Part 8

Listen, madam, I replied; we are so naturally disposed to mingle the follies of gallantry with our gravest discussions, that mathematical reasoning partakes of the nature of love. Grant ever so little to a lover, and presently you are forced to grant him a great deal more, and so on till you don't know how to stop. In like manner admit any principle a mathematician proposes, he then draws a consequence which you are obliged to admit, and from that consequence another, and thus before you are aware he carries you so far that on a sudden you wonder where you have got to: these two characters always take more than you mean to give them. You must own that when two things are similar in all that I know of them, I may reasonably think them similar in what I am unacquainted with in respect to them. From that principle I draw the conclusion of the moon being inhabited because she resembled the earth; and the other planets, because they resemble the moon. And because the fixed stars bear a resemblance to our sun, I attribute to them all that he possesses. You have already made too many concessions to draw back, you must go on; do it therefore with a good grace. But, said she, in admitting this resemblance between the fixed stars and our sun, we must suppose that the inhabitants of another great vortex see it as a little fixed star, visible only during their nights.

That is indisputable, I replied. Our sun is so near to us in comparison of the suns belonging to other vortices that his light must be incomparably stronger to us than to them. When he is risen we can discern no other heavenly body: so, in another vortex, another sun eclipses ours, and permits it to appear only at night, with all the other suns, then visible. With them, fixed to the blue firmament, our sun forms a part of some imaginary figure. As to the planets that go round him, as they are not seen at so great a distance, they are not so much as thought of. Thus all the suns are daily luminaries to their own vortex, and nightly ones to all the other vortices. Each reigns alone in his own system; elsewhere, is but one of a great number. Nevertheless, do not these worlds differ from each other in a thousand instances, notwithstanding this equality? for a general resemblance does not exclude a vast number of dissimilarities.

Surely, answered I: but the difficulty is to find them out. For ought we know one vortex may have more planets revolving round its sun, another fewer. In one there are subaltern planets, turning round the principal planets; in another they may be all alike. Here they all collect round their sun in a circle, beyond which is an empty space which extends to the neighbouring vortices; in other parts of the universe they may have their orbits at the extremities of their vortex whilst the centre is left empty. And very likely there are some vortices without any planets; others, whose suns, not being in the centre, have a circular revolution, carrying their planets along with them; others, again, whose planets may rise and set with regard to their sun according to the change of that equilibrium which keeps them suspended--What would you have more? Surely here is enough for a person who has never been beyond one vortex.

All that is nothing, she replied, for the number of worlds. What you have been imagining would suffice but for five or six, instead of millions.

If you talk of millions now, said I, how will you count them when I tell you there are many more fixed stars than you discover; that with telescopes an endless number are seen which are invisible to the naked eye; and that in a single constellation, where we might before have counted a dozen or fifteen, there have been found as many as we were accustomed to observe throughout the heavens?

Have pity on me, cried she; I yield; you have overwhelmed me with worlds and vortices. Ah! said I, but I must add something more still; you see that white part of the sky, called the milky-way. Can you guess what it is?--An infinity of little stars, invisible to our eyes on account of their smallness, and placed so close to each other that they seem but a stream of light. I wish I had a telescope here to shew you this cluster of worlds. In some measure, they resemble the Maldivia Isles, those twelve thousand little islands or banks of sand, separated only by narrow canals of the sea which one might almost leap over. The little vortices of the milky-way must be so close, that from one world to another the people might converse or shake hands. The birds, at least, I think, can go from one world to another; and pigeons may be taught to carry letters as they do in our Levant from one town to another. These little worlds must deviate from the general rule by which the sun of any vortex effaces, at its rising, all the other suns. In one of the little vortices contained in the milky-way the sun of that particular vortex can hardly appear closer to its planets, or more brilliant, than a hundred thousand other suns, in the neighbouring vortices. The sky, then, is filled with a countless quantity of fires almost close to each other. When they lose sight of their own sun, they have thousands still remaining; and the night is not less enlightened than the day; at least the difference is so trifling that we may say there is no night. The inhabitants of those worlds, accustomed as they are to perpetual light, would be very much astonished to hear of miserable creatures who spend half their time in profound darkness; and who, even during the light of day, see but one sun. They would think we had fallen under the displeasure of nature, and shudder at our condition.

