CHAPTER XVII.

_The Brahmin's story continued--The voyage concluded--Atterley and the

Brahmin separate--Atterley arrives in New--York._

"I was not slow to follow Veenah to the city, and as had been agreed

upon, had to ask the consent of her father to our union, as soon as I

had obtained the approbation of my own. Here I met with a difficulty

which I had not expected. My partial father had formed very high hopes

of my future advancement, and thought that an early marriage, though not

incompatible with my profession, or a successful discharge of its

duties, would put an end to my ambition, or at all events, lessen my

exertions. He first urged me to postpone my wishes, till I had completed

my college course, and had by travelling seen something of the world.

But finding me immoveable on this point, he then suggested that I might

meet with serious obstacles from Veenah's father, whom he represented as

remarkable both for his avarice and his bigotry; that consequently he

was likely to dispose of his daughter to the son-in-law who could pay

most liberally for her; and that the imputations which had been cast on

my religious creed, would reach his ears, if they had not already done

so, and be sure to prejudice him against me.

"These last considerations prevailed on me to defer my application to

Shunah Shoo, until the suspicions regarding my faith had either died

away, or been falsified by my scrupulous observance of all religious

duties. My excellent mother, who at first had entered into my feelings

and seconded my views, readily acquiesced in the good sense of my

father's advice.

"My next object was to communicate this to Veenah. I accordingly sat

down, and wrote a full account of all that had occurred, and folding up

the packet, hurried to the opposite quarter of the town where Shunah

Shoo lived. It was then in the dusk of the evening, and I was fearful it

was too late for me to be recognised; but after I had taken two or three

turns in the street, I saw the white amaranth I had given Veenah,

suspended by a thread from the lattice of an upper window. I immediately

held up the packet, and soon afterwards a cord was let down from the

same lattice to the ground. To this I hastily fastened the paper, and

passed on to avoid observation. The next evening you may be sure I was

at the same spot. The little amaranth again announced that I was

recognised; and as soon as we were satisfied that no one was observing

us, the cord let down one letter and took up another. Veenah's pen had

given an expression to her feelings, that her tongue had never ventured

to do before. She moreover commended my course--besought me to be

prudent--and above all, to do nothing to offend her father.

"The first letter which a lover receives from his mistress, is a new era

in his life. Again and again I kissed the precious paper, and almost

wore it out in my bosom. We afterwards improved in this mode of

intercourse, and, by various preconcerted signals, were able to carry on

our correspondence altogether in the night. Not a day passed that we did

not exchange letters, which, though they contained few facts, and always

expressed the same sentiments, still repeated what we were never tired

of hearing. To the moment at which I was to receive a letter from

Veenah, my thoughts were continually and anxiously turned: and it now

seems to me as if our passion was inflamed yet more by this sort of

intercourse, than by our personal interviews. I am convinced it wrought

more powerfully upon our imaginations. In the mean time I continued my

daily attendance at college, though my studies were utterly neglected,

one single object absorbing all my thoughts and feelings.

"I know not whether the evident change in my habits induced my old

enemy, Balty Mahu, to observe my motions. But so it was, that one

moonlight night I thought I was watched by some person; and on the

following night an individual of the same figure, and whom I now

suspected to be Balty Mahu, came suddenly from a cross street, and

passed near me. A few evenings afterwards, instead of a letter, I

received a scrap of paper from Veenah, on which was written the

following words:--

"We are discovered. Balty Mahu, who is my relative and your enemy, has

been here. He has persuaded my father that you are an unbeliever. I am

denied pen and ink. If you cannot convince my father of his error, O!

pity, and try to forget, your unhappy VEENAH."

"This writing was indistinctly traced with a burnt stick, on a blank

leaf torn out of a book. In the first moment of indignation, I felt

disposed to seek Balty Mahu, the great enemy of my life, and wreak my

vengeance on him for all his persecutions; but the conviction that such

a course would extinguish the last spark of hope, restrained me. I then

determined to see Shunah Shoo, and endeavour to remove his prejudices. I

accordingly called on him at his own house: but after he had heard my

vindication, (to which he evidently gave no credit,) he coolly told me

that he meant to dispose of his daughter in another way. The words fell

like ice upon my heart. I expostulated; and, offensive as was his

haughty air, even had recourse to entreaty. But he, in a yet harsher

manner, told me that he must be permitted to manage his own affairs in

his own way; and added, that he did not wish to be longer prevented from

attending to them. I was compelled to retire, with my heart almost as

full of hatred for the father, as of love for the child.

"On the same night, I again betook myself to the street in which Shunah

Shoo lived, but not by the ordinary route. I cautiously approached his

house. All was stillness and quiet: no light appeared to be burning in

Veenah's room, nor indeed in any other part of the house. I hence

concluded that they had now deprived her of light, as well as of pen and

ink. I continued in the street until near morning, straining my eyes and

ears in the hope of catching something that would give me intelligence

concerning her. Often, in the course of that painful suspense, did I

fancy I heard a noise at the lattice in Veenah's apartment, or in some

other part of the mansion; and once I persuaded myself I saw a light:

but these illusions served only to aggravate my disappointment. The next

morning, before I had left my room, my father informed me that Shunah

Shoo, with his family, had left Benares early the preceding evening; but

whither they had gone, he had not learnt.

"I rose, and immediately set about discovering their course; but all I

could learn was, that they had embarked in one of the passage-boats

which ply on the Ganges, and that Shunah had taken his palanquins and

many of his servants with him: and, as Balty Mahu had suddenly absented

himself from college at the same time, I did not doubt that he had aided

in executing the plan which he had also probably formed. My father, who

saw what I suffered, spared no pains to discover the place of their

retreat; but our endeavours were all ineffectual.

"At the end of three months, in which time my anxiety increased rather

than diminished, the mystery was dispelled. It was now trumpeted through

the city, that Shunah Shoo had returned to Benares in great pomp,

accompanied by a wealthy Omrah of a neighbouring district, to whom he

had given, or rather sold, his daughter. The news came upon me like a

clap of thunder. My previous state of suspense was happiness compared

with what I now felt, when I knew she was in the arms of another. In the

first transports of my grief and rage, I could have freely put to death

the father, daughter, husband, and myself. I was particularly desirous

of seeing Veenah, and venting on her the bitterest reproaches. Unjust

that I was! Her sufferings were not inferior to mine; but she had not,

like me, the privilege of making them known. I soon found that

Hircarrahs, in the pay of Balty Mahu, watched all my motions; and if I

had attempted any scheme of vengeance, its execution would have been

impracticable.

