w* DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The Glenn Negley Collection of Utopian Literature A j&fcnA^r > Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Duke University Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/pluralityofworldOOfont PLURALITY n OF Worlds. Written in French by the Author of the Dialogues of the Dead. : Le. i-- _____-__— — « Tranflated into Englijb By Mr. GLANV1LL. LONDON, Printed for R. W. and fold by Tho. Osboume in Grays-Inn, near the Walks, 1703. / THE PREFACE- MT C*/* « ^//^ //fo Ciccro'i n^# fe undertook to write of Philofophy , in Latine ; f/w? being then no Books up- on that Subject , but what were written in Greek : When fome told Cicero, that he would take pains to no purpofe, becaufe fuch as ftudied Philofoplry, would make ufe cf Greek Authors, and not read Latine Rooks, which treated of it but at fécond hand ; and others, who were no admirers of this Science, would never trouble their Heads with either Greek or Latine. Ci- cero reply*à, they were much miftaken ; for, faid he, the gnat eafe P top le will find in reading Latin B;>o!:s, will ttmpt thofe to be Philofphers who arc none \ and A 4 thej The Preface. they who already are Philofophers , by read- ing Greek Books , will be very glad to fee how Philofopby is handled in Latine. Cicero might with good reafon anfwer as he didy becaufe the Excellency of his Genius ', and the great Reputation he had acquired^ warranted the fuccefs of all he wrote : But in a deftgn, not 'much unlike his , I am far from having thofe grounds of Confidence which he had. My purpofe is to difcourfe of Philofopby, but net in a Philcfopbical manner ; and to raife it to fuch a pitchy that it (hall not be too dry and inftpid a Subji U to pleafe Gentlemen ; nor too mean and trifling to entertain Scbo* lars. Should I be told, (as Cicero was") that fuch a Difcourfe as this, would not pleafe the Learned, becaufe it can teach them nothing, nor the 1 lie ter ate, becaufe they will have no mind to learn J I will not anfwer as he did, It may be endea- vouring to pleafe every Body, 1 have pleased no Body; to keep the middle betwixt two Extreams is difficult ; and I believe I /ball never de (ire to put my f elf a fécond time to the like tzouble. If Tfce Preface. If this Book have the luck to be read, 1 declare to thofe who have any knowledge of natural Philofophy, that 1 do not pretend to injtrulty but only to divert them, by pre- fenting to their view in a gay and pleafing Drefs, that which they already know ; but they to whom the Subject is new, may be both diverted and injlructed: the firjl will aft contrary to my intention, if they look for Profit, and the fécond if they Jeek for nothing but Pleafure. I have chofen that part of Philofophy which is mofl like to excite Curioftty \ for what can more concern us, than to know how this World which we inhabité, is made ; and whether there be any other Worlds like it, which are alfo inhabited as this is .nd J have made ufe of this Fiction, to render the Book the more acceptable, and to give encouragement to Ladies, by the Example of one of thtir own Sex, who without any fuper 'natural parts, or tinclure of Learning, under flands what is f aid to her ; and without, any confuÇwn, rightly apprehends what Vortex's and 0- ther Worlds are : And why may not there be a Woman like this imaginary Count ef s ïfwce her Conceptions are no other t haft fitch as [he could not cbufe but have ? To penetrate into things either obfeure in themfelves, or but darkly expreffed, re- quires deep Meditation, and earnejl appli- cation of the Mind ; but here, nothing more is requifite than to read, and to print an Idea of what is read, in the Fancy, which will certainly be clear enough. 1 fhall de fire no more of the fair Ladies , than that they will read this Syjleme of Philojophy, with the fame ap.licaiion that they do a Romance or a Aovel. 'TV/ true that the Ideas of this Book are lefs fa- miliar to mojt Ladies, than thofe of Re* m am es The Preface. mances are y but they are not more obfcure ; for At mo/l, twice or thrice thinly ng y will render ^em very perfpicuous. I have not composed an aery Syfleme, which hath no foundation at all : / have made uje offome true Philofophical Argument s , and of as many as I thought neceffary ; but it falls out very luckily in this Sub- jeff, that the Phyfical Ideas are in them* fe.ves very diverting ; an J as thfy con* vince and J at is fie reafon, fb at the fame time they prefent to the Imagination a Spectacle^ which looks as if it were made on purpose to pleafe it. When I meet with any Fragments which are not of this kind y I put them into fome pretty fir ange drefs ; Virgil hath done the like in his Georgicks, when his Subject is very dry , he adorns it with pleafant digrefftous : Ovid hath done the fame in his Art of Loving ; andtho his Subject be of it felf very pleafing, yet he thought it tedious to talk of nothing but hove. My Subject hath more need of digrejfions than The Preface. than his, yet 1 have made ufe of ^em very ffaringly, and of fuch only, as the natural liberty of conversation allows ; the great* eft fart of ''em are in the beginning of the Book, becaufe the mind cannot at fir ft he fo well acquainted with the principal Ideas which are pr p fented to it ; they are taken from the Subject it j 'elf or are as near to it as is pojjible. J have fancfd nothing concerning the Inhabitants of the many Worlds, which is wholly fabulous \ J have faid all that can be reajonably thought of them, andtheVifi- ens which I have added, have fome real- foundation ; what is true, and what isfalfe are mingled together, but foas to be cafily diftwguefhed: I will not undertake to ju* f/ifie Jo fantafiical and odd a Compofttion, that is the principal point of the Work, and for which 1 can give no very goodreafon.. [here remains no more to be [aid in this V raj ace. \but to a fort of People who perhaps will not be eafily fatisfied ; not but that 1 have good reajons to give 7 em, but becaufe The Preface. becaufe the befl that can be given ', will not content y em ; they are thofe [crapulous Per* fons, who imagine, that the placing inhabit tant s any where , but upon the Earth , will prove dangerous to Religion : 1 know how exceffively tender fome are in Religious Matters, and therefore I am very unwiU ling to give any offence in what I publi(h to People, whoje opinion is contrary to that I maintain : But Religion can receive no prejudice by my Syfteme, which fills an in* finity of Worlds with Inhabitants^ if a little err our of the Imagination be but re* ftifyed. When "*tis faid the Moon is In* habited, fome presently fancy that there are fuch Men there , as we are ; and Church Men, without any more ado, think him an Atheift, who is of that opinion* None of Adam'j Pofterity ever travePd Jo far as the Moon, nor were any Colo- nies ever fent thither ; the Men then that are in the Moon, are not the Sons of Adam : And here again Theology would be puzled, if there fbould be Men 4ny where that never defcended from him s To fay no more % this is the great difficulty T. he Preface. difficulty to which all others may be re- duced, to clear it by a . larger explanation, I mufl make ufe of Terms which deferve greater refpect, than to be put in'o a Pamphlet^ fo trivial, ana fo far from be- ing ferions as this is ; but perhaps there is no need of anfvering the Objection, for it concerns no boiy but the Men in the Moon ; and I never yet faii there are Men there ; if any ask , what the Inhabitants there are , if the) be not Men ? all 1 can fay is, that J never f aw them ; and tis not becaufe I have fee n 'em, that I [peak of em : Let none now think that I Jay there are no Men in the Moon, pur po fly to avoid the Objecti- on made again ft me ; for it appears ^tis impofjible there (h ou Id be any Mtn there, according to that Idea I have framed of that infinite diver ftty and variety, which is to be objerved in the works of Nature ; This Lie a runs through the whole Book, ana cannot be contradicted by any Philo- fopher : And to think there may be more Worlds than one, is neither againjl Rea- Jbn 7 or Scripture, If Qodglorifyed him- felf The Freface. (elfin making one World, the more Worlds be made, the greater mufi be his Glory \ But I do not declare theje Ideas to be Ar- ticles oj n/y tarth; nhen 1 do, I hope I fhall have the fame Liberty as the reft of my Neighbours. ( • ) A PLURALITY F O U would have me, Sir, give you an exaâ account, how [ pafi'd my time in the Country^ at the Countcfs of D /, Are youfenfible fuch an éxadt Account will amount to a Volume ? Nay (what is vvorfëj a Volume of Philofophy ? I know you expeft another kind of En- tertainment, Dancing, Gaming, Hun- ting, é-c. but you muft take up with' Vortex's, Planets, and New World*; thefe were the Subject of our Conver- fatiori. And by good luck yoiï aïe a B Philo^ 2 A Plurality of Worlds. Philofopher, fb that it will be no great difappointment, nay, I fancy, you will be pkasM, that! have brought over the Countefs to our Party, we could not have gatn'd a more confidcrable Perfon, for Youth and Beauty are ever ineftima- ble : If Wifdom would appear with fuc- cefs to Mankind, Do you think (he would not do well to takecupon her the Perfon of the Countefs ? And yet was her Company but half lb agreeable, all the World would run mad afterWildom But tho' I tell you all the diicourfe I had with the Lady, you mud not expedt Miracles from me. It is impollible with- out her Wit, to exprefs but what (lie ftid, in the fame manner fhefpake it: For my part, I think her very Learned, from the great difpofition (he hath to Learning. Is it a poring upon Books that makes a Man of underftanding ? I know many that have done nothing elfe, and yet I fancy are not one tittle the Wifer : But perhaps you expeft, before I enter upon my Subjcft, I fhould de- fcribe the Ladys Houfe, with all its Situa- tion, A Fhirality of Worlds. g tïbn,many great Palaces have been turn- ed infide outward upon far left occafion: But Ï intend to fave you and my (elf that labour, let it fuflice, that I tell yen, Ï found no Company with the Coun- ted, and I was not at al! dîfpleafèd ivitK K$ the twa firft days drain'd fee of all th?News î brought fvnm Loncloh.whzX I now (end you is the reft of our Cori* verfatidn, which I will divide into fo many parts, as we were Evenings toge- ther. The Firft Evening. E went one Evening: after Supper, to Walk in the Park, the Air was extremely refre(hing,becaufe that day had been very lint 5 the Moon had been up about an hour, and as (he (hone between theTrees.madean agree- ble mixture of Light and Darknefs J the Stars were in all their Glory, and not a Gloud appear'd on the AzareSky •> I was B 2 mu- 4 A Plurality of Worlds. nuifing on this awful Profpeft, but who can think long of the Mocn and Stars in the Company of a Pretty Woman / lam muchmiftaken if that's a time for Contemplation ; Well Madam, faid I ta the Countefs, is not the Night as plea- la nt as the Day ? The Day, faidfhe, like a fair Beauty, is clear and dazling 5 but the Night, like a brown Beauty, more foft and moving.Youare Generous Ma- dam, I reptyed, to prefer the Brown.You that have all the Charms that belong to the Fair : But is there any thing more Beautiful in Nature than the Day ? The Heroines of Romances are generally fair, and that Beauty nvuft be perfect, which hath all the advantages of imagi- nation. Tell not me, faid fie, ofperfeft Beauty, nothing can be fo that is not moving. But iince you talk of Roman- ces, why do Lovers in their Songs and Eiegiesaddrefs themlèlves to the Night? Tis the Night, Madam, faid J, that crowns their Joys, and therefore de- fcrves their thanks. But us the Night, faid fie, that hears their Complaints, and A Plurality of Worlds. c; and how comes it to pals, the day is Co little trufted with their fcciets t \ con- fefs, Madam , fatd I , the night hath fomewhat a more melacholy Air, than theday 5 we fancy the Stars march more fi'entiv than the Sun, and our thoughts wander with the more liberty, whilft we think all the World at reft but our (elves :Befid es the day is more uniform, we fee nothing but the Sun, and light in the Firmament ; whilft the night gives us variety of Ob jeft?, and (hews us ten thoufind Stavs, which iripire ns with as many pleafant Ideas. YVhat you fay is true, faidjhcj I love the Stars, there is fomewhat charming in them, and I could âlmoftbe angry with the Sun for effacing \?m. Ï can never pardon him A cried, for keeping all thofe worlds from my fight : What Worlds, jaid fie, looking ear- nestly upon me, what worlds do you En< an ? I beg your pirdon, Madam, [aid L yon have put me upon my follv, and I beg n to rave : what Folly, faidflye y I dilcover none? Alas, fed I, [am afharo'd, ^B 3 I 6 A F Ural i ty of Worlds. I m uft own it, I have had a ftrong fancy every Star is a World. I will not (wear it is true, but mull think fo, be- cause it is fo pleafant to believe it s ' lis a fancy come into my head, arid is very diverting. If your folly be fo diverting, jaid the Conntejs^ Pray make me lenfible of it 5 provided the pleafurë befo great, I will belive of the Stan all you would have me. It is 3 faid 7, a diver (ion, Madam, I fear you will not reliih, 'tis not like one of Molkre*s Plays, 'tis a Pleafiire rather or the fancy than of the Judgment. I hope, replyed J/jc^yoxx do not think me incapable of it^teach me your Stars, I will fliew you the contra- ry. No, No, I rep'jccl, it (hall never belaid I was talking Philofophv at ten of the Clock at Night,to the moft amia- ble Creature in the World, find your Philosophers fomewhere elfe. But in vain I excu'ied my ft If, who couid refift ib many Charms ? I was fprcd to yield, and yet I knew noc where to begin 5 for to a Perfbn who under ftood nothing of Natural Philo- fbpfjy A Plurality of Worlds. y phy you mnft go a great way about to prove that the Earth may be a Planet, the Planets fo many Earths, and all the Stars worlds ; however to give her a general Notion of Philofophy, I at laft refblved on this method. All Philofo- phy, /aid /, Madam, h founded upon two things, either that we are too (liort fignted, or that we are too curious 5 for if our eyes were better than they are, we (hould foon fee whether the Stars were worlds or not.} and if on the other fide we werelefs curious wc (hould not care whether the Stars are Worlds or not, which I think is much to the dime purpofe. But the Bufinefs is we have a mind to know more than we fee/ And again, if we could difcernwell what wc do iee,it would be fo much known to us : But we fee things quite other wifè than they nre. So that your true Ph'ilofbpher will not believe what he doth See, and is always conjefturing at what he doth rot, which h a Life I think not much to beenvy'd : Upon thi i J I fancy to my (elf, that Nature very much reitrribleth an B 4 Op< , 8 A Flurality cj Worlds. Opera,where y ou {ïan^,you do notfee the Stage as really it is ; but it is placed with advantage, and al! the Wheels and Move- ment:; arehid,to roajietheïvtrrefèntation the more agreeable ; Nor do you trouble your felf how, or by what means the Machines are moved, tho certainly an Engineer in the Pit is affe&ed with what doth not touch you; he is pleas'd with the motion, and is demonftrating to hirnfelf bn what it depends,and how it comes to jpafs.This Engineer then is like a Philofo- pher,rho ? the circuity fe greater on thé Fhilofophers part, the Machines of the Theatre being nothing (b curious as thofe of Nature, which difpoftth her Wheels and Springs (b out of fight,that we have been long a gueiîing at the movement of thç Univer/e. Suppofe then the Sages at an Opera, the Pytkigoras's, the Plato% the Ur?ftrtle% and all the Wife Men who haw made fuch a noifè in the World, for thefe many Ages : We will ftppofe 'em at the Representation oiPlacton> where they fee the aipiri.bg Youth lifted up by the* WindSj but do not difcover the Wires A Plurality of Worlds. 