one of those innumerable Vortex's We our selves for whom the same expression serves must confess that we scarce know where we are in the midst of so many Worlds for my own part I begin to see the Earth so fearfully little that I believe from henceforth I shall never be concern'd at all for any thing That we so eagerly desire to make our selves great that we are always designing always troubling and harassing our selves is certainly because we are ignorant what these Vortex's are but now I hope my new lights will in part justifie my laziness and when any one reproaches me with my carelessness I will answer Ah did you but know what the fix'd Stars are It was not fit said I that Alexander should know what they were for a certain Author who maintains that the Moon is inhabited very gravely tells us that Aristotle from whom no truth could be long conceal'd must necessarily be of an opinion back'd with so much reason but yet he would never acquaint Alexander with the secret fearing he might run mad with despair when he knew there was another World which he could not conquer with much more reason then was this mystery of Vortex's and fix'd Stars kept secret in Alexander's time for tho' they had been known in those days yet a Man would have been a great Fool to have said any thing of 'em to Alexander it had been but an ill way of making his court to that ambitious Prince for my part I that know 'em am not a little troubled to find my self not one jot the wiser for all the knowledge I have of 'em the most they can do according to your way of reasoning is but to cure People of their ambition and their unquiet restless humour which are diseases I am not at all troubled with I confess I am guilty of so much weakness as to be in love with what is beautiful that 's my distemper and I am confident the Vortex's can never cure it what if the other Worlds render ours so very little they cannot spoil fine Eyes or a pretty Mouth their value is still the same in spite of all the Worlds that can possibly exist This Love reply'd the Countess smiling is a strange thing let the World go how 't will 't is never in danger there is no System can do it any harm But tell me freely is your System true Pray conceal nothing from me I will keep your secret very faithfully it seems to have for its foundation but a slight probability which is that if a fix'd Star be in it self a luminous Body like the Sun then by consequence it must as the Sun is be the Centre and Soul of a World and have its Planets turning round about it But is there an absolute necessity it must be so Madam said I since we are in the humour of mingling amorous Follies with our most serious Discourses I must tell you that in Love and the Mathematicks People reason alike Allow never so little to a Lover yet presently after you must grant him more nay more and more which will at last go a great way In like manner grant but a Mathematician one little Principle he immediately draws a consequence from it to which you must necessarily assent and from this consequence another till he leads you so far whether you will or no that you have much ado to believe him These two sorts of People Lovers and Mathematicians will always take more than you give ' em You grant that when two things are like one another in all those things that appear to you it is possible they may be like one another in those things that are not visible if you have not some good reason to believe otherwise Now this way of arguing have I made use of The Moon say I is inhabited because she is like the Earth and the other Planets are inhabited because they are like the Moon I find the fix'd Stars to be like our Sun therefore I attribute to them what is proper to that You are now gone too far to be able to retreat therefore you must go forward with a good grace But says the Countess if you build upon this resemblance or likeness which is between our Sun and the fix'd Stars then to the People of another great Vortex our Sun must appear no bigger than a small fix'd Star and can be seen only when 't is Night with them Without doubt Madam said I it must be so Our Sun is much nearer to us than the Suns of other Vortex's and therefore its Light makes a much greater impression on our Eyes than theirs do We see nothing but the light of our own Sun and when we see that it darkens and hinders us from seeing any other light but in another great Vortex there is another Sun which rules and governs and in its turn extinguisheth the light of our Sun which is never seen there but in the Night with the rest of the other Suns that is the fix'd Stars with them our Sun is fastned to the great arched roof of Heaven where it makes a part of some Bear or Bull For the Planets which turn round about it our Earth for Example as they are not seen at so vast a distance so no body doth so much as dream of 'em All the Suns then are Day Suns in their own Vortex's but Night Suns in other Vortex's In his own World or Sphere every Sun is single and there is but one to be seen but every where else they serve only to make a number May not the Worlds reply'd the Countess notwithstanding this great resemblance between 'em differ in a thousand other things for tho' they may be alike in one particular they may differ infinitely in others It is certainly true said I but the difficulty is to know wherein they differ One Vortex hath many Planets that turn round about its Sun another Vortex hath but a few In one Vortex there are inferiour or less Planets which turn about those that are greater in another perhaps there are no inferiour Planets here all the Planets are got round about their Sun in form of a little Squadron beyond which is a great void space which reacheth to the neighbouring Vortex's In another place the Planets take their course towards the out side of their Vortex and leave the middle void There may be Vortex's also quite void without any Planets at all others may have their Sun not exactly in their Centre and that Sun may so move as to carry its Planets along with it others may have Planets which in regard of their Sun ascend and descend according to the change of their Equilibration which keeps them suspended But I think I have said enough for a Man that was never out of his own Vortex It is not so much reply'd the Countess considering what a multitude of Worlds there are what you have said is sufficient but for five or six and from hence I see