"After my first transports had subsided into deep and settled grief, my

love and tenderness for Veenah returned in full force. I endeavoured to

get a sight of her, and thought I should be comparatively happy if I

could converse with her, as formerly, though she was the wife of

another. After a short time, my uncle's family came to Benares, on a

visit to my father and to Shunah Shoo. By the aid of my indulgent

mother, who was seriously alarmed for what she saw I suffered, I was

able to see Fatima, and to make her the bearer of a letter to Veenah,

complaining of her breach of faith, and soliciting an interview. She

verbally replied to it through Fatima; and stated, in her justification,

that she was hurried from Benares to a town on the river, whence she was

rapidly transported to the castle of Omrah, who had not long before lost

his wife, and who was more than four times her age. That notwithstanding

the notions of filial obedience in which she had been brought up, and

the severity with which her father had ever exercised his authority, she

had resisted his commands on this occasion, and would have preferred

death to marrying the Omrah--nay, would have inflicted it on herself;

but that finding her unyielding after all their exertions, they had

effected their purpose by a deception which they had practised on her,

wherein it seemed that I had unconsciously concurred; for, by means of

an intercepted letter of mine to Fatima, in which, hopeless of learning

the place of Veenah's retreat, I had expressed an intention of visiting

England; and, by the farther aid of some dexterous forgeries, calculated

to impose on more experienced minds than hers, they succeeded in

persuading her that I had actually set out for Europe, with an intention

of never returning. That entertaining no doubt of this intelligence

--hopeless of ever seeing me again, and indifferent to every

thing besides, she had been led an unresisting victim to the altar.

"Such was the vindication which she considered it just to make me. But

all the entreaties of Fatima--all my letters, impassioned as they were,

appealing at once to her generosity, humanity, and love,--could not

prevail on her to grant me an interview.

"'Tell him,' said she, 'that heaven has forbid it, and to its decrees we

are bound to submit. I am now the wife of another, and it is our duty to

forget all that is past. But if this be possible, my heart tells me it

can be only by our never meeting!'

"In saying this, she wept bitterly; but at the same time exacted a

promise from Fatima, that she would never mention the subject to her

again. Finding her thus inexorable, I fell into a settled melancholy,

and my health was visibly declining. The Europeans consider the natives

of Hindostan to be feeble and effeminate; but the soul, that which

distinguishes man from brutes, acts with an intensity and constancy of

purpose of which they can furnish no examples.

"How long I could have withstood the corrosive effects of my hopeless

passion, irritated as it was by my being in the vicinity of its

object--by hearing perpetually of her beauty, and sometimes catching a

glimpse of it,--I know not; but the Omrah, after a few months spent with

his father-in-law, returned with his bride to his castle in the country.

Yielding now to the wishes of my anxious parents, I consented to travel.

I was at first benefited by the exercise and change of scene; but after

a while, my melancholy returned, and my health grew worse. Though

indifferent to life itself, and all that it now promised, I exerted

myself for the sake of my parents, especially of my mother, who suffered

so acutely on my account: but I carried a barbed arrow in my heart, and

the greater the efforts to extract it, the more they rankled the wound.

"After spending more than a year in travelling, first through the

mountainous district of our country, and then along the coast, and

finding no change for the better, I determined to try the effect of a

sea voyage. I accordingly embarked at Calcutta, in a coasting vessel

that was bound to Madras. At this time I had wasted away to a mere

skeleton, and no one who saw me, believed I could live a month. Such,

indeed, were my own impressions. In the letter which I wrote to my

parents, I endeavoured to prepare them for the worst. When, after a long

voyage, we reached Madras, my health was evidently improved; but a piece

of intelligence I here received, had perhaps a still greater effect I

learnt that Balty Mahu, who had kept himself concealed from me before I

left Benares, had lately visited Madras, on a travelling tour. This news

operated on me like a charm. The idea of avenging myself on the author

of all my calamities, infused new life into my exhausted frame, and from

the moment that I determined to pursue him, I felt like another man.

"You must not, however, suppose that I even then entertained the purpose

of taking away my enemy's life. No, I could not bring my mind exactly to

that; but I had a vague, undefined hope, that if we met, some new

provocation on his part would afford me just occasion for avenging

myself on all; so ingenious, my dear friend, is the sophistry of

the passions.

"I lost no time in setting out on the track of Balty Mahu, and, ere many

days, overtook him at a small town which he had left just as I entered

it, but not before he had received, through his servant, notice of my

arrival. My wary enemy, who had little expected to see me here, and who

had travelled as much to keep out of my way as to see the country,

conjectured my purpose, from the consciousness of what he had done to

provoke it. Thus, while we both appeared to others to be merely making a

tour of Hindostan, it was soon known to both of us, that my chief

purpose was to pursue him, and his to elude my pursuit. In the ardour,

as well as exercise of the chase, my health mended rapidly, but I was no

nearer the object of my pursuit; for, although I travelled somewhat

faster than Bally Mahu, as he wished to avoid the appearance of flying

from me, he sometimes contrived to put me on a wrong track. In this way

I was once led to travel towards the coast, while he proceeded in an

opposite direction to Benares, where he considered he would be most safe

from my vengeance, and where the restraints both of religion and law

would be more likely to operate on me than in a foreign district.

"My usual practice, on arriving at any town, was to endeavour to learn

if Balty Mahu had passed through it; if so, when and in what direction;

and to get the information, if possible, without seeming to seek it. On

one of these occasions, I heard from a party of merchants that the Omrah

Addaway, whose health had been declining for some time, had gone to

Benares, for the benefit of medical advice; that his disease, however,

had become more serious; and that it was generally thought it would soon

occasion his death. What a train of new thoughts, hopes, and desires,

did this intelligence excite in me! At first, influenced by the custom

of my country, which prohibits widows from marrying again, I thought

only of the pleasure of Veenah's society, which I should, of course, be

permitted to enjoy, when duty no longer forbade it; but my imagination

kindling in its course, I soon pictured her to myself as my wife. The

usages which stood in the way of our union, appeared to me barbarous and

absurd, and I thought that, banishment from my country, with Veenah,

would be infinitely better than any other condition of life without her.

These new-born visions so entirely absorbed me, that Balty Mahu was

entirely forgotten, or remembered only as we think of an insect which

had stung us an hour before. I travelled on at a yet more rapid rate

than I had done; and, without stopping on the road to make inquiries, I

heard enough to satisfy me that the Omrah could not long survive. When

within something more than ten leagues of Benares, I called, about

twilight, at a small inn, and meant, after refreshing myself with a few

hours' rest, to proceed on my journey. Two travellers were there, who

had just left Benares, and had taken up their quarters for the night.

They soon fell into conversation about the place they had left, when the

mention of Shunah Shoo's name excited my attention.

"'What a shame,' said one, 'that he should have sacrificed that

beautiful young creature to the rich old Omrah, when she had so good an

offer as Gurameer, the Brahmin Gafawad's only son.'

"'And is it not strange,' said the other, 'that a woman so young and

beautiful, should be content to follow to the grave one who is old

enough to be her grandfather, and whom she once loathed? But I suppose

that that old miser, Shunah Shoo, is at the bottom of it; and, as he

deprived her of the man she loved, he has compelled her to sacrifice

herself to the one she hates, that he may have her jewels and wealth.'

