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736 [Doc. 293.
ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANIES.
further, that the King and the Duke were both aware of the
fact that Swedenborg had been a member of the order ; and
the same was also known to the other brethren who were
present. The Lodge which Swedenborg joined, and which
bears his name, is no. 6, in London. In a German work,
entitled ’ Latona,’ which appeared in Leipzig, in the depart
ment of news, there is an article relating all the particulars
of Swedenborg’s reception into the order."
The fact of Swedenborg’s having joined the order of Freema
sonry in London is stated here so definitely, that the editor
considered it worth his while to enquire into the genuineness
of the record. In order to verify the principal fact of the
record, viz. Swedenborg’s initiation into the order in London
in 1706 [?] Mr. Regnell addressed a letter to the Great Secre
tary of the Great National Lodge in London, which the editor
translated into English and took with him to London, where
he asked the Rev. D. G. Goyder, an English Freemason, to
deliver it to the great Secretary. After a few weeks, Mr.
Goyder received a letter from the Secretary, in which he
thanked him for the letter, but said that the accounts of the
first part ofthe last century were destroyed, and that it was there
fore impossible for him to comply with Mr. Regnell’s request.
The next question which presents itself is one of dates ;
for it is stated in the above record that Swedenborg joined
the order of Freemasonry in London in 1706 ; whereas from
his journals and letters it is well established that his first visit
to London was made in 1710.
·
In order to reconcile this discrepancy of dates, Mr. Beswick
says : * "Swedenborg did not go to London until 1710 ; but he
could readily go to LUNDEN [Lund in Skåne], because near
his paternal home. So that if the date of this document, 1706,
be correct, there is presumptive evidence that London in Eng
land is wrong, and Lunden on the opposite shore to, and about
seventeen miles distant from, Copenhagen, is right." And on
the strength of his supposed discovery Mr. Beswick made the
following bold statement on p. 1 of his work : "When about
* "Swedenborg Rite and the Great Masonic Leaders," &c., New York,
1870, p. 15.
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