certain time to drink up all the Water they have poured into it But if they find Fish as I make no doubt on 't it is a convincing Argument that there is both Salt and Fire there Consequentially now to find Water in Fire I take it to be no difficult Task For let them chuse Fire even that which is most abstracted from Matter as Comets are there is a great deal in them still seeing if that Unctuous Humour whereof they are engendred being reduced to a Sulphur by the heat of the Antiperistasis which kindles them did not find a curb of its Violence in the humid Cold that qualifies and resists it it would spend it self in a trice like Lightning Now that there is Air in the Earth they will not deny it or otherwise they have never heard of the terrible Earth-quakes that have so often shaken the Mountains of Sicily Besides the Earth is full of Pores even to the least grains of Sand that compass it Nevertheless no Man hath as yet said that these Hollows were filled with Vacuity It will not be taken amiss then I hope if the Air takes up its quarters there It remains to be proved that there is Earth in the Air but I think it scarcely worth my pains seeing you are convinced of it as often as you see such numberless Legions of Atomes fall upon your heads as even stiffle Arithmetick But let us pass from simple to compound Bodies they 'll furnish me with much more frequent Subjects and to demonstrate that all things are in all things not that they change into one another as your Peripateticks Juggle for I will maintain to their Teeth that the Principles mingle separate and mingle again in such a manner that that hath been made Water by the Wise Creator of the World will always be Water I shall suppose no Maxime as they do but what I prove And therefore take a Billet or any other combustible stuff and set Fire to it they 'll say when it is in a Flame That what was Wood is now become Fire but I maintain the contrary and that there is no more Fire in it when it is all in Flame than before it was kindled but that which before was hid in the Billet and by the Humidity and Cold hindered from acting being now assisted by the Stronger hath rallied its forces against the Phlegm that choaked it and commanding the Field of Battle that was possessed by its Enemy triumphs over his Jaylor and appears without Fetters Don't you see how the Water flees out at the two ends of the Billet hot and smoaking from the Fight it was engaged in That flame which you see rise on high is the purer Fire unpestered from the Matter and by consequence the readiest to return home to it self Nevertheless it Unites it self by tapering into a Piramide till it rise to a certain height that it may pierce through the thick Humidity of the Air which resists it but as in mounting it disengages it self by little and little from the violent company of its Landlords so it diffuses it self because then it meets with nothing that thwarts its passage which negligence though is many times the cause of a second Captivity For marching stragglingly it wanders sometimes into a Cloud and if it meet there with a Party of its own sufficient to make head against a Vapour they Engage Grumble Thunder and Roar and the Death of Innocents is many times the effect of the animated Rage of those inanimated Things If when it finds it self pestered among those Crudities of the middle Region it is not strong enough to make a defence it yields to its Enemy upon discretion which by its weight constrains it to fall again to the Earth And this Wretch inclosed in a drop of Rain may perhaps fall at the Foot of an Oak whose Animal Fire will invite the poor Straggler to take a Lodging with him and thus you have it in the same condition again as it was a few Days before But let us trace the Fortune of the other Elements that composed that Billet The Air retreats to its own Quarters also though blended with Vapours because the Fire all in a rage drove them briskly out Pell-mell together Now you have it serving the Winds for a Tennis-ball furnishing Breath to Animals filling up the Vacuities that Nature hath left and it may be also wrapt up in a drop of Dew suckling the thirsty Leaves of that Tree whither our Fire retreated The Water driven from its Throne by the Flame being by the heat elevated to the Nursery of the Meteors will distil again in Rain upon our Oak as soon as upon another and the Earth being turned to Ashes and then cured of its Sterility either by the nourishing Heat of a Dunghill on which it hath been thrown or by the vegetative Salt of some neighbouring Plants or by the teeming Waters of some Rivers may happen also to be near this Oak which by the heat of its Germ will attract it and convert it into a part of its bulk In this manner these Four Elements undergo the same Destiny and return to the same State which they quitted but a few days before So that it may be said that all that 's necessary for the composition of a Tree is in a Man and in a Tree all that 's necessary for making of a Man. In fine according to this way all things will be found in all things but we want a Prometheus to pluck us out of the Bosom of Nature and render us sensible which I am willing to call the First Matter These were the things I think with which we past the time for that little Spaniard had a quaint Wit. Our conversation however was only in the Night time because from Six a clock in the morning until night Crowds of the People that came to stare at us in our Lodging would have disturbed us For some threw us Stones others Nuts and others Grass there was no talk