"'For that matter,' said the first, 'though Shunah Shoo is bad enough

for any thing where money is in the way, yet it is said that Veenah goes

to the funeral pile of her own accord. She has never seemed to set any

value on life since her marriage; and after she heard of Gurameer's

death, she has never been seen to smile. Poor young man!'--And here they

launched out into a strain of panegyric, which is often bestowed on the

dead; but I heeded only the first part of their discourse. Had it not

been nearly dark, they must have discovered the force of the feelings

which then agitated me. I trembled from head to foot, and, though

burning with impatience to obtain from them farther particulars, it was

some moments before I could trust myself to speak. At length I asked

them when the Suttee would take place; and was answered by one of them,

that it would certainly be performed on the following day; and that he

had seen the funeral pile himself. Without any farther delay, I set out

immediately for the city, and reached it in as short a time as a jaded

horse could carry me.

"I came in sight of Benares the next morning, from a hill which

overlooks it from the east. The sun was just rising, and pouring a flood

of light ever the city, the river, and the surrounding country. Never

was contrast greater than between my present feelings, and those which

the same spectacle had formerly excited. I now sickened at the prospect,

which once would have set my heart bounding with joy. I pressed on in

desperate haste, scarcely, however, knowing what I did, being at once

overpowered with fatigue, loss of sleep, and harassing emotions. I still

had to travel a circuitous course of some two or three miles; and when I

reached the city, its crowded population was already in motion: a great

multitude of women, of the lower order, with alarm and expectation

strongly depicted in their faces, were to be seen mingling in the crowd,

and pressing on in the same direction. I would have proceeded

immediately to my father's house, but for the fear of being too late.

Alighting, therefore, from my horse, I gave him in charge to my servant,

whom I sent to inform my parents of my arrival, and to request my father

to meet me at the Suttee. I then joined the mixed multitude, which now

thronged the streets. Occupied, as my thoughts were, with the scene I

was about to witness, and with fears for its issue, they were often

interrupted with remarks made in the crowd, in which Veenah's name or

mine were mentioned--some lamenting her cruel fate, others pitying mine;

but all condemning and execrating Shunah Shoo. Fortunately I was not

recognised by any whom I saw. When we reached the spot selected for the

sacrifice, the crowd that had there assembled, was not so great as to

prevent our getting near the funeral pile; but the numbers continued to

augment, until nothing could be seen from the slight eminence on which I

stood, but one dense mass of heads, all looking one way, and expressing

the intense interest they felt. At length a murmur, like that of distant

thunder, ran through the crowd: a passage was, with some difficulty,

effected through the multitude by the officers in attendance, and the

wretched Veenah made her appearance, supported by her own father on one

side, and an uncle on the other--pale enough to be taken for an

European--emaciated indeed, but still retaining the same exquisite beauty

of features and symmetry of form. She moved with the air of one who was

utterly indifferent to the concerns of this world, and to the awful fate

which awaited her. She turned her head on hearing the sound of my voice,

and, seeing me, shrieked out, "He lives! he lives!" but immediately

afterwards fainted in the arms of her supporters: at the same moment I

was forcibly held back by some of the attendants, and a number of the

bystanders rushed in between us, and intercepted my view. I heard my

name now repeated in every direction by the multitude--some calling out

to the priests to desist, and others to proceed. I struggled to

extricate myself, and passion lent me momentary strength; but it was

insufficient. After a short interval, I distinctly heard Veenah

imploring them to spare her. I called to the Brahmins who held her, to

leave her to herself. I endeavoured to rouse the multitude; but they

took the precaution to drown our voices, by the musical instruments

which are used on these occasions. Four of these monsters I saw

profaning the name of religion, by forcibly placing their victim on the

pile, under the show of assisting her to mount it; and there held her

down, beside the dead body of her husband, until, by cords provided for

the purpose, she was prevented from rising. I besought--I threatened--I

raved;--but all thoughts and minds were engrossed by the premature fate

of one so young and beautiful, and I was unheeded.

"Among the relatives who pressed around the funeral pile, I saw Balty

Mahu; and indignation for a moment got the better of grief. The pile was

now lighted, and in a moment all was hidden in smoke. I sickened at the

sight, and was obliged to turn away. Even then I heard, or thought I

heard, the dying shrieks of the victim, amid the groans and cries, and

the thousand shouts that rent the air! The pile and its contents being

now enveloped in flame, my keepers set me free, when, by an impulse of

frenzy, I rushed' to the pile, to make a last vain effort to rescue

Veenah, or to share her fate; but was stopped by some of the bystanders,

who called my act a profanation.

"'Yes,' said Balty Mahu, 'he has always been a scoffer of our religion.'

As soon as these words reached my ears, with the quickness of thought I

snatched a cimeter from the hands of one of the guards, and plunged it

in his breast. Of all that happened afterwards, my recollection is very

confused. I was rudely seized, and hurried to prison. My father was

coming to meet me, when he was informed of the fatal deed. I remember

that my coolness, or rather stupor, was in strong contrast with the

violence of his emotion. He accompanied me to prison, and continued with

me that night.

"It is not easy to take the life of one of my caste in India; and, by

dint of the exertions of my friends, in spite of the influence of Shunah

Shoo, and the family of the Omrah, I was pardoned, on condition of doing

penance, which was, that I should never live in a country in which the

religion of Brahmin prevailed, and should not again look at, or converse

with, any woman for two minutes together. Ere this took place, my

excellent mother, unable to withstand the shocks she had received from

my supposed death, my misfortunes, and my crime, died a martyr to

maternal affection. Wishing to conform to the sentence, and to be as

near my father as I could, I removed to the kingdom of Ava, where, you

know, they are followers of Buddha. Here I continued as long as my

father lived, which was about six years. In this period, time had so

alleviated my grief, that I began to take pleasure in the cultivation of

science, which constituted my chief employment.

"After my father's death, I indulged a curiosity I had felt in my youth,

of seeing foreign countries; and I visited China, Japan, and England.

During my residence in Asia, I had discovered lunarium ore in the

mountain near Mogaun; and this circumstance, many years afterwards, when

I determined to rest from my labours, induced me to settle in that

mountain, as I have before stated. I have occasionally used the metal to

counterbalance the gravity of a small car, by which I have profited, by

a favourable wind, to indulge the melancholy satisfaction of looking

down on the tombs of my parents, and of the ill-fated Veenah:

approaching the earth near enough, in the night, to see the sacred

spots, but not enough to violate the religious injunctions of my caste;

to avoid which, however, it was sometimes necessary for me to go across

Hindostan to Arabia or Persia, and there wait for a change of wind

before I could return: and it was these excursions which suggested to

the superstitious Burmans that my form had undergone a temporary

transformation. When such have been the woes of my life, you can no

longer think it strange, Atterley, that I delayed their painful recital;

or that, after having endured so much, all common dangers and

misfortunes should appear to me insignificant."

* * * * *

The venerable Brahmin here concluded his narrative, and we both remained

thoughtful and silent for some time; he, apparently absorbed in the

recollections of his eventful life; and I, partly in the reflections

awakened by his story, and partly in the intense interest of revisiting

my native earth, and beholding once more all who were dear to me.

