Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune. English
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CHAPTER I.
_Of how the Voyage was Conceived._
I Had been with some Friends at Clamard, a House near Paris, andmagnificently Entertain'd there by Monsieur de Cuigy,[1] the Lord ofit; when upon our return home, about Nine of the Clock at Night, theAir serene, and the Moon in the Full, the Contemplation of that brightLuminary furnished us with such variety of Thoughts as made the wayseem shorter than, indeed, it was. Our Eyes being fixed upon thatstately Planet, every one spoke what he thought of it: One would needshave it be a Garret Window of Heaven; another presently affirmed, Thatit was the Pan whereupon _Diana_ smoothed _Apollo's_ Bands; whilstanother was of Opinion, That it might very well be the Sun himself, whoputting his Locks up under his Cap at Night, peeped through a hole toobserve what was doing in the World during his absence.
"And for my part, Gentlemen," said I, "that I may put in for a share,and guess with the rest; not to amuse my self with those curiousNotions wherewith you tickle and spur on slow-paced Time; I believe,that the Moon is a World like ours, to which this of ours serveslikewise for a Moon."
This was received with the general Laughter of the Company. "Andperhaps," said I, "(Gentlemen) just so they laugh now in the Moon, atsome who maintain, That this Globe, where we are, is a World." But I'das good have said nothing, as have alledged to them, That a great manyLearned Men had been of the same Opinion; for that only made them laughthe faster.
However, this thought, which because of its boldness suited my Humor,being confirmed by Contradiction, sunk so deep into my mind, thatduring the rest of the way I was big with Definitions of the Moon whichI could not be delivered of: Insomuch that by striving to verifie thisComical Fancy by Reasons of appearing weight, I had almost perswaded myself already of the truth on't; when a Miracle, Accident, Providence,Fortune, or what, perhaps, some may call Vision, others Fiction,Whimsey, or (if you will) Folly, furnished me with an occasion thatengaged me into this Discourse. Being come home, I went up into myCloset, where I found a Book open upon the Table, which I had not putthere. It was a piece of _Cardanus_[2]; and though I had no designto read in it, yet I fell at first sight, as by force, exactly upona Passage of that Philosopher where he tells us, That Studying oneevening by Candle-light, he perceived Two tall old Men enter in throughthe door that was shut, who after many questions that he put to them,made him answer, That they were Inhabitants of the Moon, and thereuponimmediately disappeared.
CYRANO IN HIS STUDY.--From a 17th Century Engraving]
I was so surprised, not only to see a Book get thither of it self; butalso because of the nicking of the Time so patly, and of the Page atwhich it lay upon, that I looked upon that Concatenation of Accidentsas a Revelation, discovering to Mortals that the Moon is a World."How!" said I to my self, having just now talked of a thing, can aBook, which perhaps is the only Book in the World that treats of thatmatter so particularly, fly down from the Shelf upon my Table; becomecapable of Reason, in opening so exactly at the place of so strangean adventure; force my Eyes in a manner to look upon it, and then tosuggest to my fancy the Reflexions, and to my Will the Designs which Ihatch.
"Without doubt," continued I, "the Two old Men, who appeared to thatfamous Philosopher, are the very same who have taken down my Book andopened it at that Page, to save themselves the labour of making to methe Harangue which they made to _Cardan_."
"But," added I, "I cannot be resolved of this Doubt, unless I mount upthither."
"And why not?" said I instantly to my self. "_Prometheus_ heretoforewent up to Heaven, and stole fire from thence. Have not I as muchBoldness as he? And why should not I, then, expect as favourable aSuccess?"
[1] Monsieur de Cuigy, who is mentioned by Lebret as a friendand admirer of Cyrano, and who was one of the witnesses of hisfamous battle against the hundred ruffians, possessed an estate atClamart-sous-Meudon, near Paris. He appears as a character in M.Rostand's play of _Cyrano de Bergerac_.
[2] Jerome Cardan, 1501-1576, natural philosopher, doctor, astrologer,mathematician, and a voluminous author; in short, a sort of ItalianParacelsus, both by his universal learning, and by his intense interestin all domains of possible knowledge, in which he included astrologyand necromancy. His most important work is the one referred to here,the _De Subtilitate Rerum_, 1551.