briskly I shall know all the rest when I please I need but think on it a moment and walk the Moon about her monthly Circuit I see in general that in the Moon they have a month reverse to ours and I 'le hold a Wager that when 't is full Moon with us 't is the inlighten'd half of the Moon turn'd towards the obscure part of the Earth and 't is then they see us not at all and count it New Earth I would not be reproch'd to have requir'd so minute an explication of a thing so easie But pray how happen the Ecclipses That said I belongs to you to judge When 't is New Moon that she is between us and the Sun and that all her obscure part is turn'd towards us in our day time you see well that the Shadow of that obscure half is cast towards us If the Moon be directly under the Sun that Shadow hides him from us and at the same time darkens all that luminous part of the Earth that was seen by the obscure part of the Moon See there an Eclipse of the Sun for us in our day time and an Eclipse of the Earth for the Moon in their night When the Moon is full the Earth is between her and the Sun and all the obscure half of the Earth is turn'd towards the inlighten'd half of the Moon The Shadow of the Earth is then cast towards the Moon and if it fall upon the body of the Moon it darkens that luminous half waich we saw and hides the Sun from that luminous half in the Moon where it was day See there an Eclipse of the Moon for us in our night and an Eclipse of the Sun for the Moon in her day The reason why Eclipses do not happen every time that the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth or the Earth between the Sun and the Moon is because those three bodies are not always in a right line one to the other and by consequence that Body that ought to make the Eclipse casts its Shadow a little on one side of that which should be obscured by it I am very much astonished said the Marchioness that there should be so little Mystery in Eclipses and yet all the World so ignorant of their Causes Ah! said I there are enough in the World that as they go to work will never understand them The East Indians believe that when the Sun and Moon are in Eclipseâ— it is a certain Demon that with his black Paws stretch'd out towards those Stars endeavours to lay hold on them and you shall see at that time the Rivers cover'd with Heads of Indians who plunge themselves up to the neck in Water as the most devout posture in their opinion to prevail with the Sun and Moon to protect them from the Paws of the Demon. The Americans think the Sun and Moon are angry with them when they are eclips'd and God knows what they do not to reconcile themselves with them The Greeks who were so refin'd did they not believe a long while that the Moon was then inchanted and that she was brought down from Heaven by Magicians to cast a malignant froth upon Herbs And we our selves were we not very fairly frighten'd at an Eclipse of the Sun not above thirty years since When an infinite number of people shut themselves up in Caves and the Philosophers that imploy'd their Pens to incourage us writ in vain Truly says she all this is very much to the shame of Men there ought to be a general Edict prohibiting That none should ever speak of an Eclipse for fear of preserving the memory of those Follies that have been said and done upon that account Then 't will be likewise necessary said I by the same Edict to abolish the memory of all things and forbid ever speaking of any thing for I know nothing in the World that is not a monument of the Folly of mankind Pray tell me one thing says the Marchioness are they as much afraid of an Eclipse in the Moon as we are here It would seem to me a meer Burlesque that the Indians of that Country should plunge themselves into the Water as ours do and that the Americans there should think our Earth angry with them or the Greeks imagine that we are inchanted and go down to spoil their Herbs or that we should put them in such a consternation as they put us here I do not at all doubt it said I I would very fain know why the Gentlemen of the Moon should have more Wit than we or what right have they to scare us more than we have to scare them And I believe said I laughing that as there have been and are an infinite number of Fools that adore the Moon so there are likewise in the Moon people that adore the Earth and we are upon our knees one to another After all this says she we may well pretend to send Influences to the Moon and give the Crises to their Diseases But as but very little Wit and Ability is sufficient in the people of that Country to destroy all those Honours we flatter our selves withal I must confess I am still afraid we have somewhat the disadvantage Fear not said I it doth not appear that we are the only foolish Species in the World. Ignorance is a certain Good proper to be generally diffus'd and thô I only guess at that of the people of the Moon yet I no more doubt it than the most certain news that comes from thence And what certain news is that says she 'T is that said I that is daily brought us from thence by the learned who travel thither with their long Perspectives they 'l tell you what Discoveries they have made of Lands Seas Lakes mighty Mountains and profound Abysses You surprize me says she I apprehend well that they may discover in the Moon Mountains and Abysses that is apparent in her inequalitys but how can they distinguish Sea and Land Thus says I because the Waters that let part of the Light pass through them and reflect less appear at a distance obscure Spots and the Land which by its solidity reflects all the Light is the brighter part All those parts are so well known that they have all Names given them and generally they are Names of learned Men. One place is call'd Copernicus another Archimâ—des another Gallileo there 's a Caspian Sea Porphiâ—ian Mountains a black Lâ—ke and in fine the Description of the Moon is so exact that should a learned man be now there he 'd no more lose his Way than I should do in the Streets of â—arâ—s But says she I should be very much pleas'd to know more in particulaâ— how the more inland part of the Country is made It is not poâ—â—ible said I that the Gentlemen of the Observatory should inform you you must inquire of Astolphus who was conducted thither by St. Iohn 't is one of the most pleasant follys of
upon its own Axis You see there what is the great Vortex whereof the Sun is Master but at the same time the Planets make little particular â—â—rtices in imitation of that of the Sun. Each of them in turning about the Sun turns likewise about it self and turns together with it a certain quantity of the celestial matter which is apt to comply with any motion that is given it if they do not divert it from its general motion This is the particular Vortex of a Planet and the Planet pushes it forward as far as the force of its motion can extend If in that little Vortex a Planet less than that which rules there do incroach it is carried on by the greater and forc'd indispensibly to turn about it yet nevertheless the great and little Planet and the Vortex that incloses them turn about the Sun. So at the beginning of the World we made the Moon follow us because she was plac'd within the limits and extent of our Vortex and wholly at our devotion Iupiter of whom I began to tell you was more happy or more powerful than we there were four little Planets in his Neighbourhood and he subdu'd them all don't you think he would have subdu'd us likewise who are a principal Planet had we been his Neighbours He is ninety times bigger than us and would doubtless with ease have swallow'd us up in his Vortex and we should have been no more than a Moon attending on him whereas we now have one of our own attending on us So true it is that the chance only of place and situation often decides the whole fortune of a man. And what assurance said the Marchioness have we of continuing always where we are I begin so fear we may commit the folly of approaching too near so bold a Planet as Iupiter or that he may draw toward us to swallow us up for it seems to me that that great motion of the celestial matter ought to move the Planets irregularly and draw them sometime nearer sometime further off from one another We should as soon gain as lose by that said I perhaps we should bring Mercury and Venus little Planets which could not resist us into subjection to us But we need neither hope nor fear the Planets still keep their old stations and are forbidden to make new Conquests as heretofore the Kings of China were You know that in mixing Oil Water the Oil swims above and if you lay upon those two liquors a body extremely light the Oil will support it that it shall not touch the Water but if you add another body more heavy of a certain weight it will pass through the Oil which