1^25.] Biographical Sketch of Baron Edelcrant:^. 327 



in all these branches, so great was the acumen with which he at 

 once discerned a new principle of practical utiUty, and so excel- 

 lent the tact with which he saw whether its transference would 

 suit the capabilities of his native country. From England, in an 

 especial manner, he carried off a fund of important observations 

 upon manufactures, and remarks on chemical processes con- 

 nected with the arts, which are there kept secret, and from 

 seeing which, any thing useful could be extracted or carried 

 away only by a person of the keenest acuteness. The account 

 of this journey, which was communicated to his Majesty, has 

 nevertheless been withheld from the public* The agricultural 

 implements alone which he carried home to Sweden have been 

 dehneated, and may be seen in the Annals of the Academy of 

 Agriculture, for 1813. 



In the course of the travels we are just considering, Edelcrantz 

 formed many acquaintances with the most learned and illustrious 

 of each country through which he passed ; and all these he 

 maintained by a constant intercourse of correspondence till his 

 death. Amongst others, we may mention as those with whom 

 he thus formed connexion in Germany, the celebrated Thaer, 

 Count Podeville, von Soden, &c. ; in France, Lacepede, Guyton 

 de Morveau, Prony, Lasterie, Francois de Neufchateau ; in 

 England, Sir John Sinclair, Arthur Young, Sir Humphry Davy, 

 &c. 



The general result of this journey appears to have been, in no 

 small degree, to cherish and develope that acquaintance with 

 the important science of political economy, which honourably 

 distinguished Edelcrantz, and which gave a character of depth 

 and solidity to all the views he suggested, and to every measure 

 he proposed, at the same time that it secured for them a useful 

 adaptation to the necessities of practical commerce, and a whole- 

 some dislike of all unnecessary shackles and restraints upon the 

 intercourse of trade. The time, however, was not yet arrived 

 when he had it in his power to devote himself exclusively to this 

 favourite pursuit. 



There seems to be no more remarkable feature in the charac- 

 ter of Edelcrantz than the perfect versatility of talent which he 

 possessed, and which enabled him equally to fathom the depths 

 of an abstruse science, or to shine among the first of the vota- 

 ries of the fine arts, or of the muses. It was his eminence in 

 this latter department which first gained him the public eye and 

 the royal favour, and accordingly we now find that his merits as 

 a man of science had never detached hiin from these pursuits. In 



• The manuscript of these interesting travels in Germany, Holland, and France 

 alone, occupies a space of I3H closely written folio pages. We may be allowed tohope, 

 tliiit a work like this, calculated to reflect so much credit upon Edelcrantz, and to diffuse 

 generally so much important observation, may yet be published among the posthumous 

 writings of the author. 