Already the extended map beneath us was assuming a distinct and varied

appearance; and the Brahmin, having applied his eye to the telescope,

and made a brief calculation of our progress, considered that

twenty-four hours more, if no accident interrupted us, would end our

voyage; part of which interval I passed in making notes in my journal,

and in contemplating the different sections of our many-peopled globe,

as they presented themselves successively to the eye. It was my wish to

land on the American continent, and, if possible, in the United States.

But the Brahmin put an end to that hope, by reminding me that we should

be attracted towards the Equator, and that we had to choose between

Asia, Africa, and South America; and that our only course would be, to

check the progress of our car over the country of greatest extent,

through which the equinoctial circle might pass. Saying which, he

relapsed into his melancholy silence, and I betook myself once more to

the telescope. With a bosom throbbing with emotion, I saw that we were

descending towards the American continent. When we were about ten or

twelve miles from the earth, the Brahmin arrested the progress of the

car, and we hovered over the broad Atlantic. Looking down on the ocean,

the first object which presented itself to my eye, was a small

one-masted shallop, which was buffeting the waves in a south-westerly

direction. I presumed it was a New England trader, on a voyage to some

part of the Republic of Colombia: and, by way of diverting my friend

from his melancholy reverie, I told him some of the many stories which

are current respecting the enterprise and ingenuity of this portion of

my countrymen, and above all, their adroitness at a bargain.

"Methinks," says the Brahmin, "you are describing a native of Canton or

Pekin. But," added he, after a short pause, "though to a superficial

observer man appears to put on very different characters, to a

philosopher he is every where the same--for he is every where moulded by

the circumstances in which he is placed. Thus; let him be in a situation

that is propitious to commerce, and the habits of traffic produce in him

shrewdness and address. Trade is carried on chiefly in towns, because it

is there carried on most advantageously. This situation gives the trader

a more intimate knowledge of his species--a more ready insight into

character, and of the modes of operating on it. His chief purpose is to

buy as cheap, and to sell as dear, as he can; and he is often able to

heighten the recommendations or soften the defects of some of the

articles in which he deals, without danger of immediate detection; or,

in other words, his representations have some influence with his

customers. He avails himself of this circumstance, and thus acquires the

habit of lying; but, as he is studious to conceal it, he becomes wary,

ingenious, and cunning. It is thus that the Phenicians, the

Carthagenians, the Dutch, the Chinese, the New-Englanders, and the

modern Greeks, have always been regarded as inclined to petty frauds by

their less commercial neighbours." I mentioned the English nation.

"If the English," said he, interrupting me, "who are the most commercial

people of modern times, have not acquired the same character, it is

because they are as distinguished for other things as for traffic: they

are not merely a commercial people--they are also agricultural, warlike,

and literary; and thus the natural tendencies of commerce are mutually

counteracted."

We afterwards descended slowly; the prospect beneath us becoming more

beautiful than my humble pen can hope to describe, or will even attempt

to portray. In a short time after, we were in sight of Venezuela. We met

with the trade-winds, and were carried by them forty or fifty miles

inland, where, with some difficulty, and even danger, we landed. The

Brahmin and myself remained together two days, and parted--he to explore

the Andes, to obtain additional light on the subject of his hypothesis,

and I, on the wings of impatience, to visit once more my long-deserted

family and friends. But before our separation, I assisted my friend in

concealing our aerial vessel, and received a promise from him to visit,

and perhaps spend with me the evening of his life. Of my journey home,

little remains to be said. From the citizens of Colombia, I experienced

kindness and attention, and means of conveyance to Caraccas; where,

embarking on board the brig Juno, captain Withers, I once more set foot

in New York, on the 18th of August, 1826, after an absence of four

years, resolved, for the rest of my life, to travel only in books, and

persuaded, from experience, that the satisfaction which the wanderer

gains from actually beholding the wonders and curiosities of distant

climes, is dearly bought by the sacrifice of all the comforts and

delights of home.

THE END.

* * * * *

APPENDIX

Anonymous Review of _A Voyage to the Moon_

Reprinted from the American Quarterly Review No. 5 (March 1828), 61-88.

ART. III.--_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 JOSEPH ATTERLEY. New-York: Elam Bliss, 1827.

12mo. pp. 264.

It is somewhat remarkable, that perhaps the _only_ "Voyages to

the Moon," which have been published in the English tongue, should

have been the productions of English bishops:--the first forming a

tract, re-published in the Harleian Miscellany, and said to have been

written by Dr. Francis Goodwin, Bishop of Landaff, (who died in 1633,)

and entitled "_The Man in the Moon, or the discourse of a voyage

thither_, by Domingo Gonsales,"--and the second written in 1638, by

Dr. John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, under the title of "_The

Discovery of a New World, or a Discourse tending to prove, that 'tis

probable there may be another habitable world in the Moon, with a

discourse concerning the possibility of a passage thither."_ These

two works differ in several essential particulars:--in Dr. Goodwin's,

we have men of enormous stature and prodigious longevity, with a

flying chariot, and some other slight points of resemblance to the

Travels of Gulliver:--whilst Bishop Wilkins's is intended honestly and

scientifically to prove, "that it is possible for some of our

posterity to find out a conveyance to this other world; and, if there

be inhabitants there, (which the Bishop, satisfactorily to himself,

settles,) to have commerce with them!" From the first of these, Swift

has derived many hints in his voyage to Laputa, and improved them into

those humorous and instructive allusions, which have caused the

reputation of the author of the _"Travels of Gulliver"_ to be

extended to every portion of the civilized globe. Since the appearance

of this celebrated satire, no one sufficiently comprehensive to lash

the follies of the age--the _quicquid agunt homines_--has made

its appearance: we have had numerous ephemeral productions, inflicting

severe castigations upon particular vices or absurdities; but the

visionary conceits of the many, constantly promulgated in the

progressive advancement of human knowledge, although legitimate

objects of censure, have not, since the time of Swift, been embodied

into one publication.

The evident aim of the author of the Satirical Romance before us, is

to fulfil for the present age, what _Swift_ so successfully

accomplished for that which has passed by:--to attack, by the weapons

of ridicule, those votaries of knowledge, who may have sought to avail

themselves of the universal love of novelty amongst mankind, to acquire

celebrity; or who may have been misled by their own ill-regulated

imaginations, to obtrude upon the world their crude and imperfect

theories and systems, to the manifest retardation of knowledge:--an

effect, too, liable to be induced in a direct ratio with the degree

of talent and ingenuity by which their views may have been supported.

Several of these may always be more successfully attacked by ridicule

than by reason; inasmuch as they are, in this way, more likely to become

the subjects of popular animadversion; and many, who could withstand

the serious arguments of their fraternity, cannot placidly endure their

ridicule. Satire has, indeed, often done more service to the cause of

religion and morality than a sermon, since the remedy is agreeable,

whilst it at the same time communicates indignation or fear:--

"Of all the ways that wisest men could find,

To mend the age and mortify mankind,

Satire, well writ, has most successful prov'd.

And cures, because the remedy is lov'd."

