to be all in a flaming-fire The other Chappel which was lined with the Star-stone did onely cast a splendorous and comfortable light both the Chappels stood upon Pillars just in the middle of a round Cloyster which was dark as night neither was there any other light within them but what came from the Fire-and Star-stone and being every where open allowed to all that were within the compass of the Cloyster a free prospect into them besides they were so artificially contrived that they did both move in a Circle about their own Centres without intermission contrary ways In the Chappel which was lined with the Fire-stone the Empress preached Sermons of Terror to the wicked and told them of the punishments for their sins to wit That after this life they should be tormented in an everlasting Fire But in the other Chappel lined with the Star-stone she preached Sermons of Comfort to those that repented of their sins and were troubled at their own wickedness Neither did the heat of the flame in the least hinder her for the Fire-stone did not cast so great a heat but the Empress was able to endure it by reason the water which was poured on the Stone by its own self-motion turned into a flaming-fire occasioned by the natural motions of the Stone which made the flame weaker then if it had been fed by some other kind of fuel the other Chappel where the Star-Stone was although it did cast a great light yet was it without all heat and the Empress appear'd like an Angel in it and as that Chappel was an embleme of Hell so this was an embleme of Heaven And thus the Empress by Art and her own Ingenuity did not onely convert the Blazing-World to her own Religion but kept them in a constant belief without inforcement or blood-shed for she knew well that belief was a thing not to be forced or pressed upon the people but to be instilled into their minds by gentle perswasions and after this manner she encouraged them also in all other duties and employments for Fear though it makes people obey yet does it not last so long nor is it so sure a means to keep them to their duties as Love Last of all when she saw that both Church and State was now in a well-ordered and setled condition her thoughts reflected upon the World she came from and though she had a great desire to know the condition of the same yet could she advise no manner of way how to gain any knowledg thereof at last after many serious considerations she conceived that it was impossible to be done by any other means then by the help of Immâ—terial Spirits wherefore she made a Convocation of the most learned witty and ingenious of all the forementioned sorts of Men and desired to know of them whether there were any Immaterial Spirits in their World First she enquired of the Worm-men whether they had perceived some within the Earth They answered her Majesty That they never knew of any such Creatures for whatsoever did dwell within the Earth said they was imbodied and material Then she asked the Fly-men whether they had observed any in the Air for you having numerous Eyes said she will be more able to perceive them than any other Creatures To which they answered her Majesty That although Spirits being immaterial could not be perceived by the Worm-men in the Earth yet they perceived that such Creatures did lodg in the Vehicles of the Air. Then the Empress asked Whether they could speak to them and whether they did understand each other The Fly-men answered That those Spirits were always cloth'd in some sort or other of Material Garments which Garments were their Bodies made for the most part of Air and when occasion served they could put on any other sort of substances but yet they could not put these substances into any form or shape as they pleased The Empress asked the Fly-men whether it was possible that she could be acquainted and have some conferences with them They answered They did verily believe she might Hereupon the Empress commanded the Fly-men to ask some of the Spirits Whether they would be pleased to give her a Visit This they did and after the Spirits had presented themselves to the Empress in what shapes or forms I cannot exactly tell after some few Complements that passed between them the Empress told the Spirits that she questioned not but they did know how she was a stranger in that World and by what miraculous means she was arrived there and since she had a great desire to know the condition of the World she came from her request to the Spirits was To give her some Information thereof especially of those parts of the World where she was born bred and educated as also of her particular friends and acquaintance all which the Spirits did according to her desire At last after a great many conferences and particular intelligences which the Spirits gave the Empress to her great satisfaction and content she enquired after the most famous Students Writers and Experimental Philosophers in that World which they gave her a full relation of amongst the rest she enquired Whether there were none that had found out yet the Jews Cabbala Several have endeavoured it answered the Spirits but those that came nearest although themselves denied it were one Dr. Dee and one Edward Kelly the one representing Moses and the other Aaron for Kelly was to Dr. d ee as Aaron to Moses but yet they proved at last but meer Cheats and were described by one of their own Country-men a famous Poet named Ben. Johnson in a Play call'd The Alchymist where he expressed Kelly by Capt. Face and d ee by Dr. Subtle and their two Wives by Doll Common and the Widow by the Spaniard in the Play he meant the Spanish