almost contiguous it would be still impossible to pass from the Air of the one into the Air of the other The Water is the Air of Fishes they never pass into the Air of the Birds nor the Birds into the Air of the Fish and yet 't is not the distance that hinders them but both are emprison'd by the Air they breath in we find our Air consists of thicker and grosser Vapours than the Air of the Moon So that one of her Inhabitants arriving at the Confines of our World as soon as he enters our Air will inevitably drown himself and we shall see him fall dead on the Earth I should rejoyce at a Wreck said the Countess as much as my Neighbours on the Coast of Sussex how pleasant would it be to see 'em lie scatter'd on the ground where we might consider at our ease their extraordinary Figures But what said I if they could swim on the outward surface of our Air and be as curious to see us as you are to see them should they Angle or cast a Net for us as for so many Fish would that please you why not said the Countess For my part I would go into their Nets of mine own accord were it but for the pleasure to see such strange Fishermen You would be very Sick said I when you were drawn to the top of our Air for it is not respirable in all its extent as may be seen on the tops of some very high Mountains and I admire that they who have the folly to believe that our Faries whom they alow to be Corporeal and to inhabit the most pure and refin'd Air do not tell us that the reason why they give us such short and seldom visits is that there are very few among them that can dive and those that can if it be possible to get through the thick Air where we are cannot stay half so long in it as one of the worst of Sir Harry Blount's Sponge-gatherers Here then are natural Barricades which defend the passage out of our World as well as the Entry into that of the Moon so that since we can only guess at that World let us fancy all we can of it For Example I will suppose that we may see there the Firmament the Sun and the Stars of another colour than what they are here all these apear to us through a kind of Natural Spectacles which change and alter the Objects These Spectacles are our Air mix'd as it is with Vapours and Exhalations and which doth not extend it self very high Some of our Modern Philosophers pretend of it self it is blue as well as the Water of the Sea and that this colour neither appears in the one nor in the other but at a great depth the Firmament say they where the fix'd Stars are fastned hath no peculiar light of its own and by consequence must appear black but we see it through the Air which is blue and therefore to us it appears blue which if so the Beams of the Sun and Stars cannot pass through the Air without being ting'd a little with its colour and losing as much of their own yet were the Air of no colour it is very certain that through a great Mist the light of a Flambeau at some distance appears reddish though it be not its true natural colour Our Air is nothing but a great Mist which changeth the true colour of the Sky of the Sun and of the Stars it belongs only to the Celestial Matter to bring us the Light and Colours as they really are in all the purity so that since the Air of the Moon is of another nature than our Air or is stain'd of another colour or at least is another kind of Mist which causeth other alterations to the Colours of the Celestial Bodies in short as to the People of the Moon their Spectacles through which they see every thing are chang'd If it be so said the Countess I prefer my abode before that of the Moon for I cannot believe the Celestial Colours are so well suited as they are here for if you will let us put green Stars on a red Sky they cannot be so agreable as Stars of Gold on an Azure Firmament To hear you said I one would think you was chusing a Petticoat or a suit of Knots but believe me Nature hath as good a Fancy as Mrs. Harrison leave it to her to chuse Colours for the Moon and I 'll engage they shall be well sorted she will not fail to vary the Prospect of the Universe at every different point of Sight and always the Alteration shall be very agreable I know very well said the Countess her Skill in this Point she is not at the charge of changing the Objects but only the Spectacles and hath the credit of this great variety without being at any expence with a blue Air she gives us a blue Firmament and perhaps with a red Air she gives to the Inhabitants of the Moon a red Firmament and yet still it is but the same Firmament nay I am of opinion she hath plac'd a sort of Spectacles in our Imagination through which we see all things and which to every particular Man change the Objects Alexander look'd on the Earth as a fit place to establish a great Empire it seem'd to Celadon a proper residence for Astraea and it appear'd to a Philosopher a great Planet in the Heavens covered with Fools I do not believe the Sights vary more between the Earth and the Moon than they do between one Man's Fancy and anothers This change in our Imaginations said I is very surprizing for they are still the same Objects tho' they appear different when in the Moon we may see other Objects we do not see here or at least not see all there we do see here perhaps in that Country they know nothing of the Dawn and the Twilight before the Sun riseth and after the Sun sets the Air which encompasseth and is elevated above us receives the Rays so that they cannot strike on the Earth and being gross stops some of them and sends 'em to us tho' indeed they were never naturally design'd us so that the Day-break and the Twilight are a favour which Nature bestows on us they are a Light which regularly we should not have and which she gives us over and above our due but in the Moon where apparently the Air is more pure and therefore not so proper to send down the Beams it receives from the Sun before his rising and after his setting you have not that Light of Grace as I may call it which growing greater by degrees doth more agreably prepare you for the arrival of the Sun and which growing weaker and diminishing by degrees doth insensibly prepare you for the Sun's departure But you are in a profound darkness where a Curtain as it were is drawn all on a sudden your Eyes are immediately dazled with the whole light of the Sun in all
thousands What Madam would you say if I should tell you there are many more fix'd Stars than those you see and that an infinite number are discover'd with Glasses which never shew'd themselves to our Eyes In only one Constellation where it may be we count twelve or fifteen there are as many to be found as usually appear in the whole Hemisphere I submit says the Countess and beg your pardon You quite confound me with Worlds and Vortex's I have yet more to tell you Madam said I You see that whiteness in the Sky which some call the milky way Can you imagine what that is 'T is nothing but an infinity of small Stars not to be seen by our Eyes because they are so very little and they are sown so thick one by another that they seem to be one cotinu'd whiteness I wish you had a Glass to see this Ant-hill of Stars and this Cluster of Worlds if I may so call 'em They are in some sort like the Maldivian Islands those twelve thousand banks of Sand separated by narrow Channels of the Sea which a Man may leap as easily as over a Ditch So near together are the Vortex's of the Milky way that the People in one World may talk and shake Hands with those of another at least I believe the Birds of one World may easily fly into another and that Pigeons may be train'd up to carry Letters as they do in the Levant These little Worlds are excepted out of that general Rule by which one Sun in his own Vortex as soon as he appears effaceth the light of all other forreign Suns If you were in one of these little