The Blazing World and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) (21 page)

No sooner was the Lady brought before the Emperor, but he conceived her to be some goddess, and offered to worship her; which she refused, telling him, (for by that time she had pretty well learned their language) that although she came out of another world, yet was she but a mortal; at which the Emperor rejoicing, made her his wife, and gave her an absolute power to rule and govern all that world as she pleased. But her subjects, who could hardly be persuaded to believe her mortal, tendered her all the veneration and worship due to a deity.

Her accoutrement after she was made Empress, was as
followeth: on her head she wore a cap of pearl, and a half-moon of diamonds just before it; on the top of her crown came spreading over a broad carbuncle, cut in the form of the sun; her coat was of pearl, mixed with blue diamonds, and fringed with red ones; her buskins
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and sandals were of green diamonds: in her left hand she held a buckler,
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to signify the defence of her dominions; which buckler was made of that sort of diamond as has several different colours; and being cut and made in the form of an arch, showed like a rainbow; in her right hand she carried a spear made of a white diamond, cut like the tail of a blazing star, which signified that she was ready to assault those that proved her enemies.

None was allowed to use or wear gold but those of the imperial race, which were the only nobles of the state; nor durst anyone wear jewels but the Emperor, the Empress, and their eldest son, notwithstanding that they had an infinite quantity both of gold and precious stones in that world; for they had larger extents of gold, than our Arabian sands; their precious stones were rocks, and their diamonds of several colours; they used no coin, but all their traffic was by exchange of several commodities.

Their priests and governors were princes of the imperial blood, and made eunuchs for that purpose; and as for the ordinary sort of men in that part of the world where the Emperor resided, they were of several complexions; not white, black, tawny, olive or ash-coloured; but some appeared of an azure, some of a deep purple, some of a grass-green, some of a scarlet, some of an orange-colour, etc. Which colours and complexions, whether they were made by the bare reflection of light, without the assistance of small particles, or by the help of well-ranged and ordered atoms; or by a continual agitation of little globules; or by some pressing and reacting motion, I am not able to determine. The rest of the inhabitants of that world, were men of several different sorts, shapes, figures, dispositions, and humours, as I have already made mention heretofore; some were bear-men, some worm-men, some fish- or mear-men,
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otherwise called syrens; some bird-men, some fly-men, some
ant-men, some geese-men, some spider-men, some lice-men, some fox-men, some ape-men, some jackdaw-men, some magpie-men, some parrot-men, some satyrs, some giants, and many more, which I cannot all remember; and of these several sorts of men, each followed such a profession as was most proper for the nature of their species, which the Empress encouraged them in, especially those that had applied themselves to the study of several arts and sciences; for they were as ingenious and witty in the invention of profitable and useful arts, as we are in our world, nay, more; and to that end she erected schools, and founded several societies. The bear-men were to be her experimental philosophers, the bird-men her astronomers, the fly-, worm- and fish-men her natural philosophers, the ape-men her chemists, the satyrs her Galenic physicians, the fox-men her politicians, the spider- and lice-men her mathematicians, the jackdaw-, magpie- and parrot-men her orators and logicians, the giants her architects, etc. But before all things, she having got a sovereign power from the Emperor over all the world, desired to be informed both of the manner of their religion and government, and to that end she called the priests and statesmen, to give her an account of either. Of the statesmen she enquired, first, why they had so few laws? To which they answered, that many laws made many divisions, which most commonly did breed factions, and at last break out into open wars. Next, she asked, why they preferred the monarchical form of government before any other? They answered, that as it was natural for one body to have but one head, so it was also natural for a politic body to have but one governor; and that a commonwealth, which had many governors was like a monster with many heads: besides, said they, a monarchy is a divine form of government, and agrees most with our religion; for as there is but one God, whom we all unanimously worship and adore with one faith, so we are resolved to have but one Emperor, to whom we all submit with one obedience.

