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The swallow wings its flight from o'er the sea,
The buds leap flowering forth in ecstasy.
From earthly worms gay butterflies ascend,
While waves, unfrozen, calm 'mong rushes wend.

The lily chaste stands pale with languishment.
The rose's cheek glows with a new content,
While love-warm zephyr moves about her leaves,
Which, bride-like, tremble as he winds and weaves.

Arise arise

echoes all nature through :

Arise arise! each heart responds anew.

Sad, I look round and from the happy sight
My tearful eyes drink in a new delight.

Warmed by heaven's love my heart would fain adore,

Would fly time's bondage and to freedom soar.

Light as the dove that from its cage takes wing,

I'd leap to glory and its endless spring.-(iii. 101.)

How different this from the "Solvitur acris hiems" of Horace,— spring's advent awakening hopes only of more intense sensual enjoyment for its little season, while ever in the distance looms the dimly defined shade of death, with its background of impenetrable gloom! What would Horace have said of such a New Church warning as this:

Not by mere knowledge shalt thou rise
Athwart the unseen spirit-sphere.
"Tis love alone can bear thee near
Thy Maker God, whence man is wise.
Be pure as yonder ethery blue,

Be calm as moonbeams on the fount;
Then may thy mild, clear spirit mount
And scan the mysteries of the True.

From Hermes ask not sacred light,

His earthly smile by earth is given:
Nature but symbolizes Heaven,

And Truth is seen by loving sight.

In vain shall Hope make curious quest
With Selfhood's crucible and tool.

If Doing be not Knowing's rule,

Then Knowing gains mere dust at best.-(iii. 34.)

A confidence in the immortal life underlies all the aspirations of Stagnelius; and in his frequent heavenly quests Christ clearly stands on the limit of vision: hence, if a doubt ever falls into the current of his thought, it quickly disappears and leaves faith circling out with still widening hopes. Unlike many of the early poets of this country,

-men who, like Goethe, could turn their eyes from Providence, and singing

The fishes swim at ease in the lake
And take no heed of the barges,*

could look thenceforth earthward only, our young poet lived in the assurance that terrestrial life was only the commencement of an endless career; hence the sweet feeling of immortality aroused within him as he sat looking at the birds of passage sweeping away towards the south :

Behold how yon flock of birds

Speed from the land!
Climes afar breathe the words,
"Quit Gauthiod's strand!"
The birds blend their song

With the moan of the wind,

66 Why haste we along?

What shore shall we find?"

Cry the feathered troop to our Father kind.

"With grief we depart

From the mountain and plain.
Such joy swayed our heart,

We would ever remain.

We wove our light nest

'Mong the sweet linden-trees,

And went softly to rest

'Neath the warm gentle breeze:

Now we fly all this bliss for some land o'er the seas.

"The midsummer night

Sat clear in the wood;
In curls golden bright,

And rose-spangled hood.
For us was no sleep

'Midst a beauty so drear,
Yet visions would keep

Us till morning swept near,

And beamed on our joy with a radiance more clear.

"Those trees many-hued

That dark'ned yon hills!
That thorn-rose pearl-dewed,
Whence Philomel trills!
The oaks stand all blighted,
The thorn-rose is dead;
From tempests, affrighted

The zephyr has sped,

And hoar-frost turns all to a wintersome bed.

* See Carlyle's paper on Goethe.-Foreign Quarterly Review, x. 44.

Why should we mourn
At quitting the North,
When earth lies forlorn,

And the sun hides his worth?
Why weep as hope-riven?

From bondage we soar!

Our strong wings were given

To reach a far shore;

So hail! rolling sea with thy billows and roar!"

Thus hopeful but sad

The birds wend in flight

Till their eyes become glad :

New worlds, beauty-dight,

Where soft breezes play

Round elms in broad sweep,

And rivulets gay

'Midst myrtle-trees leap,

And forests recline in a happiness deep!

When this cold, earthly vale
Grows cruel and sere;

When tempests assail

O Heart never fear!

Away o'er the sea

The birds find a strand;

A home rests for thee,

Eternity's Land.

Where an unending morn shall all sorrow disband.*

(iii. 52.)

Here we will pause, merely adding that after completing his college course, Stagnelius, in 1815, obtained a secretaryship in the Swedish Office for Ecclesiastical Affairs; that three years later he received a gold medal from the Swedish Academy, for his beautiful poem "Woman in the North;" that he wrought away at various literary tasks, completed several dramas, two or three epic poems, numerous miscellaneous pieces; and that in 1821,-two years before his melancholy death, he published the mystical "Lilies in Sharon," his finest work, and of which we hope to speak at some length in the next paper. RICHD. M'CULLY.

*

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'Everything which originates in order is truth, and truth manifests itself by its inherent light, even in the shade of the reasoning faculty, in which hypotheses reside."-SWEDENBORG, "Intercourse," ii.

SWEDENBORG'S MANUSCRIPTS, &c.

To the Editor of the "Intellectual Repository."

MY DEAR SIR,-Professor Tafel sent me the following interesting document to lay before the Swedenborg Committee. It seems however highly desirable that it should be made known to the Church at large, as it shews, more clearly than has yet been seen, the extent and importance of the work in which he is engaged, and how necessary therefore it is that adequate funds should be speedily placed at his disposal. 8th Sept. 1869. H. BUTTER, Hon. Sec. Swed. Sec.