Vortex's of the Milky way your Sun would not be much nearer to you and consequently would not make any much greater sensible impression on your Eyes than a hundred thousand other Suns of the neighbouring Vortex's You would then see your Heaven shine bright with an infinite number of Fires close to one another and but a little distant from you so that tho' you should lose the light of your own particular Sun yet there would still remain visible Suns enough beside your own to make your Night as light as Day at least the difference would hardly be perceiv'd for the truth is you would never have any Night at all The Inhabitants of these Worlds accustom'd to perpetual Brightness would be strangely astonish'd if they should be told that there are a miserable sort of People who where they live have very dark Nights and when 't is Day with them they never see more than one Sun certainly they would think Nature had very little kindness for us and would tremble with horrour to think what a sad condition we are in I do not ask you said the Countess whether in those Worlds of the Milky-way there be any Moons I see they would be of no use to those principal Planets which have no Night and move in spaces too strait and narrow to cumber themselves with the baggage of inferiour Planets Yet pray take notice that by your liberal multiplication of Worlds you have started an objection not easily answer'd The Vortex's whose Suns we see touch the Vortex in which we are and if it be true that Vortex's are round how then can so many Bowls or Globes all touch one single one I would fain imagine how this may be done but cannot think which way You shew a great deal of Wit Madam said I in raising this doubt and likewise in not being able to resolve it for in it self the thing is extreme difficult and in the manner you conceive it no answer can be given to it and he must be a Fool who goes about to find Answers to Objections which are unanswerable If our Vortex had the form of a Die it would have six squares or flat faces and would be far from being round and upon every of these Squares might be plac'd a Vortex of the same Figure but if in stead of these six Square faces it had twenty fifty or a thousand then might a thousand Vortex's be plac'd upon it one upon every flat and you know very well that the more flat faces any body hath on its outside the nearer it approacheth to roundness just as a Diamond cut facet-wise on every side if the facets be very many and little it will look as round as a Pearl of the same bigness 'T is in this manner that the Vortex's are round they have an infinite number of facets on their outside and every one of 'em hath upon it another Vortex these faces are not all equal and alike but here some are greater and there some less The least facets of our Vortex for Example answer to the Milky way and sustain all those little Worlds When two Vortex's are supported by the two next flats on which they stand if they leave beneath any void space between them as it must often happen Nature who is an excellent Huswife and suffers nothing to be useless presently fills up this void space with a little Vortex or two perhaps with a thousand which never in commode the others and become one two or a thousand Worlds more so that there may be many more Worlds than our Vortex hath flat faces to bear 'em I will lay a good wager that tho' these little Worlds were made only to be thrown into the corners of the Universe which otherwise would have been void and useless and tho' they are unknown to other Worlds which they touch yet they are well satisfy'd with their being where they are These are the little Worlds whose Suns are not to be discover'd but with a Tellescope and whose number is prodigious to conclude all these Vortex's are joyn'd to one another in so admirable a manner that every one turns round about his Sun without changing place every one hath such a turn as is most easie and agreeable to its own situation they take hold of one another like the wheels of a Watch and mutually help one anothers motion And yet 't is true that they act contrary to one another Every World as some say is like a Foot-ball made of a Bladder cover'd with Leather which sometimes swells of its own accord and would extend it self if it were not hindred But this swelling World being press'd by the next to it returns to its first Figure then swells again and is again deprest and some affirm that the reason why the fix'd Stars give a twinkling and trembling light and sometimes seem not to shine at all is because their Vortex's perpetually push and press our Vortex and ours again continually repulseth theirs I am in love with these Fancies said the Countess I am pleas'd with these Foot-balls which swell every moment and sink again and with these Worlds which are continually striving and pushing one another But above all I am pleas'd to see how this justling keeps up the trade of Light which is certainly the only correspondence that is between them
yet I knew not where to begin for to a Person who understood nothing of Natural Philosophy you must go a great way about to prove that the Earth may be a Planet the Planets so many Earths and all the Stars worlds however to give her a general Notion of Philosophy I at last resolv'd on this Method All Philososophy said I Madam is founded upon two things either that we are too short sighted or that we are too curious for if our eyes were better than they are we should soon see whether the Stars were worlds or not and if on the other side we were less curious we should not care whether the Stars are Worlds or not which I think is much to the same purpose But the business is we have a mind to know more than we see And again if we could discern well what we do see it would be so much known to us But we see things quite otherwise than they are So that your true Philosopher will not believe what he doth see and is alwaies conjecturing at what he doth not which is a Life I think not much to be envy'd Upon this I fancy to my self that Nature very much resembleth an Opera where you stand you do not see the Stage as really it is but it is plac'd with advantage and all the Wheels and Movements are hid to make the Representation the more agreeable Nor do you trouble your self how or by what means the Machines are moved tho' certainly an Engineer in the Pit is affected with what doth not touch you he is pleas'd with the motion and is demonstrating to himself on what it depends and how it comes to pass This Engineer then is like a Philosopher tho' the difficulty is greater on the Philosophers part the Machines of the Theatre being nothing so curious as those of Nature which disposeth her Wheels and Springs so out of sight that we have been long a guessing at the movement of the Universe Suppose then the Sages at an Opera the Pithagoras's the Plato's the Aristotles and all the Wise Men who have made such a noise in the World for these many Ages We will suppose 'em at the Representation of Phaeton where they see the aspiring Youth lifted up by the Winds but do not discover the Wires by which he mounts nor know