Policy of that Country when he proceeded in this manner There are others who keep Publick-house after a far different manner When one is about to be gone they demand proportionably to the Charges an Acquittance for the other World and when that is given them they write down in a great Register which they call Doomsday's Book much after this manner Item The value of so many Verses delivered such a Day to such a Person which he is to pay upon the receipt of this Acquittance out of his readiest Cash And when they find themselves in danger of Death they cause these Registers to be Chopt in pieces and swallow them down because they believe that if they were not thus digested they would be good for nothing This Conversation was no hinderance to our Journey for my Four-legged Porter jogged on under me and I rid stradling on his Back I shall not be particular in relating to you all the Adventures that happened to us on our way till we arrived at length at the Town where the King holds his Residence I was no sooner come but they carryed me to the Palace where the Grandees received me with more Moderation than the People had done as I passed the Streets But both great and small concluded That without doubt I was the Female of the Queen 's little Animal My Guide was my Interpreter and yet he himself understood not the Riddle and knew not what to make of that little Animal of the Queen's but we were soon satisfied as to that for the King having some time considered me ordered it to be brought and about half an hour after I saw a company of Apes wearing Ruffs and Breeches come in and amongst them a little Man almost of my own Built for he went on Two Legs so soon as he perceived me he Accosted me with a Criado de vuestra merced I answered his Greeting much in the same Terms But alas no sooner had they seen us talk together but they believed their Conjecture to be true and so indeed it seemed for he of all the By-standers that past the most favourable Judgment upon us protested that our Conversation was a Chattering we kept for Joy at our meeting again That little Man told me that he was an European a Native of old Castille That he had found a means by the help of Birds to mount up to the World of the Moon where then we were That falling into the Queen's Hands she had taken him for a Monkey because Fate would have it so That in that Country they cloath Apes in a Spanish Dress and that upon his arrival being found in that habit she had made no doubt but he was of the same kind It could not otherwise be replied I but having tried all Fashions of Apparel upon them none were found so Ridiculous and by consequence more becoming a kind of Animals which are only entertained for Pleasure and Diversion That shews you little understand the Dignity of our Nation answered he for whom the Universe breeds Men only to be our Slaves and Nature produces nothing but objects of Mirth and Laughter He then intreated me to tell him how I durst be so bold as to Scale the Moon with the Machine I told him of I answered That it was because he had carried a way the Birds which I intended to have made use of He smiled at this Raillery and about a quarter of an hour after the King commanded the Keeper of the Monkeys to carry us back with express Orders to make the Spaniard and me lie together that we might procreate a breed of Apes in his Kingdom The King's Pleasure was punctually obeyed at which I was very glad for the satisfaction I had of having a Mate to converse with during the solitude of my Brutification One Day my Male for I was taken for the Female told me That the true reason which had obliged him to travel all over the Earth and at length to abandon it for the Moon was that he could not find so much as one Country where even Imagination was at liberty Look ye said he how the Wittiest thing you can say unless you wear a Cornered Cap if it thwart the Principles of the Doctors of the Robe you are an Ideot a Fool and something worse perhaps I was about to have been put into the Inquisition at home for maintaining to the Pedants Teeth That there was a Vacuum and that I knew no one matter in the World more Ponderous than another I asked him what probable Arguments he had to confirm so new an Opinion To evince that answered he you must suppose that there is but one Element for though we see Water Earth Air and Fire distinct yet are they never found to be so perfectly pure but that there still remains some Mixture For example When you behold Fire it is not Fire but Air much extended the Air is but Water much dilated Water is but liquified Earth and the Earth it self but condensed Water and thus if you weigh Matter seriously you 'll find it is but one which like an excellent Comedian here below acts all Parts in all sorts of Dresses Otherwise we must admit as many Elements as there are kinds of Bodies And if you ask me why Fire burns and Water cools since it is but one and the same matter I answer That that matter acts by Sympathy according to the Disposition it is in at the time when it acts Fire which is nothing but Earth also more dilated than is fit for the constitution of Air strives to change into it self by Sympathy what ever it meets with Thus the heat of Coals being the most subtile Fire and most proper to penetrate a Body at first slides through the pores of our Skin and because it is a new matter that fills us it makes us exhale in Sweat that Sweat dilated by the Fire is converted to a Steam and becomes Air that Air being farther rarified by the heat of the Antiperistasis or of the Neighbouring Stars is called Fire and the Earth abandoned by the Cold and Humidity which were Ligaments to the whole falls to the ground Water on the other hand though it no ways differ from the matter of Fire but in that it is closer burns us not because that being dense by Sympathy it closes up the Bodies it meets with and the Cold we feel is no more but the effect of our Flesh contracting it self because of the Vicinity of Earth or Water which constrains it toa Resemblance Hence it is that those who are troubled with a Dropsie convert all their nourishment into Water and the Cholerick convert all the Blood that is formed in their Liver into Choler It being then supposed that there is but one Element it is most certain that all Bodies according to their several qualities incline equally towards the Center of the Earth But you 'll ask me Why then does Iron Metal Earth and Wood descend more swiftly to the