I don't ask you, said the Marchioness, whether they have any moons in the milky-way; they could be of no use to the principal planets, since they have no nights, and besides that, move in so small a space that they could not be encumbered with subaltern planets. But, continued she, by multiplying worlds so liberally, you give rise to a great difficulty. The vortices, of which we see the suns, touch our vortex: the vortices you say are round; can so many circles touch this single one? I can't understand how it is.

It shews a great deal of sense, answered I, to discover this difficulty, and even to be unable to solve it, for it is in itself well founded, and in the way you conceive it, unanswerable; therefore there would be but little proof of wisdom in finding an answer to what was incapable of any. If our vortex were in the figure of a die, it would have six flat sides, which is very far from a circle; on each of these sides might then be placed a vortex of the same shape. If instead of six, it had twenty, fifty, or a thousand, flat sides, an equal number of vortices might come in contact with it, each resting against one of these sides. You know the greater number of flat sides a body has, the nearer it approaches in form to a circle; so that a diamond cut into a great number of facets, if they were extremely small, would be nearly as round as a pearl of the same size. The vortices are only circular in this manner. They have an amazing number of flat sides, each of which is close to another vortex. These sides are very unequal; some larger, some smaller. The smallest correspond to those of the milky-way. If two vortices leave any space between, which must often be the case, nature, to make the most of the extent, fills up the vacancy by one or two, or perhaps a thousand, little vortices, which without incommoding any of the others, form one, two, or a thousand more systems of worlds; so there may be many more worlds than our vortex has sides; and I dare say, though these little vortices are formed merely to fill up spare corners of the universe that would otherwise have been useless; though they may be overlooked by the neighbouring vortices, yet they are quite satisfied with themselves. It is probably such little vortices whose suns we cannot discover without telescopes, of which there is a prodigious number. In short all these vortices are adjusted in the best order imaginable; and as each of them must turn round its sun without changing place, it is formed to move in the most easy and commodious manner for that purpose. They, as it were, catch hold of each other, like the wheels of a watch, and mutually assist the motion. It is likewise true that in a sense they counteract one another: each vortex if it had no external pressure would extend itself; but when it attempts to swell it is repelled by the surrounding vortices, which forces it to shrink back; then it extends again, and so on: some philosophers think that the fixed stars give such a sparkling, intermittent light in consequence of this alternate expansion and contraction of the vortices.

There is something agreeable, said the Marchioness, in the idea of such a combat among the worlds, and the reciprocal emission of light produced by it, which apparently is the only communication carried on between them.

No, no, I replied, that is not the only one. The neighbouring worlds sometimes send us visitors, who come, in a very magnificent style. These visitors are comets, ornamented with brilliant flowing hair, a venerable beard, or a majestic train.

Ah! what ambassadors? said she, laughing. We could dispense with their company, for they only frighten us. They only frighten children, answered I, because their appearance is extraordinary; but there are many children among us. The comets are merely planets, belonging to another system. Their orbit was towards the extremity of their vortex, which was perhaps differently compressed by those that surrounded it; the lower side, on that account was flatter than the top, and the lower side was next to us. These planets, beginning at the upper part to form their circle, did not foresee that it would extend beyond the limit of their vortex, at the lower part; in order, therefore, to continue their circular journey, they were obliged to enter the extremities of the next vortex, which we will suppose is ours. They always appear to us extremely elevated, moving on the other side of Saturn. Considering the prodigious distance of the fixed stars, there must be between Saturn and the extremities of our vortex a great space void of planets. Our enemies reproach us with the inutility of this space, but we find there is a use for it, as it is devoted to the service of foreign planets that occasionally enter our system.

I understand, said she; we don't allow them to penetrate into the heart of our vortex, and mix with our planets; we receive them as the Grand Signior receives the ambassadors that are sent to him. He does not honour them with a lodging in Constantinople, but assigns them one in the environs. There is another point of resemblance, I replied, between us and the Ottomans: they receive ambassadors without sending any in return; and we receive the comets without sending any of our planets to return their visits.