Ambassador and by Sir Epicure Mammon a Polish Lord. The Empress remembred that she had seen the Play and asked the Spirits whom he meant by the name of Ananias Some Zealous Brethren answered they in Holland Germany and several other places Then she asked them Who was meant by the Druggist Truly answered the Spirits We have forgot it being so long since it was made and acted What replied the Empress Can Spirits forget Yes said the Spirits for what is past is onely kept in memory if it be not recorded I did believe said the Empress That Spirits had no need of Memory or Remembrance and could not be subject to Forgetfulness How can we answered they give an account of things present if we had no Memory but especially of things past unrecorded if we had no Remembrance Said the Empress By present Knowledg and Understanding The Spirits answered That present Knowledg and Understanding was of actions or things present not of past But said the Empress you know what is to come without Memory or Remembrance and therefore you may know what is past without memory and remembrance They answered That
Ice as a stream that runs betwixt two shores at last perceived land but covered all with Snow from which came walking upon the Ice strange Creatures in shape like Bears only they went upright as men those Creatures coming near the Boat catched hold of it with their Paws that served them instead of hands some two or three of them entred first and when they came out the rest went in one after another at last having viewed and observed all that was in the Boat they spake to each other in a language which the Lady did not understand and having carried her out of the Boat sunk it together with the dead men The Lady now finding her self in so strange a place and amongst such wonderful kind of Creatures was extreamly strucken with fear and could entertain no other Thoughts but that every moment her life was to be a sacrifice to their cruelty but those Bear-like Creatures how terrible soever they appear'd to her sight yet were they so far from exercising any cruelty upon her that rather they shewed her all civility and kindness imaginable for she being not able to go upon the Ice by reason of its slipperiness they took her up in their rough arms and carried her into their City where instead of Houses they had Caves under ground and as soon as they enter'd the City both Males and Females young and old flockt together to see this Lady holding up their Paws in admiration at last having brought her into a certain large and spacious Cave which they intended for her reception they left her to the custody of the Females who entertained her with all kindness and respect and gave her such victuals as they used to eat but seeing her Constitution neither agreed with the temper of that Climate nor their Diet they were resolved to carry her into another Island of a warmer temper in which were men like Foxes onely walking in an upright shape who received their neighbours the Bear-men with great civility and Courtship very much admiring this beauteous Lady and having discoursed some while together agreed at last to make her a Present to the Emperor of their World to which end after she had made some short stay in the same place they brought her cross that Island to a large River whose stream run smooth and clear like Chrystal in which were numerous Boats much like our Fox-traps in one whereof she was carried some of the Bear and Fox-men waiting on her and as soon as they had crossed the River they came into an Island where there were Men which had heads beaks and feathers like wild-Geese onely they went in an upright shape like the Bear-men and Fox-men their rumps they carried between their legs their wings were of the same length with their Bodies and their tails of an indifferent size trailing after them like a Ladie 's Garment and after the Bear and Fox-men had declared their intention and design to their Neighbours the Geese-or Bird-men some of them joined to the rest and attended the Lady through that Island till they came to another great and large River where there was a preparation made of many Boats much like Birds nests onely of a bigger size and having crost that River they arrived into another Island which was of a pleasant and mild temper full of Woods and the Inhabitants thereof were Satyrs who received both the Bear Fox and Bird-men with all respect and civility and after some conferences for they all understood each others language some chief of the Satyrs joining to them accompanied the Lady out of that Island to another River wherein were many handsome and commodious Barges and having crost that River they entered into a large and spacious Kingdom the men whereof were of a Grass-Green Complexion who entertained them very kindly and provided all conveniences for their further voyage hitherto they had onely crost Rivers but now they could not avoid the open Seas any longer wherefore they made their Ships and tacklings ready to sail over into the Island where the Emperor of the Blazing-world for so it was call'd kept his residence Very good Navigators they were and though they had no knowledg of the Load-stone or Needle or pendulous Watches yet which was as serviceable to them they had subtile observations and great practice in so much that they could not onely tell the depth of the Sea in every place but where there were shelves of Sand Rocks and other obstructions to be avoided by skilful and experienced Sea-men Besides they were excellent Augurers which skill they counted more necessary and beneficial then the use of Compasses Cards Watches and the