cannot be without it this without doubt is come to set some of our Trees on Fire We sent for the Animal Frozen-nose to come to our Assistance however is not as yet arrived But farewel I have no time to talk we must look to the publick Safety nay do you look to your self also and fly for it else you 'll be in danger of being involved in our destruction I followed the counsel but without much straining because I knew my Legs In the mean time I was so ill acquainted with the Geopraphy of the Country that at the end of Eighteen hours I found my self at the back of the Forest that I thought I fled from and to add to my fear a hundred dreadful Thunder-claps stunned my Brains whilst the ghastly and pale Glimpses of a Thousand flashes of Lightning put out my Eye-sight These Claps redoubled from time to time with so much fury that one would have said The Foundations of the World were about to be over-turned and nevertheless the Heavens never appeared more serene Though I was at my wits end yet the desire of knowing the Cause of such an extraordinary Accident made me go towards the place from whence the noise seemed to proceed I had advanced about four hundred Furlongs when I perceived in the middle of a great Plain as it were two Bowls which having rustled and turned along time round one another approached and then recoyled And I observed that when they knocked one against the other then were these great Claps heard but going a little farther on I found that what at a distance I had taken for two Bowls were two Animals one of which tho round below formed a Triangle about the middle and his lofty Head with ruddy Locks which floated upwards spired into a Pyramide his Body was bored like a Sieve and through these little holes that served him for Pores thin flames glided which seemed to cover him with a Plume of Fires Walking about there I met with a very venerable old Man who observed that famous conflict with no less curiosity than my self He made me a sign to draw nigh I obeyed and we sat down by one another I had a design to have asked him the motive that had brought him into that Country but he stopt my Mouth with these words Well then you shall know the motive that brought me into this Country And thereupon he gave me a full account of all the particulars of his Voyage I leave it to you to judge in what amazement I was In the mean while to increase my consternation as I was boyling with desire to ask him what Spirit revealed my thoughts to him No no cryed he it 's no Spirit that reveals your thoughts to me This new hit of Divination made me observe him with greater attention than before and I perceived that he acted my Carriage my Gestures and Looks that he postured all his Members and shaped all the parts of his Countenance according to the pattern of mine in a word my Shadow in relief could not have represented me better I see said he you are in pain to know why I counterfeit you and I am willing to tell you Know then that to the end I might know your inside I dispofed all the parts of my Body into the same Order I saw yours in for being in all parts scituated like you by that disposition of matter I excite in my self the same thought that the same disposition of matter raises in you You will judge this to be a thing possible if heretofore you have observed that Twins who are like have commonly the like Mind Passions and Will insomuch that there were two Twins at Paris who always had the same Sicknesses and the same Health married without knowing one anothers design the same day and at the same hour wrote Letters mutually to one another in the same Sense Words and Stile and in short have upon the same Subject composed a Copy of the same kind of Verse with the same Stops Words and Order Now don't you see that it was impossible but that the Composition of the Organs of their Bodies being in all Circumstances alike they must act in a like manner seeing two like Instruments alike touched ought to render a like Harmony And that so I having conformed my Body wholly to yours and become if I may say so your Twin it is impossible but that the same Agitation of Matter must cause in both of us the same Agitation of Mind Having said so he fell a counterfeiting me again and thus went on You are at present in great pain to know the Original of the Conflict of these two Monsters but I will inform you of it Know then that the Trees of the Forest behind us being unable with their blowing to repel the attempts of the fiery Beast have had their recourse to the Animal Frozen-Nose I never heard of these Animals said I to him but from an Oak of this Country and that in great haste too because it was sollicitous for its own safety and therefore I would beg of you to give me some account of them He thereupon spake to me in this manner In this Globe