9 Wires by which he mounts, nor know they any thing of what is done behind the Scenes. Would you have all thefè Philofophers own themielves to be ftark Fools, and confetè ingenuoufly they know not how it comes to pals : No, no, they are not called Wife Men for no- thing 5 tho\ let me tell you, moft of their Wifdom depends upon the ignorance of their. Neighbours. Every man pre- fently gives his opinion, and how im- probable foever, there are fools enough of all forts to believe 'cm : One tells you Phaeton \s drawn up bv a hidden Magne- tick Vertue, no matter where it lies 5 and perhaps the grave Gentleman will take pet, if you ask him the Queftion. Anor ther fays, Phaeton is compofed of certain Numbers that make him mount 5 and after all the Philoiopher knows no more of thcle numbers than a fucking Child of Algebra : A third tells you, Phaeton hath a (ecret love for the top of the Theatre, and like a true lover cannot be at reft out of his Miftrefles Company with an hundred fuch extravagant fan- ties ï o A Plurality of Worlds. cies, that a Man mud conclude the Old Sages were very good Banterers : But now comes Monfieur Defcartes^ with lome of the Moderns, and they tell you Phaeton afcends becaule a greater weight than he defcends 5 (o th.it now we do not believe a Body can move without it is puftied and forced by ano* ther body, and as it were drawn by Cords, fo that nothing can rife or fall but by the means of a Counterpohe^he then that will fee Nature reallv as fhe b f muft (land behind the Scenes at the O- pera. I perceive, /aid the Cowitefs, Phi - lofophy is now become very Mechanical. So Mechanical, faid /, that I fear we (hall quickly be aftiamedof it 5 they will have the World to be in great, what a Watch is in little 5 which is very regular and depends only upon the juft difpofing Of the feveral parts of the movement. But pray tell me, Madam, had you not formerly a more fublime Idea of the Univerfè? Do you not think you did then honour it more than it deferved ? For moft have the lefs efteem of it fince they A Plurality of Worlds, \ t they have pretended to know it. lam not of their opinion, f aid fie, I value it the more fince I know it rtfembles a Watch, and the whole order of Na- ture the more plain and eafie it is,tome it appears the more admirable, I know not, laid I, who hath in- fpir'd you wich thefè Polid Nouons, but I am certain there are few that have them befides your (elf, People general- ly admire what they do nor compre- hend, they have a Veneration for Ob- fcurityv and lock upon Nature while they do not andcrftand her, as a kind of Magickj and defpife h.;r below Le- gerdemain, when once they are ac- quainted with her 5 but I find you, Madam, fo much better difpofèd, that I have nothing to do but to draw the Curtain, and (hew you the World. That then which appears fartheft from the Earth, (where we refide) is called the Heavens, that Azure Firmament where tha Stars are faftned like fo many Nails, and are call'd fix'd, be- caufe they ieera to have no other Mo- tion î 2 A Plurality of Worlds. tion than that of their Heaven, which carries them with it felf from Eaft to Weft. Between the Earth and this great Vault (as I may call it) hang at different heights the Sun, and the Moon, with the other Stars, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, whicn we call the Planets $ thefe Planets, not being faftned to the fame Heaven, and having very unequal Motions, have di- vers Afpe&s and Pofition?. Whereas the fix'd Stars in refpeft to one ano- ther, are aWa\s in the faille Scituatiod for Example, Charles Wain which is compos'd of thofe feven Stars, hath been and ever will be as it now is, tho'the Moon is fometimes nearer to the Sun, and fometimes farther from it, and fo it is with the reft of the Planets. Thus things appeared to the Old CaUaan Shepherds, whofe great leifure did produce thefe firft Obfer- vations, which have fince been the foundation of Aftronomy , for Aftro- nomy had its Birth in Cald£a, as Geo- metry was born in Egypt, where the Inun- A Plurality of Worlds. 15 Inundation of the Nile confounding the bounds of their Fields, was anoccafi- on of their inventing exafter Meafures to diftinguifti every ones Land from that of his Neighbour. So that Aftro- nomy was the Daughter of Idlenefs, Geometry the Daughter of Intereft ; and if we did but examine Poetry, we fhould certainly find her the Daughter of Love. I am glad, faid the Lady, I have learnt the Genealogy of the Sciences, and am convinced I muft ftick to A- ftroncmy, my Soul is not mercenary enough for Geometry, nor is it tender enough for Poetry 5 but I have as much time to fpare 3 s Aftronorny requires, beiîde, we are now in the Country, and lead a kind of Paftoral Life, all which fuits beft with Aftronorny. Do not deceive your felf, Madam, /aid J, 'tis not a true Shepherds life to talk of the Stars and Planets : See if they pais their time fo in Ajlrœa. That fort of Shepherds Craft, replyed fie, is too dangerous for me to learn : J love the honeft 14 ATlnralHy of Worlds* honed Caldœws^ and you mufr teach me their Rules, if you would have me improve m their Science. But let us proceed, When they had ranked the Heavens in tfeat mmner you tell mc, pray, what is the next Queftion ? The next, /aid /, is the diipofing the f. ve- ra! parts of the Univerle, which the Learned call, making a Syfteme j but before I expound the fir ft Syfteme, I would have you o'b'fèrve, we are all na- turally like that Mad man at Athens, who fancy M all the Ships were his,' that came into the Port Pjr&tna : Nor is our Folly left extravagant, we be- lieve all things in Nature defign'd for our ufe 5 and do but ask a Philosopher, to what purpofe there is that prodigi- ous company of fixed Stars, when a far lefs number would perform the fèrvice they do us ? He anfwers coldly, they were made to pleafe our Sight. Up- on this Principle they imagined the Earth refted in the Centre of the Uni- verfc, while all the Celeftial Bodies (which were made for it) took the pains A Plurality of Worlds. i $ pains to turn round to give light to it. They placed the Moon above the Earth, Mercury above the Moon, after Venus i the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, above all thele they fet the Heaven of fixed Stars, the Earth was juft in the middle of thofe Circles which contain the Planets, and the greater the Cir- cles were, they were the farther di- ftan' from the Earth, and by confe- quence the fartheft Planets took up the moft time in finifhing their courfe, which in effeft is true : but why, [aid the Countefs. interrupting me, do you diflike this S\ fteme : It feems to me very Clear and Intelligible. However, Msahmjaid 1 9 I will make it plainer 5 for fhould I give it you as it came from \ J tolomey its Author, or fome other who have fince ftudied it, I (hould fright you, I fancy, inftead of diverting you. Since the Motions of the Planets are not fo regular, but that fometimes they go fafter, fometimes flower, fome- times are nearer the Earth, and fome- times farther from it 3 the Ancients did 1 6 A Plurality df Worlds, did invent Ï do not know how many Orbs or Circles involved one within another, which they thought would falve all Objedions $ this confufion of Cir- cles was fo great, that at that time when they knew no better, a certain King of Arragon, a great Mathematician, but not much troubled with Religion, laid, That had God confuhed him rvhai Be made tie World, he would have told him haw to have framed it better, Tht fan- cy was very Atheiftical, and no doubt the Inftriictiohs he would have given the Almighty, was the fuppreffing thole Circles with which they had cloged the Celeftial Motions, and the taking away two or three fuperflûôus Heavens which they placed above the fixed Stars 5 for thefè Philosophers to explain the Mo- tion of the Celeftial Bodies, had above the uppermoft Heaven (which we fee,) found another of Cryftal, to influencé and give Motion to the inferiour Hea- vens: and wherever they heard of a- nother Motion, they preiently clapp'ct up a Cryftal Heaven Which coft 'em nothing» À Plurality of Worlds. i j nothing; But why muft their Heaven be of Cryftal, faidthc Comtefs, would nothing elfe ferve as well ? No, no, 7 replyed, nothing fo well 5 for the Light was to come thro' them, and yet they were to be fblid. Ariftotle would have it at laft come Mats, Ju- piter, Saturn, in the fame order I name 'em, fo that Saturn hath the greateft circle round the Sun, which is the realbn he is a longer time in making his R.evo~ lutionthan any of the other Planets. And the Moon, you have forgot her, faid (he : We (hall quickly find her zgam,faid /, the Moon turns round the Earth, and doth not leave her,but as the Earth ad- vanceth in the Circle, which (he describes about the Sun, and if the Moon turns round the Sun, it is becaufè (he will not quit the Earth 5 I underftand you, /aid (Ik\ and 1 love the Moon for flaying with us when all the other Planets do abandon us 3 nay I fear your German would have willingly taken her away too, A Plurality of Worlds. 2 1 too if he could, for in all his proceedings, I find he had a great fpight to the Earth! Twas well done of him, ft id I, to abate the Vanity of Mankind, who had taken up the bed place in the Univerfe, and it pleafeth me to fee the Earth in the crouds of the Planets. %ax^faidjhe h vou do not think their Vanity extends it felf as far as Aftronomy ! Do you believe you have humbled me, in telling me the Earth goes round the Sun ? For my part I do not think my felf at all the worfe for't. Iconfcfs, [aid I, Madam, I be- lieve a fair Lady would be much more concern'd for her place at a Ba!l,than for her rank in the Univerfe 5 and the Pre- cedence of two Plmets will not make half fuch a noifein the World, as that of two Ambafladonrs } however the fame inclination which reigns at a Ceremony, governs in a Syfteme,and if you love the uppermofi: place in the one, the Philofo- pher dtfires the Centre in the other} he flatters himfelf that all things were made for him, and infenfibly believes a matter of pure fpeculation to be a point of Inte- C 3 reft 22 A Plurality of Worlds. reft. This is a Calumny, faidjhe, you have invented againft Mankind $ *#by did they receive this Syfteme if it .as Co abafing ? Ï know not, faid I, but I am fure Copernicus hirnielf diftrufted the (uc- cefs of his opinion, he was a long time before he would venture to publifli it, nor had he done it then without the im- portunity of his Friends. But do you know what became of him ? the very day they brought him the firft Proof of his Book, he dy'd 5 he forefaw he (hould never be able to clear ail the Contradidi- ons,and very vvïfcfly flipt out of the way, I would be juft to all the World, fat d the Countefs 5 but 'tis hard to fancy we move and* yet fee we do not change our place $ we find our (elves in the Morning where we lay down at Night .' Perhaps you will tell me the whole Earth moves-— Yes cer- tainly, /aid J, it is the (àme cale as if you fell aileep in a Boat upon the River, when you awake you find your (elfin the (àme place, and the (àmefituationin re(pe& of all the^parts of the Boat. Tis true, Jherepljed, but here's a great diffe- rence A Plurality of Worlds. 23 rencc, when I awake I find another (hoar andWîat (hows me,my Boat hath changed place. But 'tis not the fame with the Earth, I find all things as I left 'em. No no, [aid J, there is another (hoar too 3 You know that beyond the Circles of the Planets are fixed Scars, there is our (hoar I am upon the Earth ,and the E trch makes a great Circle round the Sun, I look for the Centre of the Circle and fie the Sun there, I then direct my fight beyond the Sun in a right Line, and fhould certainly difcover the fixed Stars which anfwer to the Sun, but that the light of the Sun effaceth 'em : But at Night I eatily per- ceive the Stars which correlponded with him in the day, which is exaftiy the fame thing 5 if the Earth did not change its place in the Circle where it is, I (hould fee the Sun always againft the fame fixed Stars, but when the Earth doth change its place, the Sun muft anf- fwer to other Stars and there again is your Shoar which is always changing. And feeing the Earth makes her Circle in a year, I fee the Sun likewifè in the C 4 (pace 24 A Plurality of Worlds. fpace of a year anfwer fucceffively to the whole Circle of the fixed Stars,, which Circle is called the Zodiack : I will draw you the Figure of it, if you pleafe, on the Sand? 'Tis no matter, fed y&e, I can do well enough with- out it 5 befide, it will give an Air of Learning to my Park which I would not have in it .* For Ï have heard of a certain Philofbpher, who being ShipwrackM,and caft upon an unknown Ifland, feeing fèveral Mathematical Fi- gures traced on the Sea Shore, cry'd out to thofe that followed him, Courage, Courage, my Companions, the Hie is inhabited, behold the footftepsof Men: But you may fpare your Figures, fiich Footfteps are not decent here. I confeis , faid I , Madam , the footfteps of Lovers would better be- come this Place 5 that is, your Name and Cypher grav'd on the Trees by your Adorers. Tell not me, /aid/lie, of Lovers and Adorers, I am for my beloved Sun and Planets. But how comes it to pafs that the Sun as to the fixed A Plurality of Worlds. 2 «J fixed Stars compleats his courte butin a year, and yet goes over our Heads every day ? Did you never, I replyed^ obfèrve a Bowl on a Bowling Green? It runs towards the Block, and at the lame time turns very often round it felf fo that the parts which were above are below, and thofe which were below are above s juft fo it is with the Earth, at the fame time that (he advanceth on the Circle which in a years ipace fhe makes round the Sun, in twenty four hours the turns round her felf s fothat in rwenty four hours every part of the Earth loofeth the Sun, and recovers him again, and av it turns towards the Sun, it teems zo rife a and as it turns from him, ic teems to fall. It is very plea- fant, faidjhe 9 that the Earth muft take all upon her felf, and the Sun do no- thing. And when the Moon, the other Planets, and the fixed Stars teem to go over our heads every twenty four hours, you'll fay that too is only Fan- cy.