Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	air_n	body_n	element_n	4,001	5	9.7677	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53044	The description of a new world, called the blazing-world written by the thrice noble, illustrious, and excellent princesse, the Duchess of Newcastle.	Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of, 1624?-1674.; Newcastle, William Cavendish, Duke of, 1592-1676.	1668 (1668)	Wing N850; ESTC R13228	80,921	168

other Creatures within the Earth were colourless At which question they could not forbear laughing and when the Empress asked the reason why they laught We most humbly beg your Majesties pardon replied they for we could not chuse but laugh when we heard of a colourless Body Why said the Empress Colour is onely an accident which is an immaterial thing and has no being of it self but in another body Those replied they that informed your Majesty thus surely their rational motions were very irregular For how is it possible that a Natural nothing can have a being in Nature If it be no substance it cannot have a being and if no being it is nothing Wherefore the distinction between subsisting of it self and subsisting in another body is a meer nicety and non-sense for there is nothing in Nature that can subsist of or by it self I mean singly by reason all parts of Nature are composed in one body and though they may be infinitely divided commixed and changed in their particulars yet in general parts cannot be separated from parts as long as Nature lasts nay we might as probably affirm that Infinite Nature would be as soon destroyed as that one Atom could perish and therefore your Majesty may firmly believe that there is no Body without colour nor no Colour without body for colour figure place magnitude and body are all but one thing without any separation or abstraction from each other The Empress was so wonderfully taken with this Discourse of the Worm-men that she not only pardoned the rudeness they committed in laughing at first at her question but yielded a full assent to their opinion which she thought the most rational that ever she had heard yet and then proceeding in her questions enquired further whether they had observed any seminal principles within the Earth free from all dimensions and qualities which produced Vegetables Minerals and the like To which they answered That concerning the seeds of Minerals their sensitive perceptions had never observed any but Vegetables had certain seeds out of which they were produced Then she asked whether those seeds of Vegetables lost their Species that is were annihilated in the production of their off-spring To which they answered That by an Annihilation nothing could be produced and that the seeds of Vegetables were so far from being annihilated in their productions that they did rather numerously increase and multiply for the division of one seed said they does produce numbers of seeds out of it self But repli'd the Empress A particular part cannot increase of it self 'T is true answer'd they but they increase not barely of themselves but by joining and commixing with other parts which do assist them in their productions and by way of imitation form or figure their own parts into such or such particulars Then I pray inform me said the Empress what disguise those seeds put on and how they do conceal themselves in their Transmutations They answered That seeds did no ways disguise or conceal but rather divulge themselves in the multiplication of their off-spring onely they did hide and conceal themselves from their sensitive perceptions so that their figurative and productive motions were not perceptible by Animal Creatures Again the Empress asked them whether there were any Non beings within the Earth To which they answered That they never heard of any such thing and that if her Majesty would know the truth thereof she must ask those Creatures that are called Immaterial Spirits which had a great affinity with Non-beings and perhaps could give her a satisfactory answer to this question Then she desired to be informed What opinion they had of the beginning of Forms They told her Majesty That they did not understand what she meant by this expression For said they there is no beginning in Nature no not of Particulars by reason Nature is Eternal and Infinite and her particulars are subject to infinite changes and transmutations by vertue of their own Corporeal figurative self-motions so that there 's nothing new in Nature nor properly a beginning of any thing The Empress seem'd well satisfied with all those answers and enquired further Whether there was no Art used by those Crearures that live within the Earth Yes answered they for the several parts of the Earth do join and assist each other in composition or framing of such or such particulars and many times there are factions and divisions which cause productions of mixt Species as for example weeds instead of sweet flowres and useful fruits but Gardeners and Husbandmen use often to decide their quarrels and cause them to agree which though it shews a kindness to the differing parties yet 't is a great prejudice to the Worms and