Before proceeding with it the author undertook another history of Sweden on a smaller scale, the 'Svenska Folkets Ilzatoria,' for the general collection of the histories of Europe, set on foot by Leo and Uckert ; and this was carried before 1843, in threo volumes, to the death of Queen Christina, but there it stopped. The professor, in place of continuing it, was occupied in examining the papers of Gustavus III., which the king had bequeathed to the University of Upsal, io a cheat not to be opened till fit ty years after his death. The work founded on these, Konuog Gustaf III.'s efterlemnado Pepper t}fversikt, Utdrag och Jemnfiirelse of E. G. Geijer' (2 vols., 8vo, Upeal, 1843), disappointed the public expectation, but more owing to the insignificance of the royal legacy than to any deficiency on the part of the editor.
Geijer wax also occupied with speculations in politics and economy. Twice he was the represeutative of the University of Upsal at the diet, and while on the first occasion he was a warm defender of monarchical power, in the second (in 1838) he saw caul° to modify Lie views, and lost the approbation of several of his former supporters by a change of opinion In favour of progress aud liberalism, which he avowed and defended in a periodical called Litteraturbladet,' written by himself. His views of pauperism were developed in ' The Poor Laws and their Bearing on Society, a Series of Political and Historical Essays,' which were published in English (Stockholm, 1840) as well as Swedish, and of which the English version, as it bears no translator's name, and has marks of a foreign hand, may possibly be from his own pen. A dissertation on the history of Sweden during the Frihetatiden ' or 'Freedom-Time ' as it is called, which extended from the death Of Charles XII. to the revolution in favour of regal power which was forcibly effected by Gustavns III., is the last of Geijer's works of much importance. His opinions of the superiority of regal to aristo cratical government did not pass unquestioned, and were the subject of a controversy with Fryxell. [Fir1xr.L.3 During about thirty years -Geijer continued one of the literary magnates of Sweden, in constant intercourse with all that was distinguished. He was the intimate
friend of Tegndr and Atterbom, had a correspondence with Frederika Bremer, and wrote both verses and music for Jenny Lind. In 1846 his health began to break, be was obliged to pay a visit to the Schlangenbad of Nassau, and resigned his professorship. He died at Stockholm on the 23rd of April 1817—a year which was fatal to many of the literary celebrities of Sweden.
A collected edition of Geijer'a works was commenced soon after his death, but is still incomplete, though advanced (in 1856) to thirteen octavo volumes. A life by his sou, Knut Geijer, is prefixed to the first volume, but before the second sheet had been printed the writer suddenly died. Most of the works of Geijer have been already mentioned. The most important is undoubtedly his 'Svenska Folketa Historia,' of which an English translation by J. H. Turuer was pub lished at London, and the first volume of a continuation of which by Carlson was issued in German, in Leo and Uckert'a collection iu 1855. Many of the volumes of his works are occupied with shorter pieces, articles in periodicals and papers read before the Swedish Academy, of which Geijer became ' One of tho Eighteen ' iu 1824, and was afterwards for some years President. The academical dieser tationa of which he was the author are as yet not reprinted, but several of them—one in particular on the Swedish colonies iu America —are of considerable interest. His letters and his minutes of con versations with Beruadotte, with whom he seems to have baeu a favourite, were first printed in this collection, and embrace much that is worthy of notice and preservation, especially when taken in con juuction with his Minneu; or ' Reminiscences,' perhaps his most attractive production, hut one which like so many others was left unfinished. It should be observed that had not only a taste but a talent for music, and enjoyed some reputation as a musical composer, a volume of music having been published in conjunction by himself and Lindblad.