but of the Kings Beasts we had our Victuals daily at set hours and the King and Queen took the pains often to feel my Belly to see if I did not begin to swell for they had an extraordinary desire to have a Race of these little Animals I cannot tell whether it was that I minded their Gestures and Tones more than my Male did But I learnt sooner than he to understand their Language and to smatter a little in it which made us to be lookt upon in another guess manner than formerly and the news thereupon flew presently all over the Kingdom that two Wild Men had been found who were less than other Men by reason of the bad Food we had had in the Desarts and who through a defect of their Parents Seed had not the fore Legs strong enough to support their Bodies This belief would have taken rooting by being spread had it not been for the Learned Men of the Country who opposed it saying
Star you take for a Sun discover above themselves other fixed Stars which we cannot perceive from hence and so others in that manner in infinitum Never question replied I but as God could create the Soul Immortal He could also make the World Infinite if so it be that Eternity is nothing else but an illimited Duration and an infinite a boundless Extension And then God himself would be Finite supposing the World not to be infinite seeing he cannot be where nothing is and that he could not encrease the greatness of the World without adding somewhat to his own Being by beginning to exist where he did not exist before We must believe then that as from hence we see Saturn and Jupiter if we were in either of the Two we should discover a great many Worlds which we perceive not and that the Universe extends so in infinitum I' faith replied he when you have said all you can I cannot at all comprehend that Infinitude Good now replied I to him do you comprehend the Nothing that is beyond it Not at all For when you think of that Nothing you imagine it at least to be like Wind or Air and that is a Being But if you conceive not an Infinite in general you comprehend it at least in particulars seeing it is not difficult to fancy to our selves beyond the Earth Air and Fire which we see other Air and other Earth and other Fire Now Infinitude is nothing else but a boundless Series of all these But if you ask me How these Worlds have been made seeing Holy Scripture speaks only of one that God made My answer is That I have no more to say For to oblige me to give a Reason for every thing that comes into my Imagination is to stop my Mouth and make me confess that in things of that nature my Reason shall always stoop to Faith. He ingeniously acknowledged to me that his Question was to be censured but bid me pursue my notion So that I went on and told him That all the other Worlds which are not seen or but imperfectly believed are no more but the Scum that purges out of the Suns For how could these great Fires subsist without some matter that served them for Fewel Now as the Fire drives from it the Ashes that would stifle it or the Gold in a Crucible separates from the Marcasite and Dross and is refined to the highest Standard nay and as our Stomack discharges it self by vomit of the Crudities that oppress it even so these Suns daily evacuate and reject the Remains of matter that might incommode their Fire But when they have wholly consumed that matter which entertains them you are not to doubt but they spread themselves abroad on all sides to seek for fresh Fewel and fasten upon the Worlds which heretofore they have made and particularly upon those that are nearest Then these great Fires reconcocting all the Bodies will as formerly force them out again Pell-mell from all parts and being by little and little purified they 'll begin to serve for Suns to other little Worlds which they procreate by driving them out of their Spheres And that without doubt made the Pythagoreans foretel the universal Conflagration This is no ridiculous Imagination for New-France where we are gives us a very convincing instance of it The vast Continent of America is one half of the Earth which in spight of our Predecessors who a Thousand times had cruised the Ocean was not at that time discovered Nor indeed was it then in being no more than a great many Islands Peninsules and Mountains that have since started up in our Globe when the Sun purged out its Excrements to a convenient distance and sufficient Gravity to be attracted by the Center of our World either in small Particles perhaps or it may be also altogether in one lump That is not so unreasonable but that St. Austin would have applauded to it if that Country had been discovered in his Age. Seeing that great Man who had a very clear Wit assures us That in his time the Earth was flat like the floor of an Oven and that it floated upon the Water like the half of an Orange But if ever I have the honour to see you in France I 'll make you observe by means of a most excellent Celescope that some Obscurities which from hence appear to be Spots are Worlds a forming My Eyes that shut with this Discourse obliged the Vice-Roy to withdraw Next Day and the Days following we had some Discourses to the same purpose But some time after since the hurry of Affairs suspended our Philosophy I fell afresh upon the design of mounting up to the Moon So soon as she was up I walked about musing in the Woods how I might manage and succeed in my Enterprise and at length on St. John's-Eve when they were at Council in the Fort whether they should assist the Wild Natives of the Country a-against the Iroqueans I went