From all these circumstances, answered she, we seem to be very proud: yet we should not hastily form that conclusion; these strange planets have a very menacing air with their beards and trains; perhaps they are only sent to insult us; ours not having so imposing an appearance would not be so well calculated to inspire those worlds with awe. The tails and beards, I replied, are merely extraneous: the planets themselves do not differ from ours; but in entering our vortex they assume the beard or train from a certain illumination derived from our sun. This, by the bye, has not been very well explained by our astronomers; however, they are sure it is only some sort of illumination, and they must tell us more of it when they can. Then I wish, rejoined she, that our Saturn would take a beard or a tail, and frighten the other vortices; then laying aside his terrific appendages, return to us and perform his ordinary functions. He would do better to stay where is, answered I. You recollect I explained to you the shock produced by the repulsive power of each vortex: I think a poor planet must be violently shaken in such a situation, and the inhabitants cannot feel much the better for passing through it. We think ourselves vastly unfortunate when a comet makes its appearance, whereas we ought to consider the comet most unfortunate. I am not inclined to pity it, said the Marchioness; I dare say all its inhabitants arrive here in good health, and it must be extremely entertaining to them to go into a new vortex. We who always remain in our own have but a dull life. If the people in a comet have the sense to know the time at which they shall pass into our vortex, those who have already been the journey, are just before busily employed in describing to the rest what they will see. Speaking of Saturn, they say: "You will presently see a planet with a great ring round it. Then, you will discover one followed by four small planets." Some of these people, perhaps are set to watch the moment of entering our system: when it is arrived they cry new sun, new sun, as our sailors exclaim land, land.

I find then, said I, it is useless to attempt raising your compassion for the comets: I hope, however, you will not refuse it to the inhabitants of a vortex whose sun has been extinguished, and who are thus condemned to perpetual darkness. Suns extinguished? cried she. Yes, undoubtedly, I replied. The ancients saw certain fixed stars which are no longer visible. These suns have been deprived of their light: ruin must have ensued throughout the vortex; a general mortality on all the planets; for how could existence be maintained without the sun? The thought is too dreadful, said she; is it not possible to evade it? I'll tell you, answered I, what some very intelligent people have imagined. They think that the fixed stars that have disappeared are not extinct, but partly darkened; that is to say, that they have one side obscure; the other luminous: that as they turn on themselves, they first present the light part to us, and then the dark, when that is the case we cease to see them. Apparently the fifth moon belonging to Saturn is in this condition, for during one part of its revolution we entirely lose sight of it; at which time it is not most remote from the earth; on the contrary, it is then sometimes nearer than when visible. Though this moon is a planet, and therefore cannot exactly guide our opinion with respect to suns, yet we may suppose that a sun can be partly covered by fixed spots. To spare you the pain of believing the other opinion, we will adopt this, which is more agreeable: but I can only receive it when applied to such fixed stars as have a regular time for appearing and disappearing, as some have lately been observed to do, otherwise we cannot suppose them half suns. What must we say to the stars that disappear, and do not become visible after a time that would certainly have been sufficient for turning on their axis? You are too just to require me to believe that they are half suns: however I will do all in my power to serve you; we will conclude that these stars are not extinguished, but plunged in the unfathomable depth of the sky, and thus become invisible; in this case the vortex would accompany its sun, and all go on as usual. It is true that the greatest part of the fixed stars have not any motion which removes them farther from us, for if they were not always equally distant, they would sometimes appear larger, sometimes smaller; but that is not the case.

