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22 SWEDENBORG’S TRAVELS AND DIARIES. [Doc. 205.
June 21 (July 2). To-day I entered the chapel attached
to the Court of the Duke of Saxony, with the view of being
present at worship, which is celebrated according to the
Catholic ritual. It was impossible for any of the senses not
to derive from it some sensation of pleasure.
The sense of hearing derived it from the drums, flutes, and
trumpets which swelled their notes from the lowest to the
highest, and still more from the singing of the castrati or eu
nuchs, whose voices emulate those of virgins, and from the full
harmony of all the instruments.
The sense of smell is charmed by the scent and fragrance
of the burning incense ; the odour and smoke of which are
diffused in every direction by boys.
The sense of sight was impressed by the paintings of every
kind which are hung around the church ; by the magnificent
vestments with which the priests and monks are adorned, and
in which they move in procession ; by the great number of
ministering priests bending and walking in every direction
like actors ; and by their various gestures. And my sight in
particular was charmed, because I happened to see for the
first time the Duke himself and the Duchess with their sons
and daughters ; all of whom were most devout and attentive
to the usages of their religion.
The interior senses, however, were charmed, because all
things breathed an atmosphere of sublimity and sanctity; be
cause at the least sound of a little bell all threw themselves
on their knees ; and because all things were expressed in
Latin, a foreign language, by which the minds of the common
people are wont to be most impressed. In short the worship
of the Roman Catholic church seems to have been especially
invented, and to be calculated, to charm the external senses, by
alluring all the organs of the body, and thereby offering blan
dishments to the senses.
On the same day I crossed the river Elbe , in com
pany with five others, and we went into the vineyards,
or to the hills where the vineyards are. The aspect here
is most delightful. The hill is covered with elms and
vines; and is everywhere dotted with villas over its whole
extent.
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