44 MEMOIR OP SWAMMERDAM. 
chased by the Duke — a step which he never could 
bring bis mind to — immediately put an end to any 
chance of disposing of it in that quarter ; and he 
wrote an indignant reprimand to his venal Mend for 
venturing, in reference to his religious profession, to 
make a proposal to him which would at any time 
have been considered offensive, but which, in the 
present state of his sentiments, he regarded with un- 
qualified abhorrence. While measures were in pro- 
gress for the sale of his museum, he occasionally 
employed himself — notwithstanding his conviction of 
the sinfulness of allowing any secular pursuits, even in- 
cluding those of science, which may he said to be 
the best and purest, to distract the mind from uninter- 
rupted meditation on the Supreme Good, and the 
concerns of a future life — in further arranging and 
improving its contents, especially with a view to ren- 
der the many delicate preparations it contained as 
durable as possible, and thus increase their value in 
the event of a sale. 
Swammerdam’s intercourse with Bourignon had 
hitherto been confined to epistolary correspondence, 
but he now conceived it essential to his happiness 
that he should have a personal interview with her, 
and for this purpose he repaired to Sleswick in Hol- 
stein, where she then resided. He staid for some 
time in her house, and became ere long one of her 
favourite adherents. An opportunity soon occurred 
to afford a proof of her confidence in him, and the 
sincerity of his attachment. The Lutheran divines 
of Holstein, taking alarm at the pernicious principles 