We will therefore suppose that some of the small vortices, being light and active, slip betwixt the others, and return after they have made their tour, whilst the larger systems remain immoveable. But there is one inevitable misfortune: there are some fixed stars, which for a long time are alternately visible and invisible, and at length totally disappear. Half suns would re-appear at a regular time; others that had retreated to an immense distance would at once disappear, and be concealed for a very long time: exert therefore all your resolution, madam; these stars are certainly suns which grow so dark as to be invisible to us, then resume their brightness, and afterwards are entirely extinguished. How, exclaimed the Marchioness, can a sun, a source of light, become darkened? With the greatest ease, answered I, if Descartes be in the right. He imagines that the spots on our sun, being impurities, or vapours, may grow thick, collect together, form themselves into a mass, and continue to encrust the sun till it is quite hid. If, the sun is a fire connected with a solid matter, serving as its aliment, we are not in a better condition; the solid matter may be consumed. 'Tis said we have already had a fortunate escape: the sun during several years, (the year, for instance, after the death of Cæsar;) appeared very pale; owing to the encrustation which was beginning to form. The sun had sufficient force to break and disperse it; had it continued, we should have been lost. You make me tremble, said the Marchioness. Now I know the consequences of paleness in the sun, instead of going to my glass every morning to see if I am pale, I think I shall go and look whether the sun is so. Take courage, madam, I replied, it requires a good deal of time to ruin a system of worlds. But, answered she, it seems as if time would inevitably effect it. I cannot take upon me to deny it, said I. The immense mass of matter which composes the universe is in continual motion, even the smallest particles of it, and since there is this motion we are in danger, for changes must happen, either slowly or rapidly, but always in a time proportioned to the effect. The ancients were so vastly wise as to imagine the heavenly bodies were of such a nature as never to alter, because they had not observed any alteration in them. Had they leisure to assure themselves of this by experience? Compared with us the ancients were young: if flowers that last but a day were to transmit their histories to each other, the first would draw the resemblance of their gardener in a certain way; after fifteen thousand ages of these flowers had elapsed, others would still describe him in the same manner. They would say; "We have always had the same gardener, the memoirs composed by our ancestors prove this to be the case; all their representations exactly apply to him; surely he is not mortal like us; no change will ever take place in him." Would the reasoning of these flowers be conclusive?--it would have a better foundation than that of the ancients respecting the celestial bodies; and had there never to this day been observed any change in the heavens, though they should appear likely to remain much longer without alteration, I would not yet decide on them; I should think more experience necessary. Should the term of our existence, which is but a moment, be the measure for other durations? Ought we to assert that what has lasted a hundred thousand times longer than we, must last for ever? No, ages on ages of our duration would scarcely be any indication of immortality. Truly, said the Marchioness, I think these worlds can have no pretensions to it. I shall not do them the honour to compare them with the gardener who outlives so many transient flowers; they are but as those flowers themselves, springing up and fading away, one after another: for I suppose, if old stars disappear, new ones become visible; the species cannot otherwise be continued. Yes, answered I, we need not fear the extinction of the species. Some will tell you these new stars are only suns which re-approach us after having been for a long time at a distant part of the heavens. Others think they are suns that have broken through the crust that began to cover them. I easily conceive the possibility of all this; but I think it equally possible for new suns to be created. Why should not the matter that is fit to compose a sun, after having been dispersed in various places, be at length gathered together in one spot and then become the foundation of a new system of worlds? I am the more inclined to this opinion because it answers better to the grand idea I entertain of the works of nature. Has she no way of producing and destroying plants and animals but by a continual revolution? I am persuaded, and I doubt not that by this time you are so too, that she exerts the same power with respect to the worlds. But on such subjects we can only form conjectures. The fact is that for nearly a century past, in which, by the help of telescopes, almost a new heaven has been discovered, unknown to the ancients, there have been few of the constellations in which some sensible alteration has not taken place; the greatest number of changes is observed in the milky-way, as if more motion and bustle existed among this heap of worlds. Really, said the Marchioness, I find the worlds, in short all the heavenly bodies, so liable to change that I have quite overcome the horror I felt at the idea of the suns being extinguished. Well, replied I, to prevent you from relapsing, we will say no more about them, we are arrived at the uppermost part of the heavens, and to inform you whether there are any stars beyond that, exceeds my skill. You may place more worlds or not; just as you are disposed. These invisible countries should, in propriety, be left to the philosophers: they may imagine them to exist, or not exist, or to exist in any way they chuse. I shall content myself with having directed your mind to all that is discernible by your sight.

Ah! she exclaimed, then I am acquainted with the whole system of the universe! how learned I am! Yes, said I, you are learned enough in all reason, and your knowledge is attended with this convenience,--you may extract your belief of all I have told you whenever you think proper. I only ask as a reward for my trouble, that whenever you see the sun, the sky, and the stars, you will think on me.

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SIXTH EVENING.

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ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS IN CONFIRMATION OF THOSE IN THE PRECEDING CONVERSATIONS.--DISCOVERIES THAT HAVE BEEN LATELY MADE IN THE HEAVENS.