all alone to the top of a little Hill at the back of our Habitation where I put in Practice what you shall hear I had made a Machine which I fancied might carry me up as high as I pleased so that nothing seeming to be wanting to it I placed my self within and from the Top of a Rock threw my self in the Air But because I had not taken my measures aright I fell with a sosh in the Valley below Bruised as I was however I returned to my Chamber without loosing courage and with Beef-Marrow I anointed my Body for I was all over mortified from Head to Foot Then having taken a dram of Cordial Waters to strengthen my Heart I went back to look for my Machine but I could not find it for some Soldiers that had been sent into the Forest to cut wood for a Bonefire meeting with it by chance had carried it with them to the Fort Where after a great deal of guessing what it might be when they had discovered the invention of the Spring some said that a good many Fire-Works should be fastened to it because their Force carrying them up on high and the Machine playing its large Wings no Body but would take it for a Fiery Dragon In the mean time I was long in search of it but found it at length in the middle of the Market-place of Kebeck just as they were setting Fire to it I was so transported with Grief to find the Work of my Hands in so great Peril that I ran to the Souldier that was giving Fire to it caught hold of his Arm pluckt the Match out of his Hand and in great rage threw my self into my Machine that I might undo the Fire-Works that they had stuck about it but I came too late for hardly were both my Feet within when whip away went I up in a Cloud The Horror and Consternation I was in did not so confound the faculties of my Soul but I have since remembred all that happened
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
Center than a Sponge if it be not that it is full of Air which naturally tends upwards That is not at all the Reason and thus I make it out Though a Rock fall with greater Rapidity than a Feather both of them have the same inclination for the Journey but a Cannon Bullet for instance where the Earth pierced through would precipitate with greater haste to the Center thereof than a Bladder full of Wind and the reason is because that mass of Metal is a great deal of Earth contracted into a little space and that Wind a very little Earth in a large space For all the parts of Matter being so closely joined together in the Iron encrease their force by their Union because being thus compacted they are many that Fight against a few seeing a parcel of Air equal to the Bullet in Bigness is not equal in Quantity Not to insist on a long Deduction of Arguments to prove this tell me in good earnest How a Pike a Sword or a Dagger wound us If it be not because the Steel being a matter wherein the parts are more continuous and more closely knit together than your Flesh is whose Pores and Softness shew that it contains but very little Matter within a great extent of Place and that the point of the Steel that pricks us being almost an innumerable number of Particles of matter against a very little Flesh it forces it to yeild to the stronger in the same manner as a Squadron in close order will easily break through a more open Battallion for why does a Bit of red hot Iron burn more than a Log of Wood all on Fire Unless it be that in the Iron there is more Fire in a small space seeing it adheres to all the parts of the Metal than in the Wood which being very Spongy by consequence contains a great deal of Vacuity and that Vacuity being but a Privation of Being cannot receive the form of Fire But you 'll object you suppose a Vacuum as if you had proved it and that 's begging of the question Well then I 'll prove it and though that difficulty be the Sister of the Gordian knot yet my Arms are strong enough to become its Alexander Let that vulgar Beast then who does not think it self a Man had it not been told so answer me if it can Suppose now there be but one Matter as I think I have sufficiently peoved whence comes it that according to its Appetite it enlarges or contracts its self whence is it that a piece of Earth by being Condensed becomes a Stone Is it that the parts of that Stone are placed one with another in such a manner that wherever that grain of Sand is settled even there or in the same point another grain of Sand is Lodged That cannot be no not according to their own Principles seeing there is no Penetration of Bodies But that matter must have crowded together and if you will abridged it self so that it hath filled some place which was empty before To say that it is incomprehensible that there should be a Nothing in the World that we are in part made up of Nothing Why not pray Is not the whold World wrapt up in Nothing Since you yield me this point then confess ingeniously that it 's as rational that the World should have a Nothing within it as Nothing about it I well perceive you 'll put the question to me Why Water compressed in a Vessel by the Frost should break it if it be not to hinder a Vacuity But I answer That that only happens because the Air over-head which as well as Earth and Water tends to the Center meeting with an empty Tun by the way takes up his Lodging there If it find the pores of that Vessel that 's to say the ways that lead to that void place too narrow too long and too crooked with impatience it breaks through and arrives at its Tun. But not to trifle away time in answering all their objections I dare be bold to say That if there were no Vacuity there