they any thing of what is done behind the Scenes Would you have all these Philosophers own themselves to be stark Fools and confess ingenuously they know not how it comes to pass No no they are not called Wise Men for nothing tho' let me tell you most of their Wisdom depends upon the ignorance of their Neighbours Every man presently gives his Opinion and how improbable so ever there are Fools enough of all sorts to believe 'em One tells you Phaeton is drawn up by a hidden Magnetick Vertue no matter where it lies and perhaps the grave Gentleman will take pet if you ask him the Question Another says Phaeton is compos'd of certain Numbers that make him mount and after all the Philosopher knows no more of those numbers than a sucking Child of Algebra A third tells you Phaeton hath a secret love for the top of the Theatre and like a true Lover cannot be at rest out of his Mistresses Company with an hundred such extravagant fancies that a Man must conclude the Old Sages were very good Banterers But now comes Monsieur Descartes with some of the Moderns and they tell you Phaeton ascends because a greater weight than he descends so that now we do not believe a Body can move without it is push'd and forc'd by another body and as it were drawn by Cords so that nothing can rise or fall but by the means of a Counterpoise he then that will see Nature really as she is must stand behind the Scenes at the Opera I perceive said the Countess Philosophy is now become very Mechanical So mechanical said I that I fear we shall quickly be asham'd of it they will have the World to be in great what a Watch is in little which is very regular and depends only upon the just disposing of the several parts of the movement But pray tell me Madam had you not formerly a more sublime Idea of the Universe Do you not think you did then honour it more than it deserv'd For most have the less esteem of it since they have pretended to know it I am not of their opinion said she I value it the more since I know it resembles a Watch and the whole order of Nature the more plain and easie it is to me it appears the more admirable I know not said I who hath inspir'd you with these solid Notions but I am certain there are few that have them besides your self People generally admire what they do not comprehend they have a Veneration for Obscurity and look upon Nature while they do not understand her as a kind of Magick and despise her below Legerdemain when once they are acquainted with her but I find you Madam so much better dispos'd that I have nothing to do but to draw the Curtain and shew you the World. That then which appears farthest from the Earth where we reside is call'd the Heavens that Azure Firmament where the Stars are fastned like so many Nails and are call'd fix'd because they seem to have no other Motion than that of their Heaven which carries them with it self from East to West Between the Earth and this great Vault as I may call it hang at different heights the Sun and the Moon with the other Stars Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter and Saturn which we call the Planets these Planets not being fastned to the same Heaven and having very unequal Motions have divers Aspects and Positions Whereas the fix'd Stars in respect to one another are always in the same Situation for Example Charles's Wain which is compos'd of those seven Stars hath been and ever will be as it now is tho' the Moon is sometimes nearer to the Sun and sometimes farther from it and so it is with the rest of the Planets Thus things appear'd to the old Caldoean Shepherds whose great leisure did produce these first Observations which have since been the foundation of Astronomy for Astronomy had its Birth in Caldoea as Geometry was born in Egypt where the Inundation of the Nile confounding the bounds of their Fields was an occasion of their inventing exacter Measures to distinguish every ones Land from that of his Neighbour So that Astronomy was the Daughter of Idleness Geometry the Daughter of Interest and if we did but examine Poetry we should certainly find her the Daughter of Love. I am glad said the Lady I have learnt the Genealogie of the Sciences and am convinc'd I must stick to Astronomy my Soul is not mercenary enough for Geometry nor is it tender enough for Poetry but I have as much time to spare as Astronomy requires beside we are now in the Countrey and
That half of the Moon which was turn'd towards us at the beginning of the World hath been turn'd towards us ever since the Eyes Mouth and Face which we have fancy'd of the Spots in her are still the same and if the other opposite half should appear to us we should no doubt fancy another Figure from the different Spots that are in it Not but that the Moon turns upon her self and in the same time that she turns round the Earth that is in a Month but while she is making that turn upon her self and that she should hide a cheek for Example and appear somewhat else to us she makes a like part of her Circle round the Earth and still presents to us the same Cheek so that the Moon who in respect of the Sun and Stars turns round her self in respect of us doth not turn at all they seem to her to rise and set in the space of fifteen Days but for our Earth it appears to her to be held up in the same place of the Heavens 'T is true this apparent Immobility is not very agreeable for a Body which should pass for a Planet but it is not altogether perfect the Moon hath a kind of trembling which causeth a little corner of her Face to be sometimes hid from us and a little corner of the opposite half appears but then upon my word she attributes that trembling to us and fancies that we have in the Heavens the motion of a Pendulum which vibrates to and fro I find saith the Countess the Planets are just like us we cast that upon others which is in our selves the Earth saith 'T is not I that turn 't is the Sun the Moon saith 't is not I that shake 't is the Earth there is a great deal of errour every where But I would not advise you said I to undertake the reforming it you had better convince your self of the entire resemblance of the Earth and the Moon Imagine then these two great Bowls held up in the Heavens you know that the Sun always enlightens the one half of a Body that is round and the other half is in the Shadow there is then one half of the Earth and one half of the Moon which is enlightned by the Sun that is which hath Day and the other half which is Night Observe also that as a Ball hath less force after it hath been struck against a Wall which sends it to the other side so Light is weakned when it is reflected This pale Light which comes to us from the Moon is the very Light of the Sun but it cannot come to us from the Moon but by reflection it hath lost much of the Force and Lustre it had when it came directly from the Sun upon the Moon and that bright Light which shines directly upon us from the Sun and which the Earth reflects upon the Moon is as pale and weak when it arrives there so that the Light which appears to us in the Moon and which enlightens our Nights is the parts of the Moon which