A
VOYAGE TO THE MOON:
WITH
SOME ACCOUNT
OF THE
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY,
OF THE
PEOPLE OF MOROSOFIA,
AND
OTHER LUNARIANS.
BY GEORGE TUCKER (JOSEPH ATTERLEY)
"It is the very error of the moon,
She comes more near the earth than she was wont,
And makes men mad."--_Othello_.
1827
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Atterley's birth and education--He makes a voyage--
Founders off the Burman coast--Adventures in
that Empire--Meets with a learned Brahmin from
Benares.
CHAPTER II.
The Brahmin's illness--He reveals an important secret
to Atterley--Curious information concerning the
Moon--The Glonglims--They plan a voyage to
the Moon.
CHAPTER III.
The Brahmin and Atterley prepare for their voyage--
Description of their travelling machine--Incidents
of the voyage--The appearance of the earth;
Africa; Greece--The Brahmin's speculations on
the different races of men--National character.
CHAPTER IV.
Continuation of the voyage--View of Europe; Atlantic
Ocean; America--Speculations on the future
destiny of the United States--Moral reflections--
Pacific Ocean--Hypothesis on the origin of the
Moon.
CHAPTER V.
The voyage continued--Second view of Asia--The
Brahmin's speculations concerning India--Increase
of the Moon's attraction--Appearance of the Moon
--They land on the Moon.
CHAPTER VI.
Some account of Morosofia, and its chief city, Alamatua
--Singular dresses of the Lunar ladies--Religious
self-denial--Glonglim miser and spendthrift.
CHAPTER VII.
Physical peculiarities of the Moon--Celestial phenomena
--Farther description of the Lunarians--National
prejudice--Lightness of bodies--The Brahmin
carries Atterley to sup with a philosopher--
His character and opinions.
CHAPTER VIII.
A celebrated physician: his ingenious theories in physics:
his mechanical inventions--The feather-hunting Glonglim.
CHAPTER IX.
The fortune-telling philosopher, who inspected the
finger nails: his visiters--Another philosopher,
who judged of the character by the hair--The
fortune-teller duped--Predatory warfare.
CHAPTER X.
The travellers visit a gentleman farmer, who is a great
projector: his breed of cattle: his apparatus for
cooking--He is taken dangerously ill.
CHAPTER XI.
Lunarian physicians: their consultation--While they
dispute the patient recovers--The travellers visit
the celebrated teacher Lozzi Pozzi.
CHAPTER XII.
Election of the Numnoonce, or town-constable--
Violence of parties--Singular institution of the Syringe
Boys--The prize-fighters--Domestic manufactures.
CHAPTER XIII.
Description of the Happy Valley--The laws, customs,
and manners of the Okalbians--Theory of population
--Rent--System of government.
CHAPTER XIV.
Further account of Okalbia--The Field of Roses--
Curious superstition concerning that flower--The
pleasures of smell traced to association, by a
Glonglim philosopher.
CHAPTER XV.
Atterley goes to the great monthly fair--Its various
exhibitions; difficulties--Preparations to leave the
Moon--Curiosities procured by Atterley--Regress
to the Earth.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Brahmin gives Atterley a history of his life.
CHAPTER XVII.
The Brahmin's story continued--The voyage concluded
--Atterley and the Brahmin separate--Atterley
arrives in New-York.
Appendix: Anonymous Review of _A Voyage to the
Moon,_ reprinted from _The American Quarterly
Review_ No. 5 (March 1828)
APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC.
Having, by a train of fortunate circumstances, accomplished a voyage, of
which the history of mankind affords no example; having, moreover, exerted
every faculty of body and mind, to make my adventures useful to my
countrymen, and even to mankind, by imparting to them the acquisition
of secrets in physics and morals, of which they had not formed the
faintest conception,--I flattered myself that both in the character
of traveller and public benefactor, I had earned for myself an immortal
name. But how these fond, these justifiable hopes have been answered,
the following narrative will show.
