Selected quad for the lemma: world_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A39865
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A discovery of new worlds from the French, made English by A. Behn.
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Fontenelle, M. de (Bernard Le Bovier), 1657-1757.; Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing F1412; ESTC R27986
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79,769
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206
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great Tourbillions remain where they did before and 't is a strange Misfortune that there shou'd be certain fixed Stars which appear to us and after a great deal of time of appearing and dis-appearing entirely vanish and are lost In that time the Half-Suns I spoke of wou'd appear again and Suns that were sunk into the Heavens wou'd dis-appear once and not to appear again for a long time Resolve well what to think Madam and take Courage there is a necessity that these Stars must be Suns which grown obscure enough to be invisible to our sight are afterwards enlightned and in the end must lie extinguished How said the Marquiese Can a Sun be obscur'd or entirely extinguish'd who is himself the Fountain of Light The most easily in the World said I Madam According to the Opinion of Des Cartes our Sun has Spots let 'em be Scum or Vapours or what else you will these Spots may condense and many of 'em may come together and form a kind of Crust which may afterwards augment and then farewel the Sun and all its Light. 'T is said we escap'd once very hardly for the Sun was grown extreamly pale for several Years together and particularly the Year after the Death of Iulius Caesar it was that Crust that began to gather and the Face of the Sun brake and dissipated it but had it continu'd we had been all undone You make me tremble said the Marquiese and now that I understand the Consequences of the paleness of the Sun I shall henceforth every Morning instead of going to my Looking-Glass to consult my own Face go and look up to the Heavens to consider that of the Sun. Madam said I be assur'd there goes a great deal of time to ruin a World. Then said she there is nothing requisite but Time. I acknowledge it Madam said I all this vast Mass of Matter which composes the Universe is in perpetual Motion from which no part of it is entirely exempt and therefore Changes must come sooner or later but always in Time proportionable to the Effect The Ancients were foolish to imagine that the Celestial Bodies were of an unchangeable Nature because they never saw any Change in 'em but they had neither Leisure nor Life long enough to undeceive themselves by Experience but the Ancients were young in respect of us Suppose now Madam that the Roses which last but for a Day shou'd write Histories and leave Memorials from one to another the first wou'd have describ'd the Picture of their Gardener of a certain manner and after fifteen thousand Ages of Roses the others that had follow'd 'em wou'd have alter'd nothing in that Description of the Gardener but wou'd have said We have always seen the same Gardener since the Memory of Roses we have seen but him he has always been as he is he dies not as we do nay he changes not and certainly will never be other than what he is Wou'd this way of arguing of the Roses be good Yet it wou'd be better grounded than that of the Ancients concerning Celestial Bodies and tho' there had never happen'd any Change in the Heavens to this Day and tho' they shou'd seem to last for ever yet I wou'd not believe it but wou'd wait for a longer Experience nor ought we to measure the Duration of any thing by that of our own scanty Life Suppose a thing had a Being a hundred thousand times longer than ours shou'd we therefore conclude it shou'd last for ever Eternity is not so easie a matter and some things must have pass'd many Ages of Men one after another before any sign of Decay had appear'd in ' em I am not so unreasonable said the Marquiese as to consider the Worlds as things eternal nor will I do them the honour to compare 'em to your Gardener who liv'd so many Ages longer than the Roses They are themselves but as a Rose which are produc'd but in a Garden that bud one Day and fall the next and as those Roses die new ones succeed so for some ancient Stars that dis-appear other new ones are born in their places and that Defect in Nature must be so repair'd and no Species can totally perish Some will tell you they are Suns which draw near to us after having been long lost in the depth of Heavens Others will say they are Suns that have cast off the Crust which began to cover them If I cou'd easily believe all this yet I shou'd believe also that the Universe was made in such a manner that new Suns have been and may be form'd in it from time to time and what shou'd hinder the Substance proper to make Suns from gathering together and producing new Worlds And I am the more inclin'd to believe these new Productions since they are more correspondent to the great Idea I have of the glorious Works of Nature And why shou'd not she who knows the Secret to bring forth and destroy Herbs Plants and Flowers in a continu'd Succession practise also the same Secret on the Worlds since one costs her no more Pains and Expence than the other Indeed says the Marquiese I find the Worlds the Heavens and the Celestial Bodies so subject to change that I am altogether returned to my self Let us return yet more said I and if you please make this subject no longer that of our Discourse besides you are arriv'd at the utmost bounds of Heaven and to tell you that there are any Stars beyond that were to make my self a wiser Man than I am place Worlds there or place none there it depends upon your Will. These vast invisible Regions are properly the Empires of Philosophers which it may be are or are not as they themselves shall fansie 'T is sufficient for me to have carried your Understanding as far as your sight can penetrate What cry'd out the Marquiese have I the Systemes of all the Universe in my Head am I become so learned Yes Madam you know enough and with this Advantage that you may believe all or nothing of what I have said as you please I only beg this as a Recompence for my pains that you will never look on the Heavens Sun Moon or Stars without thinking of me FINIS Books lately Printed for W. Canning LA Montre or The Lover's Watch by Mrs. Behn The Lucky Chance or An Alderman's Bargain A Comedy By Mrs. Behn The Island-Princess or Generous Portuguese A Comedy Altered by Mr. Tate An Historical and Geographical Account of the Morea Negropont and the Maritime Places as far as Thessalonica Illustrated with forty two Maps of the Countries Plains and Draughts of the Cities Towns and Fortifications Written in Italian by P. M. Coronelli Geographer to the Republick of Venice Englished by R. W. Gent. Gesta Grayorum or The History of the high and mighty Prince Henry Prince of Purpoole Arch-Duke of Stapulia and Bernardia Duke of High and Nether Holborn Marquis of St. Giles and Tottenham Count Palatine of Bloomsbury and Clerkenwell Great Lord of the Cantons of Islington Kentish-Town Paddington and Knights-bridge Knight of the most Heroical Order of the Helmet and Sovereign of the same Who reigned and died A. D. 1594. Together with a Masque as it was presented by His Highness's Command for the Entertainment of Q. Elizabeth who with the Nobles of both Courts was present thereat Hearing a Translation of the Plurality of Worlds was doing by another Hand the Translator had not the opportunity to supervise and correct the Sheets before they were wrought off so that several Errata have escaped The most material ones are under-written PAge 17. line 26. read Piraeum p. 20. l. 21. for Beams r. Bodies p. 21. l. 6. f. least r. last p. 28. l. 1. f. Circle r. Earth p. 29. l. ult f. Circle r. Earth p. 30. l. 13. f. every r. any p. 32. l. 1. f. as r. it s p. 34. l. 6. f. hands r. heads p. 36. l. 28. for twenty r. two or three p. 37. l. 11. for twenty r. two or three p. 38. l. 17. del to remove p. 44. l. 20. r. Diaphanous p. 48. l. 13. r. hath day p. 50. l. 21. f. certain r. say it is p. 65. l. 17. f. Waves r. Sea. l. 18. f. vessel is r. waves were p. 72. l. ult r. irregularly p. 76. l. 25. f. as a rounded r. around her p. 77. l. 2. f. Air r. one p. 85. l. 13. for Refections r. Refractions ibid. l. 25. after I do add not p. 92. l. 16. f. varieties r. vacuities p. 100. l. 20. f. easts r. lasts p. 106. l. 23. f. effects r. defects p. 109. l. 8. r. or Whirlings p. 125. l. 19. f. flying r. shining p. 147. l. 26. f. braz'd r. embarass'd p. 154. l. 8. f. face r. force or heat