Extract from my Letter, dated Aug. 5, to REV. Wм. H. BENADE. While waiting for orders about the photolithographing of the MSS., I went to the College of Mines, with which Swedenborg was connected for nearly thirty years, in order to collect there materials for his biography. I was astonished at the quantity of interesting information I found there concealed. The Councillor of Commerce, Herr Stenberg, very obligingly threw open the whole of its treasures to me. In the first place he installed me in a very comfortable room for working, and then had brought to me the Minutes of the Proceedings of the College from 1717, when Swedenborg became connected with it, to 1747, when he took his final leave from it. The minutes of each year fill one or two volumes consisting of upwards of 4000 pages. Each volume has a minute index, and the minutes of each day begin with a statement of the members of the College present at each meeting, and stating the excuses of the absent members. This part of the minutes is of the greatest importance for Swedenborg's biographer; for he finds there recorded Swedenborg's daily life for nearly twenty-five years. By means of it, he can tell precisely when he was in Stockholm, and when he left it; and where he went upon leaving it. Swedenborg's state of health is also there recorded. His first absence from the College on account of illhealth was in 1731, when he was forty-three years old. His sickness then lasted from April 2nd till May 4th. The only other time when he was indisposed for a number of days was in 1722, when he was sick from October 18th to 27th. Until July 1743, he reported regularly almost every day for work. And with the exception of the middle of summer, when he was generally on a commission among the Swedish mines and furnaces, he was never absent from his post. Sometimes also he was prevented by his duties at the Swedish Diet from appearing in the College; and twice he was absent on the Continent on leave of absence; the first time from May 1, 1733 to July 1, 1734, and the second time from July 10, 1736 to Nov. 3, 1740. The first time he was absent in order to print his "Principia," and the second time to collect his materials for his "Animal Kingdom." During his second absence from 1736 to 1740, he gave up half of his salary, and paid a substitute with it. The same he did again in 1743, when he left Sweden for the third time, and did not return again until Aug. 22, 1745. After his return to Sweden in 1745, he continued to pay a substitute with half of his salary, and did not report regularly for work; still he continued to visit the College about every other day until July 17, 1747, when he took his final leave from it. But let me describe what the College of Mines, or the “Bergs Collegium," was in Swedenborg's time, and what was the occupation of an assessor there. The College of Mines was, in his time, the Department of Mines and the Court of Mines combined. It had administrative and judiciary powers in all matters pertaining to the Mines. It received reports from all the mines and furnaces in Sweden, through its officers, several of whom were stationed in every mining district, and all disputes arising among the owners and workers of mines were judged by it.

At Swedenborg's time the College of Mines consisted of the president, who always belonged to the highest nobility, to councillors of mines, called

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"bergsradet," and about six assessors. Each of the members of the board had one vote. The assessors were ranked according to the date of their commission; and the assessor highest in rank became a "bergsrad" whenever a vacancy occurred. When Swedenbrg retired from the board, he was the assessor highest in rank, and at the next opportunity he would have become a bergsrad." From 1717 to July 1724, Swedenborg had no salary from July 1724 to June 1730, he had the salary of a bergmaster," which was 800 rixdollars silver mint; and from June 1730 until his retirement from office he had the full salary of an assessor, which was 1200 rixdollars silver mint; but, as stated above, from 1736 to 1740, and again from 1743 to 1747, he gave up voluntarily half of his salary, and paid a substitute with it. Swedenborg's career in the College of Mines was quite unprecedented, he being the only assessor extraordinarius on record. The usual route to become assessor of the college was as follows:-After leaving the university, the candidate had to pass an examination, in order to become an auscultant or notary, in which capacity he was allowed to work as a clerk in the Department of Mines, but without becoming entitled to a salary; after being an "auscultant or "notary" for some time, he became a "bergmaster" or master of mines," or the highest official in a mining district; from a “bergmaster" he finally became an "assessor," and in the end a "bergsrad" or "councillor of mines." Most of the aspirants in the department of mines never rose higher than a bergmaster," but Swedenborg, without passing through an examination, and without being first an auscultant" or "notary," and afterwards a "bergmaster," became at once by a decree of Charles XII., on account of his eminent merits as a mathematician and mechanician, assessor extraordinarius.

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In addition to the Minutes of Proceedings from 1717 to 1747, which fill about fifty heavy volumes, and all of which I had to examine carefully, I found in another collection of large volumes all the letters and papers addressed by Swedenborg to the College of Mines. Some of these letters are quite valuable, and I shall have them copied by the photolithographic process. Among these papers there is also the whole of Swedenborg's lawsuit with Br. La Behm; the most important documents of which I copied myself, without waiting for assessor Bergstram to do it for me. I am now so familiar with Swedish documents and writings, that I no longer need any help in either copying or translating them. I found at the College also a copy of all the royal orders and decrees concerning Swedenborg. The two of Charles XII., by which Swedenborg obtained his appointment, which papers are quite characteristic, I shall also have copied by the photolithographic process. All the other orders I copied by hand. The work at the College of Mines occupied me about four weeks. To-morrow Mr Flemming will introduce me at the "Reichsarchia," where I shall find Swedenborg's letters addressed to the king, and perhaps some other documents; and after that I shall adjourn to the "Riddarhuset," where the records of the Swedish Diet are kept. About the missing MSS. and letters, I have as yet not taken any steps, but I shall wait until the next meeting of the Academy of Sciences in September. At the request of the President of the Academy, I am preparing for them a minute report about the missing manuscripts. Upon receiving my report, the Academy will appoint a committee, whose business it will be to institute a systematic search after the lost MSS.; the Academy intend to place me upon this committee, and they are naturally anxious that I should continue as long as possible in Sweden. Backed by the authority of the Academy, and personally aided by them, I expect that everything that is possible to be found about Swedenborg in Sweden will be found. The Academy have not hitherto taken any steps at all in this direction, and the appointment of this committee will be a great point gained.

R. L. TAFEL.

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