an early age,' said he, 'I perceived that our method of studies generally in use is a harsh and crude one, but where the root of the trouble was I couldn't find out. At length having been sent by my king [Gustavus Adolphus], of glorious memory, as ambassador into Germany, I conversed on the subject with various learned men. And when I heard that Wolfgang Ratke was toiling at a reformed method, I had no rest of mind until I had got that gentleman into my presence; but, instead of a talk on the subject, he offered me a big volume in quarto to read. I swallowed that trouble; and, having gone through the book, I noted that he detected not badly the maladies of the schools; but the remedies he proposed did not seem to me sufficient. Yours, Mr. Comenius, rest on firmer foundations." "1

The consultation with Oxenstiern and Skyte continued four days, at the conclusion of which they rendered their decision on his various theories. With reference to his pansophic notions, they saw little of immediate utility to the welfare of mankind. But his didactics they regarded with favor. They urged him to give his attention to the reformation of teaching and the preparation of suitable text-books. While somewhat chagrined at this unsympathetic attitude toward his pansophic theories, and a little surprised to learn that de Geer should be of the same mind, he was forced to acquiesce, not, however, without the earnest solicitations of Hartlib and his English friends not to forsake the cherished pansophic principles."

1 Mittheilungen über Wolfgang Ratichius. Von Agathon Niemeyer. Halle, 1840.

2 In a letter to Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, Hartlib laments that Comenius should continually allow himself to be diverted from his pansophic works.

The town of Elbing, on the Baltic Sea, in West Prussia, was designated by de Geer as a suitable residence for Comenius during the time that he should be in the service of the Swedish educational department. Here he settled, with his family and the assistants de Geer had permitted him to employ at the patron's expense, in October, 1642. The chief task imposed upon him was the compilation of a series of text-books for use in elementary and secondary schools. But progress was slow; the Swedes became impatient, and de Geer grew restive. In consequence, the relations with his patron soon became strained, and continued so during most of the Elbing period. In reply to a complaint from de Geer, Comenius wrote him in September, 1643: "I compose books and do not merely copy those of others. Our proposed work is not merely a book, but a real treasure for the aiding of whose production my patron will assuredly have no cause for regret." He admits that he has been diverted from the completion of a work on language teaching by a philosophic treatise which he considers of far greater importance than the details of methodology.

In addition to the philosophic studies, in which de Geer and the Swedes had little or no interest, Comenius dissipated his energies in other ways. When it became generally known that he had located in Elbing, the wealthy patrons of the local high school petitioned the town council to secure him to give weekly lectures to the pupils. In other ways he identified himself with local interests, which diverted his time from his assigned tasks. Moreover, his connection with the Moravian Brethren compelled him to

make frequent trips to Poland to attend ecclesiastical conventions and minister to the needs of the scattered brethren. De Geer's patience must have been sorely tried, for he sent to Elbing, with annoying frequency, to inquire concerning the progress of the work. In reply, Comenius begged his patron have patience; he explained the difficult nature of his labors, and assured him that he was making as much progress as was consistent with the nature of his undertaking.

Toward the close of 1646 he went to Sweden and made a personal report to his patron, covering the four years of his employment. A government committee was appointed to review his work; its report was most favorable to Comenius; and he was urged to get the work in shape for immediate publication. He had prepared during this time, in spite of distractions, a work on language teaching, which treated of its nature, function, and the laws to be observed in language teaching; a lexicon based on these laws; and a series of graded reading books.

At the death of Justinus, the senior bishop of the Moravian Brethren in 1648, Comenius was elected his successor. His new duties made his removal to Lissa necessary, and he took with him the unfinished treatises for the Swedes, and sent them to de Geer as rapidly as he was able to complete them. It caused him no pang of sorrow to sever his connection with the Dutch merchant and the Swedes. For he was isolated at Elbing; his labors were uncongenial, and the remuneration which he received was small. It is apparent from his letters, subsequently written, that it was not merely the Dutchman's gold that held him to tasks so arduous and uncongenial. He hoped by

this connection to secure the moral support of the Swedes in removing from the Moravian Brethren the ban which exiled them from their beloved fatherland.

The treaty of Westphalia, however, shattered this hope. There was not a single stipulation in favor of the exiled brethren. The promises Sweden had made to Comenius in this matter were disregarded. In vain he implored Oxenstiern not to forsake his people. "My people have aided your arms with their weapons, the unceasing offerings of their tears and supplications to God; and now, when they see your success and may rejoice in the hope for a more favorable issue of affairs, they are troubled with dread apprehension lest they should be forsaken." Later he wrote him: "Of what use is it to us, who are now deprived of every hope of peace, to have assisted you with our tears in obtaining victory; when, although it lay within your power to release us from our prison-house, you surrender us anew into the hands of our oppressors? Of what avail now all those holy evangelical alliances formed by our ancestors, and consecrated with their sacred martyr-blood?" But these importunities were of no avail; for, while equal privileges were granted to the Reformed, Lutheran, and Catholic churches in Germany, in Bohemia, and Moravia, the ritual of the latter alone was established. It was a severe blow to Comenius, as well as to the whole brotherhood of the Moravian Church.

1

The years 1648 to 1650 were passed in ministrations to the dispersed brethren; he was especially conscien

2

1 The correspondence between Comenius and Oxenstiern over the treaty of Westphalia is given by Gindely, Über des Comenius Leben und Wirksamkeit in der Fremde. Vienna, 1855.

2 For a full account of these labors see Gindely's Geschichte der Böhmischen Brüder. Prague, 1857–8.

tious in the discharge of the duties of his episcopal office; he established more intimate relations between the Polish and Hungarian branches of the Moravian churches; he sought and secured important financial aid for the brotherhood in England, Holland, and Sweden; he secured positions as teachers for many of his exiled countrymen; and induced the University of Oxford to create stipends for Bohemian students. Gindely remarks that at this period there were few European countries in which the protégés of Comenius could not be found in the capacity of private tutors, public school-teachers, artists, or clergymen.

The impoverished condition of the Moravian Church caused Comenius no little concern, and induced him to look with some favor on the numerous calls to important educational posts which came to him from foreign countries. That from the widow of Prince Rakoczy and her son Sigismund was especially tempting. They wanted him to come to Transylvania, Hungary, and reform the school system. A liberal salary was offered, together with complete facilities for the organization of a school system in accordance with his own views —including a printing establishment for the publication of required books. It was further stipulated that he might bring with him ten or a dozen Bohemian youths to be educated at the expense of the prince and his mother. The scattered members of the Moravian Church in Hungary, in the belief that the presence of the bishop in that country would unify the interests of the brotherhood, also urged him to accept the Transylvanian call, at the same time petitioning the general synod to relieve Comenius of his clerical functions at Lissa for a few years.