^ Pure Fancy, [aid i, which pro- ceeds from the fame caufè, for the Pla- nets 2 6 A Plurality of Worlds. nets compleat their courfes round the Sun at unequal times, according to their unequal diftanees, and that which we fee to day anfwer to a certain Point in the Zodiack or Circle of the fixed Stars, to morrow we fee anfwer to a- nother point, becaufe it is advanced on its own Circle as well as we are ad- vanced upon ours. We move, and the Planets move too, which muft make a great alteration 5 (b that what feems irregular in the Planets, proceeds only from our motion, when in truth they are all very regular : I will fuppofè'em fo, [aid the Countefs^ but I would not have their regularity put the Earth to fo great trouble 3 methinks you exa (he atifwered, fhe began to be accuftomed toit, and that fhehad flept as well as Copernicus himfelf : Soon after there came fome Neighbours to dine with her, but they went away in the Eve- ning 5 (b that after Supper we walk'd a- gain into the Park, and immediately fell upon our Syftemes. She (b weil con- ceived what I told her the Night be- fore, that (he defired I would proceed without any repitition. Well, Madam, /aid J, Since the Sun, which is now immoveable, hath left off being 9 Pla- net 5 and theE arth which turns round him is now become one, you will not befurprized when you hear that the Moon is an Earth too, and that (he is inhabited as ours is, I confefs, faidflye^ I have often heard talk of the World in the Moon, but I always lpoked upon it as Vifionary and raeer Fancy. And it may befb tVill, faid £ I am in this ca£ as People in a Civd War, where the urn certainty of what may happen makes em hoir! intelligence with the oppofitç D 7 rzxxif 3 6 À plurality of Worlds. Party; For tho' I verily believe the Moon is inhabited, I live civilly with thole who do not believe it 5 and I am fas fome honeft Gentlemen in point of ReligionJ) (till ready to embrace the prevailing opinion, but till the Un- believers have a more confiderable Ad* vantage , I am for the People in the Moon. Suppofe there had never been any Communication between London and Greenwich^ and a Cockney who was ne- ver beyond the Walls of London^ faw Greenwich from the top of a Pyramid; you ask him if he believes Greenwich is Inhabited as London is ? He preiently anfwers, No 5 for faith he , I fee People at London^ but none at Greenwich 5 nor did I ever hear of any there ; 'Tis true, you tell him, that from the Pyramid he cannot perceive any Inhabitants atGreen- wid\ becaufe of the diftanee •> but all that he doth difcover of Greenwich very much refembleth what he fèes at Lon- don, the Steeples, Houfes, Walls 5 fbthat it may very well be Inhabited as London is; A plurality of Worlds 37 is 5 all this lénifies nothing, my Cock- ney ftill perfifts Greenwich is not inha- bited, becaufehe fees no body there. The Moon is our Greenwich, and every- one of us as meer Cockneys as he that never was out of the found of Bow- Bell. You are too fevere, faidjbe 7 up- on your fellow Citizens ^ we are nor all iure fo filly as your Cockney =, fince Greenwich is jiift as London is, he is a Fool if he doth not think it inhabited .- But the Moon is not at all like the Earth. Have a care of what you fay, I reply cd^ for if the Moon refembleth the Earth, you are under a neceility to believe it inhabited. Ifit be fo, Jaid fie, i own I cannot be diipens'd from bdievingit, and youfeem fo confident ot it, that I fear I muft, whether I will or no. ' Hs true, the two Motions of the Earth, (which I could never Imagine till now) do a little dagger me as to all the red, But yet how is it poffible the Earth (hould enlighten as the Moon doth, without which they cannot be alike ? If that be all, [aid h the difference is D 2 not 58 A Plurality of Worlds. not great, for 'tis the Sun which is the fole Fountain of Light 5 that Quality proceeds only from him, and if the Pla- nets give Light to us, it is becaufe they firft receive it from the Sun 5 the Sun iends Light to the Moon, and (he re- flects it back on the Earth 5 the Earth in the fame manner receives Light from the Sun, and (ends it to the Moon ; for the Diflance is the fame between the Earth and the Moon, as between the Moon and the Earth. But is the Earth fa/d the Countefs, as fit to (end back the Light of the Sun as the Moon is £ You are altogether for the Moon, jaid J, (he is much obliged to you , but you muft know that Light is made up of certain little BpIIs, which rebound from what isfolid, but pafs through what ad- mits of an entrance in a right Line, as Air or Glafs:Sothat, that which makes the Moon enlighten us, is that (he is. a Firm and (olid Body, from which the little Balls rebound 3 and we muft deny our Senfës, if we will not allow the Earth the fame Solidity ; in fhort, the difference A Plurality of Worlds. 39 difference is how we are featecf, for the Moon being at fo vaft a diftance from us, we can only difcover her to be a Body of Light, and do not perceive that fheisagreat Mifs, altogether like the Eirth .• Whereas on the contrary, becaufe we are fo near the Eirth, we know her to be a great Mafs, but do not difcover her to be a Body of Light, for want of the due diftance: It is jaft (b with us all, faid the Comtefs, we are dazled with the Quality and Fortune of thofe who are above us, when, do but look to the Bottom and we are all a- like. Very true, faid I, we would jadge of all things, but 0: ill ftand in the wrong place 3 we are too near to j ulge of our (elves, and too far off to know others : So that th; true way ti fee things as they are is to be between the Moon and the Earth, to be purely a Spe&ator of this World, and not an In- habitant. I (hal! never be lattery Vî faid Jhe, tor the Injultice we do the Eirch, and the two favourable opinion we have D 4 oF j^q A Plurality of Worlds. of the Moor, till you affure me th^t the People in the Moon are as little ao quainted wjth their Advantages, as wç are with ours, and th?t they take our Earth for a Planet, without knowing theii sis one too. Do not doubt it, faia I, we appear to them to perform very regularly our funftion of a Planet: 'lis true, they do not fee us make a. Circle round them, but that is no great mat- ter. That half of the Moon which was turn'd towards us at the beginning of the World, hath been turn'd towards us ever fince 5 the Eyes, Mouth and Face which we have fancy ed of the Spots in her, are dill the fame, and if the other pppofite hajf fhpuld appear to us, \ve iliould no doubt fancy another Figure from the different fpots that are in it : Not but that the Moon turns upon her '{elf, and in the lame time that (lie turns round the Earth, that is in a Month 5 but while fhe is making that turn upon her felf, and that (lie fnould hid a cheek for pxample and appear fbmewhat elle :ous, (he makes a like part of her Circle round Aphtrality of Worlds. 41 round rhe Earth, and ftill prefènts to us the fame Cheek 5 fo that the Moon, who in refpeft of the Sun and Stars turns round her felÇ in refpeft of us doth not turn at all 5 they fecm to her to rife and fet in the (pace of fifteen days 5 but for our Earth, it appears to her to be held up in the fame place of the Hea- vens : 'Tistrue, this apparent Immobi- lity is not very agreeable for a Body which fhould pafs for a Planet, but it is not altogether perfefr, the Moon hath a kind of trembling, which cauiètha little corner of her face to be fometimes hid from us, and a little corner of the pppofite half appears } butthenupon my word (he attributes that trembling tous, and fancys that we have in the Heavens the motion of a Pendulum^which vibrates to and fro. I find, faith the Countefs, the Planets are juft like us 5 we caft that upon o- thers which is iu our (elves 3 the Earth faith, yfis not I that turit 9 'tis the Sun $ the Moon faith, 'tis not I that fliakl* tis the Earth $ there is a great deal of errour 4 2 À Plurality of Worlds. errour every where. Eut I would not advife you, Jaid 7, to undertake the reforming it ; you had better convince your (elf of the entire refemblance of the Earth and the Moon : Imagine then thefe two great Bowls held up in the Heavens, jo.i know that the Sun always enlightens the one half of a Bo- dy that is round, and the other half is in the Shadow ; there is then onehalf of theEarth and one half of the Moon which is enlightned by the Sun } that is, which hath Day, and the other half which is Night. Obferve alfo that as a Ball hath lefs force after it hath been ftrudl: againfl a Wall which (ends it to the other fide, fb Light is weakned when it is reflected. This Pale Light which comes to us from the Moon, is the very Light of the Sun, but it can- not come to us from the Moon but by reflection 3 it hath loll much of the f >rce and luftre it had when ic came directly from the Sun upon the Moon ; and that bright Light which fhines dirraly upon us from the Sun-, and which the Earth rcflefo A Plurality of World s. 43 reflefts upon the Moon, is as pile and weak when it arrives there $ fo that th: Light which appears to us in the Moon, and which enlightens our Nights, is the parts of the Moon which have Day, and that part of the Earth which hath Day, when it is oppofite to the part of the Moon which hath Night, gives Light to it : All depends upon how the Moon and the Earth behold one another. At the beginning of the Month we do not fee the Moon, be- caule (lie is between the Sun and us 3 that half of her which hath Day, is then turned toward the Sun, and that half which hath Night, turned towards us 5 we cannot fee it then, becaufe it hath no Light upon it 5 but that half of the Moon which hath Night, being turned to the half of the Earth, which hath Day, fees us without being per- ceiv'd, and we then appear to them juft as the full Moon doth to us $ fo that, a$: I may fay, the People of the Moon have then a full Earth 5 but the Moon being advanced upon her Circle of 44. A Plurality oj World s. of a Month, comes from under the Sun and begins to turn towards us a little corner of the half which is Light , there's the Crefcent $ then thofe parts of the Moon which have Night do not Fee all the half of the Earth which hath Day, and we are then in the Wayn to them. I comprehend you very well, /aid the Comtefs, the People in the Moon have a Month quite contrary to us ; when we have a full Moon.their half of the Moon which is Light is turned to our half of the Earth which is dark § they do not lèe us at all, and they have then a new Earth, this is plain. But now tell me how come the Eclipfès:' You may eafily guefs that, faid L when it is new Moon, that (lie is between the Sun and us, apd all her dark half is turned towards us who have Light, that obfeure fhadow is caft upon us, if the Moon be direftly under the Sun, that fhadow hidshim from us and at the fame time obicures a part of that half of the Earth which ïkliçht, which was fecn by that half of A Plurality of Worlds. 4Ç of the Moon which was dark, here then is an Eclipfe of the Sun to us during our Day, and an Ecliple of the Earth to the Moon during her Night, When it is full Moon, the Earth is between her and the Sun, and all the dark half of the Earth is turned towards all the light half of the Moon } the Qiadow then of the Earth cafts it fèlf towards dît Moon, and if it falls on the Moon, ic obfeures that light half which we fee. which hath then Day, and hinders the Sun from (hining on it .• Here then is an Eclypfe of the Moon to u« during our Night and an Eclypfe of the Sun to the Moon during her day : But the reafon that we have not Eclypfes every time that the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth, or the Earth between the Sun and the Moon, is, becaufe thefe three Bodies are not exactly placed in a right Line, and by Confluence that that fhould make the Eclypfe, cafts its fhadow a little be- fide chat which fhould be obfeured, âç6 A Plurality of Worlds* Iamfurprized, faidthe Comtefs, that there fhould be fo little myftery in E- clipfes,and that the whole World fhould not know the caufe of 'em. Nor never will, faid J, as fotne People go about it. In the Eaft Indies, when the Sun and the Moon are in Eclipfè, they be- lieve a certain Devil who hath black Claws is feifing on thofe Planets with his Talons, and during that time the Rivers are covei'd with the Heads of Indians^ who are up to the Neck in Water becaufe they efteem it a very devout Pofturc, to implore the Sun and the Moon to defend themfèlves againft the Devil* In America they areperfua- dedthat the S m and the Moon, when Eclipfed, are angry, and what is it they will not do to be reconciled with them ? The Greeks^ who were fo refined, did they not believe the Moon was enchant- ed, and that the Magicians forced htr todefcend from Heaven,and died a dan- gerous juice on the Plants \ Nay , in whatapânnick fear were we inarove thirty years ago at an Eclipfè of the Sun? A Plurality of Worlds. 47 £un > How many People hid themfelves in their Cellars, and all the Philcfo- phers of Grefoam could not perfwade them to come out till the Eclipfe was over? Methinks, fauljhe, 'tis (candalous for Men tobefuchCoyvards } there ought to be a general Law of Mankind to prohibit the diicouifing ofEclipfes, that we might net call to mind the Follies that have been laid and done upon rhat Subjed. Your Law then, [aid /, mult aboliCh even the memory of all things, and forbid us to fpeak at all, for I know nothirgin the World which is not a Mo- nument of the folly of Man. But what do you think, fvcifhc, of the People in the Moon, are they as a- fraid of an Eclipfe as we are ? It would be very burlefque for the Indians there to be up to the neck in Water j that the AntiYicéLns Inould believe the Earth angry with them \ the Greeks fancy we were bewitched,and would deftroy their Plants 5 in fhort, that we fhould caufe the fame Confternation among them.as they 48 A Plurality of Wùtldt. they do here. And why not, faidl> I do not doubt it at all J for why (hould the People of the Moon have more Wit than we? What right have they to affright us and not we them ? For rny part, I believe that fince a prodi- gious Company of Men have beenand ftill are fuch fools to adore the Moon, there are People in the Moon that wor- fhip the Earth, and that we are upon our knees the one to the other. But fure, [aid fbe y we don't pretend to fend any influences to the Moon, and to give a Crifis to her fick $ if the People have any Wit in thofe parts, they wïfî loan deftroy the Honour we flatter our felves with, and I fear, wé (hall have the difàdvantage. Fear it not Madam, faid 1 5 do you think we are the only Fools of the U- niverfe ? Is it hot confident with Igno- rance to fpread it felf every where > Tistrue, we can only guefs at the Folly of the People in the Moon,butl no more doubt it,than I do the moft au- thentick News that comes from thence. What  Fluraliiy of Worlds. 49 What News comes from thence, [aid (hew ? That which the Learned bring us 7 / reply d y who travel thither every day with their Tubes and Tellefcopes : they will tell you of their difcoveries there, of Lands, Seas, Lakes, high Mountains, and deep Abyifes. I fancy indeed, faidjhe, they may dis- cover Mountains and Abyifes, becaufeof the remarkable inequality ; but how do they diftinguilh Lands and Seas ? Very eafily, faid /, for the Waters letting part of the Light pais thro' them, fend back but a very little, fo that they ap- pear afar off like fo many dark Spots, whereas, the Lands being folid, reflect the whole Light, and appear to be more bright andfhining: Nay, they pretend to be fo well acquainted with the lève- rai parts that they have given them alt Names ; one place they ca\lCopcrmcns y 2i- nother Archimedes , another Galileus ; there is the Cafpian Sea, the Black Lake, the Porphirite Mountains ; in fhort, they have publifh'd fuch exacl defcriptions of the Moon, that a very Almanack-ma- E kef c;o A Plurality of Worlds. ker will be no more to feek there, than I am in London, I muft own then 5 faid the Count efs, they are very exaft ; but what do they fay to the infide of the Country ? I would very fain know that. 