will be too weak to support it and will press till it meets the Water which will be strong enough to bear it So in that liquor compos'd of two liquors that do not intermix two bodies of unequal weight do naturally put themselves in two dif +ferent places and the one will never ascend nor the other descend Again put together other liquors that shall continue separate and unmixed and put in other bodies it will be still the same Represent to your self that the celestial matter that fills this great Vortex has several lays that infold one another and whereof the Weights are different as those of Oil and Water and other liquors The Planets have likewise different Weights and consequently every one of them floats upon the lay which has exactly a strength necessary to support it and makes it of such equal poise that it is not possible it should ever remove from thence I understand very well said the Marchioness that those weights do well regulate those lays I wish to God we had some such Regulation among us that might fix people in the places that are naturally fit for them You see me now well satisfy'd as to Iupiter and very well pleas'd that he will let us alone in our little Vortex with our one only Moon for I am of a humour that easily confine my self and do not envy him his four You would do him wrong to envy him says I he has no more than he has need of at the distance he is from the Sun his Moons receive and reflect upon him a very weak Light. 'T is true that he turning about himself in ten hours his nights which continue but five are very short and it may seem that he has no neceâ—â—ity of four Moons but there are other things to be consider'd here under the Poles we have six months day and six night for the Poles are the two extremities of the Earth farthest distant from those places through which the Sun seems to make his course The Moon holds or seems to hold the same course very near that the Sun doth and as the Inhabitants of the Pole see the Sun for one half of his annual course and the other half see him not at all so they likewise see the Moon during one half of her monthly course that is for fifteen days and see her not the other fiâ—teen The years of Iupiter are twelve of ours and there ought to be in that Planet two opposite extremities where the days nights are of six years continuance Nights of six years are very long therefore I believe it was for their sakes that those four Moons were design'd That which in respect of Iupiter is the highest makes its course round him in seventeen days the second in seven the third in three days and a half and the fourth in forty hours their courses being cut just in half for the unhappy people of that Country who have six years night they cannot pass one and twenty hours without seeing at least the last of those Moons 'T is a Consolation during a Darkness of so tedious a continuance but in whatever place of Iupiter you inhabit those four Moons will give you the most pleasant Spectacle in the World. Sometimes they rise all at once and then separate themselves according to 〈◊〉 inequality of their motions sometimes they are all in their Meridian rang'd the one above the other sometimes they appear all four above the Horizon at equal distances sometimes when two of them rise the other two set but above all I should delight to see their Eclipses for there 's not a day passes but they eclipse one another or eclipse the Sun and certainly Eclipses being so samiliar in that World they are a great subject of Divertisement and not of Fear as they are here And you will not fail said the Marchioness to people those four Moons likewise though they are but little subalternate Planets design'd only to inlighten the nights of another No doubt on 't said I those Planets are not at all less worthy to be inhabited for being subjected to turn about another more imporrant I would then says she have it that the Inhabitants of the four Moons of Iupiter should be Colonies drawn from him and that they should receive from bim if
possible their Laws and Customs and consequently should render him some sort of Homage and never look upon the great Planet without Respect And must it not be likewise said I that the four Moons should from time to time send their Deputies to Iupiter to make their Oath of Fidelity for my part I assure you that the little Superiority we have over the people of our Moon makes me doubt whether Iupiter has much over the Inhabitants of his and I believe the advantage he can most reasonably pretend to is to frighten them for example in that which is nearest to him he appears to them three hundred and sixty times bigger than our Moon appears to us for he is so much bigger than she is he is I believe nearer to them than she is to us which still increases the bigness They have then that monstrous Planet daily hanging over their heads at a very little distance and truly if the Gauls of old were afraid the Heavens would fall upon them the Inhabitants of that Moon have much more cause to fear the fall of Iupiter That is possibly says she the fear they have instead of that of Eclipses which you tell me they are free from but must pay for it by some other folly That is of absolute necessity said I the Inventor of the third System whom I told you of the other day the famous Tycho Brahe the greatest Astronomer that ever was he fear'd not Eclipses as the vulgar do for his daily Conversation was with them but would you believe what he fear'd instead of them When he went at any time out of his Lodging if the first person he met were an old Woman or if a Hare cross'd his way he believ'd it would be an unlucky day to him and would presently return and shut himself up and not dare to take in hand the least matter It would not be just said she since that Man could not deliver himself from the fear of Eclipses without paying for it by some folly that the Inhabitants of that Moon of Iupiter which we speak of should free themselves with less trouble we 'l give them no Quarter they shall undergo the Common Law and fall into some other Errour but-how I trouble not my head to guess Therfore pray explain to me another difficulty has possess'd me within this little while if the Earth be so little in respect of Iupiter doth Iupiter see us I fear we are unknown to him Truly says I I believe that he must needs see the Earth ninety times less than we see him that 's too little he sees it not all But here 's that which we may better believe for our advantage there may be Astronomers in Iupiter who having taken pains to make excellent Telescopes and choosing the fairest nights for Observation may at last have discover'd in the Heavens a little Planet which they never saw before presently the Iournal des Scivans of that Country speaks of it the people of Iupiter either hear nothing of it or only laugh at it The Philosophers whose Opinions it destroys are resolved not to believe it none but the most reasonable doubt of it Observations are repeated and the little Planet is reviewed people are certain that 't is no Vision and begin to suspect that it moves about the Sun after a thousand Observations 't is discover'd that that motion is annual and at last thanks to the pains and studies of the Virtuoso's 't is known in Iupiter that our Earth is a World the curious run to gaze on it with their Telescopes and scarcely is it discernable If it were not said the Marchioness that it is not very satisfactory to know that from Iupiter they cannot discover us without a Telescope I should take pleasure in representing to my self those Telescopes of Iupiter planted toward us as ours are to behold him and that mutual curiosity of the two Planets in considering one another and asking What World is this What People inhabit here Hold said I that 's not so soon done as you imagine should the Inhabitants of Iupiter see our Earth and know it yet our Earth is not our selves there would not be the least suspicion that 't is inhabited and should any one chance to entertain such a thought God knows how the whole World of Iupiter would mock him Nay possibly we have already been the cause of arraigning some of their Philosophers for holding that we have a Being in Nature In the mean time I rather believe that the Inhabitants of Iupiter hvae imployment enough in making discoveries in their own Planet without ever dreaming of us it is so big that if they have the Art of Navigation their Christopher Columba's have most certainly imployment enough It must needs be that the people of that World do not know the hundredth part of it whereas in Mercury which is very little they are all Neighbours live very familiarly together and count it but a Walk to make a turn about their World. If they do not see us from Iupiter you will easily judge that the people of that Planet do much less see Venus and