Then the Empress seeing that the several sorts of her subjects had each their churches apart, asked the priests whether they were of several religions? They answered her Majesty, that there
was no more but one religion in all that world, nor no diversity of opinions in that same religion; for though there were several sorts of men, yet had they all but one opinion concerning the worship and adoration of God. The Empress asked them, whether they were Jews, Turks, or Christians? We do not know, said they, what religions those are; but we do all unanimously acknowledge, worship and adore the only, omnipotent, and eternal God, with all reverence, submission, and duty. Again, the Empress enquired, whether they had several forms of worship? They answered, no: for our devotion and worship consists only in prayers, which we frame according to our several necessities, in petitions, humiliations, thanksgiving, etc. Truly, replied the Empress, I thought you had been either Jews, or Turks, because I never perceived any women in your congregations; but what is the reason, you bar them from your religious assemblies? It is not fit, said they, that men and women should be promiscuously together in time of religious worship; for their company hinders devotion, and makes many, instead of praying to God, direct their devotion to their mistresses. But, asked the Empress, have they no congregation of their own, to perform the duties of divine worship, as well as men? No, answered they: but they stay at home, and say their prayers by themselves in their closets. Then the Empress desired to know the reason why the priests and governors of their world were made eunuchs? They answered, to keep them from marriage: for women and children most commonly make disturbance both in church and state. But, said she, women and children have no employment in church or state. Tis true, answered they; but although they are not admitted to public employments, yet are they so prevalent with their husbands and parents, that many times by their importunate persuasions, they cause as much, nay, more mischief secretly, than if they had the management of public affairs.

The Empress having received an information of what concerned both church and state, passed some time in viewing the imperial palace, where she admired much the skill and ingenuity of the architects, and enquired of them, first, why they built their houses no higher than two storeys from the ground? They
answered her Majesty, that the lower their buildings were, the less were they subject either to the heat of the sun, to wind, tempest, decay, etc. Then she desired to know the reason, why they made them so thick? They answered, that the thicker the walls were, the warmer were they in winter, and cooler in summer, for their thickness kept out both cold and heat. Lastly, she asked, why they arched their roofs, and made so many pillars? They replied, that arches and pillars, did not only grace a building very much, and caused it to appear magnificent, but made it also firm and lasting.

The Empress was very well satisfied with their answers; and after some time, when she thought that her new founded societies of the vertuosos had made a good progress in their several employments, which she had put them upon, she caused a convocation first of the bird-men, and commanded them to give her a true relation of the two celestial bodies,
viz.
the sun and moon, which they did with all the obedience and faithfulness befitting their duty.

The sun, as much as they could observe, they related to be a firm or solid stone, of a vast bigness, of colour yellowish, and of an extraordinary splendour; but the moon, they said, was of a whitish colour; and although she looked dim in the presence of the sun, yet had she her own light, and was a shining body of her self as might be perceived by her vigorous appearance in moonshiny nights; the difference only betwixt her own and the sun’s light was that the sun did strike his beams in a direct line; but the moon never respected the centre of their world in a right line, but her centre was always excentrical. The spots both in the sun and moon, as far as they were able to perceive, they affirmed to be nothing else but flaws and stains of their stony bodies. Concerning the heat of the sun, they were not of one opinion; some would have the sun hot in itself, alleging an old tradition, that it should at some time break asunder, and burn the heavens, and consume this world into hot embers, which, said they, could not be done, if the sun were not fiery of itself. Others again said, this opinion could not stand with reason; for fire being a destroyer of all things, the sun-stone after this
manner would burn up all the near adjoining bodies: besides, said they, fire cannot subsist without fuel; and the sun-stone having nothing to feed on, would in a short time consume itself; wherefore they thought it more probable that the sun was not actually hot, but only by the reflection of its light; so that its heat was an effect of its light, both being immaterial: but this opinion again was laughed at by others, and rejected as ridiculous, who thought it impossible that one immaterial should produce another; and believed that both the light and heat of the sun proceeded from a swift circular motion of the ethereal globules, which by their striking upon the optic nerve, caused light, and their motion produced heat: but neither would this opinion hold; for, said some, then it would follow, that the sight of animals is the cause of light, and that, were there no eyes, there would be no light; which was against all sense and reason. Thus they argued concerning the heat and light of the sun; but which is remarkable, none did say, that the sun was a globous fluid body, and had a swift circular motion; but all agreed it was fixed and firm like a centre, and therefore they generally called it the sun-stone.