other Animal-Creatures that live under ground for it most commonly causes their dissolution and ruine at best they are driven out of their habitations What said the Empress are not Worms produced out of the Earth Their production in general answered they is like the production of all other Natural Creatures proceeding from the corporeal figurative motions of Nature but as for their particular productions they are according to the nature of their Species some are produced out of flowers some out of roots some out of fruits some out of ordinary Earth Then they are very ungrateful Children replied the Empress that they feed on their own Parents which gave them life Their life answered they is their own and not their Parents for no part or creature of Nature can either give or take away life but parts do onely assist and join with parts either in the dissolution or production of other Parts and Creatures After this and several other Conferences which the Empress held with the Worm-men she dismissed them and having taken much satisfaction in several of their Answers encouraged them in their Studies and Observations Then she made a Convocation of her Chymists the Ape-men and commanded them to give her an account of the several Transmutations which their Art was able to produce They begun first with a long and tedious Discourse concerning the Primitive Ingredients of Natural bodies and how by their Art they had found out the principles out of which they consist But they did not all agree in their opinions for some said That the Principles of all Natural Bodies were the four Elements Fire Air Water Earth out of which they were composed Others rejected this Elementary commixture and said There were many Bodies out of which none of the four Elements could be extracted by any degree of Fire whatsoever and that on the other side there were divers Bodies whose resolution by Fire reduced them into more then four different Ingredients and these affirmed That the only principles of Natural Bodies were Salt Sulphur and Mercury Others again declared That none of the forementioned could be called the True Principles of Natural Bodies but that by their industry and pains which they had taken in the Art of Chymistry they had discovered

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

both very glad at and when the Ships were made ready the Duchess told the Empress that it was requisite that her Majesty should go her self in body as well as in Soul but I said she can onely wait on your Majesty after a Spiritual manner that is with my Soul Your Soul said the Empress shall live with my Soul in my Body for I shall onely desire your Counsel and Advice Then said the Duchess Your Majesty must command a great number of your Fish-men to wait on your Ships for you know that your Ships are not made for Cannons and therefore are no ways serviceable in War for though by the help of your Engines they can drive on and your Fish-men may by the help of Chains or Ropes draw them which way they will to make them go on or flye back yet not so as to fight And though your Ships be of Gold and cannot be shot thorow but onely bruised and battered yet the Enemy will assault and enter them and take them as Prizes wherefore your Fish-men must do you Service instead of Cannons But how said the Empress can the Fish-men do me service against an Enemy without Cannons and all sorts of Arms That is the reason answered the Duchess that I would have numbers of Fish-men for they shall destroy all your Enemies Ships before they can come near you The Empress asked in what manner that could be Thus answered the Duchess Your Majesty must send a number of Worm-men to the Burning-Mountains for you have good store of them in the Blazing-World which must get a great quantity of the Fire-stone whose property you know is that it burns so long as it is wet and the Ships in the other World being all made of Wood they may by that means set them all on fire and if you can but destroy their Ships and hinder their Navigation you will be Mistress of all that World by reason most parts thereof cannot live without Navigation Besides said she the Fire-stone will serve you instead of Light or Torches for you know that the World you are going into is dark at nights especially if there be no Moon-shine or if the Moon be overshadowed by Clouds and not so full of Blazing-Stars as this World is which make as great a light in the absence of the Sun as the Sun doth when it is present for that World hath but little blinking Stars which make more shadows then light and are onely able to draw up Vapours from the Earth but not to rarifie or clarifie them or to convert them into serene air This Advice of the Duchess was very much approved and joyfully embraced by the Empress who forthwith sent her Worm-men to get a good quantity of the mentioned Fire-stone She also commanded numbers of Fish-men to wait on her under Water and Bird-men to wait on her in the Air and Bear and Worm-men to wait on her in Ships according to the Duchess's advice and indeed the Bear-men were as serviceable to her as the North-Star but the Bird-men would often rest themselves upon the Decks