like but above the rest they had an extraordinary Art much to be taken notice of by Experimental Philosophers and that was a certain Engin which would draw in a great quantity of Air and shoot forth Wind with a great force this Engine in a calm they placed behind their Ships and in a storm before for it served against the raging waves like Cannons against an hostile Army or besieged Town it would batter and beat the waves in pieces were they as high as Steeples and as soon as a breach was made they forced their passage through in spight even of the most furious wind using two of those Engins at every Ship one before to beat off the waves and another behind to drive it on so that the artificial wind had the better of the natural for it had a greater advantage of the waves then the natural of the Ships the natural being above the face of the Water could not without a down right motion enter or press into the Ships whereas the artificial with a sideward-motion did pierce into the bowels of the Waves Moreover it is to be observed that in a great Tempest they would join their Ships in battel-aray and when they feared Wind and Waves would be too strong for them if they divided their Ships they joined as many together as the compass or advantage of the places of the Liquid Element would give them leave For their Ships were so ingeniously contrived that they could fasten them together as close as a Honey-comb without waste of place and being thus united no Wind nor Waves were able to separate them The Emperor's Ships were all of Gold but the Merchants and Skippers of Leather the Golden Ships were not much heavier then ours of Wood by reason they were neatly made and required not such thickness neither were they troubled with Pitch Tar Pumps Guns and the like which make our Woodden-Ships very heavy for though they were not all of a piece yet they were so well sodder'd that there was no fear of Leaks Chinks or Clefts and as for Guns there was no use of them because they had no other enemies but the Winds But the Leather Ships were not altogether so sure although much leighter besides they were pitched to keep out Water Having thus prepar'd and order'd their Navy they went
in the middle Region and by reason of its leightness could not go directly to the bottom but was carried by the Air up and down Some would have it a flowing Water of the Air and others again a flowing Air moved by the blaz of the Stars But the Empress seeing they could not agree concerning the cause of Wind asked Whether they could tell how Snow was made To which they answered That according to their observation Snow was made by a commixture of VVater and some certain extract of the Element of Fire that is under the Moon a small portion of which extract being mixed with Water and beaten by Air or Wind made a white Froth called Snow which being after some while dissolved by the heat of the same spirit turned to VVater again This observation amazed the Emperess very much for she had hitherto believed That Snow was made by cold motions and not by such an agitation or beating of a fiery extract upon water Nor could she be perswaded to believe it until the Fish or Mear-men had delivered their observation upon the making of Ice which they said was not produced as some had hitherto conceived by the motion of the Air raking the Superficies of the Earth but by some strong saline vapour arising out of the Seas which condensed Water into Ice and the more quantity there was of that vapour the greater were the Mountains or Precipices of Ice but the reason that it did not so much freeze in the Torrid Zone or under the Ecliptick as near or under the Poles was that this vapour in those places being drawn up by the Sun-beams into the middle Region of the Air was onely condensed into Water and fell down in showres of Rain when as under the Poles the heat of the Sun being not so vehement the same vapour had no force or power to rise so high and therefore caused so much Ice by ascending and acting onely upon the surface of water This Relation confirmed partly the observation of the Bird-men concerning the cause of Snow but since they had made mention that that same extract which by its commixture with Water made Snow proceeded from the Element of Fire that is under the Moon The Emperess asked them of what nature that Elementary Fire was whether it was like ordinary Fire here upon Earth or such a Fire as is within the bowels of the Earth and as the famous Mountains Vesuvius and AEtna do burn withal or whether it was such a sort of fire as is found in flints c. They answered That the Elementary Fire which is underneath the Sun was not so solid as any of those mentioned fires because it had no solid fuel to feed on but yet it was much like the flame of ordinary fire onely somewhat more thin and fluid for Flame said they is nothing else but the airy part of a fired Body Lastly the Empress asked the Bird-men of the nature of Thunder and Lightning and whether it was not caused by roves of Ice falling upon each other To which they answered That it was not made that way but by an encounter of cold and heat so that an exhalation being kindled in the Clouds did dash forth Lightning and that there were so many rentings of Clouds as there were Sounds and Cracking noises But this opinion was contradicted by others who affirmed that Thunder was a sudden and monstrous Blaz stirred up in the Air and did not always require a Cloud but the Empress not knowing what they meant by Blaz for even they themselves were not able to explain the seuse of this word liked the former better and to avoid hereafter