where we are we should see the Woods very thin sow'n by reason of the great number of the fiery Beasts that destroy them were it not for the Animals Frozen-Noses which at the desire of the Forests their Friends come daily to cure the Sick Trees I say cure for no sooner have they from their Icy Mouth blown upon the coals of that Plague but they put it out In the World of the Earth from whence both you and I are come the fiery Beast is called the Salamander and the Animal Frozen-Nose is known by the name of Remora Now you must know that the Remoras live towards the extremity of the Pole at the bottom of the Mare Glaciale and it is the cold of these Fishes evaporated through their Scales which makes the sea-Sea-Water in those quarters to freeze though it be Salt. Most Navigators who have Sailed for the discovery of Green-land have at length experienced that in certain Seasons they found none of the Ice which at other times had stopt them Now though that Sea was open at the time when it is bitterest Winter there yet they have attributed the cause of it to some secret Heat that had thawed it but it is far more probable that the Remoras who only feed upon Ice had at that time devoured the whole stock Besides you are to know that some Months after they have filled their Bellies that strange Food of uneasy digestion so chills their Stomack that their very blowing of their Breath freezes again all the Sea under the Pole. When they come on Land for they live in both Elements they fill their Paunch only with Hemlock Wolf-bane Opium and Mandrakes It 's wondred at in our World whence proceed those piercing North-Winds that always bring Frost with them but if our
gained at length a little dark Gate into which I threw my self pell-mell with those that fled We shut it upon our selves and then when we had all taken Breath Comrades said one of the Gang if you 'll take my advice let us pass the two Wickets and make for the Court. These dreadful Words struck me with so surprising a Grief that I thought to have fallen dead upon the place Alas I perceived immediately but too late that instead of saving my self as I thought in a Sanctuary I had cast my self into Prison so impossible it is to avoid the Influence of ones Watchful Stars I lookt upon that Man more attentively and knew him to be one of the Officers who had so long given me the Chace I fell into a cold Sweat and lookt Pale as if I had been ready to faint away They who saw me in so weak a Condition being moved with Compassion call'd for Water every one drew nigh to assist me and by mischance that accursed Officer was one of the first He had no sooner beheld me but that he knew me He made a Sign to his Companions and at the same time I was saluted with an I Arrest you Prisoner in Name of the King. They needed not go far to enrol my Name I remained in the Cage till Night where every Turn Key one after another by an exact Dissection of the Parts of my Face drew my Picture upon the Cloth of his Memory At seven a Clock at Night the jingling oâ— a Bunch of Keys gave the signal of Retreat They asked me if I would be carried to a Chamber of a Pistole I answered with a nod of the Head. Money then replieâ— the Guide I knew very well I was in a place where I must pocket a great many such Snubs And therefore I prayed him iâ— case he could not be so Courteous as to givâ— me Credit till next Morning that he woulâ— tell the Goaler from me he should restorâ— me the Money that had been taken froâ— me Ho ho I faith answered the Villaiâ—… our Master is a Man of Heart he gives nothing back Doe ye think then that for thâ— sake of your pretty Nose along along tâ— the Dungeon Having said so he shew'â— me the way by a lusty Thump with his Bunch of Keys the weight whereof made me tumble and slide from the top to the bottom of a dark Ascent till I knocked against a Door that stopt me Nor indeed had I known it to be a Door but for the rap I gave against it For I had not now my Eyes they remained at the Stairs-Head under the Figure of a Candle which my Hang-man Guide held in his Hand fourscore steps above me At length that Tyger of a Man being come down Pian Piano unlocked thirty great Locks pull'd out as many Bars and the Wicket being only half opened with a joult of his Knee he ingulfed me in that Pit whereof I had not time to observe the Horrour so suddenly he pulled the Door after him I stood in mire up to the Knees If I had a mind to get to the side I fell in up to the middle The terrible clucking of the Toads that crawled in the Vessel made me wish my self Deaf I felt Asks creeping by my Thighs Serpents twisting about my Neck and one I espied by the somber light of his sparkling Eyes from a Mouth black with Venom darting a forked Tongue whose brisk Agitation made it look like a Thunder-bolt set on Fire by its Eyes I cannot express the rest it passes all belief and besides I dare not reflect upon the same so afraid I am that the Assurance I think my self in of being freed from my Prison should be no more but a Dream out of which I am ready to awake The Gnomon had marked Ten of the Clock upon the Dial of the great Tower before any Body came to knock at my Tomb But about that time when bitter Grief and Sorrow began already to press my Heart and discompose that just Harmony wherein consists Life I heard a voice that bid me take hold of the Pole that was presented unto me Having a long time felt about in the dark to find it at length I met with one end thereof with extraordinary motion I took hold on 't and my Goaler pulling the other end towards him angled me out of the middle of that Mire I began to suspect that the Countenance