Mercury which are both lesser Worlds and more distant from him But to make amends his inhabitants see Mars and their own four Moons and Saturn with his These are Planets enough to perplex their Astronomers and Nature has been so kind to conceal the rest of the Universe from them How said the Marchioness do you count that a kindness Without doubt it is said I there are in all this great Vortex sixteen Planets Nature who would save us the trouble of studying all their motions has let us see but seven of them is not that a great kindness But we who know not how to value it have taken a course to find out the other nine that were conceal'd and are punish'd for our pains by the great labour that Astronomy at present requires I find says she by that number of sixteen Planets that Saturn ought to have five Moons He has so says I and of those five two are but lately discovered but there is a thing yet much more remarkable one of his years being thirty of ours and by consequence there being Countreys in him whose night is of fifteen years continuance guess you what Nature has invented to inlighten such terrible nights She was not satisfy'd with bestowing five Moons upon Saturn but she has also inclos'd him with a great Circle or Ring which is high enough raised to be out of the Shadow of the Body of that Planet and continually reflects the Light of the Sun upon those places that do not see him Seriously and truly says the Marchioness with an Air of one astonish'd all this is a work of great Order it is very visible that Nature had in her eye the Necessities of every living Being and that the Distribution of Moons was not a thing done at random There 's none share in it but the Planets farthest distant from
court to Wisdom Do not expect Miracles in the Recital of my Entertainment with that Lady for it will require such a Wit as hers to repeat what she said in the same manner she exprest it For my own part I take her to be learned because of that great facility I find in her of being so wherein is she defective Is it that she has not por'd much on Books Alas 't is nothing many have done so all their life long to whom yet if I durst I would not allow the name of learned As to the rest Sir I shall oblige you I know before I enter upon the particulars of the Conversation I had with the Marchioness I ought to give you some description of the Castle where that Lady retired to pass the Autumn Castles have been describ'd upon less occasion but you will excuse me that It may suffice that at my arrival there I found her alone and was well pleased at it The two first days nothing remarkable past they were spent in inquirys of News from Paris from whence I came afterward followed the Entertainments whereof I am to give you an Account I shall divide them into Evenings because indeed it was only in the Evening that we entertain'd those Discourses The First Evening 'T Was then in the Evening after Supper that we took a walk into the Park the Air was delicate and fresh which made amends for the heat of the day I find I am falling into a Description and I cannot well avoid it the Subject leads me naturally to it The Moon was about an hour high and her beams which came to us through the branches of the trees made a pleasing mixture of a lively white with all that green which then appeared black not one Cloud appear'd to rob us of or obscure the least Star they were all of Gold pure and bright and the appearance was yet heighten'd by the azure ground in which they were set The prospect set me a musing and perhaps without the Marchioness I had long continued so but the presence of so fair a Lady withdrew my Admiration from the Moon and Stars Do not you find said I to her that the day it self is not so beautiful as a clear night 'T is true said she the beauty of the day is like a fair Beauty that sparkles more but the beauty of the night is a black beauty that has more of charm You are very generous said I to allow that advantage to the black who have so little of it in your self yet 't is true that the day is the most beautiful thing in Nature and the Heroines of Romances who are the greatest Beauties we can imagine are ever represented fair That 's no Beauty says she unless it charm you must confess that the day never put you into so sweet a Contemplation as you were now fallen into at the prospect of this so bright a night I grant you that said I but yet so fair a Creature as you would put me in a deeper contemplation than all the dark beauties of the most glorious night Were that true said she I should not be satisfied I would have the day since the fair are concern'd in it to have the same effect Why is it that Lovers who are good Judges of what is charming ever in all their Songs and Elegys that I have met with address themselves to the Night 'T is doubtless said I because it most obliges them But says she it has likewise all their Complaints the Day shares not at all in their Confidence from whence should this proceed Because said I 't is certain it creates not that unexpressable sort of sadness and passion In the Night all things seem in repose we fancy the Stars more silent in their motion than the Sun the objects of Heaven are more pleasing and entertain the Eye with less trouble and in fine we are such fools that we can muse better on them because we flatter our selves that we are then the only persons in nature that are so imploy'd Possibly likewise there is too much uniformity in the prospect of the Day 't is all but one Sun one blue Arch but the prospect of the Stars confusedly set and disposed at randon in a thousand different figures indulges our Contemplation and creates a certain pleasing disorder in our thoughts I have ever found says she what you tell me I love the Stars and complain heartily of the Sun that robs us of them Oh! cry'd I I cannot forgive him when he takes from me the sight of so many Worlds How says she looking on me and turning towards me do you call all those Worlds I ask your pardon said I you have brought me into my folly and I as soon discovered it Pray says she what folly is that Faith said I I find my self necessitated to acknowledge it to you and 't is this I have had a fancy that every Star may possibly be a World. I will not swear 't is true but that is my opinion because I find pleasure in believing it 'T is an Idea that tickles and has with delight taken possession of my thoughts and truly in my opinion delight is not amiss even in Truth it self Well says she since your Folly is so delightful pray let me have a share in it I 'l believe what you please of the Stars provided I find pleasure in it Ah! Madam said I 't is not a pleasure like that which you find in a Comedy of Moliere 't is a pleasure I know not where in the reason and delights only the Mind And pray says she do you think me incapable of pleasures that are only in the Reason bring me acquainted with your Stars and you shall presently see the contrary No said I it shall never be laid to my charge that in a Grove at ten of clock at night I entertain'd the most lovely person in the World with nothing but Philosophy look out for such Philosophers elsewhere I defended my self in this manner for a time but was forc'd to yield at least I made her promise that for my Reputation sake she would keep my secret When I thus found my self so far ingag'd that I could not retreat and had a mind to speak I knew not whence to begin my Discourse for with such a person that knew nothing of Natural Philosophy it was requisite to go far about to make her apprehend that the Earth might be a Planet and every Star a World. So that I e'n told her again it were much better to talk of trifles as every reasonable person were they in our place would do But at last to give her a general Notion of Philosophy I began with her thus All Philosophy said I is grounded on these two things the Curiosity of our Minds and the Shortness of our Sight For if you could see better than you do you would discern whether those Stars are Worlds or not Worlds and on the other hand if you
