they deserve. A notable instance of this occurred recently in Liverpool, where a set of impostors who had made a fortune in New York, during the winter, were only saved with difficulty by the police from the hands of the mob. Our great showman but narrowly escaped a similar fate when he went about from town to town to glorify his impositions on the credulity of our people.

But let us hope that we are not so easily imposed upon by the speculators in bubbles as we are by the quack doctors, the showmen, and the spirit rappers; and yet the fact that so large a number of petroleum companies have already been formed, with the view of enriching themselves with our money, rather conflicts with that theory. There must be vast numbers who pay out their money to the speculators; otherwise the latter would not be multiplying weekly as they are. When we wrote, some three years since, on the quackery of insurance companies, we thought we could hardly warn our people against worse speculators. It was far from our intention to denounce the system in general, or pretend that it was not productive of incalculable good; then, as we do now, we confined our strictures to the pretenders and impostors. But our sincere opinion now is, after having fully investigated the subject of this article, that even the quacks who cling, incubus-like, to the insurance profession are more respectable men, and more worthy of faith in their word or oath, than the corresponding class belonging to the petroleum companies. As for legiti mate underwriters, there are no class in whose truthfulness and integrity we have more unwavering faith. In proof of this we need only say that the best two petroleum companies we know, namely, the California and the Ironsides, have each underwriters connected with them; and that nothing else has inspired us with more confidence than this fact in their resources and intentions; whereas, so far as we have been able to ascertain, no class of men, not excepting the most ignorant and unprincipled of the quack doctors, have so little regard for truth, or are so much prone to falsehood, as the generality of the petroleum speculators. We disclaim all personal feeling, however, against any company or individual engaged in the petroleum business, in one way or other; we merely give our opinion as public journalists of what we have carefully examined; nor is it our wish, in doing so, that any one suffer the least detriment further than his conduct may be found, on due enquiry, to merit it. Without any disposition

to boast of our efforts, we think we may claim that our criticisms on insurance have been productive of good; encouraged by this belief, we shall have more to say on the present subject; and while it will afford us pleasure to note improvements, and do justice to those whom we think act honorably and fairly, we shall not shrink from unmasking those of the opposite character.

ART. VIII. Opera Omnia. EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. Stockholm, 1780.

2. The Complete Works of EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

THE study of a great man's life seldom fails to impress us with emotions of grandeur. If he had vices, we forgive the more readily when the grave has closed over them, and the victim is insensible alike to the praises he coveted or the contumely he defied. If to the graces of intellect he added the symmetry of moral and social virtues, his memory stands out from the receding past like some rare ruin of olden time, before whose broken columns we reverently linger to read such lessons as the heart only accepts from death and decay.

The lives of all reformers are especially suggestive, since through them we trace the progress both of civilization and religious toleration; and, although the doctrines they have severally taught have been sometimes dogmatic and productive of bloodshed, we acknowledge the mental audacity of the man who dared to announce himself as the founder of a new sect, and in the face of established religions, deeply rooted prejudices, and future persecutions, proclaimed himself the vicegerent of God. It is difficult to believe that these men intentionally deceived either themselves or others. If we differ intellectually to such a degree that no two individuals agree in regard to the most tangible objects of sense, why should we expect mankind to become a unit when reasoning upon the impalpable tenets of faith?

Whatever may have been the imperfections of Swedenborg, it is generally admitted that he was a sincere Christian, a liberal thinker, as well as a most earnest enquirer after truth. The "illuminations" which for twenty-seven years he so minutely detailed, and to the investigation of which he

chcerfully invited all who approached him with friendly intentions, have obtained for him a celebrity, not unlike, but so far beyond all other prophets, as to render him preeminently a visionist. That these illuminations should have been eagerly received by the ignorant would excite little surprise; but when we find among his converts and admirers such distinguished personages as the King of Sweden, Count Von Höpken, Oberlin, Lavater, Beyer, Coleridge, Emanuel Kant, Oetinger, together with innumerable professors, assessors, landgraves, bishops, and archbishops, all contemporary with Swedenborg, and enjoying personal and collateral advantages for accurate judgment, it certainly becomes us to approach with modesty an investigation which has baffled enquirers like these.

It is well known that the earlier period of his life, when men are most liable to be led astray by their imaginations, was devoted to chemical, mathematical, and philosophical researches, which must have effectually precluded all vagaries; nor did his illuminations commence until he had established a literary reputation so irreproachable that his assertions were accepted as truth. If we regard him as an impostor, his whole life is a living refutation of the accusation. That a man so unobtrusive, so regardless of honor and wealth, should have imposed upon the credulity of friendship falsehoods which could in no way subserve his interest, would be a phenomenon without parallel in the history of the world. If we question his sanity, we are met by the assurance that in all cases the insane are found incapable of prolonged, connected mental effort, so that the books Swedenborg wrote, the languages he learned, the correspondence he has left, all bear conclusive evidence that his mental powers were unimpaired. In whatever aspect we regard this man, he is still a mystery.