of my Affairs was changed for he shew'd me great Civility spoke to me bare-headed and told me that five or six Persons of Quality waited in the Court to see me Amongst the rest not so much as that wild Beast who shut me up in the Den which I have described to you but had the Impudence to accost me with one Knee on the Ground having kissed my Hand he beat off a great many Snails that stuck to my Hair with one of his Paws and with the other a great cluster of Leeches wherewith my Face was Vizor-masked Having performed this rare piece of Civility at least Good Sir said he to me you 'll think on the Care and Pains that great Nicolas has taken about you S'death d' ye mind me when it was done for the King it is not for you to upbraid him for it I trow Being madded at the Impudence of the Rascal I made him a Sign that I should think on 't Through a Thousand dreadful turnings at length I came into the Light and afterwards into the Court where as soon as I entred it two Men caught hold on me whom at first I could not know by reason they fastened about my Neck at the same time and joined their Faces close to mine It was a pretty while before I could guess who they were but the Transports of their Friendship intermitting a little I knew my dear Colignac and the brave Marquess Colignac had his Arm in a Scarf and Cussan was the first that came out of his Extasie Alas said he we had never suspected such a disaster had it not been for your Horse and Mule who that Night came to my Gate Their Girths Cruppers and all were broken and that made us presage some Misfortune was befallen you We presently got on Horse-back and had not rid two or three Leagues towards Colignac when all the Country alarm'd at that Accident told us the particular Circumstances thereof We presently gallop'd 'to the Town where you were in Prison but being there informed of your escape upon the rumor that went that you had taken your course towards Thoulouse with what men we had we posted thither in all haste The first man we asked news of you told us that you were retaken at the same time we spurred our Horses towards this Prison but others assured us that you had vanished out of the Hands of the Serjeants And as we still went on the Towns people were telling one another how you were become invisible At length having made further and further inquiry
by a long and powerful Coction he separated the more contrary and reverted the more similary parts of this Bowl the Mass pierced through with heat sweat so that it made a Deluge which covered it above Forty days for so much Water required no less time to â—…ll down into the more declining and lower Regions of our Globe The Liquor of these Torrents being assembled formed the Sea which by its Salt makes it still apparent that it must needs be a conflux of Sweat all sweat being Salt. When the Waters were retired a fat and fertile Mud remained upon the Earth Now when the Sun shone out there arose a kind of a Tumor or Wheal which could not because of the Cold thrust out its bud It therefore received another coction and that coction still rectifying and perfecting it by a more exact mixture it sent forth a Sprout endowed then only with Vegetation but capable of Sense But because the Waters which had so long stood upon the slime had too much chilled it the swelling broke not so that the Sun recocted it once more and after a third Digestion that Matrix being so thoroughly heated that the Cold brought forth a Man who hath retained in the Liver which is the seat of the vegetative Soul and the place of the first Concoction the power of Growing in the Heart which is the seat of Activity and the place of second Concoction the vital Power and in the Brain which is the seat of the Intellectual and the place of the third Concoction the power of Reasoning Otherwise why should we be longer in the Womb of our Mothers than the rest of Animals unless it be that our Embryo receives three distinct Concoctions for forming the three distinct Faculties of our Soul and the Beasts only two for forming their two Powers I know that the Horse is not compleated in the Belly of the Mare before the tenth twelsth or fourteenth Month But seeing he is of a Constitution so contrary to that which makes us men that he never has Life but in Months which are observed to be fatal to ours when we remain in the Womb beyond the natural Course it is no wonder that Nature needs another period of time for delivering a Mare than that which brings a Woman to Bed. It is so but in fine some body may say The Horse remains longer than we in the Belly of his Mother and by consequence he receives there either more perfect or more numerous Coctions I answer that it follows not for not to rely upon the Observations that so many Learned men have made upon the Energy of numbers when they prove That all Matter being in motion some Beings are compleated in a certain Revolution of days which are destroyed in another nor yet to lay any great stress upon the Arguments they deduce from the Cause of all these motions to prove that the number Nine is the most perfect I shall content my self with this answer That the Bud of man being hotter the Sun interferes and compleats more Organs in the space of nine Months than he hath rough-hew'n in a Colt during a whole year Now it is not to be doubted but that a Horse is a great deal colder than a Man seeing that Beast never dies but of a Swelling of the Spleen or other Diseases that proceed from Melancholy Nevertheless you 'l tell me there is no man in our World engendred of Mud and produced in that manner I believe it your World at present is over-heated for