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.