'Tis im- polïible, 1 reply^d, Mr. Flamjled himfelf, ( one of the moft Learned Aftrono- mers of our Age ) cannot inform you. You muft ask that of AJto/fo, who was carried into the Moon by St. John. I am going to tell you one of the agreeable Follies of Ariojlo, and I am confident you will be well pleafed to hear it : I muft confefs he had better have let alone St. John, whofe Name is fo worthy of Refpect, but 'tis a Poetical Licenfe, and muft be allow'd. The Po- em is dedicated to a Cardinal , and a great Pope hath honoured it with his Approbation, which is prefixed to feve- ral of the Editions ; this is the Argu- ment, Rowland Nephew to Charlemagne y falls mad becaufe the fair Angelica prefers Medore before him. Afiolfo a Knight Errant, finding himfelf one day in the terreftrial À Plurality of Worlds. $ t terreftrial Paradife, which was upon the top of a very high Mountain, whereto he was carried by his flying Horfe, meets St. John there, who tells him, if he would have Rowland cured, he mult make a Voyage with him into the Moon. •Aflolfo , who had a great mind to fee- Countries, did notftand much upon en- treaty, and immediately there came a. fiery Chariot which carry'd the Apoille and the Knight up into the Air ; Aftol* fo being no great Philofopher, wasfur- priz'd to find the Moon fo much bigger than it appear'd to him when he was upon the Earth ; to fee Rivers , Seas, Mountains, Cities, Forefts, nay, what would have furprizM me too, Nymphs hunting in thofe Forefts; but that which wasmoftremarkable,wasa Valley where you might find any thing that was loft in our World, of what nature foever ; Crowns, Riches, Fame, and an infinity of Hopes, the time we fpend in Play, and in fearching for the Fhilofophers Stone, the Alms we give after our Death,, the Verfes we prefent to great Men and E 2 Frin< ^2 A Plurality of Worlds. Prince, and the Sighs of Lovers. Ï know not, /aid foe, what became of the Sighs of Lovers in the time of J- riopo, but I fancy there are very few of 'em afcend to the Moon in our days. Ah, Madam, Ireptyed, how many doth the Countefs of D — ■ — r fend thither every day ? thofe that are addrefs'd to her, will make a confiderable Heap ; and I affure you the Moon keeps all fafe that is loft here below. Yet I muft tell you Ariojlo doth but whif- per it, tho every thing is there, even to the donation of Confiant ine, (V.é'.)the Popes have pretended to be Matters of Rome and Italy by Virtue of a Dona- tion which the Emperor Confiant ine made Siheper ; and the truth is, no body knows what is become of it ; bur what do you think is not to be found in the Moon ? Folly, all that ever was upon the Earth is kept there ftili, but in lieu of it, it is not to be Imagined how many Wits (it I may fo call 'em ) that are loft here, are got up into the Moon, they are fo many Vials i M A Plurality of Worlds. «- g Vials full of averyfubtile Liquor,which evaporates immediately, if it be nor well ftoppM ; and upon every one of thefe Vials the Names are written to whom the Wits belong ; I think Ari* ofio hath heap'd 'em upon one ano- ther a little confufedly, but for order fake we will fancy 'em plac'd upon Shelves in a long Gallery ; J/hlfowon- der'd to fee feveral Vials full ijifcrib'd with the Names of the mofr. confide- rableStatefemen, Divines, Lawyers,^ Blefs me, fki'd he, is my Lord—- and my Lord here! Sir Tho\ Sir Jo. nay, Doctor and Fa- ther too? Why in my Coun trey we look upon 'em as Oracles ; and after all it feems, they are but little better than mad Men, if not liar!; Fools. I find now the poor Rogue was in the right, tho he was found;, whipp'd for't, who told the fudge that he had feenan Alscloathed in Scarlet ; and a right Worfhinfnl Alderman, that he knew not which was the greatc Bruit of the two, the Beaftthatb E 3 the 54 A Plurality of Worlds. the Fuit, or the Beaft that wore it ; but had I been there, I fhould have told Jjlolfo the fancy Knave was well e- nough ferv d, for we are not to look up- on the Man, but the Place he fiills ; we are to reverence a Magiftrate when and wherefoever we meet him, and to iuppofe his Merit was the fole caufeof his Preferment, tho we are certain it came by Bribary or Pimping ; but e- nough of this, let us return to our Vi- als. To confefs the truth, I begin to fear fnice I have entertained you with thefe Fhilofophical and Poetical Vifions, mine there is not very empty ; howe- ver, 'tis fome confolatiôn to me that while you are io attentive, you have a little Glafs full as well as your Servant : The good Knight found his own wits a- mong the reft, and with the Apoftles leave funffed itall up hisNofe, like fo rnuch Queen of Hungary s Water ; but Anofto laid he did not carry it far, it returned again to the Moon a little • :er. The A Plurality of Worlds. cj cj *—*The love of one fair Nor then Lafs, Sent up his wit unto the pi ace it iras. Well, he did not forget Qrla*ub % sVial 7 which was the occafionof his Voyage, but he was curfedly plagu'd to carry it, for Heroes wits are naturally very heavy, and there did not want one drop of it ; in conclufion Anofio, acording to his laudable cuftom, addreCedi himfeifto his Miltrefs in this manner, *Fair Miftrefs, who forme to Heaven ftialify, To bring again from thence my wandring wit f Which I Jiili loje, fince from that per cing eye The Dart came forth that ftrft my Heart did Nor of my lofs at all complain would I, (Joit : Might 1 but keep that which rcmaineth yet ' But if it ft ill deer cafe, within ftiort fpacc, I doubt 1 foall be in Orlando 7 * cafe - Tet, well ./ wot where to recover mine, Tho notin Paradife, nor Cynthia' 's Sphere, Tet doubt leji in a Place ?io lefs divine , In that Jweet Face of yours. m that fair Hair, That ruby Lip, in thofe two far like cyn, There is my wit, I know it wander* there, E 4 And * c ir Jo. Htfriygw's tranflvim of Orland Furiofo Hb. 36. ty 6 A Plurality of Worlds. Jndwhhwy Lips, if you would give me leave, I there would fearch 7 I thence wonldit receive'. Is not this very fine ? To reafon like Afïcjio, the fafeft way of lofing our wits fê to be in love ; for you fee they do not go far from us, we may recovere 'em a- gain at our Lips : but when we lofe 'em by other means, as for example, by Phi- lofophizing, whip they are gone into the Moon, and there is. no coming at 'em again when we would. Howe- ver, faid the Countefs^ our Vials have an honourable Station among the Phi- lofophers./when 'tis forty to one,but Love fixeth pur Wits on an Objefl: we can- not but heafham'd,of. But to takeaway mineintirely, pray tell me, but tell me ieriouily, if you believe there are any Men in the Moon; for methinks hither- to you have not been very pofitive. For my part , [aid I, I do not believe there are Men in the Moon, for do but ob- ieve how much the Face of Nature is chcinifd batween this and China ; other ViiageS) Shapes, Manners, nay almofto- ther A Plurality of Words. tj ther Principles of Reafon ; and there- fore, between us and the Moon the alteration muft be much more confide- rable. In the Lands that have been late- ly difcovered, we can fcarce call the In- habitants Men, they are rather Animals of humane fhape,andthat toofometimcs very Imperfeft, almoft without hu- mane Reafon ; he therefore that will travel to the Moon, muft not expeft: to find Men there. What fort of People will they be then, faid the Counters ? Troth, Madam, faid /, I know not ; for put the cafe that we our felves inhabited the Moon, and were not Men, but rational Crea- tures ; could we imagin, do you think, fuch fantaftical People upon the Earth, as Mankind is? Is it pofïible we fhould have an Idea of fo ftrangc a Compo- fition>a Creature of fuch foolifh Patfions, and fuch wife Reflections? So Learned in things of noufe, and fo ftupidly Ignorant of what moft concerns him? So much con- cern for Liberty, and yet fuch great in- clinations to Servitude? Sodefirous of Hanpinefs, 58 A Plurality of Worlds. Happinefs, and yet fo very incapable of being fo ? the People in the Moon muft be wife indeed to fuppofe all this of us. But do we not fee ourfelves continually, and cannot fo much as guefs how we were made ? So that we are forc'd to fay the Gods when they crea- ted us were drunk with Nefror,& when they were fober again, could not chufe but lau^h at their own handy-work. Well, well, fazd the Count u efs, we are fafe enough then, they in the Moon know nothing of us ; but I could wifh we were a little better acquainted with them, fork troubles me that we fhould fee the Moon above us, and yet not know what is done there. Why, /aid J, are you not as much concerned for that part of the Earth which is, not yet difcover'd ? What Creatures in- habit it , and what they do there ? for we and they are carry'd in the fame Veffel : they poffefs the Prow, and we the Poop, and yet there is no man- ner of Communication between us ; they do not know at one end of the Ship A Plurality of Worlds. $9 Ship who lives or what is done at the other end ; and you would know what palTeth in the Moon, which is another great Veffel, failUng in the Heavens at a vail diftance from us. Oh, fa/d (be, for the Earth I reckon it all as good as dilcover'd, and can guefs at the People, tho Ï never heard a word of 'em ; for certainly they all refemble us very much, and we may know 'em better when we have a mincl to't ; they will ftay where they are , and 'tis no more but going to fee 'em ; but we cannot get into the Moon if we would, to that I defpairof know- in what they do there. You would laugh at me, fiid 1, if I fhould an- fwer you feriouily, perhaps I may de- fer ve it, and yet, I fancy. I can fay a great deal to juftifie a ridiculous thought that is juft now come into my Head ; nay to ufe the Fools beft Argu- ment, I'll lay a wager I make you own (in fpite of Rcaibn) that one of thefe 6o A Plurality of Worlds. thefe days there may be a Commu- nication betwen the Earth and the Moon , and who knows what great Advantages we may procure by it ? Do but confider America before it was dif- covefd by Calumbm, how profoundly ignorant were thofe People, they knew nothing at all of Arts and Sciences,they went naked, had no other Arms but a Bow and Arrows, and did not con- ceive they might be carried by Ani- mals ; they lookM upon the Sea as a wide Space, for b dden to Man, that it was joyn'd to the Heavens, and that be- yond it was nothing : 'Tis true, after having {pent whole years in making hollow the truks of great Trees with fharpe ftones, they put themfelves to Sea in thefe Trunks, and floated from Land to Land, as the Wind and Waves drove 'em ; but how often was their Trough overiet, and they iorc'd to recover it again by fwim- ming ? So that ( except when they were on the Land ) it might be faid they were continually fwimming : And À Plurality of Worlds. 61 And yet had any one but told 'em of another kind of Navigation incompa- rably more perfect and ufeful than their own, that they might eafily pafs over that infinite Space of Water, that they might flop in the middle of the Waves, and in fome fenfe command the Winds, and make their Veifel go faft or flow as they pleasM ; in fhort, that this impaflabie Ocean fhould be rio obftacle to their converfing with another different people ; do you think they would have believ'd you ? and yet at laft that day is come ; the un- heard of and moil furprizing Sight appears, vaft great Bodies, with white Wings, are feen to Hy upon the Sea, to vomit Fire from all Farts, and to caft on their Shoars an unknown Peo- ple , all fcaled with Iron, who dif- pofe and govern Monfters as they pleafe ; carry Thunder in their Hands, and over throw and deftroy whoever refills 'em : From whence came they ? Who brought 'em over the Sea ? Who gave to 'em the Difpofal of the Fire of &2 À Plurality of Worlds. of Heaven ? Are they Gods? Are they Sons of the Sun ? for certainly they are not Men. Do but confider, Ma- dam, the furprize of the Americans , there can be nothing greater ; and af- ter this, fhall any one fay there fhall never be a Communication between the Moon and the Earth. Did the Ameri- cans believe there would ever be any between them and Europe^ till it came to pafs ? 'Tis true, you muft pafs this great Space of Air and Heaven which is between the Earth and the Moon ; but did not thofe vaft Seas feem at. firft as impaflable. to the Americans** You rave, I think, faidjbe, did you not own the Americans were fo igno- rant, that they had not the leaft con- ception of crofting the Sea ; but we who know a great deal more than they, can imagine and fancy the go- ing through the Air, tho we are affur'd it is not to be done. There is fome- what more than fancy, / replfd y when it hath been already pradis'd for feve- ral have found the fecret of fattening Wings, À Plurality of Worlds'. 6% Wings, which bear them up in the Air, to move them as they pleafe , and to fly over Rivers, and from Steeple to Steeple ; I cannot fay indeed they have yet made an Eagles flight, or that it doth not colt now and then a Leg or an Arm to one of thefe new Birds ; but this may ferve to reprefent the firft: Planks that were launch'd on the Wa- ter, and u hich were the very begin- ning of Navigation ; there were no Velfels then thought of to fail round the World, and yetyou fee what great Ships are grown by little and little from thofe firft Planks. The Art of Flying is but newly invented, it will improve by degrees, and in time grow prefeft ; then we may fly as far as the Moon. We do not yet pretend to have difcoverd all things, or that what we have difcov'rd can receive no ad- dition ; and therefore, pray let us agree, there are yet many things to be done in the Ages to come. Were you to live a thoufand Ages, [aid the Qountefs y I 6$ A Plurality of Worlds. I can never believe you will fly, bujC you muft endanger your Neck. I will not, I reply 7 d y be fo unmannerly as to contradict a fair Lady, but tho we cannot learn the Art here, I hope you will allow they my fly better in the Moon ; 'tis no great matter whether we go to them, or they come to us, we iliall then be the Americans, who knew nothing of Navigation, and yet there were very good Ships at t'other end of the World. Were it fo, faid (he , the People in the Moon would have been here before now. All in good time, faid J, the Europeans were not in America till at the end of fome thoufands of years, they were fo long in improving Navigation to the point of croffing the Ocean. The People in the Moon have already made fome fliort Voyages in the Air ; they are exerci- fing continually, and by degrees will be more expert, than we fhall fée 'em, and God knows how we fhall be fur- prizèd. It is unfufferable, faid (he, you* A Plurality of Worlds. 6$ you fhould banter me at this rate, and ■juftifie your ridiculous Fancy by fuch falfe reafoning. I am going to demon- strate , [aid I y you reproach me very unjnftly : Confider,, Madam, that the World is unfolded by degrees ; for the Ancients were very, pofitivc, that the Torrid and Frigid Zones were not in- habitable, by reafon of their excefiive Heat and Cold ; and in the time of the Romans, the general Map o^ the World was but very little extended beyond that of their Empire ; which tho in one fenfe, exprefs'd much Grandeur, in an- other fenfe, w r as a fign of as great Ig- norance ô however, there were Men found both in very hot and in very cold Countrys ; fo that yju fee the World is already encreasM ; after thar, it was thought that the Ocean cover'd the whole Earth, except what was then difcover'd , there was no talk then of the Antipodes, not fo much as a thought of 'em, for who could fan- cy their Heels at top, and their Heads F ki 66 A Tluraliiy of Worlds, at bottom, and yet after all their fine reafoning, the Antipodies were difco- ver'd ; here's now another half of the World ftarts up, and a new Reforma- tion of the Map ; methinks this, Ma- dam, fhould reftrain us, and teach us not to be fo pofitive in our Opinions , the World will unfold it felf more to us hereafter ; then we fhall know the People in the Moon as well as we do now the Antipodes ; but all things muft be done in order, the whole Earth muft be firft difcover'd, and till we are perfe&ly acquainted with our own Habitation, we (hall never know that of our Neighbours. Without fooling, fad the Count efs, you arefo very pro- found in this Point, that I begin ta think you are in earned, and believe what you fay. Not fo neither, [aid I, but I would fhew you how eafie it is to maintain a chymerical Notion, that may ( like fome opinions in Religion,) perplex a Man of Underftanding, but never perfwade him ; there is nothing per- À Plurality of Worlds. 