of the Ships neither would the Empress being of a sweet and noble Nature suffer that they should tire or weary themselves by long flights for though by Land they did often fly out of one Countrey into another yet they did rest in some Woods or on some Grounds especially at night when it was their sleeping time And therefore the Empress was forced to take a great many Ships along with her both for transporting those several sorts of her loyal and serviceable Subjects and to carry provisions for them Besides we was so wearied with the Petitions of several others of her Subjects who desired to wait on her Majesty that she could not possibly deny them all for some would rather chuse to be drowned then not tender their duty to her Thus after all things were made fit and ready the Empress began her Journey I cannot properly say she set Sail by reasou in some Part as in the passage between the two Worlds which yet was but short the Ships were drawn under water by the Fish-men with Golden Chains so that they had no need of Sails there nor of any other Arts but onely to keep out water from entering into the Ships and to give or make so much Air as would serve for breath or respiration those Land-Animals that were in the Ships which the Giants had so Artificially contrived that they which were therein found no inconveniency at all And after they had passed the Icy Sea the Golden Ships appeared above Water and so went on until they came near the Kingdom that was the Empress's Native Countrey where the Bear-men through their Telescopes discovered a great number of Ships which had beset all that Kingdom well rigg'd and mann'd The Empress before she came in sight of the Enemy sent some of her Fish and Bird-men to bring her intelligence of their Fleet and hearing of their number their station and posture she gave order that when it was Night her Bird-men should carry in their beeks some of the mentioned Fire-stones with the tops thereof wetted and the Fish-men should carry them likewise and hold them out of the Water for they were cut in the form of Torches or Candles and being many thousands made a terrible shew for it appear'd as if all the Air and Sea had been of a flaming-Flaming-Fire and all that were upon the Sea or near it did verily believe the time of Judgment or the Last Day was come which made them all fall down and Pray At the break of Day the Empress commanded those Lights to be put out and then the Naval Forces of the Enemy perceived nothing but a Number of Ships without Sails Guns Arms and other Instruments of War which Ships seemed to swim of themselves without any help or assistance which sight put them into a great amaze neither could they perceive that those Ships were of Gold by reason the Empress had caused them all to be coloured black or with a dark colour so that the natural colour of the Gold could not be perceived through the artificial colour of the paint no not by the best Telescopes All which put the Enemies Fleet into such a fright at night and to such wonder in the morning or at day-time that they knew not what to judg or make of them for they knew neither what Ships they were nor what Party they belonged to insomuch that they had no power to stir In the mean while the Empress knowing the Colours of her own Country sent a Letter to their General and the rest of the chief Commanders to let them know that she was a great and powerful Princess and came to assist them against their Enemies wherefore she desired they should declare themselves when they would have her help and assistance Hereupon a Councel was called and the business debated but there were so many cross and different Opinions that they could not

that Nation where she was born But they denied it with great scorn Whereupon she immediately commanded her Fish-men to destroy all strangers Ships that traffick'd on the Seas which they did according to the Empress's Command and when the Neighbouring Nations and Kingdoms perceived her power they were so discomposed in their affairs and designs that they knew not what to do At last they sent to the Empress and desired to treat with her but could get no other conditions then to submit and pay Tribute to the said King and Soveraign of her Native Country otherwise she was resolved to ruin all their Trade and Traffick by burning their Ships Long was this Treaty but in fine they could obtain nothing so that at last they were inforced to submit by which the King of the mentioned Nations became absolute Master of the Seas and consequently of that World by reason as I mentioned heretofore the several Nations of that World could not well live without Traffick and Commerce by Sea as well as by Land But after a short time those Neighbouring Nations finding themselves so much inslaved that they were hardly able to peep out of their own Dominions without a chargeable Tribute they all agreed to join again their Forces against the King and Soveraign of the said Dominions which when the Empress receiv'd notice of she sent out her Fish-men to destroy as they had done before the remainder of all their Naval Power by which they were soon forced again to submit except some Nations