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For a long time the Marchioness and I said nothing about the plurality of worlds, we had apparently forgotten that we had ever talked on the subject. I went one day to her house, and just as I entered, two men of some talents and celebrity were going out. You see, said she, what visitors I have had; I assure you they are gone away with a suspicion that you have turned my brain. I should be very proud of such an achievement answered I; it would shew my power, for I think one could not devise a more difficult undertaking. Well, replied she, I am afraid you have accomplished it. I don't know how it happened, but whilst my two friends, whom you met at the door, were here, the conversation turned on the plurality of worlds; perhaps they had an invidious design in directing it to that subject. I immediately told them all the planets were inhabited. One of them said he was certain I could not be of that opinion: in the most unaffected manner, I maintained my sincerity; he continued to think I was only feigning, and I believe he had too great a regard for me to admit the possibility of my having really adopted so extravagant an opinion. The other, from esteeming me less, did not doubt my veracity. Why have you made me obstinately adhere to sentiments which people who have the greatest friendship for me will not suffer themselves to believe me possessed with? But, madam, answered I, why did you maintain these opinions seriously, when talking with persons that I am sure would not gravely argue on any subject? Should we thus trifle with the inhabitants of the planets? Let us, who believe their existence, be content to remain a little select band, and not disclose our mysteries to the vulgar. Vulgar! exclaimed she; do you reckon those two men among the vulgar? They have good understandings, said I; but they never reason. Grave reasoners, who are austere people, would not hesitate to place them in that class. They however take their revenge by ridiculing the reasoners. We should if possible accommodate ourselves to persons of both characters; it would have been better to speak jestingly of the planetary inhabitants to such men as your two friends, since they are accustomed to pleasantry, than to enter on an argument, for which they have no talents. You would have retained their good opinion without depriving the planets of a single inhabitant. Would you have meanly sacrificed the truth? answered she. Where is your conscience? I must own, I replied, I have not much zeal for truths of this nature; I would readily forbear to maintain them if it suited my convenience.

The cause which prevents people from believing the planets to be inhabited is, that they appear to them only bodies placed in the heavens to give light, instead of globes consisting of meadows and fruitful countries. We readily believe that meadows and fields are inhabited, but it is thought ridiculous to assert that mere luminous bodies are. 'Tis in vain that reason informs us of fields in the planets; reason comes too late, the first coup-d'œil has impressed our minds before-hand, and this impression is not willingly parted with. The planets, 'tis said, are only luminous bodies; what sort of inhabitants then can they have? Our imaginations do not enable us to distinguish their figures, therefore it is the shortest way to deny their existence. Would you require me, for the sake of establishing the idea of these inhabitants, whose interest cannot be very dear to me, to attack all the powers of the senses and the imagination? Such an enterprize would demand a vast deal of courage. Men are not easily persuaded to see through their reason, rather than their eyes. Some few persons are rational enough to believe, after a thousand proofs have been given them, that the planets are worlds like ours, but they do not believe it in the same way they would do, if they had not seen them apparently so different; they always recur to the first idea they had formed, and can never wholly divest themselves of it. These people seem to condescend to our opinion, and only patronize it from a love of singularity.

