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448 Doc. 162.
SWEDENBORG’S OFFICIAL LIFE .
May 26. The following letter was read, which had been
addressed by Emanuel Swedenborg to the King, and which
had been referred by His Majesty to the College of Mines:
B.
>
SWEDENBORG TO HIS MAJESTY, THE KING . *
Presented May 27, 1736.
Most mighty and most gracious King,
I thank Your Royal Majesty most humbly for
the great favour you conferred upon me several years ago in
graciously granting me leave of absence, by which I was enabled
to spend about a year abroad, and to see through the press a
work on which I was then engaged. On my return I had
the honour of humbly presenting to Your Royal Majesty
that work, which consisted of instructions and descriptions in
metallurgy, and also of some new principles in philosophy.
But as that work was only a beginning, and a part of what
I had intended to work out more fully, as I had an
nounced and promised in my former work ; I therefore feel
bound to do what I have promised, and to accomplish what
has been begun, and am obliged, for this purpose, to employ
all possible diligence, to bring it to a successful issue. But
as from my own experience I see clearly that it is im
possible for me to fulfil this promise, or to elaborate a work
requiring great thought and diligence, with that coherence
and accuracy which it demands, and at the same time to
apply my time and thoughts to public occupations and to my
official duties at the Royal College, to which I am bound in
duty to attend; and as this very impossibility prevents my
doing justice to both these kinds of works, as the work which
in all humility I mentioned above requires long and deep
thought, and a mind unencumbered by cares and troubles
therefore because I am bound to fulfil my promise, I have
been induced to beg of Your Royal Majesty, that, to enable
me to follow out this design, and this well-intentioned purpose,
and on account of the great extent of this work, you would
* This letter is preserved in the State Archives (Riks-Arkivet) among
the Letters addressed to the King in 1736.
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