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596 REFUTATION OF FALSE REPORTS. [Doc. 270.
MATHESIUS IN 1781.
§ 9. After that Mr. Brock
mer continued to visit him.
§ 10. The man who then
attended him, could not over
take him.
MATHESIUS IN 1796.
After this I continued to
visit Mr. Swedenborg, who at
last had only one keeper.
His keeper could not follow
him.
The two accounts from nos. 1 to 5, vary but little, and so
far we are inclined to regard as genuine Brockmer’s account
as given by Mathesius. But it is remarkable how much these
two accounts differ from no. 6 to the end ; and how much more
explicit and extensive Mathesius is in his account in 1796
from what he was in 1781 ; in fact quite a number of particulars
which had escaped his memory in 1781 , emerge from it as
fresh as ever in 1796, so that we are almost involuntarily led
to the belief, that they were got up as the occasion seemed
to require; and this belief acquires additional strength when
we notice the nature of these additions.
In 1781 Mathesius says, "Swedenborg foamed a little at
his mouth," in 1796 the words "a little" are left out.
In 1781 he makes Swedenborg say, "But how, how, did
the angel come?" But in 1796 he puts these nonsensical words
into his mouth, "But how- how-how?"
In 1781 he makes this simple statement, "Mr. Brockmer
found the Baron sitting dressed in an easy chair; but in 1796
he declares, "that he found him sitting there with a great
stick in his hand," and while in 1781 he reports that Sweden
borg simply said the words, " Come in, come in ; " in 1796 he
said, that Swedenborg not only spoke these words, but, also
"waved his stick."
In 1781 he states that "Brockmer left him with two men;"
while in 1796 these two men have increased to six.
In 1781 we read that " Brockmer continued to visit him;"
but in the account of 1796 we read not only that "he con
tinued to visit Mr. Swedenborg," but also that "at last he
had only one keeper."
It is very plain from these instances that while Mathesius
in 1781 did not feel prepared to push the charge of insanity
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