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350 VII. TIME OF FREEDOM AND NEOLOGY.
brother, Duke Charles, promoted the secret societies of
Illuminati, Freemasons, Rosicrucians and the like which
spread largely over Europe during this period.
35
The doc
trines of Swedenborg also made a number of converts, some
of them men of piety and ability. But no Swedenborgian
society was recognized in Sweden until the year 1885, and
only a small one now exists. The period of neology
was nevertheless also a time when, not only law and jus
tice, but art and literature made considerable progress.
There was a spirit of chivalry as well as of frivolity, of
research into, as well as of superficial interest in, the great
problems of life. It was a time also of foundation in two
directions. The orders of knighthood, like those of the
Garter and the Bath in England, do not appear to be very
old in Sweden. The statutes of the orders of the Serafim,
of the Sword and the Northern Star date from
1748. Gustavus III. dignified them by giving them
an Ordens-Biskop as their chaplain. To these older
orders he added the Vasa-order in the year of his
coup d etat (1772), for the useful purpose of rewarding
merit of a more civil character
"
in regard to agriculture,
mining, fine arts and commerce, or through writings
which have done eminent service to the State in these
directions." There can be no doubt that there was a
revival of something more than mere romanticism, which
might have led to much greater things if the king s char
acter had not been perverted by evil influences around
him. The latter part of his reign saw the foundation of
the Swedish Academy, in imitation of that of France, in
the year 1786. Its motto, "genius and taste
"
(snille och
smak), shows that it was intended to be literary rather than
scientific ;
in fact, it was designed mainly to concern itself
with languages. But it has been of great service to
Sweden, though the taste which it promoted in its early
years was not always the best. It has, unlike English
institutions of the same kind, administered a considerable
income, which is used for the encouragement of literature.
35
See Sv. Hist.\ VI., 284-307, Gustaf ///.. $.
hof..
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