On my return to this my native State, as soon as it was noised abroad
that I had met with extraordinary adventures, and made a most wonderful
voyage, crowds of people pressed eagerly to see me. I at first met their
inquiries with a cautious silence, which, however, but sharpened their
curiosity. At length I was visited by a near relation, with whom I felt
less disposed to reserve. With friendly solicitude he inquired "how much
I had made by my voyage;" and when he was informed that, although I had
added to my knowledge, I had not improved my fortune, he stared at me a
while, and remarking that he had business at the Bank, as well as an
appointment on 'Change, suddenly took his leave. After this, I was not
much interrupted by the tribe of inquisitive idlers, but was visited
principally by a few men of science, who wished to learn what I could
add to their knowledge of nature. To this class I was more communicative;
and when I severally informed them that I had actually been to the
Moon, some of them shrugged their shoulders, others laughed in my face,
and some were angry at my supposed attempt to deceive them; but all,
with a single exception, were incredulous.
It was to no purpose that I appealed to my former character for veracity.
I was answered, that travelling had changed my morals, as it had changed
other people's. I asked what motives I could have for attempting to
deceive them. They replied, the love of distinction--the vanity of being
thought to have seen what had been seen by no other mortal; and they
triumphantly asked me in turn, what motives Raleigh, and Riley, and
Hunter, and a hundred other travellers, had for their misrepresentations.
Finding argument thus unavailing, I produced visible and tangible proofs
of the truth of my narrative. I showed them a specimen of moonstone.
They asserted that it was of the same character as those meteoric stones
which had been found in every part of the world, and that I had merely
procured a piece of one of these for the purpose of deception. I then
exhibited some of what I considered my most curious Lunar plants: but
this made the matter worse; for it so happened, that similar ones were
then cultivated in Mr. Prince's garden at Flushing. I next produced
some rare insects, and feathers of singular birds: but persons were
found who had either seen, or read, or heard of similar insects and
birds in Hoo-Choo, or Paraguay, or Prince of Wales's Island. In short,
having made up their minds that what I said was not true, they had an
answer ready for all that I could urge in support of my character; and
those who judged most christianly, defended my veracity at the expense
of my understanding, and ascribed my conduct to partial insanity.
There was, indeed, a short suspension to this cruel distrust. An old
friend coming to see me one day, and admiring a beautiful crystal which
I had brought from the Moon, insisted on showing it to a jeweller, who
said that it was an unusually hard stone, and that if it were a diamond,
it would be worth upwards of 150,000 dollars. I know not whether the
mistake that ensued proceeded from my friend, who is something of a wag,
or from one of the lads in the jeweller's shop, who, hearing a part of
what his master had said, misapprehended the rest; but so it was, that
the next day I had more visiters than ever, and among them my kinsman,
who was kind enough to stay with me, as if he enjoyed my good fortune,
until both the Exchange and the Banks were closed. On the same day,
the following paragraph appeared in one of the morning prints:
"We understand that our enterprising and intelligent traveller,
JOSEPH ATTERLEY, Esquire, has brought from his Lunar Expedition,
a diamond of extraordinary size and lustre. Several of the most
experienced jewellers of this city have estimated it at from
250,000 to 300,000 dollars; and some have gone so far as to say
it would be cheap at half a million. We have the authority of a
near relative of that gentleman for asserting, that the satisfactory
testimonials which he possesses of the correctness of his narrative,
are sufficient to satisfy the most incredulous, and to silence
malignity itself."
But this gleam of sunshine soon passed away. Two days afterwards, another
paragraph appeared in the same paper, in these words:
"We are credibly informed, that the supposed diamond of the _famous_
traveller to the Moon, turns out to be one of those which are found
on Diamond Island, in Lake George. We have heard that Mr. A----y
means to favour the public with an account of his travels, under
the title of 'Lunarian Adventures;' but we would take the liberty
of recommending, that for _Lunarian_, he substitute _Lunatic_."