Emanuel Swedberg, afterwards Swedenborg, was born in Stockholm, Sweden, January 29, 1688, and was the second child of Jesper Swedenberg, Bishop of Skara, in West Gothland, a man of considerable ability as well as celebrity; having been elected not only a member of the English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign countries, but also appointed by Charles XII., King of Sweden, Bishop over the Swedish churches in Pennsylvania and London. During the year 1719, the family were ennobled by Queen Ulrica Eleonora, receiving the name of Swedenborg. The father never availed himself of this queenly consideration, but

Emanuel, together with his sisters, assumed the name, and he immediately ranked with the Equestrian Order in the triennial assemblies of the states of the realm. He was also, by invitation, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, but seems never to have been a member of any other literary society; for the reason, as he affirms, "that the attentions of literary societies relate to the world and the body."

As a boy, he was amiable and studious, and early gave promise of literary success. His education, which was the best the country at that time afforded, was so judiciously conducted that we find him taking the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Nysal, and publishing an academical dissertation in 1709. In the year following, he made his first visit to London. During this voyage his life was four times in danger from wreck, pirates, and his imprudence in leaving his ship while in quarantine; for this offence he was near being hung, and was only freed on condition that if any other attempted to imitate his example, he should not escape the gallows.

In 1710, Swedenborg published at Skara a collection of Latin verses, which not only bear witness to his accomplishments as a student and linguist, but are also indicative of that versatile genius for which he was afterwards distinguished. These have been reprinted, together with other youthful effusions, under the title of Ludus Heliconius Sive Carmina Miscellanea quæ variis in locis cecinit: Em. Swedberg. During the years 1716-17-18, he published at Stockholm a work in six parts, under the title of Daedalus Hyperboreus, made up of essays upon the various branches of mathematics and philosophy, displaying so much ability in the science of mechanics that it attracted general attention; and secured to him not only the friendship of many learned men, but of his Majesty Charles XII., who, after some personal interviews with the author, appointed him to the office of assessor of the Metallic College, in which he remained until it was voluntarily resigned in the year 1747; although he continued to enjoy the whole or a portion of the salary during his life.

In 1718, Swedenborg executed the skilful manœuvre of transporting two galleys, five large boats, and a sloop from Stronestadt to Kertjol, by means of machines of his own invention. When it is remembered that the distance is about fourteen English miles, and that the country is divided by

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mountains and valleys, and that it was under the cover of these same galleys and boats the heavy artillery was transported on pontoons, which did such effectual service during the siege of Frederickshall, this triumph of mechanical ingenuity will be the better appreciated. In 1719 he gave to the public a series of treatises, including "A proposal for fixing the value of coins and determining the measures of Sweden, so as to suppress fractions and facilitate calcula tions;" on the "Position of the earth and planets;" on the "Height of the tides, and the greater flux and reflux of the sea in former ages, with proofs furnished by various appearances in Sweden."

Although Swedenborg had been appointed assessor by his Majesty Charles XII., he did not enter upon the duties of his office. Always unassuming, and never overrating his mental resources, he hesitated to act in a capacity for which he believed himself unqualified. Wishing to instruct himself in the buildings, machines, and processes most successfully used among miners, he went to Hartz and Saxony in 1721, and visited not only the smelting works and mines, but libraries, museums, and such public institutions as would naturally attract the attention of so cultivated a traveller. This journey was very successful. The reigning sovereign, Duke Lewis Rodolph, received him with signal favors, granting him full permission to visit his dominions, besides presenting him with his medallion both in gold and silver.

Returning to his native country in 1722, Swedenborg presented the fruits of his foreign industry. He had already published at Amsterdam six small works, which were alterwards collected in one volume as " Some specimens of a work on the principles of chemistry, with other treatises." He now published a work in four parts, entitled Miscellanea Observata circa res naturales; præsertim mineralia, ignem et mon ticum strata (Miscellaneous observations on natural things, particularly on minerals, fire, and the strata of mountains).

All these testimonials of Swedenborg's mental wealth seem to have dropped from his overburdened pen, rather as a relief to his own intellectual plethora, than from those ambitious aspirations that are supposed to inspire most authors. He is a wise man who can render himself necessary to his superiors by being useful to his equals. Swedenborg seldom, if ever, solicited patronage, nor does he appear to have given much thought to his literary productions after having prepared them to the best of his ability for the bene