the Planets give no Light but as they are inlighten'd by him He sends his Light to the Moon she returns it to us and it must needs be likewise that the Earth sends the Light of the Sun to the Moon for 't is no farther from the Earth to the Moon than from the Moon to the Earth But says the Marchioness is the Earth as proper as the Moon to reflect the Light of the Sun I observe said I that you have still a good thought for the Moon which you cannot part with The Light is composed of little Balls that rebound from any thing that is solid whereas they pass in a straight line through any thing that opens to them as the Air or Glass So that hence it is that the Moon gives us Light because she is a hard solid body that reflects those little Balls upon us Now I believe you will not at all contest the solidity of the Earth Admire then what it is to be advantagiously plac'd The Moon being so far distant from us we only behold it as a luminous body and know not that 't is a great mass like the Earth On the contrary because the Earth has the ill luck to be seen by us near at hand she appears to us a great mass fit for nothing but to feed Cattel and cannot discern that she is luminous because we cannot set our selves at distance enough from her Just so said she we are dazl'd with the lustre of Conditions more elevated than our own and never discern that in the bottom they are extremely alike 'T is even so said I we would judge of all but are still ill placed to take our view in judging of our selves we are too near and in judging of others too far off The middle place between the Moon and the Earth is the best to take a right prospect of both and better it would be to be simply a Spectator of the World than an Inhabitant I shall never be comforted says she for the Injustice we do the Earth and our too much partiality to the Moon unless you assure me that the people of the Moon have no more knowledge of their Advantages than we have of ours and that they take our Earth for a Star without knowing that their own Habitation is so likewise I 'le warrant you for that said I we appear to them to perform our function of a Star regularly enough 't is true they do not see us describe a Circle about them but 't is no matter the thing is this The half of the Moon which was turn'd towards us at the beginning of the World has continued so ever since she still shews the same Eyes the same Mouth and all the rest of the Face which those Spots we discern in her frame in our Imagination if we saw the other half other kind of Spots in different posture would doubtless create in our Imagination other kind of Figures 'T is not that the Moon does not turn about her self 't is certain she turns in just so much time as she turns about the Earth that is in a month But when she has made one part of that turn about her self and that she ought to hide for example one Cheek of that pretended Face from us and appear some other thing she makes the like part of her Circle about the Earth and putting her self in a new point of sight shews us still the same Cheek So that the Moon that in respect of the Sun and other Stars turns about her self in respect of us turns not all She sees them all rise and set in the space of fifteen days but our Earth she sees daily hanging in the same place of Heaven This seeming Immobility agrees not well with a body which ought to pass for a Star but 't is true likewise that she her self is not perfect The Moon has a certain wavering motion motus libratorius which is the cause that a little corner of her Face is sometimes hid and a little corner of the opposite side appears Now I 'le undertake that she imputes that wavering to us and imagines that we have a movement to and fro in the Heavens like a Pendulum All these Planets says the Marchioness I find are made like us who are still charging others with what is in our selves the Earth says 'T is not I that turn 't is the Sun The Moon says 'T is not I that waver 't is the Earth there 's faults enough every where I would not advise you said I to attempt a Reformation 'T is better that you fully convince your self of the perfect resemblance of the Earth and Moon Represent to your self those two great Bouls hanging in the Heavens You know that the Sun always enlightens one half of a Spherical body and that the other half is in the Shadow Then the Sun daily enlightens one half both of the Earth and the Moon viz. in one half 't is day in the other night Observe moreover that as a Ball loses its force when reverberated from a Wall so likewise the light grows weak when reflected from another body That pale Light which we receive from the Moon is the very Light of the Sun but it cannot come to us but by Reflection It must therefore lose much much of the force and vivacity it had when it fell directly upon the Moon So that glittering Light which we receive directly from the Sun and is reflected from the Earth to the Moon must needs be but a pale Light when it reaches thither So that which appears to us luminous in the Moon and which enlightens us in our nights is the parts of the Moon where it is then day and the parts of the Earth where it is day being turn'd towards the parts of the Moon where it is night inlightens them likewise all depends upon the manner of the Moon and Earths regarding one another In the first days of a month when the Moon is not seen she is then between the Sun and us and moves by day along with the Sun. It must needs be that the half of her where it is day is turn'd toward the Sun and her other half that is benighted is turn'd towards us We do not look to see that half that has no Light to shew it self but that half of the Moon that is benighted being turn'd toward the half of the Earth where it is day sees us without being seen and sees us in the same figure as we see the full Moon 'T is then with the Inhabitants of the Moon full Earth if I may be permitted the expression Afterward the Moon which advances in her monthly Circle disingages from under the Sun and begins to shew us a little corner of her inlighten'd half and that 's the Crescent and then likewise the parts of the Moon that are benighted begin not to see all the half of the Earth that is inlighten'd and we are running from them 'T is enough said the Marchioness
Ariosio and I am sure you will be well pleas'd to hear it I confess he had done better not to have introduc'd St. Iohn a Name worthy of Veneration but 't is a Poetical Licence that may pass for only too much Gayty The whole Poem is dedicated to a Cardinal and a great Pope has honour'd it with a glorious Approbation which is to be seen before some Editions The Story is thus Roland Nephew to Charlemain was 〈◊〉 mad because the Fair Angelica had profer'd Medor before him Astolphus the brave Paladin found himself one day in the Terrestrial Paradise upon the top of a very high Mountain whither he had been carried by his Hippogriff he met there with St. Iohn who told him that to cure Roland's Madness it was necessary they should both together take a journey to the Moon Astholphus who desir'd nothing more than to see Countries needed not much sollicitation and they had presently at hand a Chariot of Fire that mounted the Apostle and the Paladin up into the Air. Astolphus who was no great Philosopher admir'd to see the Moon much bigger than she had appear'd to him from the Earth and he was yet more surpriz'd to find other Rivers other Lakes Mountains Towns and Forrests and which would have surpriz'd me as much Nymphs hunting in those Forrests But that which he found most rare in the Moon was a great Vale where was to be found all that was ever lost upon the Earth of what kind soever Crowns Riches Renown an infinity of Hopes Time lost at Play Alms appointed after Death Verses presented to Princes and the Sighs of Lovers As for the Sighs of Lovers said the Marchioness interrupting me I know not whether in the days of Ariosto they were lost or not but now adays I know none that go to the Moon Were there none but you Madam said I all those that have been address'd to you are fled thither and they are enough to make a considerable body In fine the Moon is so exact in collecting all that is lost here below that all is to be found there even to the Donation of Constantine but this Ariosto tells you in your ear The thing is the Popes that have pretended themselves Masters of Rome and Italy by vertue of a Donation from the Emperour Constantine and the truth is no man knows what 's become of it But guess you what sort of thing is to be found in the Moon Folly. All that has ever been upon the face of the Earth is there carefully preserv'd It is not credible how many lost Wits are in the Moon They are so many Phiols full of a most subtil Liquor which easily evaporates unless the Phiol be close stop'd and upon every Phiol is written the Name of him to whom the Wit belongs Ariosto sets them altogether but I chuse rather to represent to my self that they are rang'd in good order in a long Gallery Astolphus was much amaz'd to find that the Phiols of many whom he always thought very wise were very full and for own part I believe that my own is grown pretty full since I entertain'd you with Visions sometime Philosophical sometime Poetical but that which comforts me is that 't is not impossible but that in all that I say to you I shall procure you likewise a little Phiol in the Moon e're it be long The good Paladin fail'd not to find his own there among the rest and presently laying hold on 't with permission of St. Iohn he snuffed it up at his nose like the Queen of Hungaries Water but