surfaces of different objects, on the mountains, rocks, trees, skies, and waters; and the various effects of light at noon and evening; by which he was enabled to give his own works so much truth and nature, as will for ever render them extremely estimable, and in his life-time they were sold for very high prices. He also enriched his ideas by frequenting the elegant remains of antiquity about Rome, and in that study spent all his leisure hours, and from his retired manner of life, although he was by birth a Fleming, he was distinguished by the name of the Hermit of Italy. The reputation which his pictures procured him, and the demand he had for them, excited in some degree the jealousy of Claude, which is a proof how near he approached him. He etched also in a bold, free, and masterly style, and published, from his own designs, various sets of landscapes, amounting in all to one hundred and fourteen. He died in 1680.'

SWEDENBORG (EMANUEL), a Swedish enthusiast, and the founder of a well-known, although, we trust, declining sect, was born at Stockholm Jan. 29, 1689. His father was bishop of West Gothia, and it may be supposed that his education was good, since he published a volume of Latin poetry when he was only twenty years old. The title was, "Ludus Heliconius, sive Carmina Miscellanea, quæ variis in locis cecinit." The same year he began his travels; and having visited England, Holland, France, and Germany, returned in 1714 to Stockholm, where two years after, he was appointed by Charles XII. assessor of the metallic college. His studies during this part of his life, were chiefly devoted to mathematics and natural philosophy; and he was essentially useful to his king by enabling him to convey his heavy artillery by water, where they could not go by land. He published about this period, many scientifical and philosophical works; and succeeding to the favour of queen Ulrica Eleanora, after the death of Charles XII. was by her ennobled in 1719. In pursuance of his duty, as belonging to the metallic college, he travelled to view the mines, and then inspected also the manufactures of his country. In consequence of this, he published several tracts on subjects relating to the philosophy of the arts. He returned to Stockholm in 1722, and divided his time between the duties of his office and his

Argenville, vol. III.-Pilkington and Strutt.

private studies. In 1733, he had completed his great work, entitled "Opera Philosophica et Mineralia," which was printed under his direction in 1734, partly at Dresden, and partly at Leipsic. It forms 3 vols. folio, is illustrated by plates, and is written with great strength of judgment. In 1720, he had been admitted into the society of sciences at Upsal; and between that and 1724, had received a similar honour from the royal academy at Stockholm, and that of Petersburgh. He corresponded also with many learned foreigners. But the time was now approaching when all the desire of baron Swedenborg, for literary or other worldly distinction, was to be absorbed in feelings of a sublimer nature. Whether too intense an application to study had disordered, or a natural tendency to enthusiasm had inflamed his mind, he conceived himself miraculously called to the office of revealing the most hidden arcana. "In the year 1743," he says, in one of his works, "the Lord was graciously pleased to manifest himself to me, in a personal appearance; to open in me a sight of the spiritual world, and to enable me to converse with spirits and angels; and this privilege has continued with me to this day." From this time, he devoted his very able pen to such subjects as this most extraordinary state of mind suggested. He published, "De cultu et Amore Dei," Lond. 1745, 4to; "De telluribus in mundo nostro solari," 1758; "De Equo albo in Apocalypsi," 1758; "De nova Hierosolyma;" "De Cœlo et Inferno;" "Sapientia angelica de Divina Providentia," Amsterdam, 1764; "Vera Christiana religio," Amst. 1771; and many other books. He particularly visited Amsterdam and London, where these extravagant works were published, and where they have since been translated by his admirers. One of his fancies about the spiritual world is, that it admits not of space: yet he tells us, that a man is so little changed after death, that he does not even know that he is not living in the present world; that he eats and drinks, and even enjoys conjugal delights, as in the present world; that the resemblance between the two worlds is so great, that in the spiritual there are cities, palaces, houses, books, merchandise, &c. &c.-Universal Theology, vol. I. p. 734. This extraordinary man died in London, March 29, 1772; his remains lay in state, and were afterwards deposited in a vault in the Swedish church near Radcliff-highway.

Swedenborg was, in himself, a harmless, though a very VOL. XXIX.

E

extravagant enthusiast. His sect does not appear to have made much progress during his life, but is now established in England, under the title of The New Jerusalem Church. It is a kind of Christianity, modified according to the whims of the author; acknowledging a Trinity, but not exactly in the sense of any other church, and an unity in a peculiar sense also; pretending that the spiritual sense of the Scriptures was never known till it was revealed to Swedenborg. The continued intercourse of spirits with men is one part of his doctrine; with many other reveries, which would hardly appear to deserve notice, were they not still considered by many as the result of inspiration. That these strange delusions should subsist in a time when true faith has wavered without reason, is extraordinary. To a reasonable person, the inspection of any one of his mystical books seems a sufficient preservative from the infection. Some of his followers have been bold enough to represent him as a man without enthusiasm.'

SWERT, or SWERTIUS (FRANCIS), a Flemish historian and antiquary, was born at Antwerp in 1567. We have no particulars of his literary progress, but a general character that he was a man of science and learning, of an amiable disposition, and occasionally a wit, a poet, and a man of business. He devoted much of his time to study, and published a great many works which brought him considerable reputation. Saxius says he does not know whether he married or lived single, nor, he adds, "is it of much importance. This, I know, that he does not speak very respectfully of the ladies and their company. He says of Janus Dousa, the father, that when he returned home, he married that necessary evil, a wife." Whatever reason Swert had for using this expression, Saxius might have known from Valerius Andreas, or from Foppen, that he married Susanna Van Erp, and had a family of six children. He died at Antwerp in 1629, aged sixty-two.

