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LETTER OF THE REV. ARVID FERELIUS. 197
cases he had no knowledge, since he did not desire to know them.’ The
celebrated Springer, who still lives in London, told Swedenborg on one occa-
sion that a distinguished Swedish gentleman, who, I believe, was a brother of
the present Count Hopken, one of the counsellors of state, was dead. Some
days afterwards, when they met again, the Assessor said to him—’It is true,
Hopken is dead ! I have spoken Vv^ith him, and he told me thai you and he
Vi-ere companions together at Upsala, and that you afterwards entertained views
partly similar and partly dissimilar concerning political subjects.’ He also told
him several anecdotes, which Springer acknowledged to be true, and declared, at
the same time, that it was his firm conviction that Swedenborg could not have
acquired the information from any other source than from above ; on this ac-
count he became a Swedenborgian.
" When Assessor Swedenborg, on one occasion, was about to depart from Lon-
don to Sweden, and had already agreed with a captain for the voyage, he came
down to the water side to take a bed at the inn of a Swedish landlord of the
name of Bergstrom, who is still living, and who undertook to supply provisions
for Swedenborg during the passage. Amongst other things, Bergstrom asked how
much ground coffee he should pack up for him, as he took a certain portion of it
daily ; when Swedenborg replied, for six days, Mr. B. observed that that quantity
would be too little, since (he thought) it was impossible to make the voyage in
six days to Stockholm. Swedenborg then said, ’ Provide for seven days.’ What
happened .’
In six days the ship arrived off Dalaron, and on the seventh in
Stockholm. The Captain, who was an Englishman, after his return to London,
said, that he had never in all his life had so prosperous a voyage, for the wind
was favorable to every turn of the vessel.
" Although Swedenborg went sometimes to the Sv/edish church, and after-
wards dined with me, or with some other Swede, he toid us that he had no
peace in the church on account of spirits, who contradicted what the preacher
said, especially when he spoke of three persons in the Godhead, which amount-
ed, in reality, to three Gods. After my return from England, in 1772, 1 was re-
quested by the clerical order, through their president, to give an account of Swe-
denborg, in a manner similar to your present request, which I did in three sheets
;
but I have since regretted that I did not keep a copy of what I then communi-
cated.
" P; S. Many may supposethat Assessor Swedenborg was a very singular and
eccentric person ; this was by no means the case. On the contrary, he was very
agreeable and complaisant in company ; he entered into conversation on every
subject ; an^accommodated himself to the ideas of the company ; and he never
spoke on his own writings and doctrines but when he was asked some questions
concerning them, when he always spoke as freely as he had written. If, how-
ever, he observed that any person desired to ask impertinent questions, or to
ridicule him, he immediately gave such an answer, that the impertinent ques-
tioner must be silent, without becoming any the wiser.
" Arvid Ferelius.
« Skofde, March 31, 1780."
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