To produce, however, the full effect, satire must possess a certain

degree of impartiality, and be levelled in all instances at the vices

or follies, and not at the man. The first sketch of Gulliver's Travels

occurs in the proposed Travels of Martinus Scriblerus, devised in that

pleasing society where most of Swift's miscellanies were planned. Had

the work, however, been executed under the same auspices, it would

probably, as Sir Walter Scott has suggested,[1] "have been occupied by

that personal satire, upon obscure and unworthy contemporaries, to

which Pope was but too much addicted. But when the Dean mused in

solitude over the execution of his plan, it assumed at once a more

grand and a darker complexion. The spirit of indignant hatred and

contempt with which he regarded the mass of humanity; his quiet and

powerful perception of their failings, errors, and crimes; his zeal

for liberty and freedom of thought, tended at once to generalize,

while it embittered, his satire, and to change traits of personal

severity for that deep shade of censure which Gulliver's Travels throw

upon mankind universally." Most of the sentiments which impressed

Swift, seem also to have been felt by the unknown author of the work

before us: it is not, however, free from personal allusions; but they

are all conveyed in so good natured a manner, as to satisfy the reader

that the author has been solicitous to animadvert only on the vices of

the individual; and in no part of the work is there the slightest

evidence of prejudice or venom.

The pseudo _Joseph Atterley_, the hero of the narrative, was born

in Huntingdon, Long-Island, on the 11th of May, 1786. He was the son

of a seafaring individual, who, by means of the portion he received by

his wife, together with his own earnings, was enabled to quit that

laborious occupation, and to enter into trade; and, 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

adapted to his enlarged capital. "He here engaged in foreign trade,

and partaking of the prosperity which then attended American commerce,

gradually extended his business, and finally embarked in the then new

branch of traffic to the East Indies and China; he was now 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."

Our hero was, at an early age, put to a grammar school of good repute,

in his native village, and, at seventeen, was sent to Princeton, to

prepare himself for some profession; during his third year at that

place, in one of his excursions to Philadelphia, he became enamoured

"with one of those faces and forms, which, in a youth of twenty, to

see, admire, and love, is one and the same thing;" and was united to

the object of his affections, on the anniversary of his twenty-first

year. This event gave him a distaste for serious study; and, long

before this, he had felt a sentiment, bordering on contempt, for

mercantile pursuits; he therefore prevailed upon his father to

purchase him a neat country seat in the vicinity of Huntingdon. Here,

seventeen happy years glided away swiftly and imperceptibly, when

death, by depriving him of the partner of his felicity, prostrated all

his hopes and enjoyments. For the purpose of seeking for that relief

to the feelings, which variety can best afford, he now determined to

make a voyage; and, as one of his father's vessels was about to sail

for Canton, embarked on board of her, and left Sandyhook on the 5th

day of June, 1822. From this period, until the 24th of October, their

voyage was comparatively agreeable; but when off the mouths of the

Ganges, one of those hurricanes, well known to the experienced

navigators of the eastern seas, struck the ship, and rendered her so

leaky, that the captain considered it advisable to make for the

nearest port; the leak, however, increasing rapidly, and finding

themselves off a coast, which the captain, by his charts, pronounced

to be a part of the Burman empire, and in the neighbourhood of Mergui,

on the Martaban coast, they hastily threw their clothes, papers, and

eight casks of silver, into the long-boat; and, before they were fifty

yards from the ship, had the melancholy satisfaction to see her go

down.

"It was a little after mid-day 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."

Our hero was transported very rapidly in a palanquin, for thirteen

successive days, when he reached Mozaun, a small village delightfully

situated in the mountainous district between the Irawaddi and Saloon

rivers, where he was placed under the care of an inferior magistrate,

who there exercised the chief authority. By submissive and respectful

behaviour, he succeeded in ingratiating himself so completely with his

keeper, that he was regarded more as one of his family, than as a

prisoner; and was allowed every indulgence, consistently with his safe

custody. It had been one of his favourite recreations, to ascend a

part of the western ridge of mountains, which rose in a cone, about a

mile and a half from the village, for the purpose of enjoying the

enchanting scenery that lay before him, and the evening breeze, which

possesses so delicious a degree of freshness in tropical climates.

Here he became acquainted with a personage, of whom, as he exerted an

important influence over the future conduct of our hero, it is of

consequence that the reader should acquire early information:--

"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 visiters, 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 then means he acquired some of

the knowledge by which he so often excited their admiration.

"He soon distinguished me from the rest of his visiters, 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 earned 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 learned 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'"

The acquaintance between Atterley and the Brahmin, ripened by degrees,

into that close friendship, which a congeniality of tastes and

sentiments, under proper opportunities, never fails to engender.

Atterley's visits to the hermitage, became more and more frequent, for

upwards of three years, during which period, the Brahmin had

occasionally thrown out obscure hints, that the time would come, when

our hero should be restored to liberty, and that he had an important

secret which he would one day communicate. About this period, one

afternoon in the month of March, when Atterley repaired, as usual, to

the hermitage, he found the Brahmin dangerously ill of a pleuritic

affection, and apprehensive that the attack might prove fatal--

"Sit down," said he, "on that block, and listen to what I shall say to

you Though I shall quit this state of being for another and a better,

I confess that I was alarmed at the thought of expiring, before I had

an opportunity of seeing and conversing with you I am the depository

of a secret, that I believe is known to no other living mortal I once

determined that it should die with me, and had I not met with you, it

certainly should But from our first acquaintance, my heart has been

strongly attracted towards you, and as soon as I found you possessed

of qualities to inspire esteem as well as regard, I felt disposed to

give you this proof of my confidence Still I hesitated I first wished

to deliberate on the probable effects of my disclosure upon the

condition of society I saw that it might produce evil, as well as

good, but on weighing the two together, I have satisfied myself that

the good will preponderate, and have determined to act accordingly

Take this key, (stretching out his feverish hand,) and after waiting

two hours, in which time the medicine I have taken will have either

produced a good effect or put an end to my sufferings, you may then

open that blue chest in the corner It has a false bottom On removing

the paper which covers it, you will find the manuscript containing the

important secret, together with some gold pieces, which I have saved

for the day of need--because--(and he smiled in spite of his

sufferings)--because hoarding is one of the pleasures of old men. Take

them both, and use them discreetly."

Atterley quitted the cell, and waited with feverish expectation for

the termination of the allotted two hours, when, to his inexpressible

delight, he found, on re-entering the cell, that not only did the

Brahmin breathe, but that he slept soundly; and, in the course of an

hour, he awoke, almost restored to health. This event, however, was

the occasion of a more early disclosure of the Brahmin's important

secret, but not until he had recovered his ordinary health and

vigour:--

"I have already told you, my dear Atterley, that I was born and

educated at Benares, and that science is there more thoroughly

understood and taught than the people of the west are aware of. We

have, for many thousands of years, been good astronomers, chymists,

mathematicians, and philosophers. We had discovered the secret of

gunpowder, the magnetic attraction, the properties of electricity,

long before they were heard of in Europe. We know more than we have

revealed, and much of our knowledge is deposited in the archives of

the castle to which I belong, but, for want of language generally

understood and easily learnt, (for these records are always written in

the Sanscrit, that is no longer a spoken language,) and the diffusion

which is given by the art of printing, these secrets of science are

communicated only to a few, and sometimes even sleep with their

authors, until a subsequent discovery, under more favourable

circumstances, brings them again to light.

