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horrid impiety to suppose that a creature which did not walk on all fours could be possessed of any species of intelligence. We," said they, "walk on four feet because God would not trust so precious a creature to a less firm position, and he was afraid that in walking otherwise some accident might befal us. For this reason it is he took the trouble of securing us upon four pillars, so that we might not fall.

But disdaining to trouble himself with the construction of these two brutes, he abandoned them to the caprice of Nature, which, not fearing the loss of so insignificant a thing, has supported them upon two paws only." Another almost equally strong argument, relied upon by the orthodox authorities, was what we ourselves have been long used to consider from an opposite point of view the os sublime. "See," said they, "they have their heads turned towards the heavens. It is the want of all things in which God has placed them; for this suppliant posture testifies that they complain to heaven of Him who has created them, and that they ask to be accommodated with our supports. But we have our heads inclined downwards to contemplate the good things of which we are masters, and as having nothing in our happy condition to cause repining.

However, finding they were getting the worst of the argument, they published an edict," by which it was forbidden to believe that I was endowed with reason, with a very express command to all persons of every grade that, though I might act like a rational being, it was instinct which made me do so." After escaping from his prison through the mediation of his friend from the Sun, he is on the point of being condemned to death for the impiety of contradicting the

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dogma that our earth is merely a moon, and not an inhabited world. In revenge for his bad treatment, he promulgated an opinion that their globe is also merely a moon. "But," said they all to me, 66 you see here land, rivers, seas; what then are all these ?" "No matter," replied I, "Aristotle assures us that it is but a moon; and if you had said the contrary in the classes in which I made my studies, they would have hissed you.' Upon this there was a loud burst of laughter. It need not be asked, if it was at their ignorance. He is conducted back to his cage, and not until he made a public recantation did he obtain his release. "Good people," such was his apology, "I declare to you that this moon of yours is not a moon, but a world; and that this world below is not a world, but a moon. Such is what the Council finds good that you should believe." One day, seeing a person of quality arrive, dressed without a sword, our terrestrial shows surprise. 'This costume appears to me very extraordinary,' said I, for in our world the mark of nobility is wearing a sword.'' An unlucky remark, which elicited the following apostrophe from the Lunarian magnate. "Malheureuse contrée où les marques de generation sont ignominieuses, et où celles d'anéantissement sont honorables." We ought to mention that our hero contrives to secure the goodwill, if not the affections, of a Lunarian young lady, the prototype of Swift's Glumdalclitch, by entertaining her with the manners and customs peculiar to his own little world. He returns home by the intervention of a demon, and is scarcely landed on terra firma before the dogs of a neighbouring village, smelling the odour of the moon, set up a terrific clamour. In a few days, by walking constantly in the sun, he gets rid of the obnoxious odour,

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and at last returns to his own home.

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Les Voyages de Milord Seton" was another of the rather numerous French romances of the same class. It describes the experiences of an English nobleman of the Commonwealth, who, in the shape of a fly, and by the good offices of a friendly genius, traverses the moon and solar planets. Venus according to the author, is the world par excellence of love, which alone engages all the thoughts of the happy inhabitants; while (accommodating the nature of the people to the well-known characteristics of the Greek god) avarice and the tricks of trade occupy the minds of the sordid population of the globe of Mercury.*

For the wittiest and most instructive romance upon the plurality of worlds, however, we are indebted to the unrivalled wit of the author of "Micromégas." In this fine piece of satire Voltaire had a double purpose-first, to hold up to ridicule the absurd pride which would make our insignificant globe the sole centre of intellectual life; and, secondly, a much less worthy motive, to retaliate upon the venerable Fontenelle certain slights he had received from the Secretary to the Academy of Sciences. Fontenelle, several years previously, had published his charming "Conversations sur la Pluralité des Mondes," in which he had indulged his imagination a little; but in a very excusable manner. But for the genuine wit of "Micromégas" we should never have been able to forgive his attempt to cast ridicule upon that charming writer; and so much the less worthy was this attack, as the two philosophers were equally agreed upon the plurality of worlds.

