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44 by the Duke—a step which he never could bring his mind to—immediately put an end to any chance of disposing of it in that quarter; and he wrote an indignant reprimand to his venal friend for venturing, in reference to his religious profession, to make a proposal to him which would at any time have been considered offensive, but which, in the present state of his sentiments, he regarded with unqualified abhorrence. While measures were in progress for the sale of his museum, he occasionally employed himself—notwithstanding his conviction of the sinfulness of allowing any secular pursuits, even including those of science, which may be said to be the best and purest, to distract the mind from uninterrupted meditation on the Supreme Good, and the concerns of a future life—in further arranging and improving its contents, especially with a view to render the many delicate preparations it contained as durable as possible, and thus increase their value in the event of a sale. Swammerdam's intercourse with Bourignon had hitherto been confined to epistolary correspondence, but he now conceived it essential to his happiness that he should have a personal interview with her, and for this purpose he repaired to Sleswick in Holstein, where she then resided. He staid for some time in her house, and became ere long one of her favourite adherents. An opportunity soon occurred to afford a proof of her confidence in him, and the sincerity of his attachment. The Lutheran divines of Holstein, taking alarm at the pernicious principles