so soon as the Sun draws a sprout out of the Earth finding none of that cold Humidity or to say better that certain Period of compleated Motion which obliges it to several Coctions it turns it presently into a Vegetable or if it make two Coctions seeing the second has not time enough to receive perfection in it only engenders an Insect And it is a Remark that I have made also That the Ape which as we carrys it's young almost nine Months resembles us in so many Humors that not a few Naturalists have ranked us in the same Species and the reason is that their Seed being of a temper much like ours hath during that time had almost the leisure to perfect those three Digestions You 'l undoubtedly ask me of whom I have the Story that now I have told you you 'l tell me that I could not have had it from those that were not in being It 's true I am the only person that hath hit upon it and by consequence I can give no Vouchers for it because it 's a thing that happened before I was born that 's likewise true But take this along with you also That in a Kegion bordering upon the Sun as ours does the Souls full of Fire are more illuminated more subtile and more penetrant than those of other Animals in remoter Spheres Now seeing even in your World there have been Prophets heretofore whose minds heightened by a vigorous Inspiration have had Fore-knowledge of future things it is not impossible but that in this which is far nearer the Sun by consequence more luminous than yours a strong Genius may have some smelling of what is past that his active Reason may move as well backwards as forwards and that it may be able to attain to the Cause by the Effects seeing it can reach the Effects by the Cause Thus he ended his Philosophical Disscourse but after a more particular Conserence that we had about very deep Secrets which he revealed to me part whereof I 'll conceal and of which the rest has escaped me he told me That it was not as yet three Weeks since a clod of Earth impregnated by the Sun was brought to Bed of him Consider that Tumor attentively Then he made me observe I know not what Swelling upon the Mud not unlike to a Mole-Hill That says he is an Apostume or to say better a Matrix which for these Nine Months past hath contained the Embryo of one of my Brothers I wait here on design to play the part of a Midwife to it He would have gone on had he not perceived a Palpitation of the Earth about that Swelling of Clay That with the bigness of the Tumor made him conclude that the Earth was in Labour and that that Shake was already the effort of the Pangs of Travel He thereupon immediately left me that he might run to it and for my part I went to look for my Lodge I therefore clambered up again the Mountain I had come down from and was very weary before I got to the top of it You may imagine what trouble I was in when I did not find my House where I had left it I began to lament the loss of it when I perceived it skipping and vaulting at a great distance I ran thither as fast as my Legs could carry me till I was out of Breath again and really it was an agreeable Diversion to behold that new way of Coursing for
from being ashamed of my Friendship I made answer again on my part with all the transports tenderness and softness of so touching a Passion that I perceiv'd her three or four times ready to die of Love upon the Branch The Truth is I mingled so much Art with the Sweetness of my Voice and surprized her Ear with such quaint Touches and by ways so unusual to those of her Kind that I raised in her pretty Soul what Passion soever I pleased In this Exercise we spent four and twenty Hours and I believe we had never given over making of Love had not our Throats denied us any more Voice That was the only Obstacle that hindred us from proceeding For perceiving that the Pains I took began to tear my Throat and that I could hold out no longer without falling into a Swoon I made her a sign to draw near to me The danger she thought me to be in amidst so many Eagles perswaded her that I called her to my aid She came flieing immediately to my Assistance and resolving to give me a Glorious Instance that she could for a Friend brave Death even upon his Throne she boldly lighted upon the great crooked Beak of the Eagle where I was perched Really so strong a Courage in so weak a Creature affected me with some Veneration for grant I had implored her aid as she fancied and that it be a Law amongst Animals of the same kind to assist the unfortunate yet the Instinct of her timorous Nature ought to have made her waver and nevertheless she boggled not in the least On the contrary she made so much haste that I cannot tell which flew first the Signal or the Nightingale Proud to see under her Feet the Head of her Tyrant and ravished to think that for my sake she was to be Sacrificed almost under my Wings and that some happy drops of her Blood might perhaps Jert upon my Feathers she gently turned her Eyes to me and having bid me adieu as it were by a Glance which seemed to ask me leave to die she struck so briskly her little Beak into the Eyes of the Eagle that they seemed to me to be out before the peck was given When my Bird perceived it self to be blind it formed to it self another sight of new I gently rebuked the Nightingale for her too rash Action and thinking it would be dangerous to conceal our real Being any longer from her I told her who we were but the poor little thing prepossessed with an Opinion that these Barbarians whose Prisoner I was forced me to devise that Tale gave no credit to all that I could say to her When I found that all the Reasons whereby I thought to