Micromégas (the little-big man), under which name the author shadows forth his own opinions, and also some of his own experiences, is a native of one of the planets of the Sirian system, a young man of about eight leagues in height, and of good understanding. Now, as eight leagues make more than 120,000ft., and as terrestrials have an average of only 5ft., mathematical skill easily discovers that the globe of the Širian must be exactly 21,600,000 times greater in circumference than our little Earth. Nothing is more simple or ordinary in Nature. The States of some Sovereigns of Germany or Italy, whose tour one might make in a half hour, compared with the Empire of Turkey, of Russia, or of China, present a very feeble image of the prodigious differences Nature has placed between all beings. At the age of 450 years, when just emerging from boyhood, after having already discovered his genius by divining, by the mere force of his fine intellect, more than fifty propositions of Euclid, he composed a very curious book, but which caused him some trouble. The mufti of his country, "a great stickler for trifles, and very ignorant, found in his book some suspected propositions, ill-sounding, rash, heretical, and smelling of heresy; and pursued him with much fierceness. It was a question of knowing whether the substantial forms of the fleas of Sirius were of the same nature as that of the snails. The trial lasted 220 years. At length the mufti got the book condemned by the lawyers, who had not read it, and the author received orders not to appear at court for 800 years. He felt but moderately afflicted at banishment from a court full of

* See Dunlop's Hist. of Fiction, III.

shuffling and littlenesses. He composed a witty satire against the mufti, who experienced no little embarrassment from it, and set out on his travels from planet to planet to finish the education of his mind, as they say. Our traveller knew to a marvel the laws of gravitation, and all the attractive and repulsive forces, and made so good use of his knowledge that, sometimes by the aid of a sun's rays, sometimes by the help of a comet, he and his people went from globe to globe much as a bird flits from branch to branch. Upon at last arriving at the globe of Saturn, accustomed as he was to novelties, he could not at first, on seeing its littleness, and its diminutive people, prevent that smile of superiority which sometimes escapes from the wisest. For, in fact, Saturn is but 900 times greater than the earth, and the citizens are dwarfs of but 6000ft. in height. But, as the Sirian had a good understanding, he very quickly perceived that a thinking being may very well not be ridiculous for being only 6000ft. in height. After the first surprise he got on familiar terms with the Saturnians, and contracted a firm friendship with the Secretary of the Academy, a man of much wit, who had invented nothing, but who gave a very good account of the inventions of others, and who made passable verses and some really important calculations."

The two new friends compare notes, and find that though the one has seventy-two and the other one thousand senses; that the one lives on an average some fifteen thousand years, and the other enjoys an existence of seven hundred times longer duration, complaints of the brevity of life are not wanting in their worlds. For themselves, as they are philosophers, they find consolation in the reflection that when the

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time comes for the return of the body to the elements again, which is called death, to have lived an eternity, or to have lived only a day, is precisely the same thing; and the Sirian, who had had the experience of a large number of worlds, assures his friend that though there are many where they live a still longer period than in his, they still murmur. After having communicated to one another " little of what they did know, and a great deal of what they did not know" during one revolution of the sun, they resolve to make together a little philosophical expedition. Leaping upon the ring of Saturn they proceed to travel from moon to moon. They then seize the opportunity of a passing comet, and, with their domestics and instruments, take their places on that erratic conveyance. When they had traversed some 150,000,000 leagues the satellites of Jupiter come into view. They pass into that planet, and remain a year, learning certain very fine secrets, which would be already in print but for the gentleman of the Inquisition. Leaving Jupiter they traverse a space of 100,000,000 leagues, and overtaking the planet Mars, which, as we know, is one-fifth the size of our little globe, Micromégas, fearing insufficient accommodation, passes it by just as a paltry village inn is despised by us. But they soon repent of their ill-timed fastidiousness, inasmuch as they travel a long time and find no accommodation at all. At length a faint glimmer appears. It turns out to belong to the Earth. Just fresh from Jupiter, a feeling of contempt may perhaps be excused to them. However, not to be obliged to repent a second time, they decide to land. Passing along the tail of a comet, and, finding an aurora borealis ready to hand, they

arrive upon the northern shore of the Baltic Sea July 5th, 1737 (new style).

After reposing a little, and breakfasting upon two mountains, served up to them by their servants in an appetising manner, they set about a voyage of discovery, proceeding from north to south. The ordinary steps of the Sirian were 30,000ft.: the Saturnian dwarf followed at a distance, gasping for breath, for, for one stride of his companion, he had to take twelve steps-e.g., it may be allowed to use the comparison of a very small dog following a captain of the Guards of the King of Prussia. As they walked very fast, they made the tour of our globe in thirty-six hours. With some difficulty the Mediterranean, and that other larger pool which we call the Ocean, and which surrounds the mole-hills, are made out; in crossing which the dwarf found himself never more than half-way up his leg in water, while the Sirian scarcely wetted his heels. To solve the question of habitability they try every method of investigation: they stoop, lie they stoop, lie down, test the matter in every way; "they receive not the slightest indication which could lead them to suspect that we and our confrères, the rest of the inhabitants of the earth, have the honour of existing." Our Saturnian, who judged sometimes a little too hastily, decided at first against any sort of life, his first reason being that he had not seen anything of it. Micromégas politely suggests that that is to reason rather badly, "for," said he, "you do not see with small eyes certain stars of the fiftieth magnitude which I perceive very distinctly; do you conclude, therefore, that those stars exist not ?" "But," says the dwarf, “I have examined the question well." "You may have defective senses,"replies the Sirian. "But," objects the