Thus disappointed in my expectations, and assailed in my character,
what could I do but appeal to an impartial public, by giving them a
circumstantial detail of what was most memorable in my adventures, that
they might judge, from intrinsic evidence, whether I was deficient either
in soundness of understanding or of moral principle? But let me first
bespeak their candour, and a salutary diffidence of themselves, by one
or two well-authenticated anecdotes.
During the reign of Louis the XIVth, the king of Siam having received
an ambassador from that monarch, was accustomed to hear, with wonder
and delight, the foreigner's descriptions of his own country: but the
minister having one day mentioned, that in France, water, at one time
of the year, became a solid substance, the Siamese prince indignantly
exclaimed,--"Hold, sir! I have listened to the strange things you have
told me, and have hitherto believed them all; but now when you wish to
persuade me that water, which I know as well as you, can become hard, I
see that your purpose is to deceive me, and I do not believe a word you
have uttered."
But as the present patriotic preference for home-bred manufactures, may
extend to anecdotes as well as to other productions, a story of domestic
origin may have more weight with most of my readers, than one introduced
from abroad.
The chief of a party of Indians, who had visited Washington during
Mr. Jefferson's presidency, having, on his return home, assembled his
tribe, gave them a detail of his adventures; and dwelling particularly
upon the courteous treatment the party had received from their "Great
Father," stated, among other things, that he had given them ice, though
it was then mid-summer. His countrymen, not having the vivacity of our
ladies, listened in silence till he had ended, when an aged chief stepped
forth, and remarked that he too, when a young man, had visited their
Great Father Washington, in New-York, who had received him as a son, and
treated him with all the delicacies that his country afforded, but had
given him no ice. "Now," added the orator, "if any man in the world could
have made ice in the summer, it was Washington; and if he could have made
it, I am sure he would have given it to me. Tustanaggee is, therefore, a
liar, and not to be believed."
In both these cases, though the argument seemed fair, the conclusion was
false; for had either the king or the chief taken the trouble to satisfy
himself of the fact, he might have found that his limited experience had
deceived him.
It is unquestionably true, that if travellers sometimes impose on the
credulity of mankind, they are often also not believed when they speak
the truth. Credulity and scepticism are indeed but different names for
the same hasty judgment on insufficient evidence: and, as the old woman
readily assented that there might be "mountains of sugar and rivers
of rum," because she had seen them both, but that there were "fish
which could fly," she never would believe; so thousands give credit
to Redheiffer's patented discovery of perpetual motion, because they
had beheld his machine, and question the existence of the sea-serpent,
because they have not seen it.
I would respectfully remind that class of my readers, who, like the
king, the Indian, or the old woman, refuse to credit any thing which
contradicts the narrow limits of their own observation, that there are
"more secrets in nature than are dreamt of in their philosophy;" and
that upon their own principles, before they have a right to condemn me,
they should go or send to the mountains of Ava, for some of the metal
with which I made my venturous experiment, and make one for themselves.
As to those who do not call in question my veracity, but only doubt my
sanity, I fearlessly appeal from their unkind judgment to the sober and
unprejudiced part of mankind, whether, what I have stated in the following
pages, is not consonant with truth and nature, and whether they do not
there see, faithfully reflected from the Moon, the errors of the learned
on Earth, and "the follies of the wise?"
JOSEPH ATTERLEY.
_Long-Island, September_, 1827.
VOYAGE TO THE MOON.
CHAPTER I.
_Atterley's birth and education--He makes a voyage--Founders off the
Burman coast--Adventures in that Empire--Meets with a learned Brahmin
from Benares._
Being about to give a narrative of my singular adventures to the world,
which, I foresee, will be greatly divided about their authenticity,
I will premise something of my early history, that those to whom I am
not personally known, may be better able to ascertain what credit is
due to the facts which rest only on my own assertion.