6 J perfwades but Truth, it hath no need of all its proofs , but enters natural- ly into our Underftanding ; and when once we have learn'd it, we do no- thing but think of it. I thank you then, faid JJje, for impofing on me no longer ; for I confefs your falfe reafon- ing difturb'dme, butnowlfhall deep very quietly, if you think fit to go home* F 2 The £"8 A Plurality of Worlds. Hip Third F.m 1 we l Dira trcemng, HE Countefs was fo intent up- on her Notions, that fhe would fain have engag'd me next day, to go on where I left off ; but I told her, fince the Moon and Stars were become the Subject of our Difcourfe, we would truft our Cbymseras with no body elfe : At Night we went again into the Park, which was now dedicated to our learn- ed Converfation. Well, Madam, faidl, I have great News for you ; that which I told you laft Night, -of the Moon's being inhabi- ted, may not be fo now : There is a new Fancy got into my Head,whichputs thofe People in great danger. I can- not fuffer it, ./did fie ; yefterday you were preparing me to receive a Vifit frcm'em, and now there are no fuch Peo- ple A Flurality of Worlds. 6 g pie in Nature : Once you would have me believe the Moon was inhibited; i furmounted the Difficulty I had, and will now believe it. You are a little too nimble, / repljed: did I not advife you never to be entirely convinced in things of this nature , but to rcferve half of your understanding free and dif- cngag'd, that you may admit of the contrary opinion, if there be any oc cafion. I care not for your Sentences, /aid foe, let us come to matter of Fact, Are we not to confider the Moon as Greenwich ? No, Jaid /, the Moon doth not fo much referable the Earth, as Greenwich doth London \ The Sun draws from the Earth and Water, Exhalations and Vapours, which mounting to a cer- tainheight in the Air, do there affembte and form the Clouds; thefc uncertain Clouds are driven irregularly round the Globe, fometimes fhadowing one Conn- trey, and fometimes another ; he then who beholds the Earth from a-far 6% will fee frequent alterations upon its furface, becaufe a great Country over- F 3 call jo A Plurality of Worlds. caft with Clouds, will appear dark qr light, as the Clouds ftay,or pafsoverit; he will fee the Spots on the Earth often change their Place, and appear or dis- appear as the Clouds remove ; but we fee none of thefe changes wrought upon the Moon, which . would certainly be the fame, were there but Clouds about her ; but on the contrary, all her Spots are fix'd and certain, and - her light parts continue where they wereatfirft, which trueiy is a \ great misfortune ; for by this reafon, the Sun draws no Exhalations or Vapours above the Moon ; fo that it appears file is a Body infinitely more hard, and folid than the Earth whofe fubtile parts are eafily feparated from the reft , and mount upwards as foon as heat puts them in Motion : But it muft be a heap of Rock and Marble, where there is no Evaporation ; befides, Ex- halations are fo natural and neceffary where thçre is Water, that there can be no Water at all, where there is no Exhalation ; and what fort of In- habitants A Plurality of Worlds. 71 habitations muftthofebe, whofe Coun- try afFords no Water, is all Rock, and produceth nothing ? Very ^e,fitd (be, you have forgot fince you ailur d me, we might from hence difhnguilh Sea's in the Moon ; nay, You or your Friends were Godfathers to lomeor em. Pray what is become of your Cafpia» Sea, and your Black Lake ? All Con- leaure, Madam, 1 replyed, tho for your Ladylhips fake, I am very forry for it ; for thofe dark places we took to be Seas, may perhaps be nothing but large Cavities ; 'tis hard to guefs a- rbht at fo great a diftance. But will thisfuffice then, (aid fie, to extirpate the People in the Moon ? Not altoge- ther, / replfd, we will neither deter- mine for ,' nor againft them. I rauft own my weaknefs (if it be one )pttd (he, I cannot be fo perfeftly undeter- mined as you would have me to be, but muft believe one way, or the o- ther ; therefore pray fix me quickly in my opinion, as to the Inhabitants ot the Moon ; preferve or annihilate them, F 4 as y 2 A Plurality of Worlds. as you fljall think fit ; and yet me« thinks I have a ftrange inclination for 'cm, and would not have 'em deitroy'd, if it were poffible to fave 'em. You know , Madam, [aid I , I can de- ny you nothing ; the Moon (hall be po longer a Delart, but to do you fer- vice, we will repeople her. Since tô all appearance the Spots in the Moon do not change, I cannot conceive there are anv Clouds about her, that fome- times obfcure one part, and fômetirnes another; yet this doth not hinder, but that the Moon fends forth Exhalations, and Vapours. Our Clouds which we fee in the Air, are nothing but Exhala- tions and Vapours, which at their com- ing out of the Earth, were feparated into fuch minute Particles, that they could not be difcern'd ; but as they afcend higher, they are condensed by the Cold, and by the re-union of their Parts, are render'd vilible ; after which they become great Clouds, which fluctuate ip the Air, till they return back again [p Rain ; however thefe Exhalations and A Plurality of Words. 73 and Vapours do fometimes keep them- felvesfodifpers'd, that they ate imper- ceptible ; or if theydoaflemble, it is in forming fuch fubtile Dews that they cannot be difcernM to fall from any Cloud. It may likewife happen, that the Vapours which go out of the Moon (for it is incredible that the Moon is fuch a Mafs, that all its parts are of an equal Solidity ,all at reft one with another, and all incapable of any alteration from the efficacy of the Sun ; I am fure we are yet unacquainted with fuch a Body : Marble it felf is of another Nature, and even that which is moll Solid, is fubjeft to change and alteration ; either from the fecret and invifible motion it hath within it felf, or from that which it re- ceives from without) it may fo happen then, that the Vapours which ifTuefrorn the Moon, may notaffemble round her in Clouds, and may not fall back again in Rain, but only in Dews. It is fuffi- cient for this, that the Air with which the Moon is environ'd, (for it is certain that the Moon is tncompafled with Air as 74 4 Plurality of Worlds. as well as the Earth) be a little diffe- rent from our Air, and the Vapours of the Moon a little different from thofe of the Earth, which is very probable. Hereupon the matter being otherwife difpos'd in the Moon than on the Earth, the Effects muft be different ; tho it is of no great eonfequence whether they are or no; for from the moment we have found an inward motion in the parts of the Moon, or produced by foreign Cau^ fes, here is enough for the new birth of its Inhabitants, and a fufRcient and ne- ceflary fund for their fubfiftance. This will furnifli us with Corn, Fruit, Wa- ter, according to the cuftom or man-? ner of the Moon, which I do not pre- tend to know ; and all proprotion'd to the wants and ufe of the Inhabitants , with whom I pretend to be as little ac- quainted. That is to fay, reply d the Countefsj you know all is very well, without knowing how it is fo, which is a great deal of Ignorance upon a very little Knowledge ; however I comfort my felf, that you have given the Moon her À Flurality of Worlds . je* her Inhabitants again, and have wrapM her in an Air of her own, without which a Planet would feem but very naked. 'Tis thefe two different Airs, [aid 7, that hinder the Communication of the two Planets ; if it was only flying, as I told you yelterday, who knows but we may improve it to per- fection , tho I confefs there is but little hopes of it ; the great diftance between the Moon and the Earth is a difficulty not eafily to be furmounted, yet were the diftance but inconfiderable, and the two Planets almoft contiguous, it would be {till impoffible to pafs from the Air of the one, into the Air of the other : The Water is the Air of Fifties, they ne- ver pafs into the Air of the Birds, nor the Birds into the Air of the Fifh ; and yet r tis not the diftance that hinders them, but both are imprifoned by the Air they breath in ; we find our Air con- flits of thicker and grofler Vapours than the Air of the Moon. So that one of her Inhabitants arriving at the Confines of J 6 A Plurality ofWorlis. of our World, as foon as he enters our Air will inevitably drown himfelf, and we (hall fee him fall dead on the Earth. I flhould rejoyce at a Wreck, fad the Countefsj as much as my Neighbourson the Coaft of Sujfex; how pleafant would it be to fee 'em lie fcattered on the ground, where we might confider at our eafe, their extraordinary Figures ? But what, fad J, if they could fwim on the outward furface of our Air, and be as curious to fee us, as you are to fee them ; fhould they Angle or caft a Net for us, as for fo many Fifh, would that pleafe you? why not? fad the Coantefs; For my part I would go into their Nets of mine own accord, were it but for the pleafure to fee fuch ft range Fiilier- men. You would be very Sick , fad I ', when you were drawn to the top of our Air, for it is not refpirable in all its extent, as may be feen on the tops of fomc A Tlurality of Worlds. yj fome very high Mountains; and I ad- mire that they who have the folly to believe that our Fârfes, whom they a- low to be Corporeal, and to inhabit the moft pure and refin d Air, do not tell us that the reafon why they give us , liich fhort and feldom vifits, is that there are very few among them that can dive, and thofe that can, if it be poflible to get through the thick Air where we are, cannot ftay half fo long in it, as one of the worft of Sir Harry Blunfs Sponge getherers. Here then are natural Barri- cades , which defend the paffage out of our World, as wellasthe Entry into that of the Moon ; fo thatfince we can only guefs at that World, let us fancy all we can of it. For Example, I will fuppofe that we may fee there the Fir- mament, the Sun, and the Stars, of a- nother colour than what they are here; all thefe appear to us through a kind of Natural Spectacles, which change and alter the Obje&s. Thefe Speftacles are our Air, mix'd as it is with Vapours and Exhalations, and which doth not extend it 78 À Plurality of Worlds. it felf very high. Some of our Modern Philofophers pretend, ofitfelfitsis blue^ as well as the Water of the Sea,and that this colour neither appears in the one nor in the other, but at a great depth ; the Firmament,fay they, where thé fix'd Stars are faftned, hath no peculiar light of its own, and by confequencemuft ap- pear black, \j>ut we fee it through the Air which is blue, and therefore to us it appears blue ; which if fo, the Beams of the Sun and Stars cannot pafs through the Air without being ting'd a little with its colour, and lofing as much of their own ; yet were the Air of no colour, it is very certain, that through a great Mift the light of a Flambeau at fome di- ftance appears reddifh, though it be not its true natural colour. Our Air is no- thing buta great Mift, which changeth the true colour of the Skey, of the Sun and of the Stars; it bclprigs only to the Celeftial Matter to bring us the Light and Colours as they really are in all their purity ; fo that fince the Air of the Moon is of another nature than our Air, or is ftain'd A Plurality of Worlds. jp ftain'd of another colour, or atleaft is another kind of Mift, which caufeth o- ther alterations to the Colours oftheCe- leftial Bodies ; in fhort, as to the People of the Moon, their Spe&acles through which they fee every thing are chang'd. If it be fo, faid the Count efs , I prefer my abode before that of the Moon ; for I cannot believe the Celeftial Co- lours are fo well fuited as they are here ; for if you will let us put green Stars on a red Sky, they cannot be fo agree- able as Stars of Gold on an Azure Fir- mament. To hear you, [aid I, one would think you was chufing a Petti- coat, or a fuit of Knots ; but believe me, Nature hath as good a Fancy as Mrs. Harnfon\ leave it to hertochufe Colours for the Moon, and I'll engage they fliall be well forted ; flic will not fail to vary the Profpect of the Uni- verfe, at every different point of Sight, and always the Alteration fhall be very agreeable. I know very well, faid the Countefsy her Skill m this Point ; fbe is not So À Plurality of Worlds. not at the charge of changing the Ob- jects, but only the Spe&acles, and hath the credit of this great variety, with- out being at any expence ; with a blue Air, fhe gives us abluePirmament;and perhaps with a red Air, fhe gives to the Inhabitants of the Moon a red Firma- ment ; and yet ftill it is but the fame Fir- mament ; nay, I am of opinion, fhe hath plac'd a fort of Spe&acles in our Ima- gination , through which we fee all things, and which to every particular Man change the Objefts. Alexander look'd on the Earth as a fit place to e~ ftablifha great Empire, it feem'dto Ce- ladon a proper refidence for JJirœaj and It appeared to a Philofopher, a great Pla- net in the Heavens, covered with Fools : I do not believe the Sights vary more between the Earth and the Môon, than they do between one man's Faiipy and aiîothers. This change in our Imaginations,/^/ J, is very furprizing ; for they are ftill the fame Objects, tho 7 they appear dif- ferent : A flurdiiy of Worlds. g i ferent ; when in the Moon, we may fee other Objefts we do not fee here, or at leaft, not fee all there we do fee here ; perhaps in that Country they know no- thing of the Dawn and the Twilight, before the Sun rifeth, and after the Suri fets ; the Air which cncompafTcth, and is elevated above us, receives the Rays, fo that they cannot ftrike on the Earth ; and being grofs, (tops fomeof them, and fends 'em to us, tho' indeed they were never naturally defign'd us; fo that thé Day-break and the Twilight are a fa- vour which Nature bellows on us ; they are a Light which regularly we fhould. not have, and which fhe gives us over and above our due ; but in the Moon, where apparently the Air is more pure* and therefore not fo proper to fend down the Beams it receives from the Sun before his rifing, and after his fettidg ; you have not that Light of Grace (as I may call it) which growing greater by degrees,doth more agreeably prepare you for the arrival of the Sun, and which growing weaker, and dimiaifhirig by G degn 8 2 À Plurality of Worlds. degrees, doth infenfibly prepare you for the Sun's departure : But you are in a profound darknefs, where a Curtain (as it were) is drawn all on a ludden, your Eyes are immediately dazled with the whole light of the Sun, in all its glo- ry and brightnefs; folikewife, you are on a fudden furpriz'd with utter Dark- nefs ; the Night and the Day have no medium between them, but you fall in a moment from one extreme into theo- ther. The Rainbow likewife is not known to them in the Moon ; for if the Dawn is an effeft of the groiTnefs of the Air and Vapours,the Rainbow is form'd in the Clouds, from whence the Rain fall,; fo that the moft beautiful things in the World, are produced by thofe things which have no beauty at all. Since then there are no Vapours thick enough, nor no Clouds of Rain about the Moon, . farewell Dawn, adieu Rainbow : What muft Lovers do for Simili es in that Coun- try, when fuch an inexhauftible Ma- gazine of Companions is taken from them ? I doubt A Plurality of Worlds. 