could be no Motion or else a Penetration of Bodies must be admitted for it would be a little too ridiculous to think that when a Gnat pushes back a parcel of Air with its Wings that parcel drives another before it that other another still and that so the stirring of the little Toe of a Flea should raise a bunch upon the Back of the Universe When they are at a stand they have recourse to Rarefaction But in good earnest How can it be when a Body is rarified that one Particle of the Mass does recede from another Particle without leaving an empty Space betwixt them must not the two Bodies which are just separated have been at the same time in the same place of this and that so they must have all three penetrated each other I expect you 'll ask me why through a Reed a Syringe or a Pump Water is forced to ascend contrary to its inclination To which I answer That that 's by violence and that it is not the fear of a Vacuity that turns it out of the right way but that being linked to the Air by an imperceptible Chain it rises when the Air to which it is joined is raised That 's no such knotty Difficulty when one knows the perfect Circle and the delicate Concatenation of the Elements For if you attentively consider the Slime which joines the Earth and Water together in Marriage you 'll find that it is neither Earth nor Water but the Mediator betwixt these Two Enemies In the same manner the Water and Air reciprocally send a Mist that dives into the Humours of both to negotiate a Peace betwixt them and the Air is reconciled to the Fire by means of an interposing Exhalation which Unites them I believe he would have proceeded in his Discourse had they not brought us our Victuals and seeing we were a hungry I stopt my Ears to his discourse and opened my Stomack to the Food they gave us I remember another time when we were upon our Philosophy for neither of us took pleasure to Discourse of mean things I am vexed said he to see a Wit of your stamp infected with the Errors of the Vulgar You must know then in spight of the Pedantry of Aristotle with which your Schools in France still ring That every thing is in every thing that 's to say for instance That in the Water there is Fire in the Fire Water in the Air Earth and in the Earth Air Though that Opinion makes Scholars open their Eyes as big as Sawcers yet it is easier to prove it than perswade it For I ask them in the first place if Water does not breed Fish If they deny it let them dig a Pit fill it with meer Element and to prevent all blind Objections let them if they please strain it through a Strainer and I 'll oblige my self in case they find no Fish therein within a
Sun and were not perceived by the Ancients dayly increase Now who can tell but that it is a Crust formed in its Superfice it 's Mass that extinguishes proportionably as the Light leaves it and if it become not when all these moveable Bodies have abandoned it an obscure Body like the Earth There are very distant Ages beyond which there appears no Vestige of Man-kind perhaps heretofore the Earth was a Sun peopled with Animals proportioned to the Climate that produces them and perhaps these Animals were the Demons of whom Antiquity relates so many Instances Why not Is it not possible that these Animals after the Extinction of the Earth have still lived there for some time and that the Alteration of their Globe had not as yet destroyed all their Race In effect their life continued until the time of Augustus according to the Testimony of Plutarch It would even seem that the prophetick and sacred Testament of our Primitive Patriarchs designed to lead us by the Hand to that truth For we read in it of the Revolt of Angels before mention is made of Man. Is not that Sequel of time which the Scripture observes half of a Proof in a manner that Angels inhabited the Earth before us And that these proud Blades who had lived in out World whilst it was a Sun disdaining perhaps since it was extinct to abide any longer in it and knowing that God had placed his Throne in the Sun had the boldness to adventure to invade it But God who resolved to punish their Audacity banish'd them even from the Earth and created Man less perfect but by consequence less proud to possess their vacant Habitations About the end of four Months Voyage at least as near as one can reckon when there is no Night to distinguish the Day I came upon the Coast of one of those little Earths that wheel about the Sun which the Mathematicians call Spots where by reason that Clouds interposed my Glasses now not uniting so much heat and by consequence the Air not pushing my Shed with so much Force what remained of the Wind could do no more but bear up my fall and let me down upon the top of a very high Mountain to which I gently descended I leave it to you to consider what Joy I felt when I saw my Feet upon firm Ground after I had so long acted the part of a Fowl. Words indeed are too weak to express the Extasie of Gladness I found my self in when at length I perceived my Head Crowned with the Brightness of the Heavens However I was not so far transported yet with that Extasie but that I thought of getting out of my Box and of covering the Capital thereof with my Shirt before I left it because I was apprehensive that if the Air becoming Serene the Sun should again kindle my Glasses as it was likely enough I might find my House no more By Gullies which seemed hollowed by the fall of Water I descended into the Plain where because of the thick Mud that fatned the Earth I had much ado to go However having advanced a little