I was born in the village of Huntingdon, on Long-Island, on the 11th day
of May, 1786. Joseph Atterley, my father, formerly of East Jersey, as it
was once called, had settled in this place about a year before, in
consequence of having married my mother, Alice Schermerhorn, the only
daughter of a snug Dutch farmer in the neighbourhood. By means of the
portion he received with my mother, together with his own earnings,
he was enabled to quit the life of a sailor, to which he had been bred,
and to enter into trade. After the death of his father-in-law, by whose
will he received a handsome accession to his property, he sought, in the
city of New-York, a theatre better suited to his enlarged capital. He
here engaged in foreign trade; and, partaking of the prosperity which
then attended American commerce, he gradually extended his business, and
finally embarked in our new branch of traffic to the East Indies and
China. He was now very generally respected, both for his wealth and fair
dealing; was several years a director in one of the insurance offices;
was president of the society for relieving the widows and orphans of
distressed seamen; and, it is said, might have been chosen alderman,
if he had not refused, on the ground that he did not think himself
qualified.
My father was not one of those who set little value on book learning,
from their own consciousness of not possessing it: on the contrary, he
would often remark, that as he felt the want of a liberal education
himself, he was determined to bestow one on me. I was accordingly, at
an early age, put to a grammar school of good repute in my native village,
the master of which, I believe, is now a member of Congress; and, at the
age of seventeen, was sent to Princeton, to prepare myself for some
profession. During my third year at that place, in one of my excursions
to Philadelphia, and for which I was always inventing pretexts, I became
acquainted with one of those faces and forms which, in a youth of twenty,
to see, admire, and love, is one and the same thing. My attentions were
favourably received. I soon became desperately in love; and, in spite of
the advice of my father and entreaties of my mother, who had formed other
schemes for me nearer home, I was married on the anniversary of my
twenty-first year.
It was not until the first trance of bliss was over, that I began to
think seriously on the course of life I was to pursue. From the time
that my mind had run on love and matrimony, I had lost all relish for
serious study; and long before that time, I had felt a sentiment bordering
on contempt for the pursuits of my father. Besides, he had already taken
my two younger brothers into the counting-house with him. I therefore
prevailed on my indulgent parent, with the aid of my mother's intercession,
to purchase for me a neat country-seat near Huntingdon, which presented a
beautiful view of the Sound, and where, surrounded by the scenes of my
childhood, I promised myself to realise, with my Susanna, that life of
tranquil felicity which fancy, warmed by love, so vividly depicts.
If we did not meet with all that we had expected, it was because we had
expected too much. The happiest life, like the purest atmosphere, has
its clouds as well as its sunshine; and what is worse, we never fully
know the value of the one, until we have felt the inconvenience of the
other. In the cultivation of my farm--in educating our children, a son
and two daughters, in reading, music, painting--and in occasional visits
to our friends in New-York and Philadelphia, seventeen years glided
swiftly and imperceptibly away; at the end of which time death, in
depriving me of an excellent wife, made a wreck of my hopes and enjoyments.
For the purpose of seeking that relief to my feelings which change of
place only could afford, I determined to make a sea voyage; and, as one
of my father's vessels was about to sail for Canton, I accordingly
embarked on board the well-known ship the _Two Brothers_, captain
Thomas, and left Sandy-hook on the 5th day of June, 1822, having first
placed my three children under the care of my brother William.
I will not detain the reader with a detail of the first incidents of
our voyage, though they were sufficiently interesting at the time they
occurred, and were not wanting in the usual variety. We had, in singular
succession, dead calms and fresh breezes, stiff gales and sudden squalls;
saw sharks, flying-fish, and dolphins; spoke several vessels: had a
visit from Neptune when we crossed the Line, and were compelled to
propitiate his favour with some gallons of spirits, which he seems
always to find a very agreeable change from sea water; and touched at
Table Bay and at Madagascar.
