Page:The Life and Mission of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/59

 Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson's biography of Swedenborg, credited to Francis Barham, we copy the concluding lines:—

"Charles," says Carlyle, "ended this obstinate torpor at last; broke out of Turkish Bender, or Demotica. With a groom or two, through desolate steppes and mountain wildernesses, through crowded dangerous cities, he rode without pause forward, ever forward, in darkest incognito, the indefatigable man; and finally on Old Hallowmas Eve (1714), far in the night, a horseman, with two others still following him, travel-splashed, and white with snow, drew bridle at the gate of Stralsund, and to the surprise of the Swedish sentinel there demanded instant admission to the Governor. The Governor, at first a little surly of humor, saw gradually how it was; sprang out of bed and embraced the knees of the snowy man. Stralsund in general sprang out of bed, and illuminated itself, that same Hallow-Eve; and, in brief, Charles XII., after five years of eclipse, has reappeared upon the stage of things, and menaces the world, in his old fashion, from that city."

From the neighborhood of Stralsund, where, soon after, Charles was besieged by the Russians and Danes, Swedenborg escaped just in time, and through the midst of enemies arrived home in safety about midsummer. Welcomed to Brunsbo, his father's episcopal seat, the Bishop addresses a petition in his behalf to the Lord-Lieutenant:—

", 12th July, 1715.

"May it please your Excellency,—My son Emanuel, after five years' foreign travel, has at length returned home. I hope he may be found available for some Academy. He is accomplished in Oriental languages, as well as European, but especially he is an adept in poetry