Ariosto says that he carried it not far but let it return again to the Moon by a Folly he committed sometime after However he forgot not the Phiol of Roland which was the business of his journey and he had trouble enough in carrying it for the Wit of that Hero was very heavy and there was not a drop wanting In fine Ariosto according to his laudable custom of saying what he pleases makes this Apostrophe to his Mistress in excellent Verse Who my Fair one shall mount up to Heaven to bring back my Wits lost by your Charms I should not lament the loss provided they were gone no further but if matters continue as they have begun I must expect to become even such as I have discrib'd Roland Yet I hardly belive that to recover my Wits it will be necessary that I travel through the Air to the Moon my Wits are not fled so high they are still hovering about your eyes and mouth and if you desire I should recover them give me leave to take them with my Lips. Is not his pretty For my part to argue like Ariosto I would advise that none should ever lose their Wits but for Love for you see they go not far and there needs no more than a pair of Lips to recover them but when they are lost by other means as we for example lose them now in Philosophizing they fly to the Moon and are not to be recover'd at pleasure To make amends said the Marchioness our Phiols shall be honourably set in the quarter of Philosophical Phiols whereas otherwise perhaps our Wits might run astray here to somebody unworthy of them But to make an end of losing mine pray tell me and tell me very seriously whether you think that there are Men in the Moon or not for hitherto you have not discours'd to me of of any thing positively enough Who I says I I do not at all believe there are Men in the Moon Do but observe how the face of Nature is chang'd in the distance between this and China you find other Faces other Figures other Manners and almost other principles of Reason and certainly in such a distance as between this and the Moon the change ought to be much more considerable When we go to some Lands newly discover'd we find the Inhabitants scarce Men they are a sort of Animals in humane shape and sometime imperfect enough but almost wholly without reason therefore surely he that should go on to the Moon would not find them Men at all What sort of people would they be then said the Marchioness with some impatience In good Faith Madam said I I cannot resolve you If it were possible that we had Reason and yet were not Men and that we were the Inhabitants of the Moon could we well imagine that there were such Creatures here below as we call Mankind Could we represent to our selves a thing in Passions so foolish and so wise in reflection of so short a duration and so long a foresight so much knowledge in things unprofitable and so much ignorance in the most important so great a desire of liberty so much inclination to Servitude so much desire to be happy so great an incapacity of being so the People of the Moon must have a great deal of sense to divine all this We see our selves daily and yet are to seek to know how we are
insufferable said she to conclude me with such empty Arguments If you provoke me said I I know what I can yet add to confirm them Observe that the World discloses it self by little and little the Ancients held it for certain that the torrid and frozen Zones were not habitable and in the time of the Romans the general Map of the Earth was not much bigger than the Map of the Empire which had much of Greatness in one sense and Ignorance in another in the mean time Men have been found to inhabit both in the hot and cold Climates See there the World inlarged So likewise it was thought that the Ocean cover'd all the Earth but what was then known and that there was no Antipodet for they were never heard of and also could they have had their Feet upward and their Head downward After so pleasant a reasoning the Antipodes are discover'd and there 's a new Reformation of the Map and a new half of the World. Understand me well Madam Those Antipodes so discover'd beyond all expectation ought to instruct us to be wary in our Judgment The Discovery of the World will possibly be finished by us and we shall know all as far as the Moon We have not yet attain'd so far because as yet all the Earth is not discover'd and because all must be done in order When we know our own habitation well it will be allow'd us to make acquaintance with our Neighbours without lying said the Marchioness looking attentively on me you are so serious in this thing that doubtless you must needs believe all you say I should be sorry for that said I I would only lett you see that a Chimerical opinion may be maintain'd well enough to confound a person of witt but not enough to perswade 't is only truth that perswades and that even not without producing all its proofs it insinuates so naturally into the mind that we seem only to remember it though it be the first time we heard of it Ah! says the Marchioness you now give me some comfort your fallacious reasoning made me sick I am now in a better condition to go to bed and sleep quietly if you think fit that we retire THE Third Evening THe Marcioness would have ingag'd me to prosecute our Entertainments in the day time but I told her that we ought not to trust our Chimerical Notions to any but the Moon and Stars for they were the Object of them We fail'd not then in the Evening to take our Walk into the Park which was now become a place consecrated to our learned Conversation I have News to tell you said I. The Moon which I told you yesterday was according to all appearance inhabited may possibly not be so I have thought of a thing that indangers the Inhabitants I cannot suffer that says she Yesterday you made me expect to see them soon here and now there 's no such people in the World. You shall not delude me so You made me believe the Inhabitants of the Moon I have overcome the difficulty of doing so and I will believe it Not so fast said I you ought to yield your self but by halves in things that are to be believ'd and to reserve one half free where the contrary may be admitted if occasion be I 'm not to be satisfied said she with Sentences let 's go to the matter Are we not to argue of the Moon as of St. Denis No said I the Moon is not so like the Earth as St. Denis is to Paris The Sun raises from the Earth and Waters Exhalations and Vapours which mount in the Air to a certain heighth where they gather and form the Clouds Those Clouds hanging there fly irregularly about our Globe and shadow sometime one Country sometime another Whoever should see the Earth at a distance would often observe great changes upon the surface for a large Country cover'd with Clouds would appear an obscure part and would become luminous as the Clouds remov'd The Spots would appear to change place or gather in diverse manners or wholly disappear So likewise we should see the same changes in the face of the Moon if she had Clouds about her but on the contrary all her Spots are fix'd her parts always luminous and there 's the mischief on 't By this account the Sun raises no Vapours nor Exhalations about the Moon It must therefore be a body infinitely more hard and solid than our Earth and the more subtil parts of it easlly disingage themselves from the others and mount on high as soon as they are put in motion by the Heat So that it must be a mass of Rocks and Marble where there are no Evaporations For they are so naturally necessarily rais'd where there are Waters that there must needs be no Water where there is no Vapour What are then the Inhabitants of those Rocks which can produce nothing and of that Country that has no Water How now cry'd she have you forgot that you assur'd me there were Seas in the Moon to be seen from hence That 's but a conjecture said I I am sorry for it those obscure parts which are taken for Seas perhaps are but great Cavities at this distance it may be allow'd not to guess exactly right But says she is that sufficient to make us renounce the Inhabitants of the Moon Not wholly Madam said I we will neither conclude for them nor against them I must confess my Weakness says she I am not capable of so perfect an irresolution I must believe Fix me presently in some one opinion concerning the Inhabitants of the Moon let us preserve them or annihilate them for ever that they may be no more spoken of but rather let us preserve them if possible for I have entertain'd an inclination for them which I can hardly quit Why then said I I will not leave the Moon a Desart let us people it again to satisfie you In truth since the Appearance of the Spots of the Moon do not change it cannot be believ'd that that there are Clouds about her that darken sometimes one part sometime another but yet that doth not argue that she doth not send out Vapours and Exhalations Our Clouds which we see carried in the Air are but Exhalations and Vapours which at their rising from the Earth are separated in particles too small to be seen and which when mounted a little higher meet a Cold that condenses them and renders them visible by the union of their parts after which they become gross Clouds that float in the Air where their bodys are strangers till they fall in Rain But those very Vapours and Exhalations are sometimes dispersed enough to become invisible and do not reunite but when they form a subtil Dew which is not seen to fall from any Cloud It may be likewise that the Vapours which rise from the Moon for it must needs be that some do arise from her It is not credible that the Moon