83 I doubt not , faid the Gountefs, but there are thofe in the Moon as good at Simily as the greateft Beau in Covert- Garden ; and had they neither Sun nor StarSjPearls nor Rubies,Rofes nor Liilies, yet could fay as many fine ihingstoa Vifor Mask,as the perteftWitatthe Pup* pet [how ; and they are well enough recompenc'd for the lofs of our Dawn and Rainbow ; for by the fame reafon, they have neither Thunder nor Light* ning, both which are formed in the Clouds; how glorious are their Days, the Sun continually filing ? How plea- fant their Nights,not the leatt Star is hid from them ? They never hear of Storms or Tempefts, which certainly are an effeft of the wrath of Heaven : Do you think then they ftand in need of our pity ? You are defcribing the Moon, / rep/yed, like an enchanted Palace ; but do you think it is lb pleafant to have a fcorching Sun always over our Head* and not the leaft Cloud to moderate its Heat? Tho' I fancy 'tis for thisreafon G 2 that *4 4 flnralitj of Worlds. that Nature hath made great Cavities in the Moon ; we can difcern 'em eafily with our Tellefcopes, for they are not Mountains, but fo many Wells or Vaults in the middle of a Plain ; and what do we know but the Inhabitants of the Moon, being continually broil'd by the excefllve heat of the Sun, do retire in- thofe great wells ; perhaps they live no where elfe, and *tis there they build 'em Cities ; for we ftill fee in the Ruines of old Rome, that that part of the City which was under ground,was almoft as large as that which was above ground. I fancy, during the late fiege oïBuda y they lived there as they do in the Moon, or 'tis but going to the Fountain Tavern Cellar, where the feveral Vaults are as fo many high Streets, the Vats, Pipes, Hogsheads, lo many different Edifices, and the Drawers and Coopers , like fo many Troglodites. I perceive you laugh at me, yet if I may be fo free with a fair Lady, you deferve it much better than I ; for you believe the People in the Moon muft live upon the furface of their A Plurality of Worlds. S$ their Planet, becaufe we do fo upon ours ; but quite contrary, fince we dwell upon the Superficies of our Planet, they fhouldnot dwell upon the fuperficies of their Planet ; if things differ fo much in this World, what muft they do in another ? 'Tis no matter, [aid the Cortntefs y I can never fuffer the Inhabitants of the Moon to live in perpetual darknefs. You will be more concerned for 'em, J re- plyd, when I tell you that one of the ancient Philofophers did long fince dis- cover the Moon to be the abode of the bleifed Souls departed out of this Life, and that all their happinefs confifted in hearing the Harmony of the Spheres ; that is, the Mufick (I had like to have faid Noife) which is made by the mo- tion of the Celeftial Bodies ; if you have feen a Rarée Show, you will eafily comprehend it : But becaufe thePhilo- fopher pretends to know exaftly all they do there, he tells you, that when the Moon is obfcured by the fhadow of G 3 the 8 <5 A Plurality of Worlds. the Earth,they no longer hear the Hea* venly Mufick, but howil like fo many Souls in Purgatory ; fo that the Moon taking pityof'ern, makes all the haft, fhe can to get into the Light again. Metbinks then, fays fie, we fhould now and then fee fomeofthe Bleffed Souls arrive here from the Moon, for cer- tainly they are fent to us. I confefs indeed, faid I, it would be very plea- fant to fee different Worlds ; fuch a Voyage, tho' but in imagination, is ve- ry delightful } what would it be in effect: ? It would be much better cer- tainly than to go to Jagax, which at beft, is but cradling from one end of the World to t'other, and after all to fee nothing but Men. Well then, fays fbe, let us travel over the Planets, as fall as we can ; what fhould hinder us ? Let us place our felves at all the dif- ferent Profpefts, and from thence con- fiderthe Univerfe. But firft, have we any thing more to fee in the Moon ? I believe not, I replyed ; at leaft, you have feen all I can fhew you, Com- ing A Plurality of Worlds 87 ing out of the Moon, towards the Sun, we fee Venus ^ which puts me again in mind of Greenwich* Venus turns upon her felf, and round the Sun, as well as the Moon ; they likewife difcovër by their Tellefcopes, that Venus like the Moon, if I may fpeak after the fame manner) is fonietimes n^W, fometimes full,and fometimes in the Vayn,accord- ing to the divers fituations (he is in, in refpect of the Earth. The Moon to all appearance, is inha- bited, why fhould not Venus be fo too ? You are fo full of your Whys, and your Wherefores, fay s fie, interrupting me, that I fancy you are fending Colo- nies to all the Planets. You may be certain, fo I will, I replyed, for I fee no reafonto the contrary ; we find that all the Planets are of the fame nature, all obfeure Bodies, which receive no light but from the Sun, and then lend it to one another \ their morions are the fame fo that hitherto they are alike ; and yet if we are to believe that thefe va ft Bo- G 4 dies U À Plurality of Worlds. dies are not inhabited, I think they were made but to little purpofe ; why fhould Nature be fo partial, as to ex- cept only the Earth? But let who will lay the contrary, I muft believe the Pla- nets are peopled as well as the Earth. Ifind, fays the Countefs^ with fome con- cern, a Fhilofopher will never make a good Martyr, you can fo quickly fhift your Opinion, 'twas not many minutes fince the lV?oon was a perfect Defart, now the red of the Planets are inhabi- ted. Why truly, Madam, A/WZ, there is a time for all things, and your true Philofopher believes any thing, or no- thing, as the Maggot bites. Had you taken me in the fceptical Vein, I would have as foon granted a Nation in a Muftard Ball, as a living Creature in the Moon ; but the tide is turn'd, and all the Planets are Peopled like an Ant- hill; yet, Raillery apart, this is not fo very improbable as you think it ; for do you believe wedifcover, (as I may fay) all the Inhabitants of the Earth? there be as many kinds of invifible as vifible A Plurality of Worlds. $p vifible Creatures ; we fee from the Ele- phant to the very hand-worm, beyond which our fight fails us, and yet count- ing from that minute Creature, there are an infinity of leifer Animals, which were they perceptible, would be as little in comparifon with a Mite, as a Mite is of an Ox. How lately have our Virtuofo's found out the Pepper Worms, which in the leaft drop of Wa- ter appear like fo many Dolphins, fport- ing in the Ocean ; nay, they tell you that the fharpnefs of Vineger conflits in the fiercenefs of the little Animals that bite you by the Tongue ; not to name the blue on Plums,and twenty Experi- ments of the like nature. Nay, to (hew you that they can fee as far into a Militone as Defcartes him- felf, they have difcovered that feveral, even of the moft folid Bodies, are no- thing but an immenfe fwarm of imper- ceptible Animals: Do but confider this little Leaf; why it is a great World, of a vaft extent, what Mountains, what A- byffes 9 o À plurality oj Worlds . byfles are there in it? thelnfeSs of one fide,know no more of their fellow Crea- tures on t'other fide, than you and lean tell what they are now doing at the An- tipodes ; is it not reafon then that a great Planet fhould be inhabited ?In the hard- eft Stones for Example, in Marble,there are an infinity of Worms, which fill up the vacuums, and feed upon the fub- ftanceof the Stone ; fancy then millions of living Creatures to fubfift many years on a grain of Sand ; lb that were the Moon but one continued Rock,fhe (liould be gnaw'd by thefe invifible Mites, (as if Hie were a green Cheefe) rather than not be inhabited : In fhort, every thing is animated, and the Stones upon Salis- bury Plain are as much alive as a Hive of Bees ; imagine then thofe Animals which are yet undifcovered, and add them and thofe which are but lately difcover'd, to thofe we have always feen, you will find the Earth fwarms with Inhabitants. Why then fhould Nature which is fruitful to an excels here, be fo very barren in the reft of the A Plurality of Worlds. pi the Planets? I muft own, faid the Conn* te/s, you have convinr'dmy Reafon.but you have confounded my fancy , with iucli variety, that I cannot imagine how Nature, which hates Repetitions,fhould produce fo many different kinds. There is no need of Fancy , I replyty do but truft your Eyes, and you will eahly perceive how Nature diverfifies inthefe lèverai Worlds. All humane Faces,in general,are of the fame Model, and yet the Europeans and the Africans have two particular Moulds; nay, commonly every Family have a different Form ; what fecret then has Nature to fhew fo much variety in the fingle Face ? Our World, in refpeftof the Univerfe, is but a little Family ; all whofe Faces have fome refemblance ; in another place, there is another Family, whofe faces have a different Air and Fa- fhion ; the difference too increafeth with thediftance, for whofoever fhould fee an Inhabitant of the Moon, and an In- habitant of the Earth, would foon per- ceive Well, let the World fay what it will, go on with your Whirlpools. I will, faid 1, and you (hall fee the Whirlpools are worthy of thefe Tranfports : That then which we call a Whirlpool, or Vor- tex, is a Mafs of Matter, whofe Parts are feperated or detach'd one from ano- ther, yet have all one uniform Motion, and at the fame time, every one is al- low'd or has a particular Motion of its own, provided it follows the general Motion : Thus a Vortex of Wind, or Whirlwind, is an infinity of little Par- ticles of Air, which turn round all to- gether, and involve whatever they meet with. You know the Planets are born up by the Celeftial Matter, which is pro- digioufly fubtile and attive \ fo that this great io8 A Plurality of Worlds. great Mais, or Ocean of Celeftial Mat- ter, which flows as far as from the Sun to the fix M Stars, turns round, and bears the Planets along with it 5 making them all turn after the fame manner round the Sun, who poffèlïès the Centre, but in a longer or a fhorter time, according as they are farther or nearer in diftance to it ^ there is nothing to the very Sun, which does not turn, but he turns on himfelf, becaule he is juft in the middle of this Celeftial Matter $ and you muft know by the way, that were the Earth in his place , it muft turn on it felf , as the Sun does. This is the great Vor- tex, of which the Sun is Lord 5 yet at the fame time, the Planets make little particular Vortex's, in imitation of that of the Sun, each of them in turning round the Sun, doth at the fame time turn round it (elf, and makes a certain quantity of Celeftial Matter turn round it likewife, which is always prepaid to follow the Motion the Planet gives it, provided it is not diverted from its ge* neral Motion 5 this then is the particu- lar A "Plurality of Worlds. 109 kr Vortex of the Planet, which puflies it as far as the ftrensth of its Motion reaches , and if by chance, a leffer Pla- net falls into the Vortex of a greater Planet, it is immediately born away by the greater, and is indifpenfebly forc'd to turn round it, tho* at the fame time, the great Planet, the little Planet, and the Vortex which enclofes 'em, all turn round the Sun : Twas thus at the be- ginning of the World, when we made the Moon follow us, becaufe (he was within the reach of our Vortex, and therefore wholly at our difpofe : Ju- piter was ftronger, or more fortunate than we, he had four little Planets in his neighbourhood, and he brought 'em all four under his fubje&ion 5 and no doubt, we, tho* a principal Planet, had had the fame Fate, had we been within the Sphere of his A&ivity 5 he is nine- ty times bigger than the Earth, and would certainly have fwallow'd us into his Vortex 5 we had then been no more than a Moon in his Family, when now we have one to wait on us % fo that yon f so A Vlurality of Worlds. you fee the Advantage of Situation, de- cides often all our good Fortune. But pray, fays Jhe 9 who can afïure us we (hall ftill continue as we do now? If we (hould be fuch Fools as to go near Jupiter, or he fo Ambitious as to ap- proach us, what will become of us ? For if (as you fay) the Celeftial Matter is continually under this great Motion, it muft needs agitate the Planets irregu- larly • fometimes drive 'em together , and fometimes feperate em. Luck is all, faid 1% we may win as well as lofe, and who knows, but we (hould bring Mercury and Venus under our Govern- ment 5 they are little Planets, and can- not refift us 5 but in this Particular, Ma- dam, we need not hope or fear 3 the Pla- nets keep within their own Bounds, and are oblig'd (as formerly theRings of China were) not to undertake new Conquefts. Have you not feen when you put Water and Oyl together, the Oyl fwims a top 5 and if to thefe two Liguors, you add a very light Liquor, the Oyl bears it up, and it will not fink to the Water : But put A "Plurality of Worlds. m put an heavier Liquor, of a juft weight and it will pafs through theOyl, which is too weak to fuftain it, and fink till it comes to the Water, which is ftrong enough to bear it up $ fo that in this Li- quor, compos'd of two Liquors, which do not mingle, two Bodies of an une- qual weight, will naturally allume two different Places 5 the one will never a- lcend, the other will never defcend : • Fancy then that the Celeftial Matter which fills this great Vortex, hath fe- veral refting Places, one by another, whofe weight are different, like that of Oyl, Water, and other Liquors ^ the Pla- nets too are of a different Weight, and confequently every Planet fettles in that Place which has a juft ftrength to fu- ftain and keep it equilibrate, fo you fee 'tis impoffibleitfhould ever go beyond. Would to God, fays the Comrtefs, our World were as well regulated,and every one among us knew their proper Place. I am now in no fear of being over-run by Jupiter ; and fince he lets us alone m our Vortex, with our Moon, I do not envv ni A Ylurality of Worlds. envy him the four which he hath. Did you envy him, I reply d, you would do him wrong, for he has no more than what he has occafion for 5 at the diftance he is from the Sun. his Moons receive, and fend him but a very weak light 5 it is true, that as he turns upon himfelt in Ten Hours, his Nights, by confequence, are but Five Hours long 5 fo one would think there is no great occafion for four Moons 5 but there are other things to be confidered. Here under the Poles, they have fix Months Day , and fix Months Night, becaufe the Poles are the two extremities of the Earth, the fartheft removed from thofe places where the Sun is over em in a Perpen- dicular Line. The Moon feems to keep almoft the fame courfe as the Sun, and if the Inhabitants of the Pole fee the Sun during one half of his courfe of a Year, and during the other half, do not fee him at all 5 they fee the Moon like- wife during one half of her courfe of a Month 5 that is, (he appears to em Fifteen Days, but they do not fee her during the A Plurality of Worlds. 115 the other half. Jupiter s Year is as much as twelve of ours, fo that there mutt be two oppofite extremities in that Planet, where their Night and their Day are fix Years each. A Night fix Years long, is a little difconfolate, and 'tis for that reafon, I fuppofe, they have four Moons 5 that which (in regard to Jup/ter) is uppermoft, finifheth its courfe about him in Seventeen Days, the Second infeven, the Third three Days and an half, and the Fourth in two and forty Hours 5 and tho* they are fo unfortu- nate as to have fix years Night, yet their courfe being exactly divided into halves, they never pafs above one and twenty Hours, wherein they do not fee atleaft the laft Moon, which is a great comfort in fo tedious a dark nefs ^fo that be where you will,thefefour Moons are fometimes the prettied fight imaginable ^ fometimes they rife all four together, and then fe- parate according to the inequality of their courfe 5 fometimes they are all in their Meridian, rang'd one above ano- ther, fometimes you fee em at equal I diftances 114 A Vlurality of Worlds. diftances on the Horizon, fometimes when two rife, the other two go down. Oh, how I Qiou d love to fee this plea- fant Sport of Eclipfes $ for there is not a Day paffes but they Eclipfe the Sun, or one another $ and they are fo accuftomM to this diverfion in Jupiter y that the late Duke of B—vt in his Rehcrfal, brought the Dance of Eclipfes from that Planet, as now mod of our modifh Dances come out of France. Well, fays the Counters, I hope you will People thefe four Moons, tho* you fay they are but little fecondary Pla- nets, appointed to give Light to another Planet during its Night. Do not doubt it, I reply d-^ thefe Planets are not a jot the worfe to be inhabited, for being fore'd to turn round another Planet of greater Confequence. I would have then, fays fie, the People of thefe four Moons, to be fo many Colonies under Jupiter s Government ^ they fhould re- ceive their Laws and Cuftoms from him. Would it not be convenient too, fata I, that they (hould fend Deputies with Ad- dreffes A Plurality of Worlds. 