66

His principal works are, 1." Narrationes Historicæ in Deorum Dearumque capita, ab Ortelio vulgata," Antwerp, 1602, 4to. 2. Belgii totius sive XVII provinciarum Germaniæ inferioris brevis descriptio," 1603. 3. “Lacrimæ in funere Ab. Ortelii, cum Ortelii vita," 1601, 8vo. 4. "Meditationes J. Cardinalis de Turrecremata in vitam Christi, cum vita Card. &c." Cologn, 1607, 12mo. 5.

1 His works passim.-Encycl. Britan. &c. &c.

"Selectæ orbis Christianæ Delicia," a collection of epitaphs, inscriptions, &c. ibid. 1608, and 1625, 8vo. 6. "Monumenta Sepulchralia Brabantiæ," Ant. 1613, 8vo. 7. "Notæ in Hieronymi Magii de Tintinnabulis libellum posthumum," 1608, and 1664, 8vo. 8. "Musæ errantes Justi Lipsii," Antw. 1609, 4to. 9. "Flores Lipsiani,” Cologn, 1614, and 1620. 10. "Athenæ Belgicæ," Antw. 1628, folio, a work on the plan, and much of it borrowed from, Valerius Andreas. To these Saxius adds "Rerum Belgicarum Annales, Chronici et historici antiqui et recentiores," Francfort, 1620, 2 vols. folio.'

SWIETEN. See VAN SWIETEN.

SWIFT (JONATHAN), an illustrious English wit, and justly celebrated also for his political knowledge, was descended from a very ancient family, and born Nov. 30, 1667. His grandfather, Mr. Thomas Swift, was vicar of Goodrich in Herefordshire, and married Mrs. Elizabeth Dryden, aunt of Dryden the poet; by whom he had six sons, Godwin, Thomas, Dryden, William, Jonathan, and Adam. Thomas was bred at Oxford, but died young; Godwin was a barrister of Gray's-inn; and William, Dryden, Jonathan, and Adam, were attornies. Godwin having married a relation of the old marchioness of Ormond, the old duke of Ormond made him attorney-general in the palatinate of Tipperary in Ireland. Ireland was at this time almost without lawyers, the rebellion having converted men of all conditions into soldiers. Godwin, therefore, determined to attempt the acquisition of a fortune in that kingdom, and the same motive induced his four brothers to go with him. Jonathan, at the age of about twenty-three, and before he went to Ireland, married Mrs. Abigail Erick, a gentlewoman of Leicestershire; and about two years after left her a widow with one child, a daughter, and pregnant with another, having no means of subsistence but an annuity of 201 which her husband had purchased for her in England, immediately after his marriage. In this distress she was taken into the family of Godwin, her husband's eldest brother; and there, about seven months after his death, delivered of a son, whom she called Jonathan, in remembrance of his father, and who was afterwards the celebrated dean of St. Patrick's.

It happened, by whatever accident, that Jonathan was

1 Foppen Bibl. Belg.-Moreri Saxii Onomast.

not suckled by his mother, but by a nurse, who was a nas tive of Whitehaven; and when he was about a year old, her affection for him was become so strong, that, finding it necessary to visit a sick relation there, she carried him with her, without the knowledge of his mother or uncle. At this place he continued about three years; for, when the matter was discovered, his mother sent orders not to hazard a second voyage, till he should be better able to bear it. Mrs. Swift, about two years after her husband's death, quitted the family of Mr. Godwin Swift in Ireland, and retired to Leicester, the place of her nativity; but her son was again carried to Ireland by his nurse, and replaced under the protection of his uncle Godwin. It has been generally believed, that Swift was born in England; and, when the people of Ireland displeased him, he has been heard to say, "I am not of this vile country; I am an Englishman:" but this account of his birth is taken from one which he left behind him, in his own hand-writing. Some have also thought, that he was a natural son of sir William Temple, because sir William expressed a particular regard for him ; but that was impossible; for sir William was resident abroad in a public character from 1665 to 1670; and his mother, who was never out of the British dominions, brought him into the world in 1667.

At about six years of age, he was sent to the school of Kilkenny, and having continued there eight years, he was admitted a student of Trinity college in Dublin *. Here applying himself to books of history and poetry, to the neglect of academic learning, he was, at the end of four years, refused his degree of bachelor of arts for insufficiency; and was at last admitted speciali gratiá, which is there considered as the highest degree of reproach and dishonour. Stung with the disgrace, he studied eight hours a day, for seven years following. He commenced these studies at the university of Dublin, where he continued them three years; and during this time he drew up the first sketch of his "Tale of a Tub;" for Wassendon Warren, esq. a gentleman of fortune near Belfast in Ireland, who was chamber-fellow with Swift, declared that he then saw a copy of it in Swift's own hand-writing.

*For some particulars explanatory of Swift's conduct at college, see" An Essay on the Earlier part of his Life, by the Rev. Dr. Barrett," published

separately in 1808, and also added to Mr. Nichols's new edition of that year.