have Day and that part of the Earth which hath Day when it is opposite to the part of the Moon which hath Night gives Light to it All depends upon how the Moon and the Earth behold one another At the beginning of the Month we do not see the Moon because she is between the Sun and us that half of her which hath Day is then turn'd towards the Sun and that half which hath Night turn'd towards us we cannot see it then because it hath no Light upon it but that half of the Moon which hath Night being turn'd to the half of the Earth which hath Day sees us without being perceiv'd and we then appear to them just as the full Moon doth to us so that as I may say the People of the Moon have then a full Earth but the Moon being advanc'd upon her Circle of a Month comes from under the Sun and begins to turn towards us a little corner of the half which is Light there 's the Crescent then those parts of the Moon which have Night do not see all the half of the Earth which hath Day and we are then in the Wayn to them I comprehend you very well said the Countess the People in the Moon have a Month quite contrary to us when we have a full Moon their half of the Moon which is light is turn'd to our half of the Earth which is dark they do not see us at all and they have then a new Earth this is plain But now tell me how come the Eclipses You may easily guess that said I when it is new Moon that she is between the Sun and us and all her dark half is turn'd towards us who have Light that obscure shadow is cast upon us if the Moon be directly under the Sun that shadow hides him from us and at the same time obscures a part of that half of the Earth which is light which was seen by that half of the Moon which was dark here then is an Eclipse of the Sun to us during our Day and an Eclipse of the Earth to the Moon during her Night When it is full Moon the Earth is between her and the Sun and all the dark half of the Earth is turn'd towards all the light half of the Moon the shadow then of the Earth casts it self towards the Moon and if it falls on the Moon it obscures that light half which we see which hath then Day and hinders the Sun from shining on it Here then is an Eclipse of the Moon to us during our Night and an Eclipse of the Sun to the Moon during her Day But the reason that we have not Eclipses every time that the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth or the Earth between the Sun and the Moon is because these three Bodies are not exactly plac'd in a right Line and by Consequence that that should make the Eclipse casts its shadow a little beside that which should be obscur'd I am surpriz'd said the Countess that there should be so little mystery in Eclipses and that the whole World should not know the Cause of ' em Nor never will said I as some People go about it In the East Indies when the Sun and the Moon are in Eclipse they believe a certain Devil who hath black Claws is seising on those Planets with his Talons and during that time the Rivers are cover'd with the Heads of Indians who are up to the Neck in Water because they esteem it a very devout Posture to implore the Sun and the Moon to defend themselves against the Devil In America they are persuaded that the Sun and the Moon when Eclipsed are angry and what is it they will not do to be reconciled with them The Greeks who were so refin'd did they not believe the Moon was enchanted and that the Magicians forc'd her to descend from Heaven and shed a dangerous juice
the poor Rogue was in the right tho' he was soundly whipp'd for 't who told the Judge that he had seen an Ass cloathed in Scarlet and a right Worshipful Alderman that he knew not which was the greatest Bruit of the two the Beast that bore the Furr or the Beast that wore it but had I been there I should have told Astolfo the saucy Knave was well enough serv'd for we are not to look upon the Man but the Place he fills we are to reverence a Magistrate when and wheresoever we meet him and to suppose his Merit was the sole cause of his Preferment tho' we are certain it came by Bribery or Pimping but enough of this let us return to our Vials To confess the truth I begin to fear since I have entertain'd you with these Philosophical and Poetical Visions mine there is not very empty however 't is some consolation to me that while you are so attentive you have a little Glass full as well as your Servant The good Knight found his own wits among the rest and with the Apostles leave snuff'd it all up his Nose like so much Queen of Hungary's Water but Ariosto said he did not carry it far it return'd again to the Moon a little after The love of one fair Northern Lass Sent up his wit unto the Place it was Well he did not forget Orlando's Vial which was the occasion of his Voyage but he was cursedly plagu'd to carry it for Hero's wits are naturally very heavy and there did not want one drop of it in conclusion Ariosto according to his laudable custom addresseth himself to his Mistress in this manner Fair Mistress who for me to Heav'n shall fly To bring again from thence my wandring wit Which I still lose since from that piercing eye The Dart came forth that first my Heart did hit Nor of my loss at all complain would I Might I but keep that which remaineth yet But if it still decrease within short space I doubt I shall be in Orlando's case Yet well I wot where to recover mine Tho' not in Paradise nor Cynthia's Sphere Yet doubtless in a Place no less divine In that sweet Face of yours in that fair Hair That ruby Lip in those two starlike eyn There is my wit I know it wanders there And with my Lips if you would give me leave I there would search I thence would it receive Is not this very fine To reason like Ariosto the safest way of losing our wits is to be in love for you see they do not go far from us we may recover 'em again at our Lips but when we lose 'em by other means as for Example by Philosophizing whip they are gone into the Moon and there is no coming at 'em again when we would However said the Countess our Vials have an honourable Station among the Philosophers when 't is forty to one but Love fixeth our Wits on an Object we cannot but be asham'd of But to take away mine entirely pray tell me but tell me seriously if you believe there are any Men in the Moon for methinks hitherto you have not been very positive For my part said I I do not believe there are Men in the Moon for do but observe how much the Face of Nature is chang'd between this and China other Visages Shapes Manners nay almost other Principles of Reason and therefore between us and the Moon the alteration must be much more considerable In the Lands that have been lately discover'd we can scarce call the Inhabitants Men they are rather Animals of humane Shape and that too sometimes very Imperfect almost without humane Reason he therefore that will travel to the Moon must not expect to find Men there What sort of People will they be then said the Countess Troth Madam said I I know not for put the case that we our selves inhabited the Moon and were not Men but rational Creatures could we imagin do you think such fantastical People