"It was at this seat of science that I learned, from one of our sages,

the physical truth which I am now about to communicate, and which he

discovered, partly by his researches into the writings of ancient

Pundits, and partly by his own extraordinary sagacity. There is a

principle of repulsion as well as gravitation in the earth. It causes

fire to rise upwards. It is exhibited in electricity. It occasions

water-spouts, volcanoes, and earthquakes. After much labour and

research, this principle has been found embodied in a metallic

substance, which is met with in the mountain in which we are, united

with a very heavy earth, and this circumstance had great influence in

inducing me to settle myself here.

"This metal, when separated and purified, has as great a tendency to

fly off from the earth, as a piece of gold or lead has to approach it.

After making a number of curious experiments with it, we bethought

ourselves of putting it to some use, and soon contrived, with the aid

of it, to make cars and ascend into the air. We were very secret in

these operations, for our unhappy country having then recently fallen

under the subjection of the British nation, we apprehended that if we

divulged our arcanum, they would not only fly away with all our

treasures, whether found in palace or pagoda, but also carry off the

inhabitants, to make them slaves in their colonies, as their

government had not then abolished the African slave trade.

"After various trials and many successive improvements, in which our

desires increased with our success, we determined to penetrate the

aerial void as far as we could, providing for that purpose an

apparatus, with which you will become better acquainted hereafter. In

the course of our experiments, we discovered that this same metal,

which was repelled from the earth, was in the same degree attracted

towards the moon, for in one of our excursions, still aiming to ascend

higher than we had ever done before, we were actually carried to that

satellite, and if we had not there fallen into a lake, and our machine

had not been water-tight, we must have been dashed to pieces or

drowned. You will find in this book," he added, presenting me with a

small volume, bound in green parchment, and fastened with silver

clasps, "a minute detail of the apparatus to be provided, and the

directions to be pursued in making this wonderful voyage. I have

written it since I satisfied my mind that my fears of British rapacity

were unfounded, and that I should do more good than harm by publishing

the secret. But still I am not sure," he added, with one of his faint

but significant smiles, "that I am not actuated by a wish to

immortalize my name; for where is the mortal who would be indifferent

to this object, if he thought he could attain it? Read the book at

your leisure, and study it."

Here, by the way, we may remark, that the kind of vehicle best adapted

for conveyance through the aerial void, has been a weighty stumbling

block to authors, from the time of the eagle-mounted Ganymede, to that

of Daniel O'Rourke; or of the wing furnished Daedalus and Icarus, to

that of the flying Turk in Constantinople, referred to by Busbequius;

or of the flying artist of the happy valley, in Rasselas. When

Trygaeus was desirous of reaching the Gods, he erected, we are told, a

series of small ladders--[Greek: epeita lepta klimakia]--but receiving

a severe contusion on the head, from their downfall, he ingeniously

had recourse to a scheme of flying through the air, on a colossal

variety of those industrious but not over-delicate insects, the

_Scarabaeus Carnifex_--the only insect, notwithstanding, according

to Aesop, privileged to ascend to the habitations of the gods--

[Greek: monos peteinoon eis theous aphigmenos.[2]]

Most of the stories of Pegasi and Hippogriffs, and of flying chariots,

from that of Phaeton downwards to Astolfo's,[3] were evidently

intended by their authors as mythical; not so, however, with Bishop

Wilkins;--he boldly avers, for several reasons which he keeps to

himself, and for others not very comprehensible to us, which he

details "seriously and on good grounds," "that it is possible to make

a flying chariot, in which a man may sit, and give such a motion unto

it, as shall convey him through the air; and this perhaps might be

made large enough to carry divers men at the same time, together with

food for their _viaticum_, and commodities for traffic." "It is

not," lucidly continues the Bishop, "the bigness of any thing in this

kind, that can hinder its motion, if the motive faculty be answerable

thereunto. We see a great ship swims as well as a small cork; and an

eagle flies in the air, as well as a little gnat. This engine may be

contrived from the same principles by which Archytas made a wooden

dove, and Regiomontanus a wooden eagle. I conceive it were no

difficult matter, (if a man had leisure,) to show more particularly

the means of composing it"!--which want of leisure in the credulous

Bishop, our readers will regret with us, especially those inventive

geniuses, who, like the projector in the reign of George I., published

a scheme for manufacturing pine plank from pine saw-dust, or the still

more ingenious undertaker of later times, who proposed to make _pine

plank_ out of _oak_ saw-dust, by the mere addition of a little

turpentine!

Again, Swift's flying Island of Laputa is a phenomenon so opposed to

all scientific probability, and so directly at variance with natural

laws, that it loses in interest in a direct ratio with the violence it

does to our feelings. Nor is the mode of conveyance imagined by

Voltaire less incongruous than that of Swift. When Micromegas, ah

inhabitant of Sirius, whose adventures were evidently suggested by

those of Gulliver, accompanied by an inhabitant of Saturn, leaves the

latter planet, they are, in the first place, made to leap upon the

Ring of Saturn, which they find tolerably flat, "comme l'a fort bien

deviné un illustre habitant de notre petit globe:" thence they go from

moon to moon, and a comet passing close to one of these, they throw

themselves upon it, with their attendants and instruments. In their

course, they fall in with the satellites of Jupiter, and pass on to

Jupiter itself, where they remain for a year; but what becomes of the

comet in the mean time, we are not informed! Leaving Jupiter, they

"coast" along the planet Mars, and finally reach the earth, where they

resolve to disembark. Accordingly "ils passèrent sur la queue de la

comète; et trouvant une aurore boréale toute prête, ils se mirent

dedans, et arrivèrent à terre sur le bord septentrional de la Mer

Baltique"![4]

