object, to attain which he thought no present sacrifice too great.
It was in the November of 1642 that he reached Elbing. In spite of his eagerness to get to work, the first week was one of enforced idleness, for in the house that he had taken there were neither tables nor chairs; but these material defects were soon remedied. The immediate task was to rewrite the Janua Linguarum and to compose the lexicon and grammar that were to accompany it. He was now to have assistance in his labours, and as fellow-workers had brought with him Paul Cyrillus, Peter Figulus, Daniel Petreus, and Daniel Nigrinus. Bechner, whom he had been anxious to secure as a collaborator, was unable to come. Still further to ensure getting through the work with speed, he gave out that he must drop all correspondence with his friends for one year, an intention, needless to remark, that he found impossible to carry out.
The Swedish patron was as good as his word, and as soon as he heard that Comenius was definitely settled at Elbing, and ready to set to work, remitted 1000 thaler for him and for the Brethren. With the letter of thanks that Comenius sent to Wolzogen, de Geer’s agent at Finspong, he forwarded also some copies of the Vestibulum, and suggested that the Swedish boys should write it out from dictation while waiting for the revised versions on which he was engaged, such an exercise being an essential part of his method.
Elbing had seemed an eminently suitable place to work in, and Comenius had imagined that he would be free from any great interruption. Unfortunately Bartholomew Nigrin, formerly minister of the Reformed Church at Dantzig, had settled there, and his presence appears to have been a continual source of disturbance to Comenius. Nigrin had been imbued with the notion, shared, as we have seen, by John Durie, Hartlib, and many others, that a union of Christendom was possible. With the apparent object of furthering this end, he tried to induce Comenius to throw up his contract with de Geer and withdraw him-