upon the Earth as Mankind is Is it possible we should have an Idea of so strange a Composition a Creature of such foolish Passions and such wise Reflections So Learned in things of no use and so stupidly Ignorant of what most concerns him So much concern for Liberty and yet such great inclinations to Servitude So desirous of Happiness and yet so very incapable of being so the People in the Moon must be wise indeed to suppose all this of us But do we not see our selves continually and cannot so much as guess how we were made So that we are forc'd to say the Gods when they created us were drunk with Nectar and when they were sober again could not chuse but laugh at their own handy-work Well well said the Countess we are safe enough then they in the Moon know nothing of us but I could wish we were a little better acquainted with them for it troubles me that we should see the Moon above us and yet not know what is done there Why said I are you not as much concern'd for that part of the Earth which is not yet discover'd What Creatures inhabit it and what they do there for we and they are carry'd in the same Vessel they possess the Prow and we the Poop and yet there is no manner of Communication between us they do not know at one end of the Ship who lives or what is done at the other end and you would know what passeth in the Moon which is another great Vessel sailing in the Heavens at a vast distance from us Oh said she for the Earth I reckon it all as good as discover'd and can guess at the People tho' I never heard a word of 'em for certainly they all resemble us very much and we may know 'em better when we have a mind to 't they will stay where they are and 't is no more but going to see 'em but we cannot get into the Moon if we would so that I despair of knowing what they do there You would laugh at me said I if I should answer you seriously perhaps I may deserve it and yet I fancy I can say a great deal to justifie a ridiculous thought that is just now come into my Head nay to use the Fools best Argument I 'll lay a wager I make you own in spite of Reason that one of these days there may be a Communication between the Earth and the Moon and who knows what great Advantages we may procure by it Do but consider America before it was discover'd by Columbus how profoundly ignorant were those People they knew nothing at all of Arts or Sciences they went naked had no other Arms but a Bow and Arrows and did not conceive they might be carry'd by Animals they look'd upon the Sea as a wide Space forbidden to Man that it was joyn'd to the Heavens and that beyond it was nothing 'T is true after having spent whole years in making hollow the trunks of great Trees
with sharp stones they put themselves to Sea in these Trunks and floated from Land to Land as the Wind and Waves drove 'em but how often was their Trough overset and they forc'd to recover it again by swimming So that except when they were on the Land it might be said they were continually swimming And yet had any one but told 'em of another kind of Navigation incomparably more perfect and useful than their own that they might easily pass over that infinite Space of Water that they might stop in the middle of the Waves and in some sense command the Winds and make their Vessel go fast or slow as they pleas'd in short that this impassable Ocean should be no obstacle to their conversing with another different People do you think they would have believed you and yet at last that day is come the unheard of and most surprizing Sight appears vast great Bodies with white Wings are seen to fly upon the Sea to vomit Fire from all Parts and to cast on their Shoars an unknown People all scaled with Iron who dispose and govern Monsters as they please carry Thunder in their Hands and overthrow and destroy whoever resists 'em From whence came they Who brought 'em over the Sea Who gave to 'em the Disposal of the Fire of Heaven Are they Gods Are they Sons of the Sun for certainly they are not Men. Do but consider Madam the surprize of the Americans there can be nothing greater and after this shall any one say there shall never be a Communication between the Moon and the Earth Did the Americans believe there would ever be any between them and Europe till it came to pass 'T is true you must pass this great Space of Air and Heaven which is between the Earth and the Moon but did not those vast Seas seem at first as impassable to the Americans You rave I think said she did you not own the Americans were so ignorant that they had not the least conception of crossing the Sea but we who know a great deal more then they can imagine and fancy the going through the Air tho' we are assur'd it is not to be done There is somewhat more than Fancy I reply'd when it hath been already practis'd for several have found the secret of fastning Wings which bear them up in the Air to move them as they please and to fly over Rivers and from Steeple to Steeple I cannot say indeed they have yet made an Eagles Flight or that it doth not cost now and then a Leg or an Arm to one of these new Birds but this may serve to represent the first Planks that were launch'd on the Water and which were the very beginning of Navigation there were no Vessels then thought of to sail round the World and yet you see what great Ships are grown by little and little from those first Planks The Art of Flying is but newly invented it will improve by degrees and in time grow perfect then we may fly as far as the Moon We do not yet pretend to have discover'd all things or that what we have discover'd can receive no addition and therefore pray let us agree there are yet many things to be done in the Ages to come Were you to live a thousand Ages said the Countess I can never believe you will fly but you must endanger your Neck I will not I reply'd be so unmannerly as to contradict a fair Lady but tho' we cannot learn the Art here I hope you will allow they may fly better in the Moon 't is no great matter whether we go to them or they come to us we shall then be the Americans who knew nothing of Navigation and yet there were very good Ships at t' other end of the World. Were it so said she the People in the Moon would have been here before now All in good time said I the Europians were not in America till at the end of some thousands of years they were so long in improving Navigation to the point of crossing the Ocean The People in the Moon have already made some short Voyages in the Air they are exercising continually and by degrees will be more expert then we shall see 'em and God knows how we shall be surpriz'd It is unsufferable said she you should banter me at this rate and justifie your ridiculous Fancy by such false reasoning I am going to demonstrate said I you reproach me very unjustly Consider Madam that the World is unfolded by degrees for the Ancients were very positive that the Torrid and Frigid Zones were not inhabitable by reason of their excessive Heat and Cold and in the time of the Romans the general Map of the World was but very little extended beyond that of their Empire which tho' in one sense express'd