which could live without Foreign Traffick and some whose Trade and Traffick was meerly by Land these would no ways be Tributary to the mentioned King The Empress sent them word That in case they did not submit to him she intended to fire all their Towns and Cities and reduce them by force to what they would not yield with a good will But they rejected and scorned her Majesties Message which provoked her anger so much that she resolved to send her Bird-and Worm men thither with order to begin first with their smaller Towns and set them an fire for she was loath to make more spoil then she was forced to do and if they remain'd still obstinate in their resolutions to destroy also their greater Cities The onely difficulty was how to convey the Worm-men conveniently to those places but they desired that her Majesty would but set them upon any part of the Earth of those Nations and they could travel within the Earth as easily and and as nimbly as men upon the face of the Earth which the Empress did according to their desire But before both the Bird-and Worm-men began their journey the Empress commanded the Bear-men to view through their Telescopes what Towns and Cities those were that would not submit and having a full information thereof she instructed the Bird-and Bear-men what Towns they should begin withal in the mean while she sent to all the Princes and Soveraigns of those Nations to let them know that she would give them a proof of her Power and check their Obstinacies by burning some of their smaller Towns and if they continued still in their Obstinate Resolutions that she would convert their smaller Loss into a Total Ruin She also commanded her Bird-men to make their flight at night lest they be perceived At last when both the Bird-and Worm-men came to the designed places the Worm-men laid some Fire-stones under the Foundation of every House and the Bird-men placed some at the tops of them so that both by rain and by some other moisture within the Earth the stones could not fail of burning The Bird-men in the mean time having learned some few words of their Language told them That the next time it did rain their Towns would be all on fire at which they were amaz'd to hear Men speak in the air but withall they laughed when they heard them say that rain should fire their Towns knowing that the effect of Water was to quench not produce Fire At last a rain came and upon a sudden all their Houses appeared of a flaming Fire and the more Water there was poured on them the more they did flame and burn which struck such a Fright and Terror into all the Neighbouring Cities Nations and Kingdoms that for fear the like should happen to them they and all the rest of the parts of that World granted the Empress's desire and submitted to the Monarch and Sovereign of her Native Countrey the King of ESFI save one which having seldom or never any rain but onely dews which would soon be spent in a great fire slighted her Power The Empress being desirous to make it stoop as well as the rest knew that every year it was watered by a flowing Tide which lasted some Weeks and although their Houses stood high from the ground yet they were built upon Supporters which were fixt into the ground Wherefore she commanded both her Bird-and Worm-men to lay some of the Fire-stones at the bottom of those Supporters and when the Tide came in all their Houses were of a Fire which did so rarifie the Water that the Tide was soon turn'd into Vapour and this Vapour again into Air which caused not onely a destruction of their Houses but also a general barrenness over all their Countrey that year and forced them to submit as well as the rest of the World had done Thus the Empress did not onely save her Native Country but made it the Absolute Monarchy of all that World and both the effects of her Power and her Beauty did kindle a great desire in all the greatest Princes to see her who hearing that she was resolved to return into her own Blazing-World they all entreated the favour that they might wait on her Majesty before she went The Empress sent word That she should be glad to grant their Requests but having no other place of Reception for them she desired that they would be pleased to come into the open Seas with their Ships and make a Circle of a pretty large compass and then her own Ships should meet them and close up the Circle and she would present her self to the view of all those that came to see her Which Answer was joyfully received by all the mentioned Princes who came some sooner and some later each according to the distance of his Countrey and the length of the voyage And being all met in the form and manner aforesaid the Empress appeared upon the face of the Water in her Imperial Robes in some part of her hair near her face she had placed some of the Starr-Stone which added such a luster and glory to it that it caused a great admiration in all that were present who believed her to be some Celestial Creature or rather an uncreated Goddess and they all had a desire to worship her for surely said they no mortal creature can have such a splendid and transcendent beauty nor can any have so great a power as she