that all Natural Bodies were produced but from one Principle which was Water for all Vegetables Minerals and Animals said they are nothing else but simple Water distinguished into various figures by the vertue of their Seeds But after a great many debates and contentions about this Subject the Empress being so much tired that she was not able to hear them any longer imposed a general silence upon them and then declared her self in this following Discourse I am too sensible of the pains you have taken in the Art of Chymistry to discover the Principles of Natural Bodies and wish they had been more profitably bestowed upon some other then such experiments for both by my own Contemplation and the Observations which I have made by rational sensitive perception upon Nature and her works I find that Nature is but one Infinite Self-moving Body which by the vertue of its self-motion is divided into Infinite parts which parts being restless undergo perpetual changes and transmutations by their infinite compositions and divisions Now if this be so as surely according to regular Sense and Reason it appears no otherwise it is in vain to look for primary Ingredients or constitutive principles of Natural Bodies since there is no more but one Universal Principle of Nature to wit self-moving Matter which is the onely cause of all natural effects Next I desire you to consider that Fire is but a particular Creature or effect of Nature and occasions not onely different effects in several Bodies but on some Bodies has no power at all witness Gold which never could be brought yet to change its interior figure by the art of Fire and if this be so Why should you be so simple as to believe that Fire can shew you the Principles of Nature and that either the Four Elements or Water onely or Salt Sulphur and Mercury all which are no more but particular effects and Creatures of Nature should be the Primitive Ingredients or Principles of all Natural Bodies Wherefore I will not have you to take more pains and waste your time in such fruitless attempts but be wiser hereafter and busie your selves with such Experiments as may be beneficial to the publick The Empress having thus declared her mind to the Ape-men and given them better Instructions then perhaps they expected not knowing that her Majesty had such great and able judgment in Natural Philosophy had several conferences with them concerning Chymical Preperations which for brevities sake I 'le forbear to reherse Amongst the rest she asked how it came that the Imperial Race appear'd so young and yet was reported to have lived so long some of them two some three and some four hundred years and whether it was by Nature or a special Divine blessing To which they answered That there was a certain Rock in the parts of that World which contained the Golden Sands which Rock was hallow within and did produce a Gum that was a hundred years before it came to its full strength and perfection this Gum said they if it be held in a warm hand will dissolve into an Oyl the effects whereof are following It being given every day for some certain time to an old decayed man in the bigness of a little Pea will first make him spit for a week or more after this it will cause Vomits of Flegm and after that it will bring forth by vomits humors of several colours first of a pale yellow then of a deep yellow then of a green and lastly of a black colour and each of these humors have a several taste some are fresh some salt some sower some bitter and so forth neither do all these Vomits make them sick but they come out on a sudden and unawares without any pain or trouble to the patient And after it hath done all these mentioned effects and clear'd both the Stomack and several other parts of the body then it works upon the Brain and brings forth of the Nose such kinds of humors as it did out of the Mouth and much after the same manner then it will purge by stool then by urine then by sweat and lastly by bleeding at the Nose and the Emeroids all which effects it will perform within the space of six weeks or a little more for it does not work very strongly but gently and by degrees Lastly when it has done all this it will make the body break out into a thick Scab and cause both Hair Teeth and Nails to come off which scab being arrived to its full maturity opens first along the back and comes off all in a piece like an armour and all this is done within the space of four months After this the Patient is wrapt into a Cerecloth prepared of certain Gums and Juices wherein he continues until the time of nine Months be expired from the first beginning of the cure which is the time of a Childs formation in the Womb. In the mean while his diet is nothing else but Eagles-eggs and Hinds-milk and after the Cere-cloth is taken away he will appear of the age of Twenty both in shape and strength The weaker sort of this Gum is soveraign in healing of wounds and curing of slight distempers But this is also to be observed that none of the Imperial race does use any other drink but Lime-water or water in which Lime-stone is immerged their meat is nothing else but Fowl of several sorts their recreations are many but chiefly Hunting This Relation amazed the Empress very much for though in the World she came from she had heard great reports of the Philosophers-stone yet had she not heard of any that had ever found it out which made her believe that it was but a Chymera she called also to mind that there had been in the same World a Man who had a little Stone which cured all kinds of Diseases outward and inward according as