way I arrived in a great Bottom where I rencountred a little Man stark-naked sitting and resting himself upon a Stone I cannot call to mind whether I spoke to him first or if it was he that put the Question to me But it is as fresh in my Memory as if I heard him still that he discoursed to me three long Hours in a Language which I knew very well I had never heard before and which hath not the least resemblance with any of the Languages in this World notwithstanding I comprehended it faster and more intelligibly than my Mother Tongue He told me when I made enquiry about so wonderful a thing that in Sciences there was a true without which one was always far from the easie that the more an Idiom was distant from this truth the more it came short of the Conception and was less easie to be understood In the same manner continued he in Musick one never finds this true but that the Soul immediately rises and blindly aspires after it We see it not but we feel that Nature sees it and without being able to conceive in what manner we are swallowed up by it it still ravishes us tho we cannot observe where it is It 's the very same with Languages he who hits upon that verity of Letters Words and Order in expressing himself can never fall below his thought he speaks always with congruity to his Conception and it is because you are ignorant of this perfect Idiom that you are at a stand not knowing the Order nor the Words which might explain what you imagine I told him that the first Man of our World had undoubtedly made use of that Language because the several Names which he gave to several things declared their Essence He interrupted me and went on It is not absolutely necessary for expressing all the mind conceives but without it we cannot be understood of all Seeing this Idiom is the Instinct or Voice of Nature it ought to be intelligible to all that live under the Jurisdiction of Nature And therefore if you understood it you might Discourse and Communicate all your thoughts to Beasts and the Beasts theirs to you because it is the very Language of Nature whereby she makes her self to be understood by all Living Creatures Be no more surprised then at the faoility wherewith you understand the meaning of a Language which never sounded before in your Ear. When I speak your Soul finds in every Word of mine that Truth which it gropes after and though her Reason understand it not yet she has Nature with her that cannot fail to understand it Ha! without doubt cried I it was by the means of that Emphatick Idiom that our first Father heretofore conversed with Animals and was by them understood for seeing the Dominion over all the kinds of them was given to him they obeyed him because he commanded in a Language that was known to them and it is for that Reason also that this Original Language being lost they come not at present when they are called as heretofore they did seeing now they do not understand us The little Man seemed as if he had no mind to answer me but resuming his discourse he was about to go on if I had not once again interrupted him I asked him then what World it was that we breathed in if it was much inhabited and what kind of Government they lived under I am going replyed he to discover Secrets to you which are not known in your Climate Consider well the Ground whereon we go it is not long since it was an indigested disorderly Mass a Chaos of confused Matter a black and glewy Filth whereof the Sun had purged it self Now after that by the force of the rays which the Sun darted against it he mingled pressed and compacted those numerous Clouds of Atomes After I say that
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-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
be imagined in your World. During the space of an hour or thereabouts since I left you I have been walking by the Five Fountains which come out of the Lake of Sleep You may believe that I have considered them with a great deal of Attention they bear the name of the Five Senses and glide very near one to another That of the Sight seems to be a forked Pipe full of the Powder of Diamonds and little Looking-Glasses that steal away and restore the Image of whatever presents in its course it incompasses the Kingdom of Linx That of the Hearing is in like manner double it turns by its Insinuations like a Dedalus and from the most hollow concavity of its Bed one may hear an Eccho of all the noise that sounds round about I am much mistaken if they were not Foxes that I saw picking their Ears there That of Smelling seems like the former to divide it self into two Channels hid under one and the same Arch out of every thing it meets it extracts somewhat invisible whereof it composes a Thousand sort of Odours which stand it in stead of Water on the brink of that source there are a great many Dogs that rub and cleanse their Noses That of the Taste runs by spurts which commonly happen not above Three or Four times a Day and for that too a large van of Coral must be raised and underneath that a great many little ones of Ivory its Liquor resembles Spittle But as to the Fifth that of Feeling it is so large and deep that it environs all its Sisters nay and lays it self out at length in their Channels and its thick Juyce sheds it self abroad upon the green Turff covered with sensitive Plants Now you must know that stunned with Veneration I admired the mysterious Turnings of all these Fountains When after a great walk I came to the entry where they discharged themselves into Three Rivers But follow me you 'll better conceive