tedious disputes and have the truth of the Phaenomena's of Coelestial Bodies more exactly known commanded the Bear-men which were her Experimental Philosophers to observe them through such Instruments as are called Telescopes which they did according to her Majesties Command but these Telescopes caused more differences and divisions amongst them then ever they had before for some said they perceived that the Sun stood still and the Earth did move about it others were of opinion that they both did move and others said again that the Earth stood still and the Sun did move some counted more Stars then others some discovered new Stars never seen before some fell into a great dispute with others concerning the bigness of the Stars some said The Moon was another World like their Terrestrial Globe and the spots therein were Hills and Vallies but others would have the spots to be the Terrestrial parts and the smooth and glossie parts the Sea At last the Empress commanded them to go with their Telescopes to the very end of the Pole that was joined to the World she came from and try whether they could perceive any Stars in it which they did and being returned to her Majesty reported that they had seen three Blazing-Stars appear there one after another in a short time whereof two were bright and one dim but they could not agree neither in this observation for some said It was but one Star which appeared at three several times in several places and others would have them to be three several Stars for they thought it impossible that those three several appearances should have been but one Star because every Star did rise at a certain time and appear'd in a certain place and did disappear in the same place Next It is altogether improbable said they That one Star should fly from place to place especially at such a vast distance without a visible motion in so short a time and appear in such different places whereof two were quite opposite and the third side-ways Lastly If it had been hut one Star said they it would always have kept the same splendor which it did not for as above mentioned two were bright and one was dim After they had thus argued the Empress began to grow angry at their Telescopes that they could give no better Intelligence for said she now I do plainly perceive that your Glasses are false Informers and instead of discovering the Truth delude your Senses Wherefore I Command you to break them and let the Bird-men trust onely to their natural eyes and examine Coelestial Objects by the motions of their own Sense and Reason The Bear-men replied That it was not the fault of their Glasses which caused such differences in their Opinions but the sensitive motions in their Optick organs did not move alike nor were their rational judgments always regular To which the Empress answered That if their Glasses were true Informers they would rectifie their irregular Sense and Reason But said she Nature has made your Sense and Reason more regular then Art has your Glasses for they are meer deluders and will never lead you to the knowledg of Truth Wherefore I command you again to break them for you may observe the progressive motions of Coelestial Bodies with your natural eyes better then through Artificial Glasses The
various sorts and productions of Animal Creatures I desire you to tell me what you have observed of their sensitive perceptions Truly answered they Your Majesty puts a very hard question to us and we shall hardly be able to give a satisfactory answer to it for there are many different sorts of Creatures which as they have all different perceptions so they have also different organs which our senses are not able to discover onely in an Oyster-shell we have with admiration observed that the common sensorium of the Oyster lies just at the closing of the shells where the pressure and reaction may be perceived by the opening and shutting of the shells every tide After all this the Empress desired the Worm men to give her a true Relation how frost was made upon the Earth To which they answered That it was made much after the manner and description of the Fish and Bird-men concerning the Congelation of Water into Ice and Snow by a commixture of saline and acid particles which relation added a great light to the Ape-men who were the Chymists concerning their Chymical principles Salt Sulphur and Mercury But said the Empress if it be so it will require an infinite multitude of saline particles to produce such a great quantity of Ice Frost and Snow besides said she when Snow Ice and Frost turn again into their former principle I would fain know what becomes of those saline particles But neither the Worm-men nor the Fish and Bird-men could give her an answer to it Then the Empress enquired of them the reason Why Springs were not as salt as the Sea is also why some did ebb and flow To which it was answered That the ebbing and flowing of some Springs was caused by hollow Caverns within the Earth where the Sea-water crowding thorow did thrust forward and drew backward the Spring-water according to its own way of ebbing and flowing but others said That it proceeded from a small proportion of saline and acid particles which the Spring-water imbibed from the Earth and although it was not so much as to be perceived by the sense of Taste yet was it enough to cause an ebbing and flowing-motion And as for the Spring-water being fresh they gave according to their Observation this following reason There is said they a certain heat within the Bowels of the Earth proceeding from its swift circular motion upon its own axe which heat distills