The vehicle, however, has not formed the sole obstacle to those

projectors:--the _viaticum_, especially the food, has been a

difficulty not readily got over. Before Bishop Wilkins alludes to his

flying chariot, he remarks, that even if men could fly, the swiftest

of them would probably be half a year in reaching the end of his

journey; and hence a problem would arise, "how it were possible to

tarry so long without sleep or diet?" Of the former obstacle, however,

he quickly disposes,--"seeing we do not then spend ourselves in any

labour, we shall not, it may be, _need_ the refreshment of sleep:

but if we do, we cannot desire a softer bed than the air, where we may

repose ourselves firmly and safely as in our chambers"! Of the latter

he finds somewhat more difficulty in disposing,--"and here it is

considerable, that, since our bodies will then be devoid of gravity

and other impediments of motion, we shall not at all spend ourselves

in any labour, and so, consequently, not much need the reparation of

diet, but may perhaps live altogether without it, as those creatures

have done, who, by reason of their sleeping for many days together,

have not spent any spirits, and so not wanted any food; which is

commonly related of serpents, crocodiles, bears, cuckoos, swallows,

and such like. To this purpose, Mendoca reckons up divers strange

relations, as that of Epimenides, who is storied to have slept

seventy-five years; and another of a rustic in Germany, who, being

accidentally covered with a hay-rick, slept there for all the autumn

and the winter following, without any nourishment Or, if we must needs

feed upon something else, why may not smells nourish us? Plutarch, and

Pliny, and divers other ancients, tell us of a nation in India, that

lived only upon pleasing odours; and it is the common opinion of

physicians, that these do strangely both strengthen and repair the

spirits. Hence was it that Democritus was able, for divers days

together, to feed himself with the mere smell of hot bread.[5] Or, if

it be necessary that our stomachs must receive the food, why then it

is not impossible that the purity of the etherial air, being not mixed

with any improper vapours, may be so agreeable to our bodies, as to

yield us sufficient nourishment," with many other arguments of the

like nature. The Bishop ultimately, however, severs the knot, by the

suggestion of his flying chariot, which he makes large enough (for,

_ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute!_) to carry not only food

for the _viaticum_ of the passengers, but also commodities for

their traffic!

Infinitely more ingenuity did the great comic poet of antiquity

display, when he selected the _Scarabaeus;_ as the food which had

already served the purposes of digestion with the Rider, was still

capable of affording nutrition to the animal:--

[Greek:

nun d'att'an autos kataphagoo ta sitia.

toutoisi tois autoisi touton chortasoo[6]]

Now all these schemes, ingenious as they may be, are objectionable for

the same reasons as the flying Island of Laputa--their glaring

violation of verisimilitude, and many of them of possibility. In these

respects, that of the author of the work before us is liable to less

objection: he only resorts to an extension of avowed physical

principles; and if we could suppose a substance, which, instead of

gravitating towards the earth, is repelled from it and attracted

towards the moon, (certainly a difficult "_premier pas_,") the

remainder of the machinery, for reaching that luminary, would not be

inconsistent with probability or the known laws of physics.

But, to return to the narrative:--The Brahmin having given Atterley a

description of some of the remarkable objects which he met with, in

his voyage to the moon; expressed his anxiety to repeat it, for the

purpose of ascertaining some facts about which he had been

speculating, as well as of removing the incredulity with which, he

could not but perceive, his story had impressed his hearer,

notwithstanding his belief in the Hermit's integrity; when Atterley

eagerly caught at the proposal. Their preparations, however, required

time as well as considerable skill, not only for the construction of

the vehicle, but also to avoid suspicion and interruption from the

Governor of Mergui,--and the priesthood, who possessed the usual

Oriental superstition and intolerance.

For the construction of their apparatus they had recourse to an

ingenious artificer in copper and other metals, whose child the

Brahmin had been instrumental in curing of a chronic disease, and in

whose fidelity as well as good will they could securely rely.

"The coppersmith agreed to undertake the work we wanted done, for a

moderate compensation, but we did not think it prudent to inform him

of our object, which he supposed was to make some philosophical

experiment. It was forthwith arranged that he should occasionally

visit the Hermit, to receive instructions, as if for the purpose of

asking medical advice. During this interval my mind was absorbed with

our project; and when in company, I was so thoughtful and abstracted,

that it has since seemed strange to me that Sing Fou's suspicions that

I was planning my escape were not more excited. At length, by dint of

great exertion, in about three months every thing was in readiness,

and we determined on the following night to set out on our perilous

expedition.

"The machine in which we proposed to embark, was a copper vessel, that

would have been an exact cube of six feet, if the corners and edges

had not been rounded off. It had an opening large enough to receive

our bodies, which was closed by double sliding pannels, with quilted

cloth between them. When these were properly adjusted, the machine was

perfectly air-tight, and strong enough, by means of iron bars running

alternately inside and out, to resist the pressure of the atmosphere,

when the machine should be exhausted of its air, as we took the

precaution to prove by the aid of an air pump. On the top of the

copper chest and on the outside, we had as much of the lunar metal

(which I shall henceforth call _lunarium_) as we found by

calculation and experiment, would overcome the weight of the machine,

as well as its contents, and take us to the moon on the third day. As

the air which the machine contained, would not be sufficient for our

respiration more than about six hours, and the chief part of the space

we were to pass through was a mere void, we provided ourselves with a

sufficient supply, by condensing it in a small globular vessel, made

partly of iron and partly of lunarium, to take off its weight. On my

return, I gave Mr. Jacob Perkins, who is now in England, a hint of

this plan of condensation, and it has there obtained him great

celebrity. This fact I should not have thought it worth while to

mention, had he not taken the sole merit of the invention to himself,

at least I cannot hear that in his numerous public notices he has ever

mentioned my name.

"But to return. A small circular window, made of a single piece of

thick clear glass, was neatly fitted on each of the six sides. Several

pieces of lead were securely fastened to screws which passed through

the bottom of the machine as well as a thick plank. The screws were so

contrived, that by turning them in one direction, the pieces of lead

attached to them were immediately disengaged from the hooks with which

they were connected. The pieces of lunarium were fastened in like

manner to screws, which passed through the top of the machine; so that

by turning them in one direction, those metallic pieces would fly into

the air with the velocity of a rocket. The Brahmin took with him a

thermometer, two telescopes, one of which projected through the top of

the machine, and the other through the bottom; a phosphoric lamp, pen,

ink, and paper, and some light refreshments sufficient to supply us

for some days.

"The moon was then in her third quarter, and near the zenith: it was,

of course, a little after midnight, and when the coppersmith and his

family were in their soundest sleep, that we entered the machine. In

about an hour more we had the doors secured, and every thing arranged

in its place, when, cutting the cords which fastened us to the ground,

by means of small steel blades which worked in the ends of other

screws, we rose from the earth with a whizzing sound, and a sensation

at first of very rapid ascent, but after a short time, we were

scarcely sensible of any motion in the machine, except when we changed

our places."

After the apprehensions of Atterley, occasioned by the novelty and

danger of his situation, had partly subsided, he was enabled, with

mingled awe and admiration, to contemplate the magnificent spectacle

beneath him. As the earth turned round its axis, during their ascent,

every part of its surface came successively under view. At nine

o'clock, the whole of India was to the west of them; its rivers

resembling small filaments of silver, and the Red Sea a narrow plate

of the same metal. The peninsula of India was of a dark, and Arabia of

a light, grayer green, and the sun's rays striking on the Atlantic,

emitted an effulgence dazzling to the eyes. On looking, some time

afterwards, through the telescope, they observed the African

Continent, at its northern edge; fringed, as it were, with green;

"then a dull white belt marked the great Sahara or Desert, and then it

exhibited a deep green to its most southern extremity." The Morea and

Grecian Archipelago now fell under their telescope, and gradually the

whole Mediterranean, and Arabian Gulf--the great media separating

Africa from Europe and Asia; "the political divisions of these

quarters of the world were of course undistinguishable, and few of the

natural were discernible by the naked eye. The Alps were marked by a

white streak, though less bright than the water." By the aid of the

glass they could just discern the Danube, the Nile, and "a river which

empties itself into the Gulf of Guinea," and which Atterley took to be

the Niger; but the other streams were not perceptible. The most

conspicuous object of the solid part of the globe was the great

Desert; the whole of Africa, however, appeared of a brighter hue than

either Asia or Europe.