convince her proved ineffectual I gave private Orders to ten or twelve thousand of my Subjects and immediately the Nightingale perceived under her Feet a River running under a Boat and the Boat floating upon it the Boat was no bigger than was sufficient to hold me and another of my Size At the first Signal given my Eagles flew away and I threw my self into the Skiff from whence I called to the Nightingale that if she could not as yet resolve to leave me so soon she should embark with me So soon as she was come in I commanded the River to take its course towards the Region whither my People flew but the fluidity of the Water being inferiour to that of the Air and by consequence the Rapidity of their flight greater than that of ours we were left a little behind During the whole Voyage I made it my Business to undeceive my little Passenger I told her that she ought not to expect any fruit of her Passion since we were not of the same Kind that she might very well have perceived that when the Eagle whose Eyes she had struck out framed to it self new ones in her presence and when at my command twelve thousand of my Subjects had Metamorphosed themselves into that River and Boat which carried us My Remonstrances had not the least Success She made me answer that as for the Eagle who I would have it believed had formed to it self Eyes it had no need of them because she had not struck her Beak right into the Ball of its Eye and as to the River and Boat which I said to have been begot only of a Metamorphosis of my People they were in the Wood from the Creation of the World though they had not been minded Perceiving her so Ingenious in deceiving her self I agreed with her that my Vassals and I should Metamorphose our selves to her view into what she pleased provided that after that she would return to her own Country Sometime she desired it should be into a Tree sometime she wished it might be into a Flower sometime into Fruit sometime into Metal and sometime into Stone In fine that I might at once satisfie all her Desires when we arrived at my Court where I ordered her to expect me we Metamorphosed our selves to the Eyes of the Nightingale into that precious Tree thou foundest upon the Road of which we have just now abandoned the form Now after all that I see that little Bird resolved to return into her own Country my Subjects and I are about to resume our Figure and the right way of our Journey But it is but reasonable that I should first discover to thee that we are Natives and Aborigenes of the Sun in the bright part thereof for there is a very remarkable Difference betwixt the People which the Luminous Region produces and the People of the obscure Country We are they whom in the World of the Earth ye call Spirits and your presumptuous stupidity hath given us that Name because imagining no Animal more perfect than Man and perceiving that some Creatures perform things above Humane Power you have taken these Animals for Spirits You are mistaken though we are Animals as well as you For although when we please we give to our Matter as you have just now seen the essential Figure and Form of the things into which we have a mind to transform our selves that does not infer that we are Spirits But listen and I 'll discover to thee how all these Transformations which seem to thee to be so many Miracles are no more but pure natural Effects Thou must know that being born Inhabitants of the bright part of this great World where it is the Principle of Matter to be in Action we ought to have the Imagination far more active than those of the obscure Regions and the Substance of Body far more subtil also Now this being supposed it must needs be that our Imagination meeting with no Obstacle in the matter that composes us it disposes the same as it pleases and becoming Mistress of all our Mass makes it by moving all its Particles to pass into the order necessary for constituting that great thing which it had formed in little So that every one of us having imagined
of Of the most enormous replied my Keeper that a Bird can be aspersed with They accuse it can you believe it They accuse it but good Gods the very thoughts of it makes my Feathers to stand an end In a word they accuse it that during the space of Six Years it hath not as yet deserved to have a Friend and therefore it hath been condemned to be a King and a King of a People that differ from it in kind Had its Subjects been of its own nature it might at least have beguiled its Eyes and Desire with their Pleasures But seeing the pleasures of one kind have no relation to those of another it will support all the fatigues and tast all the bitterness of Royalty and never be able to relish the pleasures thereof in the least They have sent it away this Morning accompanied with a great many Physitians to take heed that it do not poison it self by the way Though my Keeper was naturally a great Talker yet he durst not entertain me any longer in discourse for fear of being suspected of Intelligence with me About the end of the Week I was again brought before my Judges They rested me upon the breech of a little Tree without Leaves All the Birds of the Long-Robe as well Advocates Counsellors as Judges and Presidents roosted by Stories every one according to his Dignity on the Top of a tall Cedar For the rest who were only present out of Curiosity they placed themselves promiscuously till all the Seats were full that 's to say till the Branches of the Cedar were covered with Feet The Magpy in whom I observed all along so much Compassion for me came and perched upon my Tree where pretending to divert her self by pecking the