it was applied and that a famous Chymist had found out a certain Liquor called Alkahest which by the vertue of its own fire consumed all Diseases but she had never heard of a Medicine that could renew old Age and render it beautiful vigorous and strong Nor would she have so easily believed it had it been a medicine prepared by Art for she knew that Art being Natures Changeling was not able to produce such a powerful effect but being that the Gum did grow naturally she did not so much scruple at it for she knew that Nature's Works are so various and wonderful that no particular Creature is able to trace her ways The Conferences of the Chymists being finished the Empress made an Assembly of her Galenical Physicians her Herbalists and Anatomists and first she enquired of her Herbalists the particular effects of several Herbs and Drugs and whence they proceeded To which they answered that they could for the most part tell her Majesty the vertues and operations of them but the particular causes of their effects were unknown onely thus much they
their foreknowledg was onely a prudent and subtile Observation made by comparing of things or actions past with those that are present and that Remembrance was nothing else but a Repetition of things or actions past Then the Empress asked the Spirits Whether there was a threefold Cabbala They answered d ee and Kelly made but a two-fold Cabbala to wit of the Old and New Testament but others might not onely make two or three but threescore Cabbala's if they pleased The Empress asked Whether it was a Traditional or meerly a Scriptural or whether it was a Literal Philosophical or Moral Cabbala Some answered they did believe it meerly Traditional others Scriptural some Literal and some Metaphorical but the truth is said they 't was partly one and partly the other as partly a Traditional partly a Scriptural partly Literal partly Metaphorical The Empress asked further Whether the Cabbala was a work onely of Natural Reason or of Divine Inspiration Many said the Spirits that write Cabbala's pretend to Divine Inspirations but whether it be so or not it does not belong to us to judg onely this we must needs confess that it is a work which requires a good wit and a strong Faith but not Natural Reason for though Natural Reason is most perswasive yet Faith is the chief that is required in Cabbalists But said the Empress Is there not Divine Reason as well as there is Natural No answered they for there is but a Divine Faith and as for Reason it is onely Natural but you Mortals are so puzled about this Divine Faith and Natural Reason that you do not know well how to distinguish them but confound them both which is the cause you have so many divine Philosophers who make a Gallimafry both of Reason and Faith Then she asked Whether pure Natural Philosophers were Cabbalists They answered No but onely your Mystical or Divine Philosophers such as study beyond Sense and Reason She enquired further Whether there was any Cabbala in God or whether God was full of Idea's They answered There could be nothing in God nor could God be full of any thing either forms or figures but of himself for God is the Perfection of all things and an Unexpressible Being beyond the conception of any Creature either Natural or Supernatural Then I pray inform me said the Empress Whether the Jews Cabbala or any other consist in Numbers The Spirits answered No for Numbers are odd and different and would make a disagreement in the Cabbala But said she again Is it a sin then not to know or understand the Cabbala God is so merciful answered they and so just that he will never damn the ignorant and save onely those that pretend to know him and his secret Counsels by their Cabbala's but he loves those that adore and worship him with fear and reverence and with a pure heart She asked further which of these two Cabbala's was most approved the Natural or Theological The Theological answered they is mystical and belongs onely to Faith but the Natural belongs to Reason Then she asked them Whether Divine Faith was made out of Reason No answered they for Faith proceeds onely from a Divine saving Grace which is a peculiar Gift of God How comes it then replied she that Men even those that are of several opinions have Faith more or less A Natural Belief answered they is not a Divine Faith But proceeded the Empress How are you sure that God cannot be known The several Opinions you Mortals have of God answered they are sufficient witnesses thereof Well then replied the Empress leaving this inquisitive knowledg of God I pray inform me whether you Spirits give motion to Natural Bodies No answered they but on the contrary Natural material bodies give Spirits motion for we Spirits being incorporeal have no motion but from our Corporeal Vehicles so that we move by the help of our Bodies and not the Bodies by our help for pure Spirits are immovable If this be so replied the Empress How comes it then that you can move so suddenly at a vast distance They answered That some sorts of matter were more pure rare and consequently more light and agil then others and this was the reason of their quick and sudden motions Then the Empress asked them Whether they could speak without a body or bodily organs No said they nor could we have any bodily sense but onely knowledg She asked Whether they could have Knowledg without Body Not a Natural answered they but a Supernatural Knowledg which is a far better Knowledg then a Natural Then she asked them Whether they had a General or Universal Knowledg They answered Single or particular created Spirits