the disposition of these things when you see them A Promise that pleased me so well throughly awoke me I stretched out my Arm to him and we kept the same way he had followed walking along the Dykes that keep the Five Rivulets in their several Channels When we had gone about a Furlong something as clear as a Lake presented it self to our Eyes No sooner had the Wise Campanella perceived it but he told me At length Son we are got to the Port I distinctly see the three Rivers I was so briskly transported with that news that I thought I was become an Eagle I flew rather than walked and ran all about with so greedy a Curiosity that in less than an hour my Guide and I observed what now you shall hear Three great Rivers water the Fields of this Burning World The First and largest is called Memory the Second narrower but deeper Imagination and the Third the last of the Three is called Judgment Upon the Banks of Memory one may hear continually a troublesome chattering of Jays Parrots Magpies Starlings Linnets Chaffinches and of all sorts of Birds that chirp what they have learnt In the Night time they are silent for then they are taken up in feeding upon that thick Vapour which exhales from these watery places but their foul Stomack digests it so ill that in the Morning when they think it converted into their substance it drops out of their Beak again as clear as it was in the River The Water of that River seems to be clammy and runs with much noise The Ecchos that are formed in its Caverns repeat the word even to above a Thousand times It breeds a kind of Monsters who have a Face much like to that of a Woman It hath others too more furious who have a Square and Horned Head not unlike to that of our Pedants The whole Business of these is to cry and nevertheless say no more but what they have heard one another say before The River of Imagination runs more gently its light and shining Liquor sparkles on all hands To look upon that Water like a Torrent of humide sparkles one would think that it observed no Order in its course After I had considered it more attentively I observed that the humour which flowed in its Channel was of pure Potable Gold and its froth of the Oyl of Talc The Fish that it feeds are Remoras Syrenes and Salamanders instead of Gravel it is full of those little Stones Pliny speaks of with which Men become heavy when they touch their wrong side and light when they apply to them their Right side I observed there also those other Stones one of which Giges had in a ring which render things Invisible but above all there are a great many Philosophers stones which sparkle amongst its Sand. There were a great many Fruit-Trees upon the banks of it especially those which Mahomet found in Paradise their Branches swarmed with Phenixes and I observed Crab-Stocks of that Tree from which Discord pluckt the Apple which she threw amongst the three Goddesses graffs of the Garden of the Hesperides had been graffed on them Each of these Two great Rivers is divided into an infinite number of Branches that are interlaced one with another and I took notice that when a great Rivulet of Memory drew near to a less of Imagination it immediately absorbed the other but on the contrary if the Rivulet of Imagination was the bigger it dried up the Brook of Memory Now seeing these Three Rivers both in their Channels and Branches run always by one another wheresoever the Memory is strong the Imagination diminishes and this again swells as the other is low Near to that the River of Judgment runs with an incredible slowness It hath a deep Channel its Liquor seems to be cold and when it is shed upon any thing it drys instead of moistening In the Owze of its Channel grow Hellebore-Plants whose Roots stretching out in long Filaments even to the Mouth of it purifie its Waters there It breeds Serpents and upon the soft grass that cover its banks Thousands of Elephants repose themselves It is divided as the other two into an infinite number of little Branches it encreases as it advances in its course and though it still gains ground yet it continually ebbs and flows in it self All the Sun is watered by the Juyce of these Three Rivers it serves to steep the burning Atomes of those that die in that great World but this deserves very well to be handled more largely The Life of the Animals of the Sun is very long and they expire not but by a natural Death which only happens at the end of Seven or Eight thousand Years when by the continued Intension of mind to which their fiery temper inclines them the order of matter is jumbled for in a Body so soon as Nature perceives that it would require more time to repair the Antient Being than to compose a new one she aspires to Dissolution so that the Animal