Is not that enough, said she; for an opinion that is merely probable? You would be astonished, answered I, if I told you the word probable was too modest for the occasion. Is it merely probable that Alexander has been in existence? No, you consider it certain; and what is the ground of your certainty? Is it not that you have had every proof that such a subject requires, and that no circumstance leads you to doubt the fact? You have never seen Alexander, nor have you any mathematical demonstration of his existence. What would you say if this were the case with respect to the inhabitants of the planets? We cannot shew them to you, nor can you require us to demonstrate their being, in a mathematical way; but you have all the evidence that can be desired: the entire resemblance between the planets and the inhabited earth; the impossibility of imagining any other use for which they could be created; the fruitfulness and magnificence of nature; the attention she seems to have paid to the wants of their inhabitants, such as giving moons to those planets that were very remote from the sun, and the greatest number of moons to the most distant: and it is an important consideration that every thing is on that side of the question, without any objections to counterbalance it; you cannot for a moment doubt unless you resume the vulgar mode of seeing and thinking. In fact it is impossible to have more evidence, and evidence of a more determinate kind; how then can you treat this opinion as a mere probability? But do you think, said she, I can feel as certain that the planets are inhabited, as that Alexander has been in existence? By no means, I replied; for although, on the subject we are speaking of we have as many proofs as in our situation we can receive, yet these proofs are not numerous. I protest, exclaimed she, I'll renounce these planetary inhabitants, for I don't know whether to believe there are any or not--it is not certain, yet it is more than possible--I am quite perplexed. Do not be discouraged, madam, I replied. Clocks that are made in the most common manner shew the hour; those only that are made with more exquisite art, indicate the minutes; in like manner common minds see a great difference between probability and absolute certainty; but it is only superior understandings that ascertain the degrees of certainty or of probability, and who, if I may use the expression, can tell the minutes as well as the hours. Place the inhabitants of the planets a little below Alexander in point of certainty, but above a vast number of historical relations which are not entirely proved; I think that is their proper place. I love order, said she, you do me a kindness in giving arrangement to my ideas: why did you not do this before? Because, answered I, whether you attribute to this idea a little more, or a little less certainty than it possesses is not of much consequence. I am certain you do not feel so assured as you ought to do of the earth's motion: are you the less happy on that account? Oh! as to that opinion, I am sure I do my duty; you have no right to complain of me, for I firmly believe that the earth turns. Yet I have not given you the most convincing proof of it, answered I. You use me very ill, said she, to make one believe things without sufficient reason; am I unworthy to hear the best arguments? I wished to prove my opinions, I replied, by easy, entertaining arguments; would you have had me make use of such solid, sturdy ones as I should have attacked a doctor with? Certainly, said she; now fancy me a doctor, and let me have this new proof of the earth's motion.

With all my heart, answered I; it is this, and I am vastly pleased with it, because I think I found it out myself; but it is so good and so natural that I can hardly hope to have been the inventor. I am sure an obstinate learned man who wished to oppose it, would be forced to talk a great deal on the occasion; and that is the only way in which a scholar can be overcome. It is evident either that all the heavenly bodies go round the earth in four-and-twenty hours, or the earth, turning on her axis, only imagines the motion in them. It is the most improbable thing in the world that they should in reality go round the earth in that short space of time, though we are not at first aware of the absurdity of such an opinion. All the planets certainly revolve round the sun: but these revolutions are unequal from the unequal distances at which they are placed from the sun: the most remote, as we might naturally suppose, take a longer time than the rest. This order is observed even in the satellites that go round a large planet. Jupiter's four moons, and the five belonging to Saturn, require a longer or shorter time to move round their planet according to their distance from it. It is further ascertained that the planets have a rotation on their own axis; the time of this is likewise unequal; we cannot tell the cause of such inequality, whether it depends on the different size, or the degree of solidity of the planets, or on the different degrees of rapidity of the vortices in which they are enclosed, and the liquid matter by which they are carried along; this inequality however is certain, and in general we find that the order of nature is such as to admit of particular variations in things that are regulated by the same rules.

I understand, said the Marchioness; I am quite of your opinion; if the planets moved round the earth, the time employed by each would be different, according to their various distances, as is the case in their revolutions round the sun: is not that what you mean? Precisely so, madam, answered I; their unequal distances from the earth would produce an inequality in their revolutions round her: and the fixed stars, being so extremely remote from us, so far beyond all that could have a general movement round us, at least situated in a place where such a motion must be very feeble, is there any probability of their revolving round us in four-and-twenty hours, like the moon which is so near to us? Ought not the comets likewise which do not belong to our vortex, which have such irregular courses, and such different degrees of swiftness, to be exempted from performing this daily circle round our world? No, planets, fixed stars, and comets too, must all turn round the earth! Were there but a few minutes difference in the time of their revolutions we might be satisfied with it; but they are all exactly equal, never varying in the slightest degree; surely this is a suspicious circumstance.