have not for not any Creature but God Himself can have an absolute and perfect knowledg of all things The Empress asked them further Whether Spirits had inward and outward parts No answered they for parts onely belong to bodies not to Spirits Again she asked them Whether their Vehicles were living Bodies They are Self-moving Bodies answered they and therefore they must needs be living for nothing can move it self without it hath life Then said she it must necessarily follow that this living Self-moving Body gives motion to the Spirit and not the Spirit motion to the Body as its Vehicle You say very true answered they and we told you this before Then the Empress asked them Of what forms of Matter those Vehicles were They said they were of several different forms some gross and dense and others more pure rare and subtil If you be not Material said the Empress how can you be Generators of all Creatures We are no more answered they the Generators of material Creatures then they are the Generators of us Spirits Then she asked Whether they did leave their Vehicles No answered they for we being incorporeal cannot leave or quit them but our Vehicles do change into several forms and figures according as occasion requires Then the Empress desired the Spirits to tell her Whether Man was a little World They answered That if a Fly or Worm was a little World then Man was so too She asked again Whether our Fore-fathers had been as wise as Men were at present and had understood sense and reason as well as they did now They answered That in former Ages they had been as wise as they are in this present nay wiser for said they many in this age do think their Fore-fathers have been Fools by which they prove themselves to be such The Empress asked further Whether there was any Plastick power in Nature Truly said the Spirits Plastick power is a hard word signifies no more then the power of the corporeal figurative motions of Nature After this the Empress desired the Spirits to inform her where the Paradise was Whether it was in the midst of the World as a Centre of pleasure or Whether it was the whole World or a peculiar World by it self as a World of Life and not of
made them so thick They answered That the thicker the Walls were the warmer were they in Winter and cooler in Summer for their thickness kept out both Cold and Heat Lastly she asked Why they Arched their Roofs and made so many Pillars They replied That Arches and Pillars did not onely grace a Building very much and caused it to appear Magnificent but made it also firm and lasting The Empress was very well satisfied with their answers and after some time when she thought that her new founded societies of the Vertuoso's had made a good progress in the several Employments she had put them upon she caused a Convocation first of the Bird-men and commanded them to give her a true relation of the two Coelestial Bodies viz. the Sun and Moon which they did with all the obedience and faithfulness befitting their duty The Sun as much as they could observe they related to be a firm or solid Stone of a vast bigness of colour yellowish and of an extraordinary splendor But the Moon they said was of a whitish colour and although she looked dim in the presence of the Sun yet had she her own light and was a shining body of her self as might be perceived by her vigorous appearance in Moon-shiny-nights the difference onely betwixt her own and the Sun's light was that the Sun did strike his beams in a direct line but the Moon never respected the Centre of their World in a right line but her Centre was always excentrical The Spots both in the Sun and Moon as far as they were able to perceive they affirmed to be nothing else but flaws and stains of their stony Bodies Concerning the heat of the Sun they were not of one opinion some would have the Sun hot in it self alledging an old Tradition that it should at some time break asunder and burn the Heavens and consume this world into hot Embers which said they could not be done if the Sun were not fiery of it self Others again said This opinion could not stand with reason for Fire being a destroyer of all things the Sun-stone after this manner would burn up all the near adjoining Bodies Besides said they Fire cannot subsist without fuel and the Sun-stone having nothing to feed on would in a short time consume it self wherefore they thought it more probable that the Sun was not actually hot but onely by the reflection of its light so that its heat was an effect of its light both being immaterial But this opinion again was laught at by others and rejected as ridiculous who thought it impossible that one immaterial should produce another and believed that both the light and heat of the Sun proceeded from a swift Circular motion of the AEthereal Globules which by their striking upon the Optick nerve caused light and their motion produced heat But neither would this opinion hold for said some then it would follow that the sight of Animals is the cause of light and that were there no eyes there would be no light which was against all sense and reason Thus they argued concerning the heat and light of the Sun but which is remarkable none did say that the Sun was a Globous fluid body and had a swift Circular motion but all agreed It was fixt and firm like a Center and therefore they generally called it the Sun-stone Then the Empress asked them the reason Why the Sun and Moon did often appear in different postures or shapes as sometimes magnified sometimes diminished sometimes elevated otherwhiles depressed now thrown to the right and then