to Servia proper. Milutin Urosh, who reigned from 1275 to 1321, was sub

dued by Charles the First of Hungaria. Soon after arose the monarch who is one of the most illustrious names in Servian song and Servian story, Dushan Silni (Dushan the mighty), who carried on several successful campaigns against the Greeks, and recovered many of the lost provinces of his country. He took the title of Tzar1, and was succeeded by that illfated Lazar, whose defeat by the sultan Murad (Amurath), on the field of Kosova (June 15, 1389), is the subject of so many of the melancholy ballads of the Servians. Murad was stabbed by the Servian Molosh

1

The origin of this word is rather oriental than Roman. It is the Persian Shah, and not the Cæsar of Rome, nor the Kaiser of Germany.

Obilich, and Lazar was executed in the Mussulmans' camp. Murad's brother (Bajazet), divided Servia between the two sons of Lazar, who did homage and paid heavy tribute. Since then, no dawn of liberty has shone upon Servia. Reduced to be the bloody theatre of the fierce wars which have been carried on between the Turks and Hungarians, every struggle for freedom-each feebler than the former one, has only served to deteriorate her condition, and to destroy her hopes. In 1459, Servia was treated solely as a conquered province, her most respectable families banished or destroyed, while, from time to time, vast numbers of Servians emigrated into Hungary. In 1481, prince