1 1 ç dreffes to faim 5 for he hath certainly a more abfctute command over his Moon, than we have over ours 5 tho* his Pow- er after all, is but imaginary, and con- fifts chiefly in making em afraid 5 for that Moon which is neareft to him, fees that he is three Hundred and fixty times bigger than our Moon appears to us 5 for in truth, he is fo much bigger than (he $ he is alfo much nearer to them, than our Moon is to us,the which makes him appear the greater, fo that this for- midable Planet hangs continually over their Heads, at a very little diftance and if the Gauls were afraid heretofore that the Heavens would fall on 'em, I think the Inhabitants of that Moon may well be apprehenfive that Jupiter will at fome time or other overwhelm em; They are, fays Jhe, I fancy , poflefs'd with that fear,becaufe they are not con- cerna at Eclipfes : Every one has their due folly 5 we are afraid of an Eclipfe,and they, that Jupiter will fall on their Heads. It is very true, faid J, the Inventer of the third Syftem, I told you t'other I 2 night. 1 16 A Plurality of Worlds. night , the famous Ticho Brake, (one ôf the greateft Aftronomers that ever was,) did not apprehend the leaft danger from an Eclipfe, when every body elle was under the greateft confternation ^ yet this great Man had as an unaccountable a fear, did a Hare crofs him , or were the firft Perfon he met in a Morning an old Wo- man, home prefently went Ticho Brake, he (hut himfelf up for that day, and would not meddle with the leaft Bufinefs. Let us go on with ours tho', fays the Counters, and leave Ticho Brahe to de- fend his Superftition. Pray tell me, if the Earth be fo little in comparifon of Jupiter, whether his Inhabitants do dis- cover us ? Indeed, faid 1, I believe not 5 for if we appear to him ninety times lefs than he appears to us 5 judge you if there be any poffibility : if et this we may reafonably conje&ure, that there are Aftronomers in Jupiter, that after they have maid the moft curious Tele- fcopes, and taken the cleareft Night for their obfervations, they may have dit cover'd a little Planet in the Heavens, which A Vhrality of Worlds. 117 which they never faw before 5 if they publiQi their difcovery , moft People know not what they mean, or laugh at D em for Fools 5 nay, the Philofophers themfelves will not believe 'em, for fear of deftroyin?, their own Opinions 3 yet fome few may be a little curious 5 they continue their obfervations, difcover the little Planet again, and are now aflur'd it is no Vifion 5 then they con- clude it hath a motion round the Sun, which it compleats in a year, and at laft, (thanks to the Learned,) they know in Jupiter our Earth is a World, every bo- dy runs to fee it at the end of the Te- lefcope, tho* 'tis fo little, 'tis hardly dif- cover'd. It muft be pleafant, fays Jhe y to fee the Aftronomers of both Planets, level- ling their Tubes at one another, like two Files of Mufqueteers, and mutually asking, what World is that ? What Peo- ple inhabit it > Not fo faft neither, 1 reply d, for tho* they may from Jupiter difcover our Earth, yet they may not know us 5 that is, they may not have I 3 th e lié A Plurality of Worlds. the leaft fufpicion it is inhabited $ and fhould any one there chance to have fuch a fancy, he might be fufficiently ridicul'd, if not profecuted for it ^ for my part, I believe they have work e- nough to make difcoveries on their own Planet, not to trouble their Heads with ours 5 and had Sir Francis Drake and Co- lumbus been in Jupiter \ they might have had good employments $ why, I warrant you, they have not yet difcover'd the hundredth part of their Planet. But if Mera/r>'isfolittle,they are all (as it were) near Neighbours, and 'tis but taking a walk, to go round that Planet. But if we do not appear to em in Jupiter , they cannot certainly difcover Venus and Mer- cury , which are much lefs than the Earth, and at a greater diftance 5 but in lieu of it,they fee Mars, their own four Moons,and Saturn, with his $ this I think is work enough for their Aftronomers ^ and Nature hath been fo kind to conceal from 'em the reft of the Univerfe. Do you think it a favour then, fays fhe ? Yes certainly, faid I 7 for there arefixteen Pla- nets A Vlurality of Worlds. 1 1 9 nets in this great Vortex : Nature faves us the trouble of ftudying the Pactions of em all,andfhowsus but Seven, which I think is very obliging, tho' we know not how to value the kindnefs, for we have recovered the other Nine which were hid from us, and fo render the Sci- ence of Aftronomy much more difficult than Nature defign'd it. If there are fixteen Planets, fays fie, Saturn muft have five Moons. 'Tis very true, faid J, and two of thefe five, are but lately difcover'd 5 but there is fome- vvhat that is more remarkable, fince his Year is thirty of ours, there are confe- qiently in him fome Countries, where, their Night is fifteen Years long ^ and what can you imagine Nature hath in- vented to give Light^during fo dreadful a Night ? Why, fhe hath not only given Saturn five Moons, but (he hath encom- pafs'd him round with a great Circle or King, the which being plac'd beyond the reach of the (hadow which the Bo- dy of that Planet carts, reflefts the light of the Sun continually on thofe places Ï 4 where 120 A Plurality of Worlds. where they cannot fee the Sun at all. I proteft, fays the Comiefs.xXm is very furprizing,and yet all is contrived in fuch great order, that it is impoffible nGt to think but Nature took time to confider the neceffities of all animate Beings, and that the difpofing of thefe Moons was not a work of Chance, for they are on- ly divided among thofe Planets which are fartheft diftant from the Sun, the Earth, Jupiter ^Saturn ^ indeed it was not worth while to give any to Mercury or Pe///Kf,they have too much light already 5 and they account their Nights (as (hott as they are) a greater bleffing than their Day. But pray, why was not Mars a Moon too ? It feems he has none, tho' lie is much further than the Earth from the Sun. It is very true, faid I - no doubt but he hath other helps, tho 5 we do not know 'em : You have feen the Thofphorus, both liquid and dry, how it receives and imbibes the rays of the Sun, and what a great light it will caft in a dark Place: Per haps Mars hath many great high Rocks, which are fo many na- tural A fluralhy of Worlds. "ioi tural Phofphorus\ which in the day take in a certain provision of light, and re- turn it again at Night. What think you, Madam, is it not very pleaftnt when the Sun is down to fee thole lighted Recks, like fo many Illuminations at a Birth-day Night? Befides, there is a kind of Bird in America, that yields fuch a light, you may read by it in the darkeft Night 5 and who knows but Mars may have great flocks of thefe Birds, that as foon as it is Night, difperfe themfelves into all parts, and fpread from their Wings ano- ther day. I am not at all contented, fays fie, with your Rocks, or your Birds $ 'tis a pretty fancy indeed, but 'tis a fign that there fhould be Moons in Mar s fmce Na- ture hath given fo many to Saturn and Jupiter 5 and if all the other Worlds that are diftant from the Sun, have Moons, why fhould Mars only be excepted ? Ah, Madam, [aid 1, when you are a little more dip'd in Philofophy, you will find exceptions in the very beft Syftcms 5 there are always fome things that agree extream ill A Plurality. of Worlds. extream well, but then there are others that do not accord at all ^ thofe you rnuft leave as you found 'em, if ever you in- tend to make an end : We will do fo by M*rs, if you pleafe, and fay no more of him 5 but return to Sut urn. What do you think of his great King, in .the form of a ferny Circle, that reaches from one end of the Horizon to the other, which refle&ing the light of the Sun, performs the office of a continual Moon ? And rnuft we not inhabit this Ring too, fays foe ? I confefs, faid I> in the humour I am in,I could almoft fend Colonies every where 5 and yet leant well plant any there, it feems (o irregular a habitation $ but for the five little Moons, they can- not chufe but be inhabited 3 tho' fome think this Ring is a Circle of Moons, which follow clofe to one another, and have an equal Motion ^ and that the five little Moons fell out of this Circle } how many Worlds are there then in the Vof- tex of Satura? But let it be how it will, the People in Saturn live very miferably : Tistrue, this Ring gives light to "em, but A Plurality of Worlds. 12 5 but it muft be a very poor one,when the Sunfeems to em but a little pale Star, whofe light and heat cannot bur be ve- ry weak at fo great a difbnce ^ they (ay Greenland is a perfeft Bagnio in ccmpa- rifon of that Planet,and that they would expire with heat in our coldeft Coun- tries. You give me, fays Jhe, fuch an Idea of Saturn, that makes me fhake with cold, and that of Mercury, puts me into a fea- ver. It cannot be otherwife, I reply W, for the two Worlds, which arc the ex- tremities of this great Vortex, muft be ôppofite in all things. They muft then, fays fhc, be very wife in Saturn, for you told me they were all Fools in Mercury. If they are not wife, faid J, yet they have all the appearances of being very Flegmatick: They are People that know not what it is to laugh, they take a days time to anfwer the leaftqueftion you can ask 'em 5 and are fo very grave,that were Cato living among em^hey would think him a worry Andrew. It 124 A Plurality of Worlds. It is odd to confider, fays fhefhti the Inhabitants of Mercury are all -life, and the Inhabitants of Saturn quite contrary^ but among us, fome are brisk, and fome are dull 5 it is, I fuppofe, becaufe our Earth is plac'd in the middle of the other Worlds,and fo we participate of both ex- treams, there is no fix d or determine Character 5 fome are made like the Inha- bitants of Mercury, fome like thofe of Saturn $ we are a mixture of the feveral kinds that are found in the reft of the Planets. Why faid I, do you not ap- prove of the Idea ? Methinks it is plea- fant to be composed of fuch a fantastical Affembly,that one would think we were colle&ed out of different Worlds 5 we need not travel, when we fee the other Worlds in Epitome at home. I am fure, fays the Countcfs, we have one g;reat convenience in the Situation of our World 5 it is not fo hot as Mer- cury or Venus^ nor fo cold as Jupiter or Saturn 5 and our Country is fo juftly plac'd, that wc have no excefs either of Heat or Cold. I have heard of a Philo- fopher, A Plurality of Worlds. 12 f fopher, who gave thanks to Nature that he was born a Man, and nota Beaft, a Greel^, and not a Barbarian 5 and for my part , I render thanks that I am feated in the mod temperate Planet of the Univerfe, and in one of themoft temperate Regions of that Planet. You have more reafon, [aid I, to give thanks that you are Young, and not Old 5 that you are Young and Handfome, and not Young and Ugly 5 that you are Young, Handfome and an Englifl) Woman, and not Young, Handfome, and a Spaniard^ or an Italian 5 thefe are other-guefs Sub- jects for your thanks, than the Situation of your Vortex, or the Temperature of your Country. Pray Sir, fays foe, let me give thanks for all things,to the very Votex in which I am planted : Our proportion of Happi- nefs is fo very fmall, that we (hould lofe none, but improve continually what we have,and be grateful for every thing,tho' never fo common or inconfiderable. If nothing but exquifite pleafure will ferve us, we muft wait a long time, and be fure i % 6 A Plurality of Worlds. fare to pay too dear for it at lad. I with, faid J, that Philofophy was the pleafure you propofe, that when you think of Vortex's you would not forget an hum- ble Servant of your Ladyfhips. I efteem it a pleafure, faysjhe^ while it diverts in- nocently, but no longer. I will engage for it till to morrow, I reply d y for the fix'd Stars are beyond what you have yet feen* THE A Plurality of Worlds. 1 27 THE Fifth EVENING. TH E Countefs was very impatient to know what would become of the fix'd Stars 5 are they inhabited, fajs fie, as the Planets are, or are they not inhabited ? What (hall we do with em> You may foon 'guets, faid 1$ the fix'd Stars cannot belefs diftant from the Earth than fifty millions of leagues ^ nay, if you anger an Aftronomer, he will fet*em fur- ther. The diftance from the Sun to the fartheft Planet is nothing in companion of the diftance from the Sun, or from the Earth, to the fix'd Stars, it is almoft be- yond Arithmetick. You fee their light is bright and (liining, and did they re- ceive it from the Sun, it muft weeds be very weak after a paffage of fifty milli- ons of Leagues ^ then judge how much it is wafted by reflection 5 for it comes back again as far to us 5 fo that forwards and 128 A Vlurality of Worlds. and backwards, here are an hundred mil- lions of Leagues for it to pafs $ and it is impoffible it (hould be fo clear and ftrong as the light of a fixd Stars,which cannot but proceed from it fel f 5 fo that, in a word, all the fix'd Stars are fo many Suns. Ï perceive, Jays the Counters, where you would carry me 5 you are going to tell me : that if the fix'd Stars are fo many Suns,ând our Sun the centre of a Vortex that turns round him, why may not e- very fix'd Star be the centre of a Vortex that turns round the fix'd Star? Our Sun enlightens the Planets 3 why may not e- very fix'd Star have Planets to which they give Light ? You have faid it, / reply d, and I will not contradift you. You have made thellniverfe fo large, {ays fie, that I know not where I am, or what will become of me 5 what is it all to be divided into heaps confufedly, one among another? Is every Star the Centre of a Vortex, as big as ours ? Is that vaft fpace which comprehends our Sun and Planets, but an inconfiderable part of the Uni- A Plurality of Worlds. 129 tlniverfë? And are there as many fuch fpaces* as there are fix'd Stars ? I proteft it is dreadful. Dreadful, Madam, [aid 1 5 1 think it very pleafant,when the Heavens were a little blue Arch,ftuck with Stars 5 methought the Univerfe was too ftrait and clo(e.,I was almoft ftifled for want of Air$ but now it is enlarg'd in heighthand breadth, and a thoufand and a thouDnd Vortex's taken in 5 I begin to breath with more freedom, and think thellni- verfe to be incomparably more magni- ficent than it was before. Nature hath fpar d no coft, even to profufenefs, and nothing can be fo glorious,as to fee fuch a prodigious number of Vortex's, whofe feveral centres are poffèfs'd by a particular Sun, which makes the very Planets turn round it. The Inhabitants of a Planet of one of thefe innumerable Vortex's, fee on all fides thefe luminous centres of the Vorte, with which they are encom- pafs'd 5 but perhaps they do not fee the Planets, who receiving but a faint Light from their Sun, cannot fend it beyond their own World. 