Moss Really said she to me you cannot believe how much I am concerned at your Misfortune for though I am not ignorant that amongst the Living a Man is a Plague that ought to be purged out of all well-govern'd States yet when I call to mind that I was bred amongst them from the Cradle that I have learned their Language so perfectly that I had almost forgot mine own and that I have eaten out of their Hands such excellent Green Cheese I cannot think on 't but that it brings Water into my Eyes and Mouth I have so great a kindness for you that I cannot incline to the right side She had gone on so far when we were interrupted by the coming of an Eagle that lighted amongst the Branches of a Tree pretty near to mine I was about to have risen and fallen upon my knees before the Eagle thinking he had been the King if my Magpy with her Foot had not held me fast in my Seat. Did you think said she that that great Eagle had been our Sovereign That 's an Imagination of you Men who because you suffer your selves to be commanded by the greatest the strongest and the most cruel of your Companions have foolishly thought judging of all things according to your own measures that the Eagle ought to command us But our Politicks are quite different for we never chuse for our Kings but the Weakest the Wildest and most Peaceable Nay and we change them every Six Months and pitch upon the Weak to the end that the meanest amongst us who may have been wronged by him may take his Revenge We chuse the Mild to the end he neither hate or be hated of any Body and we would have him to be of a Peaceful Temper for avoiding of War the Sink of all Injustice Once every Week he holds a Parliament where all are received to propose their Grievances against him If there be but three Birds only dissatisfied with his Government out he goes and they proceed to a new Election All that Day the Parliament sits our King is mounted on the top of a high Yew-Tree upon the brink of a Lake bound Feet and Wings All the Birds one after another pass before him and if any of them know him to be guilty of a Crime that deserves death he may throw him into the Water but he must upon the spot justifie the fact by good Reasons otherwise he is Condemned to the said Death I could not forbear to interrupt and ask her what she meant by the said Death And this is the Answer she made me When the Crime of a Malefactor is judged to be so enormous that an ordinary Death is not sufficient to expiate it they endeavour to chuse one that contains the pain of many and in this manner they proceed to it Those amongst us that have the most melancholick and doleful Tone are sent to the Malefactor who is carried upon a dismal Cypress There these sad Musicians gather about him and by the Ear fill his Soul with such tragical and doleful Notes that the bitterness of his Sorrow disordering the Oeconomy of his Organs and pressing his Heart he pines away to the sight and dies choaked with Sadness However such a spectacle never happens for seeing our Kings are exceeding mild they never force any Body to incur so cruel a Death upon the account of Revenge He that at present Reigns is a Dove who is of so peaceable a temper that t'other day when two Sparrows were to be made Friends it was the hardest thing in the World to make him conceive what Enmity was My Magpy could not continue so long a discourse without being observed by some of the By-standers and because she was already suspected of some Intelligence with me the chief of the Assembly made one of the Eagles of my guard catch her by the Neck and make sure of her Person King Dove arrived in the mean while all were silent and the first thing that was heard was the complaint of the great Censor of the Birds which he made against the Magpy The King being fully informed of the Scandal she had given asked her her Name and how she came to know me Sir answered she all in amaze My name is Magget there are here a great many Birds of Quality that will vouch for me One day in the World of the Earth of which I am a Native I was informed by Chirpper the Posy there who having heard me cry in my Cage came to visit me at the Window where I hung that my Father was Bobb-tail and my Mother Crack-nuts I had not known so much but for him for I was carried away very Young from under the Wings of my Parents my Mother some time after died of Grief and my Father being then past the Age of having any more Children despairing to see himself without Heirs went to the War of the Jays where he was killed by a peck in the brain They that carried me away were certain wild Animals whom they call Hog-herds who had me to be sold at a Castle where I saw that Man who now stands upon his Tryal I cannot tell whether he conceived any Kindness for me but he took the pains to
Country-men knew what we know that the Remoras live in that Climate they would know as well as we that they proceed from a puff of their Breath whereby they endeavour to blow back the heat of the Sun that draws near them That Stygian-Water wherewith the Great Alexander was poysoned and whose Coldness petrified his Bowels was the Piss of one of these Animals In fine the Remora contains all the principles of Cold in so eminenta degree that passing under a Ship the Vessel is seized with Cold and struck with such a Numness that it cannot wag out of the place And that 's the reason that one half of those who have cruised North-ward for the discovery of the Pole never came back again because it is a Mirracle if the Remoras who are so numerous in that Sea stop not their Vessels And so much for the Animals Frozen-Noses But as to the Fiery Beasts they