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 a wife and daughters to support, and a rapidly emptying purse.

It was at this juncture that a new patron, Ludwig de Geer, appeared on the scene. De Geer belonged to an aristocratic Dutch family, and had realised an enormous fortune in commerce. The centre of his business transactions, which he left to his agent Hotton, was Amsterdam. He himself resided on his estates at Finspong and Norköping in Sweden. It was through Hotton that he first heard of Comenius, in whose projects he began to take a keen interest as soon as his attention was directed to them. A letter sent to Lissa through Hotton’s agency arrived too late, and it was not till he had been in London for some time that Comenius received it. Feeling that Hartlib had perhaps promised more than he could bring about, he wrote to de Geer saying that if he had received his letter before leaving Lissa he would now be not in London but in Sweden.

This letter elicited another pressing invitation from de Geer, and to this Comenius sent an answer in December, explaining that he was not quite a free agent; his Church had the first claim on him, and he must consult his superiors before taking any fresh step.

Hartlib, who was aware of the correspondence with de Geer, now did his best to induce Comenius to stay in London, and brought out an English translation of the Prodromus under the title A Reformation of Schooles, in the hope of attracting renewed attention to the Pansophic schemes. But the unsettled state of affairs and his growing need of money made Comenius daily more anxious to get away. Fresh correspondence with de Geer followed, in which he pointed out that, if he was to make any real progress with his Pansophic books, he must have the assistance of some fellow-workers. Alone, he would find the task too great. De Geer, however, seems to have demurred to the proposal, and objected to Joachim Hubner, one of the proposed colleagues, on the ground of his religious opinions.