much Grandeur in another sense was a sign of as great Ignorance however there were Men found both in very hot and in very cold Countreys so that you see the World is already encreas'd after that it was thought that the Ocean cover'd the whole Earth except what was then discover'd there was no talk then of the Antipodes not so much as a thought of 'em for who could fancy their Heels at top and their Heads at bottom and yet after all their fine reasoning the Antipodes were discover'd here 's now another half of the World starts up and a new Reformation of the Map methinks this Madam should restrain us and teach us not to be so positive in our Opinions the World will unfold it self more to us hereafter then we shall know the People in the Moon as well as we do now the Antipodes but all things must be done in order the whole Earth must be first discover'd and till we are perfectly acquainted with our own Habitation we shall never know that of our Neighbours Without fooling said the Countess you are so very profoud in this Point that I begin to think you are in earnest and believe what you say Not so neither said I but I would shew you how easie it is to maintain a chymerical Notion that may like some opinions in Religion perplex a Man of understanding but never perswade him there is nothing perswades but Truth it hath no need of all its proofs but enters naturally into our Understanding and when once we have learn'd it we do nothing but think of it I think you then said she for imposing on me no longer for I confess your false reasoning disturb'd me but now I shaâ—l sleep very quietly if you think fit to go home The Third Evening THE Countess was so intent upon her Notions that she would fain have engag'd me next day to go on where I left off but I told her since the Moon and Stars were become the Subject of our Discourse we would trust our Chymaeras with no body else At Night we went again into the Park which was now dedicated to our Learned Conversation Well Madam said I
who can assure us we shall still continue as we do now if we should be such Fools as to go near Jupiter or he so ambitious as to approach us what will become of us for if as you say the Celestial Matter is continually under this great Motion it must needs agitate the Planets irregularly sometimes drive 'em together and sometimes separate ' em Luck is all said I we may win as well as lose and who knows but we should bring Mercury and Venus under our Government they are little Planets and cannot resist us but in this particular Madam we need not hope or fear the Planets keep within their own bounds and are oblig'd as formerly the Kings of China were not to undertake new Conquests Have you not seen when you put Water and Oyl together the Oyl swims a top and if to these two Liquors you add a very light Liquor the Oyl bears it up and it will not sink to the Water But put an heavier Liquor of a just weight and it will pass through the Oyl which is too weak to sustain it and sink till it comes to the Water which is strong enough to bear it up so that in this Liquor compos'd of two Liquors which do not mingle two Bodies of an unequal weight will naturally assume two different Places the one will never ascend the other will never descend Fancy then that the Celestial Matter which fills this great Vortex hath several resting places one by another whose weight are different like that of Oyl Water and other Liquors the Planets too are of a different weight and consequently every Planet settles in that place which has a just strength to sustain and keep it equilibrate so you see 't is impossible it should ever go beyond Would to God says the Countess our World were as well regulated and every one among us knew their proper Place I am now in no fear of being over-run by Jupiter and since he lets us alone in our Vortex with our Moon I do not envy him the four which he hath Did you envy him I reply'd you would do him wrong for he has no more than what he has occasion for at the distance he is from the Sun his Moons receive and send him but a very weak light it is true that as he turns upon himself in ten hours his nights by consequence are but five hours long so one would think there is no great occasion for four Moons but there are other things to be considered Here under the Poles they have six Months Day and six Months Night because the Poles are the two extremities of the Earth the farthest removed from those places where the Sun is over 'em in a perpendicular line The Moon seems to keep almost the same course as the Sun and if the Inhabitants of the Poles see the Sun during one half of his course of a Year and during the other half do not see him at all they see the Moon likewise during one half of her course of a Month that is she appears to 'em fifteen days but they do not see her during the other half Jupiter's Year is as much as twelve of ours so that there must be two opposite extremities in that Planet where their Night and their Day are six Years each A Night six Years long is a little disconsolate and 't is for that reason I suppose they have four Moons that which in regard to Jupiter is uppermost finisheth its course about him in seventeen days the second in seven the third in three days and an half and the fourth in two and forty hours and tho' they are so unfortunate as to have six years Night yet their course being exactly divided into halves they never pass above one and twenty hours wherein they do not see at least the last Moon which is a great comfort in so tedious a darkness so that be where you will these four Moons are sometimes the prettiest sight imaginable sometimes they rise all four together and then separate according to the inequality of their course sometimes they are all in their Meridian rang'd one above another sometimes you see 'em at equal distances on the Horizon sometimes when two rise the other two go down Oh how I should love to see this pleasant sport of Eclipses for there is not a Day passes but they Eclipse the Sun or one another and they are so accustom'd to this diversion in Jupiter that the late Duke of B m in his Rehersal brought the dance of Eclipses from that Planet as now most of our modish Dances come out of France Well says the Countess I hope you will People these four Moons tho' you say they are but little secondary Planets appointed to give light to another Planet during its Night Do not doubt it I reply'd these Planets are not a jot the worse to be inhabited for being forc'd to turn round another Planet of greater consequence I would have then says she the People of these four Moons to be so many Colonies under Jupiter's Government they should receive their Laws and Customs from him Would it not be convenient too said I that they should send Deputies with Addresses to him for he hath cetainly a more absolute command over his Moon than we have over ours tho' his Power after all is but imaginary and consists chiefly in making 'em afraid for that Moon which is nearest to him sees that he is three hundred and sixty times bigger than our Moon appears to us for in truth he is so much bigger than