the rarest parts of the Earth into a fresh and insipid water which water being through the pores of the Earth conveighed into a place where it may break forth without resistance or obstruction causes Springs and Fountains and these distilled Waters within the Earth do nourish and refresh the grosser and drier parts thereof This Relation confirmed the Empress in the opinion concerning the motion of the Earth and the fixedness of the Sun as the Bird-men had informed her and then she asked the Worm-men whether Minerals and Vegetables were generated by the same heat that is within the Bowels of the Earth To which they could give her no positive answer onely this they affirmed That heat and cold were not the primary producing causes of either Vegetables or Minerals or other sorts of Creatures but onely effects and to prove this our assertion said they we have observed that by change of some sorts of Corporeal motions that which is now hot will become cold and what is now cold will grow hot but the hottest place of all we find to be the Center of the Earth Neither do we observe that the Torrid Zone does contain so much Gold and Silver as the Temperate nor is there great store of Iron and Lead wheresoever there is Gold for these Metals are most found in colder Climates towards either of the Poles This Observation the Empress commanded them to confer with her Chymists the Ape-men to let them know that Gold was not produced by a violent but a temperate degree of heat She asked further Whether Gold could not be made by Art They answered That they could not certainly tell her Majesty but if it was possible to be done they thought Tin Lead Brass Iron and Silver to be the fittest Metals for such an Artificial Transmutation Then she asked them Whether Art could produce Iron Tin Lead or Silver They answered Not in their opinion Then I perceive replyed the Empress that your judgments are very irregular since you believe that Gold which is so fixt a Metal that nothing has been found as yet which could occasion a dissolution of its interior figure may be made by Art and not Tin Lead Iron Copper or Silver which yet are so far weaker and meaner Metals then Gold is But the Worm-men excused themselves that they were ignorant in that Art and that such questions belonged more properly to the Ape-men which were Her Majesties Chymists Then the Empress asked them Whether by their Sensitive perceptions they could observe the interior corporeal figurative Motions both of Vegetables and Minerals They answer'd That their Senses could perceive them after they were produced but not before Nevertheless said they although the interior figurative motions of Natural Creatures are not subject to the exterior animal sensitive perceptions yet by their Rational perception they may judg of them and of their productions if they be regular Whereupon the Empress commanded the Bear-men to lend them some of their best Microscopes At which the Bear-men smilingly answered her Majesty that their Glasses would do them but little service in the bowels of the Earth because there was no light for said they our Glasses do onely represent exterior objects according to the various reflections and positions of light and wheresoever light is wanting the glasses wil do no good To which the Worm-men replied that although they could not say much of refractions reflections inflections and the like yet were they not blind even in the bowels of the Earth for they could see the several sorts of Minerals as also minute Animals that lived there which minute Animal Creatures were not blind neither but had some kind of sensitive perception that was as serviceable to them as sight taste smell touch hearing c. was to other Animal Creatures By which it is evident That Nature has been as bountiful to those Creatures that live under ground or in the bowels of the Earth as to those that live upon the surface of the Earth or in the Air or in Water But howsoever proceeded the Worm-men although there is light in the bowels of the Earth yet your Microscopes will do but little good there by reason those Creatures that live under ground have not such an optick sense as those that live on the surface of the Earth wherefore unless you had such Glasses as are proper for their perception your Microscopes will not be any ways advantagious to them The Empress seem'd well pleased with this answer of the Worm-men and asked them further Whether Minerals and all
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-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
has to walk upon the Waters and to destroy whatever she pleases not onely whole Nations but a whole World The Empress expressed to her own Country-men who were also her Interpreters to the rest of the Princes that were present That she would give them an Entertainment at the darkest time of Night Which being come the Fire-Stones were lighted which made both Air and Seas appear of a bright shining flame insomuch that they put all Spectators into an extream fright who verily believed they should all be destroyed which the Empress perceiving caused all the Lights of the Fire-Stones to be put out and onely shewed her self in her Garments of Light The Bird-men carried her upon their backs into the Air and there she appear'd as glorious as the Sun Then she was set down upon the Seas again and presently there was heard the most melodious and sweetest Consort of Voices as ever was heard out of the Seas which was made by the Fish-men this Consort was answered by another made by the Bird-men in the Air so that it seem'd as if Sea and Air had spoke and answered