Oh! replied the Marchioness, I could venture to say this exactitude existed only in our imaginations. I am glad that any thing inconsistent with the genius of nature, which this equality in so many moving bodies would be, should depend on our motion, and she, even at our expense, be free from the charge of inconsistency. For my part, said I, I dislike a perfect regularity, and I don't approve of the earth's turning every day on her axis in exactly twenty-four hours; I am disposed to think the time varies. Varies! she exclaimed; do not our clocks shew that it is always equal? Oh! replied I, I don't depend on clocks, they cannot always be perfectly right; and should they be so, and sometimes shew that the earth has made a longer or shorter tour in four-and-twenty hours than usual, it would be thought that we ought rather to suspect them of being wrong than to attribute any irregularity to the revolutions of the earth. That is paying an extravagant respect to her, I should depend no more on the earth than on a clock; the one might be put out of sorts almost by the same causes as the other, only I think it would take longer time to produce a sensible irregularity in the earth; that is the only advantage I should allow her to have over a clock. Might not the earth by degrees get nearer to the sun, and then, finding herself in a situation where the matter was agitated with greater violence, perform her motion on her axis, and her revolution round the sun, in a shorter time? In that case the years would be shorter, and the days too, but we should not perceive the difference, for we should still divide the year into three hundred and sixty-five days, and the days into twenty-four hours. So that without living longer than we do now, we should live a greater number of years: and on the contrary, if the earth were to remove farther from the sun, we should live fewer years, although our lives would be as long. In all probability, said she, if that were possible, a long succession of ages would make but a trifling difference. True, I replied; nature does nothing abruptly, her method is to effect every alteration by such gentle gradations that it is scarcely perceptible to us. We hardly observe even the changes of seasons; others that are produced much more slowly must in general escape our notice. Nevertheless every thing is subject to mutability; even a certain lady who has been seen, through telescopes, in the moon for about forty years, appears considerably older. She used to be rather handsome; now her cheeks are fallen away, her nose and chin are beginning to meet; in short all her charms are fled, and it is even feared that her life is near its close.

What are you talking of? cried the Marchioness. I am not jesting, I replied. A figure has been observed in the moon which resembled a woman's head rising from among the rocks, and in that part an alteration is perceived. Some pieces have fallen off a mountain, and left the points which appear like the forehead, nose and chin of an old woman. Does it not seem, said she, as if some malignant power had a spite against beauty, since the young lady's head is the only spot in the moon that has undergone a change. Perhaps, answered I, to make amends, the alterations on our globe may give additional beauty to some face observed by the inhabitants of the moon, I mean some face formed like those of the people in that planet, for we always try to discover in distant objects, the resemblance of what we continually think of. Our astronomers discern young ladies' faces in the moon; probably if women were to examine it they would find handsome male faces. If I to look, I don't know whether I should not see your likeness, madam. I must undoubtedly, said she, feel myself obliged to any body who could find me there; but let us return to what we were talking of just now; are there any considerable alterations on the earth? In all probability there are, answered I. Many high mountains, at a great distance from the sea, have on them beds of shells, which shew that they were formerly covered with water. Sometimes likewise, at a distance from the sea, are found stones containing petrified fishes. How could they have got to that place unless the water had been there? Fables tell us, that Hercules separated with his hands two mountains called Calpe and Abila, which being situated between Africa and Spain obstructed the ocean; and the sea immediately rushed in violently, and formed the great gulph that we call the Mediterranean. Fables are not altogether fabulous; they are histories of remote periods, disguised by two very ancient and common defects; ignorance, and a love of the marvellous. It is not very credible that Hercules separated the two mountains with his hands; but I can easily believe that in the time of some Hercules, (for there have been fifty), the ocean may have torn asunder, perhaps with the assistance of an earthquake, two mountains more feeble than the rest and have by that means rushed in between Europe and Africa. Then a new spot was discovered on our globe, by the people in the moon, for you recollect, madam, that the water forms a dark spot. It is the general opinion that Sicily has been separated from Italy, and Cyprus from Syria: new islands have sometimes been formed in the sea; earthquakes have ingulfed some mountains, and produced others, as well as changed the course of rivers. Philosophers give us reason to fear that the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, being over great subterranean vaults filled with sulphur, will some time or other fall in, when the vaults are no longer strong enough to resist the fires contained in them, which now have vent at such openings as Vesuvius and Ætna. All this will be sufficient to diversify a little the appearance we make to the inhabitants of the moon.