to the left To which some of the Bird-men answered That it proceeded from the various degrees of heat and cold which are found in the Air from whence did follow a differing density and rarity and likewise from the vapours that are interposed whereof those that ascend are higher and less dense then the ambient air but those which descend are heavier and more dense But others did with more probability affirm that it was nothing else but the various patterns of the Air for like as Painters do not copy out one and the same original just alike at all times so said they do several parts of the Air make different patterns of the luminous Bodies of the Sun and Moon which patterns as several copies the sensitive motions do figure out in the substance of our eyes This answer the Empress liked much better then the former and enquired further What opinion they had of those Creatures that are called the motes of the Sun To which they answered That they were nothing else but streams of very small rare and transparent particles through which the Sun was represented as through a glass for if they were not transparent said they they would eclipse the light of the Sun and if not rare and of an airy substance they would hinder Flies from flying in the Air at least retard their flying motion Nevertheless although they were thinner then the thinnest vapour yet were they not so thin as the body of air or else they would not be perceptible by animal sight Then the Empress asked Whether they were living Creatures They answered Yes Because they did encrease and decrease and were nourished by the presence and starved by the absence of the Sun Having thus finished their discourse of the Sun and Moon the Empress desired to know what Stars there were besides But they answer'd that they could perceive in that World none other but Blazing Stars and from thence it had the name that it was called the Blazing-World and these Blazing-Stars said they were such solid firm and shining bodies as the Sun and Moon not of a Globular but of several sorts of figures some had tails and some other kinds of shapes After this The Empress asked them What kind of substance or creature the Air was The Bird-men answered That they could have no other perception of the Air but by their own Respiration For said they some bodies are onely subject to touch others onely to sight and others onely to smell but some are subject to none of our exterior Senses For Nature is so full of variety that our weak Senses cannot perceive all the various sorts of her Creatures neither is there any one object perceptible by all our Senses no more then several objects are by one sense I believe you replied the Empress but if you can give no account of the Air said she you will hardly be able to inform me how Wind is made for they say that Wind is nothing but motion of the Air. The Bird-men answer'd That they observed Wind to be more dense then Air and therefore subject to the sense of Touch but what properly Wind was and the manner how it was made they could not exactly tell some said it was caused by the Clouds falling on each other and others that it was produced of a hot and dry exhalation which ascending was driven down again by the coldness of the Air that is
Bear-men being exceedingly troubled at her Majesties displeasure concerning their Telescopes kneel'd down and in the humblest manner petitioned that they might not be broken for said they we take more delight in Artificial delusions then in Natural truths Besides we shall want Imployments for our Senses and Subjects for Arguments for were there nothing but truth and no falshood there would be no occasion to dispute and by this means we should want the aim and pleasure of our endeavours in confuting and contradicting each other neither would one man be thought wiser then another but all would either be alike knowing and wise or all would be fools wherefore we most humbly beseech your Imperial Majesty to spare our Glasses which are our onely delight and as dear to us as our lives The Empress at last consented to their request but upon condition that their disputes and quarrels should remain within their Schools and cause no factions or disturbances in State or Government The Bear-men full of joy returned their most humble thanks to the Empress and to make her amends for the displeasure which their Telescopes had occasioned told her Majesty that they had several other artificial Optick-Glasses which they were sure would give her Majesty a great deal more satisfaction Amongst the rest they brought forth several Microscopes by the means of which they could enlarge the shapes of little bodies and make a Lowse appear as big as an Elephant and a Mite as big as a Whale First of all they shewed the Emperess a gray Drone-flye wherein they observed that the greatest part of her face nay of her head consisted of two large bunches all cover'd over with a multitude of small Pearls or Hemispheres in a Trigonal order Which Pearls were of two degrees smaller and bigger the smaller degree was lowermost and looked towards the ground the other was upward and looked sideward forward and backward They were all so smooth and polished that they were able to represent the image of any object the number of them was in all 14000. After the view of this strange and miraculous Creature and their several observations upon it the Empress asked them What they judged those little Hemispheres might be They answered That each of them was a perfect Eye by reason they perceived that each was covered with a Transparent Cornea containing a liquor