each other by way of Singing-Dialogues or after the manner of those Playes that are acted by singing-Voices But when it was upon break of day the Empress ended her Entertainment and at full day-light all the Princes perceived that she went into the Ship wherein the Prince and Monarch of her Native Country was the King of ESFI with whom she had several Conferences and having assured Him of the readiness of her Assistance whensoever he required it telling Him withal That she wanted no Intelligence she went forth again upon the Waters and being in the midst of the Circle made by those Ships that were present she desired them to draw somewhat nearer that they might hear her speak which being done she declared her self in this following manner Great Heroick and Famous Monarchs I come hither to assist the King of ESFI against his Enemies He being unjustly assaulted by many several Nations which would fain take away His Hereditary Rights and Prerogatives of the Narrow Seas at which Unjustice Heaven was much displeased and for the Injuries He received from His Enemies rewarded Him with an Absolute Power so that now he is become the Head-Monarch of all this World which Power though you may envy yet you can no wayes hinder Him for all those that endeavour to resist His Power shall onely get Loss for their Labour and no Victory for their Profit VVherefore my advice to you all is To pay him Tribute justly and truly that you may live Peaceably and Happily and be rewarded with the Blessings of Heaven which I wish you from my Soul After the Empress had thus finished her Speech to the Princes of the several Nations of that World she desired that their Ships might fall back which being done her own Fleet came into the Circle without any visible assistance of Sails or Tide and her self being entred into her own Ship the whole Fleet sunk immediately into the bottom of the Seas and left all the Spectators in a deep amazement neither would she suffer any of her Ships to come above the Waters until she arrived into the Blazing-World In time of the Voyage both the Empress's and Duchess's Soul were very gay and merry and sometimes they would converse very seriously with each other Amongst the rest of their discourses the Duchess said she wondred much at one thing which was That since her Majesty had found out a passage out of the Blazing-World into the World she came from she did not enrich that part of the World where she was born at least her own Family though she had enough to enrich the whole World The Empress's Soul answered That she loved her Native Countrey and her own Family as well as any Creature could do and that this was the reason why she would not enrich them for said she not only particular Families or Nations but all the World their Natures are such that much Gold and great store of Riches makes them mad insomuch as they endeavour to destroy each other for Gold or Riches sake The reason thereof is said the Duchess that they have too little Gold and Riches which makes them so eager to have it No replied the Empress's Soul their particular Covetousness is beyond all the wealth of the richest World and the more Riches they have the more Covetous they are for their Covetousness is Infinite But said she I would there could a Passage be found out of the Blazing-World into the VVorld whence you came and I would willingly give you as much Riches as you desir'd The Duchess's Soul gave her Majesty humble thanks for her great Favour and told her that she was not covetous nor desir'd any more wealth than what her Lord and Husband had before the Civil-VVarrs Neither said she should I desire it for my own but my Lord's Posterities sake VVell said the Empress I 'le command my Fish-men to use all their Skill and Industry to find out a Passage into that VVorld which your Lord and Husband is in I do verily believe answered the Duchess that there will be no Passage found into that VVorld but if there were any I should not Petition your Majesty for Gold and Jewels but only for the Elixir that grows in the midst of the Golden Sands for to preserve Life and Health but without a Passage it is impossible to carry away any of it for whatsoever is Material cannot travel like Immaterial Beings such as Souls and Spirits are Neither do Souls require any such thing that might revive them or prolong their Lives by reason they are unalterable for were Souls like Bodies then my Soul might have had the benefit of that Natural Elixir that grows in your Blazing-World I wish earnestly said the Empress that a Passage might be found and then both your Lord and your self should neither want Wealth nor Long-life nay I love you so well that I would make you as Great and Powerful a Monarchess as I am of the Blazing-World The Duchess's Soul humbly thank'd her Majesty and told her That she acknowledged and esteemed her Love beyond all things that are in Nature After this Discourse they had many other Conferences which for brevity's sake I 'le forbear to rehearse At last after several Questions which the Empress's Soul asked the Duchess she desired to know the reason why she did take such delight when she was joyned to her Body in being singular both in Accoustrements Behaviour and Discourse The Duchess's Soul answered She confessed that it was extravagant and beyond what was usual and ordinary but yet her ambition being such that she would not be like others in any thing if it were possible I endeavour said she to be as singular as I can for it argues but a mean Nature to imitate others and though I do not love to be imitated if I can possibly avoid it yet rather than