46 MEMOIR OF SWAMMERDAM. 
he might he able to pursue his scientific enquiries 
without molestation. He now intimated to this 
gentleman that it would he convenient for him to 
accept of this offer; and his mortification was not 
slight at receiving a direct refusal. Whether Ort 
had been insincere in his original offer ; whether cir- 
cumstances had so changed as to render Swammer- 
dam's presence inconvenient, or that the latter's 
peculiar habits, and extravagant religious notions, 
might be thought likely to make him not a very 
desirable inmate, it is useless to enquire : instances 
of similar treatment, from mere caprice and want of 
feeling, are too common to render any other expla- 
nation requisite. 
In the midst of these perplexities our author's 
father died, an event which relieved him from any 
immediate inconvenience arising from the insensibility 
of his reputed friends ; it even held out to him the 
agreeable prospect of a competency to live according 
to his inclinations, without the annoyance of any 
professional drudgery, to which he always entertained 
a strong dislike. But, when the museum came to he 
disposed of and his father's property divided, these 
prospects were by no means realised. His sister 
claimed more than was rightly her due, and took the 
chief management of the sale, an exercise of authority 
to which Swammerdam submitted for the sake of 
peace, and that he might sooner enjoy the retirement 
and repose on which his heart was set. But even 
this surrender of his just rights was far from exempt- 
ing him from annoyance ; and the vexations attending 
