Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Purgatory
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
I do not excuse myself, and only ask the reader
to remember this fact, in case he should ever feel
inclined to practise magic, especially those forms
of it called wizardry, or more properly witchcraft,
and whose reality has been placed beyond
all doubt by De Rochas. [1]
One Sunday before Easter I went very early
through the Jardin de Luxembourg, crossed the
street, and passed under the arcades of the
Odeon; I stood still before an edition of Balzac
in a blue binding, and by chance picked out his
novel Séraphita. Why just that one? Perhaps
it is an unconscious recollection of reading a
criticism of my book, Sylva Sylvarum, in the
periodical Initiation, in which I was called “a
countryman of Swedenborg.” When I got home
I opened the book, which was almost entirely
unknown to me, for so many years had passed
between my first acquaintance with it and this
second reading. It was like a new work to me,
and now my mind was prepared for it, I swallowed
down the contents of this extraordinary
book wholesale. I had never read anything of
Swedenborg, for in his own native land and
mine he passed for a charlatan, dreamer, and
quack. But now I was seized with enthusiastic
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>