On the whole, our voyage was comparatively pleasant and prosperous, until
the 24th of October; when, off the mouths of the Ganges, after a fine
clear autumnal day, just about sunset, a small dark speck was seen in
the eastern horizon by our experienced and watchful captain, who, after
noticing it for a few moments, pronounced that we should have a hurricane.
The rapidity with which this speck grew into a dense cloud, and spread
itself in darkness over the heavens, as well as the increasing swell of
the ocean before we felt the wind, soon convinced us he was right. No
time was lost in lowering our topmasts, taking double reefs, and making
every thing snug, to meet the fury of the tempest. I thought I had
already witnessed all that was terrific on the ocean; but what I had
formerly seen, had been mere child's play compared with this. Never can
I forget the impression that was made upon me by the wild uproar of the
elements. The smooth, long swell of the waves gradually changed into an
agitated frothy surface, which constant flashes of lightning presented
to us in all its horror; and in the mean time the wind whistled through
the rigging, and the ship creaked as if she was every minute going to
pieces.
About midnight the storm was at its height, and I gave up all for lost.
The wind, which first blew from the south-west, was then due south, and
the sailors said it began to abate a little before day: but I saw no
great difference until about three in the afternoon; soon after which
the clouds broke away, and showed us the sun setting in cloudless majesty,
while the billows still continued their stupendous rolling, but with a
heavy movement, as if, after such mighty efforts, they were seeking
repose in the bosom of their parent ocean. It soon became almost calm;
a light western breeze barely swelled our sails, and gently wafted us
to the land, which we could faintly discern to the north-east. Our ship
had been so shaken in the tempest, and was so leaky, that captain Thomas
thought it prudent to make for the first port we could reach.
At dawn we found ourselves in full view of a coast, which, though not
personally known to the captain, he pronounced by his charts to be a
part of the Burmese Empire, and in the neighbourhood of Mergui, on the
Martaban coast. The leak had now increased to an alarming extent, so
that we found it would be impossible to carry the ship safe into port.
We therefore hastily threw our clothes, papers, and eight casks of
silver, into the long-boat; and before we were fifty yards from the
ship, we saw her go down. Some of the underwriters in New York, as I
have since learnt, had the conscience to contend that we left the ship
sooner than was necessary, and have suffered themselves to be sued for
the sums they had severally insured. It was a little after midday when
we reached the town, which is perched on a high bluff, overlooking
the coasts, and contains about a thousand houses, built of bamboo,
and covered with palm leaves. Our dress, appearance, language, and
the manner of our arrival, excited great surprise among the natives,
and the liveliest curiosity; but with these sentiments some evidently
mingled no very friendly feelings. The Burmese were then on the eve
of a rupture with the East India Company, a fact which we had not before
known; and mistaking us for English, they supposed, or affected to
suppose, that we belonged to a fleet which was about to invade them,
and that our ship had been sunk before their eyes, by the tutelar divinity
of the country. We were immediately carried before their governor,
or chief magistrate, who ordered our baggage to be searched, and finding
that it consisted principally of silver, he had no doubt of our hostile
intentions. He therefore sent all of us, twenty-two in number, to prison,
separating, however, each one from the rest. My companions were released
the following spring, as I have since learnt, by the invading army of
Great Britain; but it was my ill fortune (if, indeed, after what has
since happened, I can so regard it) to be taken for an officer of high
rank, and to be sent, the third day afterwards, far into the interior,
that I might be more safely kept, and either used as a hostage or offered
for ransom, as circumstances should render advantageous.
The reader is, no doubt, aware that the Burman Empire lies beyond the
Ganges, between the British possessions and the kingdom of Siam; and
that the natives nearly assimilate with those of Hindostan, in language,
manners, religion, and character, except that they are more hardy and
warlike.
