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16 (Doc. 4.
GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
a
3
would be led to acquire habits of steadiness , reflection , and
industry, and would become thoroughly acquainted with those
branches of knowledge, which he was to cultivate. Times and
customs change. I am speaking of the youth of a Swedenborg;
and what need is there for me to expatiate further on the
thoughtful care which was bestowed on his education; on his
own thoughtfulness in making the best use of advantages which
are enjoyed, comparatively, by but few , and which are neglected
by many of those who do enjoy them ; on his extraordinary tal
ents, which supported the native bent of his genius ; on his per
on his early maturity ? What more striking proof of
all this can be given, than that a King, of a most penetrating
mind, graciously cheered him on, and at the proper time made
use of his capacities; that a King, like Charles XII, in 1716,
at a time when Swedenborg was still a student, appointed him ,
at the age of twenty eight, Extraordinary Assessor in the Royal
College of Mines, without his seeking for the place, and without
any one else recommending him for it ; and what is more, that at
the same time he was free to choose between this assessorship
and a professorship at the Royal University in Upsal?
An enlightened and wise ruler does not in this manner
promote an uncultivated and inexperienced youth to an important
office in the state.
Mr. Swedberg was even then well-known, both in his own
country and abroad , by his acquisitions in general literature
and in science, and by his worthy demeanour. Still, at that
time the learned had not included his name in the lists of
celebrated authors. An academical disputation, which he
published at Upsal in 1709,* may, indeed, be regarded as a
clever work for a youth, but as in some parts not altogether
a proof of sound learning. Likewise , a printed collection of
Latin verses, which he wrote about 1710, and in the following
years, for different occasions, manifested, indeed, a remarkable
* The subject of this disputation was : L. Annæi Senecæ et Pub. Syri
Mimi
, forsan et Aliorum Selectæ Sententiæ, cum annotationibus Erasmi
et græca versione Scaligeri, notis illustratæ.-S. Sandels.
+ This collection of Latin verses is printed in Skara, under the title:
Ludus Heliconius sive carmina miscellanea, quce variis in locis cecinit
Em . Swedberg .- S. SANDELS.
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