Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< 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 never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
316 [Doc. 87.
SWEDENBORG’S CORRESPONDENCE.
shape; I should like to see how far they meet with your ap
proval: First, to translate what I have published into Latin
or French, and to send it afterwards to Holland and Eng.
land; to which I should like to add, by way of improve
ment, some of my discoveries about fire and stones, and
about some improvements in mining matters ; besides some other
papers which are not yet printed: would you be kind enough
to give the names of some who write scientific papers and
memoirs? Secondly, as I think I now in some measure under
stand the mechanics which are of use in mining districts, and
in mines, so far at least as to be able better than any one
else to describe what is new and old there; and further, to
understand the theory of fire and stones, where I have made
quite a number of discoveries, I intend to spend all my
remaining time upon what may promote everything that con
cerns mining, and, on the basis which has already been laid,
in collecting as much information as possible. Thirdly, if
fortune so favours me, that I shall be provided with all the
means that are required, and if meanwhile by the above
preparations and communications I shall have gained some
credit abroad, I should prefer by all means to go abroad,
and seek my fortune in my calling, which consists in pro
moting everything that concerns the administration and the
working of mines. For he is nothing short of a fool, who
is independent and at liberty to do as he pleases, and sees
an opportunity for himself abroad, and yet remains at home
in darkness and cold, where the Furies, Envy, and Pluto have
taken up their abode, and dispose the rewards, and where
labours such as I have performed are rewarded with misery.
The only thing I would desire until that time come, is
bene latere (i. e. to find a sequestered place where I can live
secluded from the world) ; I think I may find such a corner
in the end, either at Starbo68 or at Skin [skatte ]berg.* But
as this would take four or five years’ time, I am quite ready
to acknowledge that long laid plans are like long continued
erections, which do not go on long without interruptions, or
without changes being produced by some circumstances either
* See Document 130.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