within them which resembled the watery or glassie humor of the Eye To which the Emperess replied That they might be glassie Pearls and yet not Eyes and that perhaps their Microscopes did not truly inform them But they smilingly answered her Majesty That she did not know the vertue of those Microscopes for they never delude but rectifie and inform the Senses nay the World said they would be but blind without them as it has been in former ages before those Microscopes were invented After this they took a Charcoal and viewing it with one of their best Microscopes discovered in it an infinite multitude of pores some bigger some less so close and thick that they left but very little space betwixt them to be filled with a solid body and to give her Imperial Majesty a better assurance thereof they counted in a line of them an inch long no less then 2700 pores from which Observation they drew this following Conclusion to wit That this multitude of pores was the cause of the blackness of the Coal for said they a body that has so many pores from each of which no light is reflected must necessarily look black since black is nothing else but a privation of light or a want of reflection But the Empress replied That if all Colours were made by reflection of light and that Black was as much a colour as any other colour then certainly they contradicted themselves in saying that black was made by want of reflection However not to interrupt your Microscopical Inspections said she let us see how Vegetables appear through your Glasses whereupon they took a Nettle and by the vertue of the Microscope discovered that underneath the points of the Nettle there were certain little bags or bladders containing a poysonous liquor and when the points had made way into the interior parts of the skin they like Syringe-pipes served to conveigh that same liquor into them To which Observation the Empress replied That if there were such poyson in Nettles then certainly in eating of them they would hurt us inwardly as much as they do outwardly But they answered That it belonged to Physicians more then to Experimental Philosophers to give Reasons hereof for they only made Microscopical inspections and related the Figures of the Natural parts of Creatures acording to the representation of their glasses Lastly They shewed the Empress a Flea and a Lowse which Creatures through the Microscope appear'd so terrible to her sight that they had almost put her into a swoon the description of all their parts would be very tedious to relate and therefore I 'le forbear it at this present The Empress after the view of those strangely-shaped Creatures pitied much those that are molested with them especially poor Beggars which although rhey have nothing to live on themselves are yet necessitated to maintain and feed of their own flesh and blood a company of such terrible Creatures called Lice who instead of thanks do reward them with pains and torment them for giving them nourishment and food But after the Empress had seen the shapes of these monstrous Creatures she desir'd to know Whether their Microscopes could hinder their biting or at least shew some means how to avoid them To which they answered That such Arts were mechanical and below that noble study of Microscopical observations Then the Empress asked them Whether they had not such sorts of Glasses that could enlarge and magnifie the shapes of great Bodies as well as they had done of little ones Whereupon they took one of their best and largest Microscopes and endeavoured to view a Whale thorow it but alas the shape of the Whale was so big that its Circumference went beyond the magnifying quality of the Glass whether the error proceeded from the Glass or from a wrong position of the Whale against the reflection of light I cannot certainly tell The Empress seeing the insufficiency of those Magnifying-Glasses that they were not able to enlarge all sorts of Objects asked the Bear-men whether they could not make Glasses of a contrary nature to those they had shewed her to wit such as instead of enlarging or magnifying the shape or figure of an Object could contract it beneath its natural proportion Which in obedience to her Majesties Commands they did and viewing through one of the best of them a huge and mighty Whale appear'd no bigger then a Sprat nay through some no bigger then a Vinegar-Eele and through their ordinary ones an Elephant seemed no bigger then a Flea a Camel no bigger then a Lowse and an Ostrich no bigger then a Mite To relate all
suddenly resolve what answer to send the Empress at which she grew angry insomuch that she resolved to return into her Blazing-World without giving any assistance to her Country-men but the Duchess of Newcastle intreated her Majesty to abate her passion for said she Great Councels are most commonly slow because many men have many several Opinions besides every Councellor striving to be the wisest makes long speeches and raise many doubts which cause retardments If I had long-speeched Councellors replied the Empress I would hang them by reason they give more Words then Advice The Duchess answered That her Majesty should not be angry but consider the differences of that and her Blazing-World for said she they are not both alike but there are grosser and duller understandings in this than in the Blazing-World At last a Messenger came out who returned the Empress thanks for her kind proffer but desired withal to know from whence she came and how and in what manner her assistance could be serviceable to them The Empress answered That she was not bound to