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Saturnian, "this globe is so badly constructed; it is so irregular and of a shape, as it seems to me, so ridiculous. All seems to be chaos. See you those small streams, of which not one flows in a straight course; those puddles, neither round, nor square, nor oval, nor of any descernible shape-all those little pointed grains [meaning mountains] with which the globe is studded, and which have scratched my feet? In truth, what makes me believe that no life exists here is, that no people endowed with sense would desire to live here." "Eh bien!" returns the Sirian, "perhaps there are no people of good sense inhabiting it: but, in fact, there is some appearance that it is not made for nothing. Everything seems to you irregular, say you, because everything is made by the square in Saturn and Jupiter. Perhaps it is for that same reason a little confusion reigns here. Have I not told you that in my voyages I had always remarked variety?"

The Saturnian dwarf replied: and the dispute might never have ended had not Micromégas by good luck, in the impatience of speaking, burst the thread of his diamond necklace. The diamonds which fell to the ground were small carats, whose greatest weight was 400lb. Picking them up, the dwarf perceived, on close inspection, from the fashion in which they were cut, they formed excellent microscopes. He took one, a small microscope 160ft. diameter; the Sirian choosing one of 2500ft. They proved excellent; but at first nothing could be seen; they must be readjusted. At last the Saturnian sees something scarcely perceptible moving on the Baltic

sea.

It was a whale. He took it up skilfully with his little finger, and, placing it upon his thumb nail, called the attention of his

friend, who set himself laughing for the second time, at the excessive minuteness of the inhabitants of our world. Now convinced of its being inhabited, the Saturnian jumped to the conclusion that it was only by whales; and, being a great reasoner, wished to discover whence so small an atom drew its powers of motion; whether it had ideas, a will, liberty, &c. Micromégas was much embarrassed; but he very patiently examined the animal, and the result of his diagnosis was that there was no means, at present, of determining the question. At this stage, the

two travellers inclined to think that no intelligent beings were to be found in our world, when, by the aid of the microscope, they perceived something larger than a whale floating upon the Baltic. "It is known that at that time a fleet of philosophers was returning from the polar circle. The newspapers said that their vessel struck upon the coasts of Bothnia, and that they had with difficulty saved their lives; but one never knows in this world the reverse of the cards. I am going," continues Voltaire, "to relate ingenuously the facts as they happened, without interlarding anything, which is no little effort for a historian."

The Sirian, in fine, by the exercise of rare adroitness, contrives after much trouble, to place the vessel with its living freight upon his nail, without compressing it too much for fear of crushing it. Sailors, philosophers, and passengers, thinking themselves overtaken by a tremendous hurricane, precipitated themselves, with all their goods, overboard. A tickling sensation, caused by this sudden movement and by their

digging iron stakes into his hands, makes their captor suppose the presence of some sort of little animal, without giving him suspicion of anything more. His microscope, which hardly allowed him to discover a whale and a ship, had, of course, not the slightest power over beings so utterly insignificant as men. "Ido not wish," says Voltaire, "to shock the vanity of any one; but I am forced to beg gentlemen of importance to make here a little remark with me. It is that, in taking the average human height at five feet, we do not cut upon the earth a greater figure than an animal, which should be about the 600,000th part of an inch, would do on a ball of ten feet in circumference. Figure to yourselves a substance which could hold the earth in its hand, and which should have organs in proportion to ours. Now conceive, I beg, what they would think of those battles which two small villages, which it has been necessary to give up again, have cost us. I doubt not that, if a captain of tall grenadiers should ever read this work, he would swell himself up two feet at least above the heads of his troop; but I warn him he will do so to no purpose, that he and his will never be but infinitely little." Our philosophers experience intense delight, when at last the existence of beings of their own form become demonstrable, and in watching their every movement. The Saturnian, passing from excess of distrust to excess of credulity, thinks he detects certain curious movements. "Ah!" said he, "I have caught nature in the fact."*

But he "deceived himself by appearances which happens but too often, whether one uses a micro

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*See "Conversations sur la Pluralité des Mondes."

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