Perspectives through which we see all and which change the Objects in respect of every particular man. Alexander saw the Earth a fair place fit for the Seat of a great Empire Celadon sees it only as the abode of his Astrea and a Philosopher sees it only as a great Planet moving in the Heavens and throng'd with Fools I do not believe that the prospect is more different between the Earth and the Moon than between Imagination and Imagination The change of the Prospect says I is more surprizing in our Imaginations for they are but the same Objects which we see differently but in the Moon other Objects are to be seen or none of those that are seen here possibly in that Country they know not Aurora nor the Twilight before the Sun rises and after he sets the Air that surrounds us and is rais'd above us receives Rays which cannot fall upon the Earth and being very thick it stops some of them reflects them upon us tho they were not naturally design'd for us So that Aurora and the Twilight is a particular favour of Nature a Light which regularly we ought not to have and which she gives us over and above our due But it may not be so proper in â—he 〈◊〉 where the Air is apparently more pure to beat down the Rays of the Sun before he rises or after he is set You have not there that favourable Light which growing upon you by degrees prepares you easily for the Arrival of the Sun and â—â—â—ch by the same degrees declining prepares you for his absence You are in a profound Darkness and all or a suddain as though a Curtain were dâ—â—â—â— you find your eyes struck with the Light of the Sun again you are in a bright and vigorous Light and all on a suddain you drop into a profound Darkness the day and night are not joined with a middle light that participates both of the one and the other The Rainbow is likewise a thing wanting to the people of the Moon for as the Aurora is an effect of the grossness of the Air and Vapours so the Rainbow is form'd in Clouds from whence falls the Rain so that we are oblig'd for the most beautiful thing in the World to that which is the least so Since then there are no gross Vapours about the Moon nor rainy Clouds farewell Rainbow farewel Aurora to what now must we resemble fhe fair ones of that Country What a fource of comparisons is there lost I am not much concern'd said the Marchioness for those comparisons and I find recompence enough in the Moon for the want of the Rainbow and Aurora for by the same reason there is neither Thunder nor Lightning both which are form'd in the Clouds the days are still fair and serene and the Sun in the day time never out of sight the Stars are visible all night no Storm or Tempest is ever known nor any thing that is an effect of an angry Heaven What reason do you find then of Complaint You represent the Moon to me said I as an inchanted abode but in the mean time I know not whether it be so pleasant to have daily a scorching Sun over a mans head and not a Cloud to moderate the Heat it may be likewise 't is therefore Nature has made certain kind of Pits in the Moon big enough to be discern'd by our Glasses for they are not mountains but hollow places which appear in the midst of certain plains How do we know but the Inhabitants of the Moon shelter themselves there from the extremity of the Heat possibly they live no where else but there and 't is there they build their Towns. We see here that the Subterranean Rome was almost as big as Rome above the Earth there needs no more than to take away this the rest will be a Town like those in the Moon a whole Populace is together in one of those Cavities and from one to another they communicate by subterraneous ways You laugh now at this Vision and I heartily agree you should but in the mean time to tell you seriously you may be deceived sooner than I. You think the people of the Moon ought to inhabit upon the surface of their Planet as we do upon ours 'T is quite contrary though we live upon the surface of our Planet they may not at all live upon the surface of theirs all things ought to be very different here from what they are there 'T is no matter said the Marchioness I cannot resolve to let the Inhabitants of the Moon live in perpetual obscurity But you would be yet more concern'd said I if you knew that an ancient and great Philosopher has made the Moon the abode of blessed Souls All their Happiness consists in hearing there the Harmony which the celestial bodies make in their motions but he pretends that when the Moon falls in the Shadow of the Earth they cannot then hear that Harmony and 't is then those poor Souls cry out desperately and the Moon makes what haste she can to deliver them out of that trouble We may then says she expect to see the happy Souls of the Moon here for 't is certain they are sent likewise to us as to their Paradice and between those two Planets the Moon and Earth 't is thought sufficient provision is made for the happiness of Souls by mutually transporting them into each others World. Seriously said I it would be no small pleasure to see many diffetent Worlds 't is a pleasure to make the Voyage in imagination only 't would surely be much more so in effect It would be much better than to go from hence to Iapan that is to say than to take the pains to run from one corner of the Earth to another and all to see nothing else but men Well says she let us take a Voyage about the Planets as well as we can What should hinder us Let us place our selves in all those different points of sight and from thence consider the World. Have we no more to see in the Moon I think not said I at least I have shewn you all that is within my knowledge Leaving the Moon and bending our Course toward the Sun we meet Venus and in Venus I return again to Saint Denis Venus turns about her self and about the Sun as the Moon doth and it is found by the Telescope that Venus as well as the Moon has her Increases and Decreases and is full according to her diverse scituation in respect of the Earth The Moon according to all appearance is inhabited why not Venus as well But says she in saying still Why not you seem to design Inhabitants for all the Planets Doubt it not said I that Why has a vertue in it sufficient to people all We see that the Planets are all of the same nature all opaque bodies that receive no Light but the Suns which they reflect from one to another have all the same motions
I cannot well describe them to you but I see something As for those figures says I I advise you to remit them to the Dreams you will have this night we shall see to morrow whether they assisted you well in it and inform'd you of the Shape of the Inhabitants of any Planet THE Fourth Evening OUr Dreams were not successful they only represented something resembling what we had seen and I had opportunity of reproching the Marchioness as those people who never draw any thing but what is extravagant and grotesque reproch us at the sight of our Pictures Very well say they those are men to the life there 's nothing there of fancy We were fain then to be still ignorant of the Figures of the Inhabitants of the Planets and content our selves with guessing at them as well as we could continuing the Voyage we had began about the World we were in Venus 'T is certain said I to the Marchioness that Venus turns about her self but 't is not well known in what time nor consequently how long her days are as for her years they are but eight months for in so much time she turns about the Sun. She is forty time less than the Earth therefore the Earth in Venus seems a Planet forty times bigger than Venus appears to us from hence and as the Moon is likewise forty times less than the Earth she seems in Venus very near about the same bigness that Venus appears to us from hence You vex me said the Marchioness I see well that the Earth is not for Venus the Star of Shepherds and Mother of Love as Vâ—nus is to the Earth for the Earth in Venus appears too big but the Moon that appears theâ—e of the same bigness that Venus doth to us from hence is of a just proportion to be the Mother of Love and Star of Shepherds those names are only fit for a little Planet that is brisk clear sparkling and of a gallant Air. 