lodge on Land under Mountains of burning Bitumen such as Aetna Vesuvius and others The Pimples which you see upon the Breast of this Beast that proceed from the Inflamation of his Liver are Hear we put a stop to our Talk that we might be more attentive to that famous Duel The Salamander attacked with much ardour but the Remora defended impenetrably Every dash they gave one another begot a clap of Thunder as it happens in the Worlds there abouts where the Clashing of a hot Cloud with a cold causes the same Report At every glance of Rage which the Salamander darted against its Enemy out of its Eyes flashed a reddish Light that seemed to kindle the Air in flying it sweat boyling Oyl and pissed Aqua-fortis The Remora on the other hand that gross square and heavy Animal presented a Body scaled all over with Ysicles It s large Eyes lookt like two Chrystal-plates whose glances conveyed so chilling a light that on what member of my Body it fixed them I felt a shivering Winter-cold If I thought to put my Hand before me my Fingers ends were nummed nay the very Air about infected with its quality condensed into Snow the Earth hardned under his Steps and I could reckon the Footings of the Beast by the number of the Chil-blanes that welcomed me when I trode upon them In the beginning of the Fight the Salamander by the vigorous activity of its first heat had put the Remora into a Sweat but at length that Sweat cooling again glazed all the Plain with so slippery an Ennamel that the Salamander could not get up to the Remora without falling The Philosopher and I knew very well that the trouble of falling and rising so many times had made it weary for these Thunder-claps so dreadful before that proceeded from the shock he gave its Enemy were no more now but the dull Sound of those little After-claps which denote the end of a Storm and that dull Sound deadned by degrees degenerated into a Whizzing like to that of a hot Iron plunged into cold Water When the Remora perceived that the Fight was near an end by the Weakness of the shock which was hardly felt by it it raised it self upon an Angle of its Cube and with all its weight fell upon the Breast of the Salamander with so good success that the Heart of the Salamander wherein all the rest of its heat was contracted bursting made so fearful a Crack that I know nothing in nature to compare it to Thus died the Fiery Beast under the lazy resistance of the Animal Frozen-Nose Sometime after the Remora was gone we approached the place of Battel and the old Man having daubed his Hands over with the Earth on which it had walked as a Preservative against burning laid hold on the Dead Body of the Salamander Give me but the Body of this Animal said he and I 've no need for Fire in my Kitchen for provided it be hung upon the Pot-hook it will Boyl and Roast all that 's laid upon the Hearth As for the Eyes I 'll carefully keep them if they were cleansed from the Shades of Death you 'd take them for two little Suns The Antients of our World knew well what use to make of them they called them burning-Lamps and never hung them up but in the Pompous Monuments of Illustrious Persons The Moderns have found some of them by digging into these famous Tombs but their ignorant Curiosity made them put them out thinking to find behind the broken Membranes the Fire which they saw shine there The old Man went on still and I followed him listning very attentively to the Wonders he told me But since I have been speaking of the Fight I must not forget the Discourse which we had concerning the Animal Frozen-Nose I don't think said he to me that you have ever seen a Remora for they are Fish that never rise to the brim of the Water nay seldom or never do they leave the Northern Sea But without doubt you have seen a sort of Animals which in some manner may be reckoned of their kind I told you just now that that Sea which reaches towards the Pole is full of Remoras that spawn in the mud as other Fishes do You must know then that that Seed the Extract of all their mass so eminently contains all its Coldness that if a Ship pass over it the Ship contracts one or more Worms which become Birds whose Blood is so destitute of heat that though they have Wings yet they are reckoned amongst Fishes And so the Pope who knows their Original forbids them not to be eaten in Lent and these are the Fowls which in France they call Maquereuses I marched on still without any other design than to follow him but so glad that I had found a Man that I durst not take my Eyes off of him so afraid was I to lose my Man. Mortal Youth said he to me for I well perceive that you have not as yet paid the tribute which we owe to Nature as I have done so soon as I saw you I discovered in your Face somewhat that shews you to be curious and inquisitive If I be not mistaken in the Shape and Conformation of your Body you must be a Frenchman and a Native of Paris That City is the place wherewith I ended my Misfortunes which I had carried about with me all over Europe My name is Campanella and I am a Calabrian by Nation Since my coming into the Sun I have spent my time in visiting the Climates of this great Globe that I may discover the Wonders of them It is divided as the Earth is into Kingdoms Republicks States and Principalities so that Four-footed Beasts Fowl Plants and Stones every one have their own and though some of these allow no entrance amongst them to Animals of a strange kind especially to Men whom the Birds above all others mortally hate yet I can travel over all without any danger because the Soul of a Philosopher is made up of more subtile Parts than the Instruments which