she he is also much nearer to them than our Moon is to us the which makes him appear the greater so that this formidable Planet hangs continually oveâ— their Heads at a very little distance and if the Gauls were afraid heretofore that the Heavens would fall on 'em I think the Inhabitants of that Moon may well be apprehensive that Jupiter will at some time or other overwhelm ' em They are says she I fancy possess'd with that fear because they are not concern'd at Eclipses Every one has their due folly we are afraid of an Eclipse and they that Jupiter will fall on their Heads It is very true said I the Inventer of the third Systeme I told you t'other night the famous Ticho Brahe one of the greatest Astronomers that ever was did not apprehend the least danger from an Eclipse when every body else was under the greatest consternation yet this great Man had as an unaccountable a fear did a hare cross him or were the first Person he met in a morning an old Woman home presently went Ticho Brahe he shut himself up for that day and would not meddle with the least Business Let us go on with ours tho' says the Countess and leave Ticho Brahe to defend his Superstition Pray tell me if the Earth be so little in comparison of Jupiter whether his Inhabitants do discover us Indeed said I I believe not for if we
others make certain voyages after which they return again while the main body of Vortex's remain unmov'd 'T is likewise very strange that some fix'd Stars shew themselves to us spending a great deal of time in appearing and disappearing and at last totally and entirely disappear Half Suns would appear again at their set and regulated time Now Madam boldly declare your Opinion Must not these Stars of necessity be Suns which are so much darkned as not to be visible to us yet afterwards shine again and at last are wholly extinct How can a Sun said the Countess be darkned and quite extinguish'd when it is in its own Nature a Fountain of Light It may be done Madam said I with all the ease in the world if Descà rtes Opinion be true that our Sun hath Spots now whether these Spots be Scum or thick Mists or what you please they may thicken and unite till at last they cover the Sun with a Crust which daily grows thicker and then Farewell Sun. We have hitherto scap'd pretty well but 't is said that the Sun for some whole years together hath look'd very pale for Example the year after Caesar's death it was this Crust that then began to grow but the force of the Sun broke and dissipated it had it continued we had been all lost People You make me tremble reply'd the Countess and now I know the fatal consequences of the Sun's paleness I believe instead of going every morning to my Glass to see how I look I shall cast my Eyes up to Heaven to see whether or no the Sun looks pale Oh Madam said I there is a great deal of time required to ruine a World. Grant it said she yet 't is but time that is required I confess it said I all this immense mass of Matter that composes the Universe is in perpetual motion no part of it excepted and since every part is moved you may be sure that changes must happen sooner or later but still in times proportioned to the Effect The Ancients were pleasant Gentlemen to imagine that the celestial Bodies were in their own nature unchangeable because they observed no change in them but they did not live long enough to confirm their opinion by their own experience they were Boys in comparison of us Give me leave Madam to explain my self by an Allegory If Roses which last but a day could write Histories and leave Memoirs one to another and if the first Rose should draw an exact Picture of their Gardiner and after fifteen thousand Rose-Ages it should be left to other Roses and so left still to those that should succeed without any change in it should the Roses hereupon say we have every day seen the same Gardiner and in the memory of Roses none ever saw any Gardiner but this he is still the same he was and therefore certainly he will never die as we do for there is no change at all in him Would not these Roses Madam talk very foolishly and yet there would be more reason in their discourse than there was in what the Ancients said concerning celestial Bodies and tho' even to this very day there should appear no visible change in the Heavens and the matter of which they are made should have all the signs of an eternal duration without any change yet I would not believe 'em unchangeable till I had the experience of many more Ages Ought we who last but a moment make our continuance the measure of any other things duration 't is not so easie a matter to be eternal To have lasted many Ages of Men one after another is no sign of Immortality Truly says the Countess I find the Worlds are far from being able to pretend to it I will not do 'em so much honour as to ompare 'em to the Gardiner that lived so much longer than the Roses I begin to think 'em like the Roses themselves which blow one day and die the next For now I understand that if old Stars disappear new ones will come in their room because every species must preserve it self No species Madam said I can totally perish some perhaps will tell you that such new Stars are Suns which return to our sight again after they have been a long time hid from us in the profundity of Heaven Others may tell you they are Suns cleared from that thick crust which once covered them If I should think all this possible yet I likewise believe that the Universe may be framed in such a manner that from time to time it may produce new Suns why may not that matter which is proper to make a Sun be dispers'd here and there and gather it self again at long run into one certain place and lay the foundation of a new World I am very much inclin'd to believe such new productions because they suit with that glorious and admirable Idea which I have of the works of Nature Can we think that wise Nature knows no more than the secret of making Herbs and Plants live and die by a continual revolution I am verily perswaded and are not you so too Madam that Nature without much cost or pains can put the same secret in practice upon the Worlds I now find says the Countess the Worlds the Heaven and celestial Bodies so subject to change that I am come to my self again To come the better again to our selves I reply'd let us say no more of these Matters We are arrived at the very roof and top of all the Heavens and to tell you whether there be any Stars beyond it you must have an abler Man than I am you may place Worlds there or no Worlds as you please 'T is the Philosopher's Empire to describe those vast invisible Countries which are and are not or are such as he pleases to make 'em It is enough for me to have carried your mind as far as you can see with your Eyes Well says the Countess I have now in my Head the System of the Universe How learned am I become Indeed Madam said I you are pretty knowing and you are so with the advantage of believing or not believing any thing I have said For all my pains I only beg this favour that when ever you see the Sun the Heaven or the Stars you will think of me FINIS