'T is certainly a destiny very pleasing to our Moon to influence the Loves of the Inhabitants of Venus those people must needs understand Gallantry well Oh! no question on 't said I the little people of Venus are made up of none but Celadons and Sylvanders and their most ordinary Conversation is beyond the most polite of Clelia the Climate is extremely favourable for Love Venus is nearer the Sun than we and she receives from him a Light more lively and hot I now see said the Marchioness interrupting me how the Inhabitants of Venus are made they are like the Moors of Granada a little black people Sun-burnt full of spirit and fire always amorous given to Poetry and Musick and every day Feasting Dancing and Tilting Let me tell you Madam said I you know but little of the Inhabitants of Venus our Moors of Granada for the coldness and stupidity of their Temper would be to them but as people of Lapland or Groenland But what are the Inhabitants of Mercury they are yet nearer the Sun and therefore certainly must needs be fools with too much vivacity I believe they have no memory no more than the greatest part of Negro's and that they never consider on any thing nor act but by chance and suddain motions and in fine that Mercury is the Bedlam of the Universe They see the Sun much bigger than we do because they are much nearer and he gives them so strong a light that were they here they would esteem our fairest days but as weak twilight and perhaps would not be able to distinguish Objects by it and they are us'd to so excessive a Heat that they would freez in the midst of Africa their year is but three months the length of their day is yet unknown to us for Mercury is so little and so near the Sun in whose Rays he is almost continually lost that he escapes all observation of Astronomers and they cannot yet lay hold on him so much as to observe what motion he makes about his Center but his smalness makes them believe that he performs that Course in a little time and that therefore the days in Mercury are short and that the Inhabitants see the Sun like a great burning Stove ot Kettle not far above their heads and moving with a prodigious rapidity It is well for them for 't is certain they are very desirous of the night during which time they are inlightened by Venus and the Earth which ought to appear very big to them As for the other Planets they being beyond the Earth toward the Firmament seem less to them than they do to us and they receive but little or perhaps no Light at all from thence The fixed Stars likewise seem less to them and many are not seen at all which in my opinion is a loss I am not well pleas'd to see that great Arch adorn'd with lesser Stars and not to see the rest but in a less proportion and a duller colour I am not said the Marchioness so much concern'd at that loss of the Inhabitants of Mercury as at the inconveniences they suffer by the extremity of Heat I wish we could procure their ease therefore pray let us allow in Mercury long and abundant Rain to refresh them as 't is said it falls here in hot Countrys for four months together just in the hottest Seasons That may be said I and we may likewise refresh Mercury another way Some parts of China which by their scituation ought to be very hot are yet so extreme cold in the months of Iuly and August that the Rivers are frozen The cause is those Countrys are full of Saltpeter the Exhalations whereof are very cold and the great Heats exhale them from the Earth in great abundance Mercury if you please shall be a little Planet all of Saltpeter and the Sun shall produce from it self a remedy for the evil that it caused Most certain it is that Nature cannot make people live any where but where they can live and that Custome joyn'd with Ignorance of what is better makes them live there well enough So in Mercury they may live well enough without Saltpeter or Rain Next after Mercury you know is the Sun there is no way of making him habitable the cause is clear We judge by the Earth that is inhabited that other bodies of the same species may be so likewise but the Sun is not a body of the same species with the Earth nor with the other Planets he is the Fountain of that Light which the other Planets only reflect from one to another after having received it from him They may exchange it as we may say among themselves but they cannot produce it he only extracts from himself that precious substance and emits it with vigour on all sides where ever it meets with any thing that is solid it reflects and from one Planet to another long and vast trains of Light cross and traverse one another in a thousand ways and form an admirable Tissue
of the richest material in the World. The Sun likewise is seated in the Center as a place the most convenient from whence he may equally distribute his Heat and animate all things with it The Sun then is a particular body but what sort of body is hard to say It was ever believ'd to be a most refined fire but that opinion vanish'd in the beginning of this Age when the Spots upon his surface were dicover'd When the new Planets whereof I shall tell you more were discover'd not long before and all the Philosophick World busied their Brains about nothing else it was presently judg'd that those Spots were the new Planets that they had a motion about the Sun and that necessarily they hid some part of him from us in turning their obscure half toward us Presently the Virtuoso's began their Flattery with these pretended Planets to all the Princes of Europe some gave them the name of one Prince some of another and perhaps there was a quarrel among them what Prince should be Godfather to the chief of those Spots I do not approve of that said the Marchioness you told me the other day that the different parts of the Moon were call'd by the names of Virtuoso's and Astronomers and I was well satisfy'd For since Princes have the Earth to themselves it is but just the Virtuoso's should reserve the Heavens to themselves and govern there without admitting any Rivals You may allow them said I in case of necessity to ingage a Star or part of the Moon to a Prince as for the Spots of the Sun they can make no use of them It has been found that they are not Planets but Clouds or Fumes or Froth that rises upon the Face of the Sun sometimes they are many sometimes few sometimes they wholly disappear sometimes many of them crowd together sometimes they separate sometimes they appear more clear and sometimes more obscure sometimes many of them are seen and at other times for a long while together none appear at all The Sun seems to be some liquid matter some think melted Gold that boyls incessantly and produces those impurities which by the force of his motion are thrown out upon his surface where they consume and he afterward produces more Imagine with your self what strange bodies those are some of them are it may be as big as the Earth judge from thence how great is the quantity of that melted Gold and how large that Sea of Light and Fire which we call the Sun. Others say that the Sun appears in the Telescope full of Mountains that vomit Flame and it seems a million of Aetna's put together but they say likewise that those mountains are a meer appearance caus'd by some accident in the Telescope But what then shall we trust to if we must distrust the Telescope to which we owe the knowledge of so many new Objects In fine whatever the Sun be it appears not at all fit to be inhabited which certainly is a great loss for it would be a delicate Habitation We should be in the Center of all and should see the Planets move regularly about him whereas now we see an infinite extravagance in their motions because we are not in a place proper to judge of them that is in the Center is not that a pity There is but one place in the World where the study of the Stars would be extreme easie and in that very place there 's not a man. You never consider said the Marchioness that whoever should be in the Sun would see nothing at all neither Planets nor fixed Stars Does not the Sun hide all So it would be with his Inhabitants who would indeed have good reason to believe themselves the only Creatures in Nature I confess said I. I was mistaken I only consider'd the Scituation of the Sun and not the effect of his Light but you that correct me so aptly must give me leave to tell you that you are as much mistaken as my self the Inhabitants of the Sun would not see him at all Either they would not be able to suffer the force of his Light or they could not receive it being not plac'd at a distance from it all which being well consider'd the Sun would be only an abode of Blind people But to prevent all that it is not made