tell them whence she came but as for the manner of her assistance I will appear said she to your Navy in a splendorous Light surrounded with Fire The Messenger asked at what time they should expect her coming I 'le be with you answered the Empress about one of the Clock at night With this report the Messenger returned which made both the poor Councellors and Sea-men much afraid but yet they longed for the time to behold this strange sight The appointed hour being come the Empress appear'd with Garments made of the Star-stone and was born or supported above the Water upon the Fish-mens heads and backs so that she seemed to walk upon the face of the Water and the Bird and Fish-men carried the Fire-stone lighted both in the Air and above the Waters Which sight when her Country-men perceived at a distance their hearts began to tremble but coming something nearer she left her Torches and appeared onely in her Garments of Light like an Angel or some Deity and all kneeled down before her and worshipped her with all submission and reverence But the Empress would not come nearer than at such a distance where her voice might be generally heard by reason she would not have that any of her Accoustrements should be perceived but the splendor thereof and when she was come so near that her voice could be heard and understood by all she made this following Speech Dear Country-men for so you are although you know me not I being a Native of this Kingdom and hearing that most part of this World had resolved to make Warr against it and sought to destroy it at least to weaken its Naval Force and Power have made a Voyage out of another World to lend you my assistance against your Enemies I come not to make bargains with you or to regard my own Interest more than your Safety but I intend to make you the most powerful Nation of this World and therefore I have chosen rather to quit my own Tranquility Riches and Pleasure than suffer you to be ruined and destroyed All the Return I desire is but your grateful acknowledgment and to declare my Power Love and Loyalty to my Native Country for although I am now a Great and Absolute Princess and Empress of a whole World yet I acknowledg that once I was a Subject of this Kingdom which is but a small part of this World and therefore I will have you undoubtedly believe that I shall destroy all your Enemies before this following Night I mean those which trouble you by Sea and if you have any by Land assure your self I shall also give you my assistance against them and make you triumph over all that seek your Ruine and Destruction Upon this Declaration of the Empress when both the General and all the Commanders in their several Ships had return'd their humble and hearty Thanks to Her Majesty for so great a favour to them she took her leave and departed to her own Ships But good Lord what several Opinions and Judgments did this produce in the minds of her Country-men some said she was an Angel others she was a Sorceress some believed her a Goddess others said the Devil deluded them in the shape of a fine Lady The morning after when the Navies were to fight the Empress appear'd upon the face of the Waters dress'd in her Imperial Robes which were all of Diamonds and Carbuncles in one hand she held a Buckler made of one intire Carbuncle and in the other hand a Spear of one intire Diamond on her head she had a Cap of Diamonds and just upon the top of the Crown was a Starr made of the Starr-stone mentioned heretofore and a Half-Moon made of the same Stone was placed on her forehead all her other Garments were of several sorts of precious Jewels and having given her Fish-men directions how to destroy the Enemies of her Native Country she proceeded to effect her design The Fish-men were to carry the Fire-stones in cases of Diamonds for the Diamonds in the Blazing-World are in splendor so far beyond the Diamonds of this World as Peble-stones are to the best sort of this Worlds Diamonds and to uncase or uncover those Fire-stones no sooner but when they were just under the Enemis Ships or close at their sides and then to wet them and set their Ships on fire which was no sooner done but all the Enemie's Fleet was of a Flaming fire and coming to the place where the Powder was it streight blew them up so that all the several Navies of the Enemies were destroyed in a short time which when her Country-men did see they all cried out with one voice That she was an Angel sent from God to deliver them out of the hands of their Enemies Neither would she return into the Blazing-World until she had forced all the rest of that World to submit to that same Nation In the mean time the General of all their Naval Forces sent to their Soveraign to acquaint him with their miraculous Delivery and Conquest and with the Empress's design of making him the most powerful Monarch of all that World After a short time the Empress sent her self to the Soveraign of that Nation to know in what she could be serviceable to him who returning her many thanks both for her assistance against his Enemies and her kind proffer to do him further service for the good and benefit of his Nations for he was King over several Kingdoms sent her word that although she did partly destroy his Enemies by Sea yet they were so powerful that they did hinder the Trade and Traffick of his Dominions To which the Empress returned this answer That she would burn and sink all those Ships that would not pay him Tribute and forthwith sent to all the Neighbouring Nations who had any Traffick by Sea desiring them to pay Tribute to the King and Soveraign of