Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune. English
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CHAPTER II.
_Of how the Author set out, and where he first arrived._
After these sudden starts of Imagination, which may be termed, perhaps,the Ravings of a violent Feaver, I began to conceive some hopes ofsucceeding in so fair a Voyage: Insomuch that to take my measuresaright, I shut my self up in a solitary Country-house; where havingflattered my fancy with some means, proportionated to my design, atlength I set out for Heaven in this manner.
I planted my self in the middle of a great many Glasses full of Dew,tied fast about me;[1] upon which the Sun so violently darted his Rays,that the Heat, which attracted them, as it does the thickest Clouds,carried me up so high, that at length I found my self above the middleRegion of the Air. But seeing that Attraction hurried me up with somuch rapidity that instead of drawing near the Moon, as I intended,she seem'd to me to be more distant than at my first setting out; Ibroke several of my Vials, until I found my weight exceed the force ofthe Attraction, and that I began to descend again towards the Earth.I was not mistaken in my opinion, for some time after I fell to theground again; and to reckon from the hour that I set out at, it mustthen have been about midnight. Nevertheless I found the Sun to be inthe Meridian, and that it was Noon. I leave it to you to judge, in whatAmazement I was; The truth is, I was so strangely surprised, that notknowing what to think of that Miracle, I had the insolence to imaginethat in favour of my Boldness God had once more nailed the Sun to theFirmament, to light so generous[2] an Enterprise. That which encreasedmy Astonishment was, That I knew not the Country where I was; it seemedto me, that having mounted straight up, I should have fallen down againin the same place I parted from.
However, in the Equipage I was in, I directed my course towards akind of Cottage, where I perceived some smoke; and I was not above aPistol-shot from it, when I saw my self environed by a great numberof People, stark naked: They seemed to be exceedingly surprised atthe sight of me; for I was the first, (as I think) that they hadever seen clad in Bottles. Nay, and to baffle all the Interpretationsthat they could put upon that Equipage, they perceived that I hardlytouched the ground as I walked; for, indeed, they understood not thatupon the least agitation I gave my Body the Heat of the beams of theNoon-Sun raised me up with my Dew; and that if I had had Vials enoughabout me, it would possibly have carried me up into the Air in theirview. I had a mind to have spoken to them; but as if Fear had changedthem into Birds, immediately I lost sight of them in an adjoyningForest. However, I catched hold of one, whose Legs had, without doubt,betrayed his Heart. I asked him, but with a great deal of pain, (forI was quite choked) how far they reckoned from thence to _Paris_? Howlong Men had gone naked in _France_? and why they fled from me in sogreat Consternation? The Man I spoke to was an old tawny Fellow, whopresently fell at my Feet, and with lifted-up Hands joyned behind hisHead, opened his Mouth and shut his Eyes: He mumbled a long whilebetween his Teeth, but I could not distinguish an articulate Word; sothat I took his Language for the maffling[3] noise of a Dumb-man.
Some time after, I saw a Company of Souldiers marching, with Drumsbeating; and I perceived Two detached from the rest, to come and takespeech of me. When they were come within hearing, I asked them, Where Iwas? "You are in _France_" answered they: "But what Devil hath put youinto that Dress? And how comes it that we know you not? Is the Fleetthen arrived? Are you going to carry the News of it to the Governor?And why have you divided your Brandy into so many Bottles?" To all thisI made answer, That the Devil had not put me into that Dress: That theyknew me not; because they could not know all Men: That I knew, nothingof the _Seine's_ carrying Ships to _Paris_: That I had no news for the_Marshal de l'Hospital_;[4] and that I was not loaded with Brandy. "Ho,ho," said they to me, taking me by the Arm, "you are a merry Fellowindeed; come, the Governor will make a shift to know you, no doubton't."
They led me to their Company, where I learnt that I was in reality in_France_, but that it was in _New-France_: So that some time after, Iwas presented before the Governor, who asked me my Country, my Name andQuality; and after that I had satisfied him in all Points, and toldhim the pleasant Success of my Voyage, whether he believed it, or onlypretended to do so, he had the goodness to order me a Chamber in hisApartment. I was very happy, in meeting with a Man capable of loftyOpinions, and who was not at all surprised when I told him that theEarth must needs have turned during my Elevation; seeing that havingbegun to mount about Two Leagues from _Paris_, I was fallen, as itwere, by a perpendicular Line in _Canada_.
[1] Cf. M. Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, act III., scene xi.: "One waywas to stand naked in the sunshine, in a harness thickly studded withglass phials, each filled with morning dew. The sun in drawing up thedew, you see, could not have helped drawing me up too!" (Miss GertrudeHall' s translation.)
[2] Generous = _noble_. Cf. Lord Burleigh, _Precepts to his Son_: "Lether not be poor, how _generous_ soever; for a man can buy nothing inthe market with gentility."
[3] Stammering, mumbling; a North of England word.
[4] Paul Lacroix, the editor of the French edition of Cyrano'sworks, not understanding this phrase, has ingeniously invented theinterpretation of "quarantine officer" for it. Not only have the wordsnever had this meaning, but they are evidently a proper name. And infact _Francois de l'Hospital, Marechal de France_, was Governor ofParis in 1649, the year when the _Voyage to the Moon_ was probablywritten. Cyrano, thinking he has fallen in France, near Paris, andbeing asked if he carries news of the fleet to the Governor, naturallyanswers that he knows nothing of ships going to Paris, and that hecarries no news to the Marechal de l'Hospital.