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578 [Doc. 269.
REFUTATION OF FALSE REPORTS.
he died, he told this deponent, then Elizabeth Reynolds, spinster,
who was then a servant to her fellow-deponent, and Mrs. Shear
smith, her then mistress, that he should die on a particular
day, which, to the best of her recollection and belief, happened
on the day he had foretold. That about a fortnight or three
weeks before he died, he received the sacrament in bed from
the hands of a foreign clergyman,* and enjoyed a sound mind,
memory, and understanding to the last hour of his life. That
about five o’clock on Sunday the twenty-ninth day of March,
he asked her, this deponent, and her then mistress, who were
sitting by his bed-side, what o’clock it was? and upon their
answering him that it was about five o’clock, he replied, ‘Dat
be good , me tank you, God bless you,’ or to that effect ; and
in about ten minutes after, he heaved a gentle sigh, and expired
in the most tranquil manner. And these deponents jointly
and severally on their oath declare, that, to the best of their
recollection and belief, no person whatever visited him, either
the day before, or the day on which he died. And these
deponents positively declare that they never did, either directly
or indirectly, say or assert to any person or persons whatsoever,
that the said Emanuel Swedenborg had , a few hours before
his death, retracted or contradicted any part of his writings,
as has been falsely reported ; nor did they ever hear him, nor
do they believe he ever did, say a word that expressed or
implied such an idea ; nor were these deponents ever asked
a question relative to that circumstance, by any person or
persons whatsoever, until the twenty-second day of October last,
when Mr. Thomas Wright, of the Poultry, London, watchmaker,
and Mr. Robert Hindmarsh, of Clerkenwell Close , printer,
called upon them to inquire into the truth or falsehood of such
report, which these deponents then declared to them, and now
again on their oaths declare, to be a false and groundless report.
"RICHARD SHEARSMITH,
"The Mark of ELIZABETH SHEARSMITH.
"Sworn at the Guildhall, London, the 24th day of November,
1775, before me,
"T. WRIGHT, Mayor. "
* Pastor Ferelius, see Document 267, A, no. 4, and B, no. 1.
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