130 A Plurality of Worlds. You prefent me with a kind of Per- fpedive of fo vaft a length, that no Eye can reach to the end of it : I plainly fee the Inhabitants of the Earth, and you have made me difcover thofe that dwell in the Moon, and in other Planets of our Vortex 5 but thefe indeed, I do not fee fo clearly as thofe of the Earth 5 after thefe, we come to the Inhabitants of the Planets which are in the other Vortex's, but they are funk into fo great a depth, that tho 5 1 do all I can to fee them, yet I muft: confels I can hardly perceive em 3 by the expreffion you ufe in fpeaking of em, they feem to be almoft annihilated 5 you ought then to call 'em the Inhabi- tants of one of thofe innumerable Vor- tex's: We our felves, for whom the fame expreffion ferves, muft confefs, that we fcarce know where we are, in the midft of fo many Worlds 5 for my own part, I begin to fee the Earth fo fearfully little, that I believe from henceforth, I (hall ne- ver be concern d at all for any thing $ That we fo eagerly deiîre to make our felves great,that we are always defigning, always A Plurality of Worlds. 131 always troubling and haraffingour felves, is certainly becaufe we are ignorant what thefe Vortex's are 5 but now I hope my new Lights will in part juftifie my Lazi- nefs, aud when any one reproaches me with my carelefsnefs, I will anfwer, Ah did yon hut know what the fixd Stars are! It was not fit, faid J, that Alex- ander (hould know what they were 5 for a certain Author who maintains that the Moon is inhabited, very gravely tells us, that Arljiotle, (from whom no truth could be long conceafd) muft neceflari- ly be of an opinion,back*d with fomuch reafon 5 but yet he could never acquaint Alexander with the fecret, fearing he might run mad with defpair, when he knew there was another World which he could not conquer 5 with much more reafon then was this Myftery of Vortex's, and fix d Stars kept fecret in Alexanders time 5 for tho 5 they had been known in thofe days, yet a Man would have been a great Fool, to have faid any thing of em to Alexander 5 it had been but an ill way of making hiscoutt that ambitious K 2 Prince 132 A Plurality of Worlds. Prince • for my part, I that know 'em, am not a little troubled to find my felf not one jot the wifer for all the know- ledge I have of em 5 the moft they can do, according to your way of reafoning, is but to cure People of their ambition, and their unquiet reftlefs humour, which are difeafesl am notât all troubled with 5 I confefs, I am guilty of fo much weak- nefs, as to be in love with what is beau- tiful $ that's my diftemper,and I am con- fident, the Vortex's can never cure it : What if the other Worlds render ours fo very little ? They cannot fpoil fine Eyes, or a pretty Mouth ^ their value is ftill the fame, in fpiteof all the Worlds that can poffibly exift* This Love, reply d the Coutttefs, fmi- ling, is a ftrangc thing 5 let the World go how 'twill/tis never in danger 5 there is no Syftem can do it any harm. But tell me freely,, is your Syftem true ? Pray conceal nothing from me 5 I will keep your fecret very faithfully 5 it feems to have for its foundation, but a flight probability ; which is, that if a fix d A Plurality of Worlds. 133 hYd Star be in it felf a luminious Body, like the Sun, then by confequence, it muft, as the Sun is, be the Centre and Soui of a World ^ and have its Planets turning round about it : But is there an abfolute neceffity it muft be fo ? Madam, [aid i, fince we are in the humour of mingling amorous Follies with our moft ferious Difcourfè, I muft tell you, that in Love and the Mathematicks, People reafon alike : Allow never fo little to a Loverjet prefently after you muft grant him more $ nay, more and more^ which will at laft go a great way : In like man- ner, grant but a Mathematician one little Principle, he immediately draws a con- fequence from it, to which you muft ne- ceflarily a0ent^ and from this confe- quence another, till he leads you fo far (whether you will or no) that you have much ado to believe him. Thefe two forts of People, Lovers andMathemati- cians, will always take more than you give 'em. You grant that when two things are like one another in all thofe things that appear to you, it is poffible K 3 they ïg± A Plurality of Worlds. they may be like one another in thofe things that are not vifible,if you have not fome good Reafon to believe otherwife : Now this way of arguing have I made life of. The Moon, Jay 2, is inhabited, becaufe (he is like the Earth 5 and theo- ther Planets are inhabited, becaufe they are like the Moon 5 I find the fix'd Stars to be like our Sun, therefore I attribute to them what is proper to that : You are now gone too far to be able to retreat, therefore you mull: go forward with a good Grace. But, fays the Countefs, if you build upon thisRefemblanceorLike- nefs which is between our Sun and the fix'd Stars, then, to the People of ano- ther great Vortex, our Sun muft appear no bigger than a fmall fix'd Star, and can be feen only when 'tis Night with them. Without doubt, Madam, [aid 2, it muft be fo : Our Sun is much nearer to us, than the Suns of other Vortex's, and therefore its Light makes a much greater Impreffion on our Eyes, than theirs do : We fee nothing but the Light of our own Sun , and when we fee that, it darkens A Plurality of Worlds. 135 darkens and hinders us from feeing any other Light : but in another great Vor- tex, there is another Sun, which rules and governs, and, in its turn, extinguifh- eth the Light of our Sun, which is ne- ver feen there, but in the Night, with the reft of the other Suns, that is the fix'd Stars 5 with them our Sun is faftned to the great arched Roof of Heaven, where it makes a part of fome Bear or Bull : For the Planets which turn round about it, (our Earth for Example) as they are not feen at fo vaft a Diftance, fo no Body doth fo much as dream of em : All the Suns then are Day Suns in their own Vortex's, but Night Suns in o- ther Vortex's: In his own World or Sphere every Sun is fingle, and there is but one to be feen ^ but every where elle, they ferve only to make a Number. May not the Worlds, reply d the Countefs • ' not- rwithftanding this great Refemblance be- tween 'em, differ in a thoufand other things:, for tho* they may be alike in one particular, they may differ infinitely in others. K 4 ft ï3 6 A Plurality of Worlds. It is certainly true, fuid I • but the difficulty is to know wherein they differ. One Vortex hath many Planets that turn round about its Sun $ another Vortex hath buta few: In one Vortex, there are inferiour or lets Planets, which turn a- bout thofe that are greater 5 in another perhaps, there are no inferiour Planets 5 here, all the Planets are got round about their Sun, in form of a little Squadron ^ beyond which, is a great void Space, which reacheth to the neighbouring Vor- tex's : In another Place, the Planets take their Courfe towards the out fide of their Vortex, and leave the middle void. There may be Vortex's alfo quite void, without any Planets at all} others may have their Sun not exactly in their Centre ? and that Sun may fo move, as to carry its Planets along with it : Others may have Planets which in regard of their Sun, %- fcend, and defcend, according to the change of their Equilibration, which keeps them fufpended. But I think I have faid enough for a Man that was ne- ver out of his own Vortex, It A Plurality of Worlds. 1 37 It is not fo much, rcpl/d the Countefs, confidering what a multitude of Worlds there are 3 what you have faid is fuffici- ent but for five or fix, and from hence I fee thoufands. What, Madam, would you fay, if I- flaould tell you, there are many more fix'd Stars than thofe you fee ? and that an infinite Number are difcover'd with Glafles, which never fhew'd themfelves to our Eyes : In only one Conftellation, where it may be, we count twelve or fifteen, there are as many to be found as ufually appear in the whole Hemi- (phere. I fubmit, fays the Conntefs^ and beg your pardon : You quite confound me with Worlds and Vortex's. I have yet more to tell you, Madam, faid I: You fee that whitenefs in the Sky, which fome call the milky w>e Cotmtefs % and now I know the fatal confequences of the Sun's palenefs, I believe, inftead of going every Morning to my Glafs, to fes how I look, I {hall caft my Eyes up to Heaven, to fee whether or no the Sua looks pale. Oh, Madam, faid 7, there is a great deal of time required to ruine a World. Grant it, faid [he, yet 'tis bat time that is required. I confefs it, faid I.5 all this immenfe mats of Matter that compofes the Univerfe, is in perpetual motion, no part of it excepted ^ and fince every part is moved, you may be fure that changes muft happen fooner or later 5 but ftill in times proportioned to the Effeft. The Ancients were pleafant Gentlemen, to imagine that the celeftial Bodies were in their own nature un- changeable, becaufe they obferved no change in them 5 but they did not livp long enough to confirm their Opinion by their own Experience 5 they were Boys in comparifon of us. Give me leave, Madam, to explain my felf by an Allegory : If Rofes, which laft but a day, could A Plurality of Worlds. 153 could write Hiftories, and leave Memoirs one to another 5 and if the firfl: Role fhould draw an exaft Pifture of their Gardiner,and after fifteen thoufand Rofe- Ages, it fhould be left to other Rofes, and fo left ftill to thofe that fhould fuo ceed, without any change in it 5 fhould the Rofes hereupon fay, we have every day feen the fame Gardiner, and in the memory of Rofes, none ever faw any Gardiner but this ^ he is ftill the fame he was, and therefore certainly he will die, as we do ^ for there is no change at all in him. Would not thefe Rofes, Madam, talk very foolifhly? and yet there would be more reafon in their dif- courfe, than there was in what the An- cients faid concerning celeftial Bodies 5 and though even to this very day there fhould appear no vifible change in the Heavens, and the matter of which they are made, fhould have all the fignsof an eternal duration without any change 5 yet I w T ould not believe 'em unchange- able, till I had the experience of many more Ages. Ought we, who laft but a moment, I j 4 -A Plurality of Worlds. moment, make our continuance the mea- iure of any other things duration $ 'tis not fo eafie a matter to be eternal To have lafted many Ages of Men, one af- ter another, is no fign of Immortality. Truly, fays the Qimtefs, I find the Worlds are far from being able to pretend to it 5 I will nofr do 'em fo much honour, as to compare 5 em to the Gardiner that lived fo much longer than the Rofes : I begin to think 'em like the Rofes them- felves, which blow one day, and die the next : For now I underftand, that if old Stars difappear, new ones will come in their room, becaufe every fpecies muft preferve it felf. No fpecies, Madam, fed 7, can totally perifti ^ fome perhaps will tell you, that fuch new Stars are Suns, which return to our fight again, after they have been a long time hid from us, in the profundity of Heaven : Others may tell you, they are Suns clear- ed from that thick Cruft, which once covered them : If I fhould think all this ,poflîbîe, yet I likewife believe that the Univerfe may be framed in fuch. a man- ner. A Plurality of Worlds. 15$ ner, that from time to time it may pro- duce new Suns} why may not that mat- ter which is proper to make a Sun, be difpers'd here and there, and gather it felf again at long run, into one certain place, and lay the foundation of a uqw World ? I am very much iriclind to be- lieve fuch new Produftions, becaufe they fuit with that glorious and admirable I- dea which I have of the works of Na- ture. Can we think that wife Nature knows no more than the fecret of ma- king Herbs and Plants live and die by a continual Revolution ? I am verily per- fwaded, and are not you fo too, Ma- dam } that Nature, without much coft or pains can put the fame fecret in pra- ctice upon the Worlds. I now find, fays the Cotwtcfs, the Worlds, the Heavens, and celefrial Bodies fo fubjeft to change, that I am come to my felf again. To come the better again to our (elves, Irepl/d, let us fay no more of thefe Matters. We are arrived at the very roof and top of all the Heavens 5, and to tell you whether there be any Stars beyond it, you muft have an a- bier i $6 A Plurality of Worlds. bier Man than I am $ you may place Worlds there, or no Worlds, as you pleafe : Tis the Philofophers Empire to defcribe thofe vaft invisible Countries, which are, and are not, or are fuch as he pleafes to make em : It is enou h for me, to have carried your mind as far as you can fee with your Eyes. Well, fays the Countefs, 1 have now in my Head, the Syftem of the Univerfe : How learned am I become ? Indeed, Ma- dam, jaid i, you are pretty knowing, and you are fo with the advantage of believing, or not believing any thing I have faid : For all my pains, I only beg this favour, that when ever you fee the Sun, the Heaven, or the Stars, you will think of me. BOOKS BOOKS Vrinted, and fold by Tho. Osborne next Grays- Inn- Walks, and Rich. Wel- lington at the Dolphin and Crown in St. Paul'j Cburch- Tard. THE Hiftory of Folybitx the Megalopoli- tan ^ containing a General Account of the Traniàftions of the whole World, but principally of the Roman People, during the Firft and «Second Funick Wars. Tranflated by Sir Henry Sheers, and Mr. Dryden. In Three Volumes : The Third Volume never be- fore printed. Familiar Letters : Written by John late Earl of Rochefter, to the honourable Henry Sa- w'/^Efq^and other Perfons of Quality ^ with Love-Letters, written by the late Ingenious Mr. Jbo. Otway, Sir George Etheridge, and the late Duke of Buckingham. Price 5 s. The, Books printed for, Sec. Tbo. Brown's New and Eaîîé Method to underiland the Roman Hiftory, by way of DU alogue, for the uleof the Duke of Burgundy. Done out of French, with very large Additi- ons. A Mathematical Companion, or the De- scription and life of a new Aiding Rule, by which many uleful and neceflary Queftions in Arithmetick, Military Orders, Interefts, Trigonometry, Planometry, Sterenometry, Ge- ography, Aftronomy, Navigation, Fortifica- tion, Gunnery, Dyalling, may be ipeedily re- folved without the help of Pen or Compaf- fes. By William Hunt, Philomath. A Difcourfe upon the Nature and Faculties of Man, in lèverai Effays: With fomeConfi- derations on the Occurrences of Human Life. By Tim. Nourfe, Gent. The Novels, &>c. of the late Ingenious Mrs. Bebn, Collected into one Vol. viz. Oroo- noko, or the Royal Steve. Fair Jilt, or Prince Tarquin. Agnes de Caftro, or the Force of Generous Love. The Lover's Watch, or the Art of Love. The Ladies Looking-Glafs. The Lucky Miftake. The Hiftory of the Nun, or fair Vowbreaker. The Family Phylician-, being a choice Col- lection of approved and experience Remi- dieS) to cure ail Difeales incident to Human Bodies Boookj printed for, 8cc. Bodies, ufeful in Families, and ferviceable to Country People. By George Hart??? an Chy- miif, Servant to «Sir Ke??eh?i Digby till he died. A General Treatife of the Difeafes of In- fants and Children, collected from the mod Eminent Practical Authors. By John Pechy\ of the Col ledge of Phyficians. Dr. Br af s Le&ures on the Church Cate- chifm. Mr. Walker's Treatife of Education, efpe- dally of Young Gentlemen. Mifcellany Poems by Mr. Dennis • with fe< left Trailations of Horace, Juvenal, and JE- Jbp's Fables in Burlefque Verfe. To which is added, the Paffion of Byblis*, with fome Cri- tical Reflexions on Mr. Oldham and his Wri- tings. With Letters and Poems. Antiquities of Palmyra, containing the Hi- ftory of the City and its Emperors, from its Foundation to the prefènt time. Erafmus Colloquies. 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Whereunto is ad- ded, his Artificial Arithmetick, fhewing the Genefis or Fabrick of the Logarithms, and their Ufe in the Extraction of Roots, the folving of Queltions in Anatociim, and in o- ther Arithmetical Rules, in a Method not u- fually pra£tifed. Mudibras. Compleat 3. Parts. Waller's, Poems. Te evert on s Reports with References by the fame Hand that compleated Coke will fhortly be pubiifh'd. Price 10 s. ■ F 1 N I S. Kfl JPI mm • ■ B9 IL 1^2 SfilBEffl ■ IP I m l m Ksi