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1234 NOTES TO VOLUME II.
NOTE 254.
ANDERS FRYXELL.
Anders Fryxell bears the reputation of being the foremost
Swedish historian living at the present day ; with what right, we
shall presently see. He has enriched our collection with Docu
ments 197, and 291 , no. 7. The following account of him is derived
from Hofberg’s Svenskt Biografiskt Handlexicon.
A. Fryxell was born in 1795. After passing through the Uni
versity of Upsal he was ordained into the ministry in 1820. From
that time until 1835 he was engaged as teacher in several collegiate
schools, and at last was made the principal of that connected with
the parish of Mary’s Church in Stockholm. In 1835 he was appointed
pastor of Sunne in Wermland. In 1840 he had the honour of
becoming one of the eighteen members who constitute the Swedish
Academy. In 1845 he was created doctor of theology. He first
appeared in public as the author of a novel and of some poetry.
In 1823 he issued Volume I of his Berättelser ur Svenska Historien
(Tales from Swedish History), which has been continued down to
1875, when Volume XLIII appeared ; the first Volumes of this work,
which carried his name wherever the Swedish language is spoken,
were printed in several editions, and translated into Danish, German,
French, and Dutch. "Fryxell," says the "Handlexicon," "has been
called the Swedish Herodotus. As an historian in the popular style
he is unsurpassed; although in the later volumes of his great histo
rical work he has written more for the educated classes, than for
the people in general. His immortal honour meanwhile consists in
having awakened by his ’Tales’ in the hearts of the Swedish people
an affection for the history of their nation, and in calling back to
their memory the names of their great men, and continually keeping
them before them. In order that he might devote himself exclusively
to his historical labours, he was released in 1847 from his pastoral
duties, retaining, however, the income from his pastorate."
In the last volume of his "Tales," (
Volume XLIII, which was
published in 1875), Fryxell published a biography of Swedenborg
which extends from p. 149-269. When a professional historian,
like Fryxell, writes a biography he is expected to observe in its
composition all those rules and principles which a genuine historian
follows in writing the history of a whole people. These principles
are as follows: (1) He must make a faithful study of those sources
and documents which contain the genuine facts of a biography.
(2) An historian must distinguish between original sources and
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