I was transported very rapidly in a palanquin, (a sort of decorated
litter,) carried on the shoulders of four men, who, for greater despatch,
were changed every three hours. In this way I travelled thirteen days,
in which time we reached a little village in the mountainous district
between the Irawaddi and Saloon rivers, where I was placed under the
care of an inferior magistrate, called a Mirvoon, who there exercised
the chief authority.
This place, named Mozaun, was romantically situated in a fertile valley,
that seemed to be completely shut in by the mountains. A small river,
a branch of the Saloon, entered it from the west, and, after running
about four miles in nearly a straight direction, turned suddenly round
a steep hill to the south, and was entirely lost to view. The village
was near a gap in the mountain, through which the river seemed to have
forced its way, and consisted of about forty or fifty huts, built of
the bamboo cane and reeds. The house of my landlord was somewhat larger
and better than the rest. It stood on a little knoll that overlooked
the village, the valley, the stream that ran through it, and commanded
a distant view of the country beyond the gap. It was certainly a lovely
little spot, as it now appears to my imagination; but when the landscape
was new to me, I was in no humour to relish its beauties, and when my
mind was more in a state to appreciate them, they had lost their novelty.
My keeper, whose name was Sing Fou, and who, from a long exercise of
magisterial authority, was rough and dictatorial, behaved to me somewhat
harshly at first; but my patient submission so won his confidence and
good will, that I soon became a great favourite; was regarded more as
one of his family than as a prisoner, and was allowed by him every
indulgence consistent with my safe custody. But the difficulties in the
way of my escape were so great, that little restraint was imposed on
my motions. The narrow defile in the gap, through which the river rushed
like a torrent, was closed with a gate. The mountains, by which the
valley was hemmed in, were utterly impassable, thickly set as they were
with jungle, consisting of tangled brier, thorn and forest trees, of
which those who have never been in a tropical climate can form no adequate
idea. In some places it would be difficult to penetrate more than a
mile in the day; during which time the traveller would be perpetually
tormented by noxious insects, and in constant dread of beasts of prey.
The only outlet from this village was by passing down the valley along
the settlements, and following the course of the stream; so that there
was no other injunction laid on me, than not to extend my rambles far
in that direction. Sing Fou's household consisted of his wife, whom I
rarely saw, four small children, and six servants; and here I enjoyed
nearly as great a portion of happiness as in any part of my life.
It had been one of my favourite amusements to ramble towards a part of
the western ridge, which rose in a cone about a mile and a half from the
village, and there ascending to some comparatively level spot, or point
projecting from its side, enjoy the beautiful scenery which lay before
me, and the evening breeze, which has such a delicious freshness in a
tropical climate.
Nor was this all. In a deep sequestered nook, formed by two spurs of this
mountain, there lived a venerable Hindoo, whom the people of the village
called the Holy Hermit. The favourable accounts I received of his
character, as well as his odd course of life, made me very desirous
of becoming acquainted with him; and, as he was often visited by the
villagers, I found no difficulty in getting a conductor to his cell. His
character for sanctity, together with a venerable beard, might have
discouraged advances towards an acquaintance, if his lively piercing eye,
a countenance expressive of great mildness and kindness of disposition,
and his courteous manners, had not yet more strongly invited it. He was
indeed not averse to society, though he had seemed thus to fly from it;
and was so great a favourite with his neighbours, that his cell would
have been thronged with visitors, but for the difficulty of the approach
to it. As it was, it was seldom resorted to, except for the purpose of
obtaining his opinion and counsel on all the serious concerns of his
neighbours. He prescribed for the sick, and often provided the medicine
they required--expounded the law--adjusted disputes--made all their little
arithmetical calculations--gave them moral instruction--and, when he
could not afford them relief in their difficulties, he taught them
patience, and gave them consolation. He, in short, united, for the simple
people by whom he was surrounded, the functions of lawyer, physician,
schoolmaster, and divine, and richly merited the reverential respect in
which they held him, as well as their little presents of eggs, fruit, and
garden stuff.