them But that 's a misfortune that very seldom happens because so soon as a Woman is brought to Bed in the City the publick Treasury furnishes a yearly Pension for the Education of the Child according to its Quality which on certain days the Treasurers of State themselves carry to the House of the Father But if you have a mind to know more step into our Pannier it is big enough for Four. Seeing we are going the same way we 'll talk and make our Journey the shorter Campanella was of the mind that we should embrace the offer and I was likewise very glad of it to avoid being tired But when I came to help them to weigh their Anchor I was much surprized to find that instead of a great Cable which ought to bear it up it hung only by a Silken thread as small as a Hair. I asked Campanella how it could be that a Mass so heavy as that Anchor was did not by its weight break so weak a thing And the good Man made answer That that Line did not break because being spun all of an equal bigness there was no reason why it should sooner break at one place than another We all stowed ourselves into the Pannier and then hoisted up our selves by the Pully as high as the Fowl's Throat where we appeared no bigger than a Bead hanging at its Neck When we were up as high as the Pully we fastened the Cable by which our Cage hung to one of its smallest Down-feathers which nevertheless was as big as ones Thumb and so soon as the Woman had made a sign to the Bird to be gone we perceived it cleave the Air with a violent Rapidity The Condore hastned or slackened its flight soared or stooped according to its Mistresses pleasure whose Voice served it for a Bridle We had not flow'n Two hundred Leagues when we perceived on the Earth to the lest Hand a night like to that which our living Umbrello made under us We asked the stranger Woman what she thought it might be It 's another Malefactor answered she who is going also to receive Justice in the Province whither we are going His Fowl without doubt is stronger than ours or otherwise we have trifled away a great deal of time by the way for he set not out till after I was gone I asked her what Crime that poor Wretch was accused of He is not barely accused answered she he is condemned to dye because he is already convicted of not being afraid of Death How then said Campanella to her do the Laws of your Country enjoyn Men to be afraid of Death Yes replied the Woman they enjoyn all except those who are admitted into the Colledge of the Wise for our Magistrates have found by sad Experience that he who fears not to lose Life may take it from any Body else After some other discourses that followed these Campanella had a mind to make a larger enquiry into the Manners of her Country He asked her then what were the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of Lovers But she begged his pardon if she did not answer him because since she was not born there and knew them but in part she was afraid she might say too much or too little I came into that Province continued the Woman but I and all my Prodecessors are originally of the Kingdom of Truth my Mother was delivered of me there and never had another Child she brought me up in the Country till I was Thirteen Years of Age when the King by the advice of Physicians commanded her to carry me to the Kingdom of Lovers from whence I come to the end that having my Breeding in the Palace of Love that Education which is more chearful and soft than the Breeding of our Country might render me more Fruitful than she had been My Mother carried me thither and placed me out into that House of Pleasure I had much ado to comply with their Customs At first they appeared to me to be very rude for as you know the opinions that we have suckt in with our Mothers Milk seem always to us to be the most rational and then I was but just come from the Kingdom of Truth my native Country Not but that I perceived very well that the Nation of Lovers lived with more Condescension and Indulgence than ours did for though every one gave it out That my Sight wounded dangerously that my Looks killed and that my Eyes glanced out Flames which consumed Hearts yet the Goodness of all and especially of the Young Men was so great that they carressed kissed and hugg'd me instead of revenging the Evil that I had done them Nay I was even vexed with my self for the disorders that I was the cause of and that was the reason that out of Pity I told them one day That I was resolved to run away But alas how can you save your self cryed they all embracing my Neck and kissing my Hands Your House is on all Hands beset with Water and so great the danger appears to be that undoubtedly you and we both had been already drowned without a Miracle How said I to our Historian is the Country of Lovers then subject to Inundations It may very well be said to be replied she for one of my Gallants and that Man would not have deceived me because he loved me wrote to me That for grief of my departure he had shed an Ocean of Tears I saw another who assured me That within the space of three days his Eyes had distilled a Fountain of Water And as I was cursing for their sakes the fatal Hour when first they saw me one who reckoned himself of the number of my Slaves sent me word that the night before an overflowing of his Eyes had caused a Deluge I was about to have left the World that I might no longer be the cause of so many Evils had not the Messenger subjoined that his Master had charged him to assure me That I had no cause to fear any thing seeing the Furnace of his Breast had dried up that Deluge In fine you may Conjecture how waterish the Kingdom of Lovers must needs be since with them it is to weep but by halves when from under their Eye-lids there springs no more but Rivulets Fountains and Torrents I was in great pain what Machine I could find to save my self out of all these Waters that were like to over-whelm me But one of my Lovers who was called The Jealous advised me to pluck out my Heart and then embark in it that I needed not fear but that it would hold me because it held so many others nor that I should sink because it was too light That all I was to be afraid of was to be burnt because the Materials of such a Vessel was much subject to Fire That I should be gone then upon the Sea of his Tears that the Fillet of his Love would serve me for a Sail and that the favourable