Then the Empress asked them the reason, why the sun and moon did often appear in different postures or shapes, as sometimes magnified, sometimes diminished, sometimes elevated, otherwhiles depressed, now thrown to the right, and then to the left? To which some of the bird-men answered, that it proceeded from the various degrees of heat and cold, which are found in the air, from whence did follow a differing density and rarity; and likewise from the vapours that are interposed, whereof those that ascend are higher and less dense than the ambient air, but those which descend are heavier, and more dense. But others did with more probability affirm, that it was nothing else but the various patterns of the air; for like as painters do not copy out one and the same original just alike at all times, so said they, do several parts of the air make different patterns of the luminous bodies of the sun and moon, which patterns, as several copies, the sensitive motions do figure out in the substance of our eyes.

This answer the Empress liked much better than the former, and enquired further, what opinion they had of those creatures that are called the motes of the sun? To which they answered, that they were nothing else but streams of very small, rare and transparent particles, through which the sun was represented as through a glass; for if they were not transparent, said they, they would eclipse the light of the sun; and if not rare and of an airy substance, they would hinder flies from flying in the air, at least retard their flying motion: nevertheless, although they were thinner than the thinnest vapour, yet were they not so thin as the body of air, or else they would not be perceptible by animal sight. Then the Empress asked, whether they were living creatures? They answered, yes: because they did increase and decrease, and were nourished by the presence, and starved by the absence of the sun.

Having thus finished their discourse of the sun and moon, the Empress desired to know what stars there were besides? But they answered, that they could perceive in that world none other but blazing stars, and from thence it had the name that it was called the Blazing World; and these blazing stars, said they, were such solid, firm and shining bodies as the sun and moon, not of a globular, but of several sorts of figures, some had tails, and some other kinds of shapes.

After this, the Empress asked them, what kind of substance or creature the air was? The bird-men answered, that they could have no other perception of the air, but by their own respiration: for, said they, some bodies are only subject to touch, others only to sight, and others only to smell; but some are subject to none of our exterior senses: for nature is so full of variety, that our weak senses cannot perceive all the various sorts of her creatures; neither is there any one object perceptible by all our senses, no more than several objects are by one sense. I believe you, replied the Empress; but if you can give no account of the air, said she, you will hardly be able to inform me how wind is made; for they say that wind is nothing but motion of the air. The bird-men answered, that they observed wind to be more dense than air, and therefore subject to the sense of
touch; but what properly wind was, and the manner how it was made, they could not exactly tell; some said, it was caused by the clouds falling on each other, and others, that it was produced of a hot and dry exhalation, which ascending, was driven down again by the coldness of the air that is in the middle region, and by reason of its lightness, could not go directly to the bottom, but was carried by the air up and down: some would have it a flowing water of the air; and others again a flowing air moved by the blaze of the stars.

But the Empress seeing they could not agree concerning the cause of wind, asked, whether they could tell how snow was made? To which they answered, that according to their observation, snow was made by a commixture of water, and some certain extract of the element of fire that is under the moon; a small portion of which extract being mixed with water, and beaten by air or wind, made a white froth called snow, which being after some while dissolved by the heat of the same spirit, turned to water again. This observation amazed the Empress very much; for she had hitherto believed, that snow was made by cold motions, and not by such an agitation or beating of a fiery extract upon water: nor could she be persuaded to believe it until the fish- or mear-men had delivered their observation upon the making of ice, which, they said, was not produced, as some had hitherto conceived, by the motion of the air, raking the superficies
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of the earth, but by some strong saline vapour arising out of the seas, which condensed water into ice; and the more quantity there was of that vapour, the greater were the mountains or precipices of ice; but the reason that it did not so much freeze in the torrid zone, or under the ecliptic, as near or under the Poles, was, that this vapour in those places being drawn up by the sun beams into the middle region of the air, was only condensed into water, and fell down in showers of rain; when as, under the Poles, the heat of the sun being not so vehement, the same vapour had no force or power to rise so high, and therefore caused so much ice, by ascending and acting only upon the surface of water.