Biography of Swedenborg. 301 



with, and the premises which he accepted. His method of 

 reasoning was defective, bnt it was a method, and not a hap- 

 hazard performance ; and when, what most observers would 

 consider his insanity was at its height, it seems to have left 

 his thinking faculties clear, and to have misled him almost 

 exclusively, by inducing him to mistake internal impressions 

 for external facts. 



Some peculiarities of Emanuel Swedenborg were derived 

 from his father, concerning whom Mr. White gives many 

 curious particulars, accompanied by a portrait, in which a 

 strong tinge of insanity is apparent. Jesper Svedberg, the 

 father of Emanuel, rose from humble origin to be bishop of 

 Skura. His father's name was Isaksson, and the appellation 

 Svedberg — which by royal orders became lengthened into 

 Swedenborg, in Emanuel's honour — was derived from a piece of 

 property which the family owned. Jesper Svedberg was a 

 remarkably self-satisfied, self-contained man, with an inflexible 

 obstinacy of purpose, and a determination to get on in the world. 

 He believed that angels spoke with him and assisted his plans. 

 Having attained to a respectable pecuniary position, he married 

 a rich wife, and after spending six months with her, obtained 

 permission to absent himself from his duties as Chaplain to the 

 Life Guards of Charles XI., and employed nearly a year in 

 visiting Germany, France, Holland, and England. On his 

 return to Stockholm, he found his wife had presented him with 

 his first son, and a few years later, on the 29th January, 1688, 

 his second son, the future mystic, Emanuel, was born. Jesper 

 Svedberg was always active, whether as simple clergyman or 

 as bishop, and in the main must have been a useful man, 

 though wanting in consideration for the thoughts and feelings 

 of other folks. 



Svedberg lost his first wife in 1696, and in the following 

 year espoused a second. The lady upon whom his choice 

 fell had been twice a widow, and he engaged himself to her 

 without having seen her. He states that he was unexpectedly 

 informed of her goodness, piety, excellent housekeeping, 

 sufficiency of property, and absence of children. ' ' What more 

 could be desired V 9 the shrewd Jesper exclaims, in his narra- 

 tive. " In a word, she seemed a woman who would suit me 

 well. I wrote to her, and laid bare my thoughts, and she 

 acceded to my request. Two days before my wedding, I 

 went to Stockholm, whither she also, by agreement, repaired. 

 I was put into a room where she was sitting alone ; but I did 

 not know, and never imagined it was she, for no man had 

 told me. ... At length she said, ( What do you think of out- 

 bargain, M. Professor V I replied, ' What bargain do you 

 refer to V 'That which you have written about/ she said. 