to be inhabited Will you then that we prosecute our Voyage about the Worlds We are come to the Center which is always the lowest place in any thing that is round we must now return and ascend again and shall meet in our way Mercury Venus the Earth and the Moon Planets that we have already visited The next that offers is Mars who has nothing curious in him that I know his days aâ—e not a whole hour longer than ours but his years aâ—e as long as two of ours he is less than the Earth and sees the Sun neither so big nor so bright as we In fine Mars has nothing in him worth the while to detain us But the jolly Iupiter with his four Moons or Satellits is worth a Visit. They are four little Planets that turn about him as the Mâ—on turns about as But says the Marchioness interâ—upting me why are there Planets that turn about other Planets no better than themselves Seriously it would seem to me more regular and uniform that all Planets both great and small should have but one and the same motion about the Sun. Ah! Madam said I did you but know what the Vortices of Descartes are Vortices whose name is so terrible and Idea so agreeable you would not talk as you do What says she laughing must my Head turn round 't will be pleasant to know what these Vortices are pray make an end of fooling me I can no longer govern my self nor muse longer upon Philosophy let us leave talking of the World and begin with these Vortices I never knew you so transported said I 't is pity there is any other Objects than Vortices A Vortex is a mass of matter whose parts are lose one from the other and move all in conformity to themselves but in the mean time you must allow them some little particular motions provided they still follow the general motion So a Whirlwind is an infinity of little parts of Air that turn round altogether and inclose all they meet You know the Planets are carried in the celestial matter which is of a prodigious subtilty and agitation All that great mass of celestial matter from the Sun to the fixed Stars turns round and carrying the Planets with it makes them turn all uniformly about the Sun which possesses the Center but in more or less time according as their distances are more or less from him All even to the Sun it self turn but he turns only about himself because he is just in the Center of that celestial matter and you must observe by the way that were the Earth in the Center it could do no less than turn
the Sun viz. the Earth Iupiter and Saturn for it was not worth the while to give them to Venus and Mercury who receive but too much Light whose Nights are short and which they esteem a much greater benefit of Nature than their Days But stay says she methinks Mars who is father remov'd from the Sun than the Earth is has no Moon It cannot be deny'd said I he has none and therefore he must have some other refuge in his nights than we know of You have seen those Phosphores of either dry or liquid matter which receiving the Light of the Sun imbibe it and diffusing it in the dark give a considerable light Perhaps Mars has great Rocks high rais'd which are natural Phosphores and which in the day time make a provision of Light which they disburse in the night You cannot deny that it would be a delightful spectacle to see all those Rocks lighted at Sunset and make magnificent Illuminations without any Art. You know likewise that there are in America certain Birds so luminous that they give light enough to read by in the dark How do we know but Mars has a great many of those Birds which at nightfall disperse themselves every where and create a new day I am not satisfy'd says she neither with your Rocks nor your Birds not but that it may be very pretty but since Nature has given so many Moons to Saturn and Iupiter 't is a sign there is occasion for them I should have been glad that all the Worlds far distant from the Sun had them likewise but Mars I find makes a disagreeable exception Ah! says I if you look'd more into Philosophy than you do you would accustom your self to find exceptions in the best Systems There is ever something that agrees very well and something that we make agree as well as we can or else we let it alone if we despair of succeeding well in it Let us deal so with Mars since he doth not favour us let us e'en say no more of him We should be sufficiently astonished if we were in Saturn to see over our heads in the night that great Ring which moving in form of a Semicircle from one end of the Horizon to the other reflects the Light of the Sun and performs the office of a perpetual Moon And says the Marchioness laughing must we not likewise have Inhabitants in that great Ring Truly said I however I may be bold enough to plant them every where else I must confess I dare not place any there that Ring seems an habitation too irregular But as for the five little Moons I think we cannot well dispense with peopling them if in the mean time that Ring be as some suspect no more than a circle of Moons that follow one another very close with an equal motion and that the five little Moons are such as have made their escape from the great Circle what an infinity of Worlds shall we have in that Vortex of Saturn however it be the people of Saturn with all the help of that Ring are miserable enough It gives them light but what sort of a light at that distance from the Sun the Sun it self is to them but a small Star pale and wan and has only a little glittering and a feeble heat Were they brought into the coldest of our Countrys as Groenland or Lapland you would see them melt and expire with heat You give me says the Marchioness an Idea of Saturn that freezes me as just now you heated me in your discourse of Mercury It must needs be says I that two Worlds that are in the extermities of this great Vortex should be opposite in all things So then says she they must be wise in Saturn for you told me they are all fools in Mercury If they are not wise in Saturn said I they are at least in all appearance `very flegmatick they are people that know not what it is to laugh that require a whole day to answer to the least Question and would look upon Cato of Vitica as a Buffoon or a Jack-pudding I have a thought in my head says she all the Inhabitants of Mercury are lively and all those of Saturn are dull among us some are lively and some are dull doth not this proceed from hence that we being just in the middle between those other Worlds participate of the extremities There is no fixed and determinate Character for Man some are fram'd like the Inhabitants of Mercury others like those of Saturn and we are a mixture of all species that are in the other Planets I like that idea said I well enough we make up so odd a kind of likeness that it may be thought we are a Collection out of several different Worlds and therefore 't is convenient enough to be here where we see all the other Worlds in compendium At least said the Marchioness our World has one real convenience by the Scituation that it is neither so hot as Mercury or Venus nor so cold as Iupiter or Saturn and moreover we are seated just in a part of the Earth where we find excess neither of Heat nor Cold. Seriously if a certain Philosopher gave thanks to Nature for making him a Man and not a Beast a Greek and not a Barbarian I for my share give her thanks for placing me in the most temperate Planet of the Universe and in the most temperate place of that Planet Believe me Madam said I you may give her thanks that you are young and not old young and fair and not young and ugly a young and fair French-woman and not a young and fair Italian these are things to be acknowledg'd as advantages as well as those you receive by the Scituation of your Vortex and the Temperature of your Countrey Good God! said the Marchioness let me acknowledg all even to the Vortex where I am plac'd the proportion of Happiness that has been measur'd out to us is very small and we ought to be chary of it and lose none and it is good to entertain such a relish and sense of even the most common and inconsiderable things as may render them useful to us If we desire only lively pleasures we shall have few stay long and pay dear for them You will promise me then said I if I propose lively pleasures to you you will remember me and my Vortices and will be of our side I will said she but you must provide that Philosophy still supply me with new pleasures At least said I to morrow I hope you shall not fail of them I have fixed Stars that will go beyond all that you have seen yet THE Fifth Evening THe Marchioness was sensibly impatient to know what would become of the fixed Stars Shall they be inhabited says she as the Planets are or shall they not or what shall we do with them Perhaps said I you might guess if you would the fixed Stars cannot be less distant from the Earth than