From the first evening that I joined the party which I saw clambering up
the path that led to the Hermit's cell, I found myself strongly attached
to this venerable man, and the more so, from the mystery which hung
around his history. It was agreed that he was not a Burmese. None deemed
to know certainly where he was born, or why he came thither. His own
account was, that he had devoted himself to the service of God, and in
his pilgrimage over the east, had selected this as a spot particularly
favourable to the life of quiet and seclusion he wished to lead.
There was one part of his story to which I could scarcely give credit.
It was said that in the twelve or fifteen years he had resided in this
place, he had been occasionally invisible for months together, and no
one could tell why he disappeared, or whither he had gone. At these
times his cell was closed; and although none ventured to force their
way into it, those who were the most prying could hear no sound indicating
that he was within. Various were the conjectures formed on the subject.
Some supposed that he withdrew from the sight of men for the purpose
of more fervent prayer and more holy meditation; others, that he visited
his home, or some other distant country. The more superstitious believed
that he had, by a kind of metempsychosis, taken a new shape, which, by
some magical or supernatural power, he could assume and put off at
pleasure. This opinion was perhaps the most prevalent, as it gained a
colour with these simple people, from the chemical and astronomical
instruments he possessed. In these he evidently took great pleasure,
and by their means he acquired some of the knowledge by which he so
often excited their admiration.
He soon distinguished me from the rest of his visitors, by addressing
questions to me relative to my history and adventures; and I, in turn,
was gratified to have met with one who took an interest in my concerns,
and who alone, of all I had here met with, could either enter into my
feelings or comprehend my opinions. Our conversations were carried on
in English, which he spoke with facility and correctness. We soon found
ourselves so much to each other's taste, that there was seldom an evening
that I did not make him a visit, and pass an hour or two in his company.
I learnt from him that he was born and bred at Benares, in Hindostan;
that he had been intended for the priesthood, and had been well instructed
in the literature of the east. That a course of untoward circumstances,
upon which he seemed unwilling to dwell, had changed his destination,
and made him a wanderer on the face of the earth. That in the neighbouring
kingdom of Siam he had formed an intimacy with a learned French Jesuit,
who had not only taught him his language, but imparted to him a knowledge
of much of the science of Europe, its institutions and manners. That after
the death of this friend, he had renewed his wanderings; and having been
detained in this village by a fit of sickness for some weeks, he was
warned that it was time to quit his rambling life. This place being
recommended to him, both by its quiet seclusion, and the unsophisticated
manners of its inhabitants, he determined to pass the remnant of his days
here, and, by devoting them to the purposes of piety, charity, and
science, to discharge his duty to his Creator, his species, and himself;
"for the love of knowledge," he added, "has long been my chief source of
selfish enjoyment."
Our tastes and sentiments accorded in so many points, that our acquaintance
ripened by degrees into the closest friendship. We were both
strangers--both unfortunate; and were the only individuals here who had any
knowledge of letters, or of distant parts of the world. These are, indeed,
the main springs of that sympathy, without which there is no love among
men. It is being overwise, to treat with contempt what mankind hold in
respect: and philosophy teaches us not to extinguish our feelings, but to
correct and refine them. My visits to the hermitage were frequently renewed
at first, because they afforded me the relief of variety, whilst his
intimate knowledge of men and things--his remarkable sagacity and good
sense--his air of mingled piety and benignity,--cheated me into
forgetfulness of my situation. As these gradually yielded to the lenitive
power of time, I sought his conversation for the positive pleasure it
afforded, and at last it became the chief source of my happiness. Day after
day, and month after month, glided on in this gentle, unvarying current,
for more than three years; during which period he had occasionally thrown
out dark hints that the time would come when I should be restored to
liberty, and that he had an important secret, which he would one day
communicate. I should have been more tantalized with the expectations that
these remarks were calculated to raise, had I not suspected them to be a
good-natured artifice, to save me from despondency, as they were never made
except when he saw me looking serious and thoughtful.