"I was struck too, with the vast disproportion which the extent of the

several countries of the earth bore to the part they had acted in

history, and the influence they had exerted on human affairs. The

British islands had diminished to a speck, and France was little

larger, yet, a few years ago it seemed, at least to us in the United

States, as if there were no other nations on the earth. The Brahmin,

who was well read in European history, on my making a remark on this

subject, reminded me that Athens and Sparta had once obtained almost

equal celebrity, although they were so small as not now to be visible.

As I slowly passed the telescope over the face of Europe, I pictured

to myself the fat, plodding Hollander--the patient, contemplative

German--the ingenious, sensual Italian--the temperate Swiss--the

haughty, superstitious Spaniard--the sprightly, self-complacent

Frenchman--the sullen and reflecting Englishman--who monopolise nearly

all the science and literature of the earth, to which they bear so

small a proportion. As the Atlantic fell under our view, two faint

circles on each side of the equator, were to be perceived by the naked

eye. They were less bright than the rest of the ocean. The Brahmin

suggested that they might be currents; which brought to my memory Dr.

Franklin's conjecture on the subject, now completely verified by this

circular line of vapour, as it had been previously rendered probable

by the floating substances, which had been occasionally picked up, at

great distances from the places where they had been thrown into the

ocean. The circle was whiter and more distinct, where the Gulf Stream

runs parallel to the American coast, and gradually grew fainter as it

passed along the Banks of Newfoundland, to the coast of Europe, where,

taking a southerly direction, the line of the circle was barely

discernible. A similar circle of vapour, though less defined and

complete, was perceived in the South Atlantic Ocean."

By degrees the travellers saw one half of the broad expanse of the

Pacific, which glistened like quicksilver or polished steel, and

subsequently the middle of the Pacific lay immediately beneath them;

the irregular distribution of land and water on the globe, the expanse

of Ocean here, being twice as large as in any other part, gives

occasion to some amusing discussions on the various theories of

cosmogony, to which we can only refer the reader; wearied, however, by

these and other discussions, Atterley slept for six hours, and on

awaking, found the Brahmin busy in calculating their progress; after

which the latter lay down and soon fell into a tranquil sleep, having

previously requested that he might be awakened at the expiration of

three hours, or sooner if any thing of moment should occur. Atterley

now looked down again through the telescope, and found the earth

surprisingly diminished in its apparent dimensions, from the increased

rapidity of their ascent; the eastern coasts of Asia were still full

in view, as well as the whole figure of that extensive continent--of

New-Holland, of Ceylon and of Borneo; but the smaller islands were

invisible.

"I strained my eye to no purpose, to follow the indentations of the

coast, according to the map before me, the great bays and promontories

could alone be perceived. The Burman Empire, in one of the

insignificant villages of which I had been confined for a few years,

was now reduced to a speck. The agreeable hours I had passed with the

Brahmin, with the little daughter of Sing Fou, and my rambling over

the neighbouring heights, all recurred to my mind, and I almost

regretted the pleasures I had relinquished. I tried with more success

to beguile the time by making notes in my journal, and after having

devoted about an hour to this object, I returned to the telescope, and

now took occasion to examine the figure of the earth near the Poles,

with a view of discovering whether its form favoured Captain Symmes's

theory of an aperture existing there, and I am convinced that that

ingenious gentleman is mistaken. Time passed so heavily during these

solitary occupations, that I looked at my watch every five minutes,

and could scarcely be persuaded it was not out of order. I then took

up my little Bible, (which had always been my travelling companion,)

read a few chapters in St. Matthew, and found my feelings

tranquillized, and my courage increased. The desired hour at length

arrived; when, on waking the old man, he alertly raised himself up,

and at the first view of the diminished appearance of the earth,

observed that our journey was a third over, as to time, but not as to

distance."

After having again composed himself to rest for about four hours,

Atterley was awakened by the Brahmin, in whose arms he found himself,

and, on looking around, discovered that he was lying on what had been

the ceiling of the chamber, which still, however, felt like the

bottom. The reason of this phenomenon was thus explained to him by the

Brahmin--"we have, while you were asleep, passed the middle point

between the earth's and the moon's attraction; and we now gravitate

less towards our own planet than (to) her satellite. I took the

precaution to move you, before you fell by your own gravity, from what

was lately the bottom, to that which is now so, and to keep you in

this place until you were retained in it by the moon's attraction; for

though your fall would have been, at this point, like that of a

feather, yet it would have given you some shock and alarm. The

machine, therefore, has undergone no change in its position or

course;--the change is altogether in our feelings."

The whole face of the moon, Atterley now found to be entirely changed,

and on looking through the upper telescope, the earth presented an

appearance not very dissimilar; but the outline of her continents and

oceans was still perceptible in different shades, and capable of being

readily recognised; the bright glare of the sun, however, made the

surfaces of both bodies somewhat dim and pale.

"After a short interval, I again looked at the moon, and found not

only its magnitude very greatly increased, but that it was beginning

to present a more beautiful spectacle. The sun's rays fell obliquely

on her disc, so that by a large part of its surface not reflecting the

light, I saw every object on it, so far as I was enabled by the power

of my telescope. Its mountains, lakes, seas, continents, and islands,

were faintly, though not indistinctly, traced; and every moment

brought forth something new to catch my eye, and awaken my curiosity.

The whole face of the moon was of a silvery hue, relieved and varied

by the softest and most delicate shades. No cloud nor speck of vapour

intercepted my view. One of my exclamations of delight awakened the

Brahmin, who quickly arose, and looking down on the resplendent orb

below us, observed that we must soon begin to slacken the rapidity of

our course, by throwing out ballast. The moon's dimensions now rapidly

increased; the separate mountains, which formed the ridges and chains

on her surface, began to be plainly visible through the telescope;

whilst, on the shaded side, several volcanoes appeared upon her disc,

like the flashes of our fire-fly, or rather like the twinkling of

stars in a frosty night. He remarked, that the extraordinary clearness

and brightness of the objects on the moon's surface, was owing to her

having a less extensive and more transparent atmosphere than the

earth: adding--'The difference is so great, that some of our

astronomical observers have been induced to think she has none. If

that, however, had been the case, our voyage would have been

impracticable.'"

After gazing for some time on this magnificent spectacle, with

admiration and delight, one of their balls of _lunarium_ was let

off for the purpose of checking their velocity. At this time the

Brahmin supposed they were not more than four thousand miles from the

nearest point of the moon's surface. In about four hours more, her

apparent magnitude was so great, that they could see her by looking

out of either of the side windows.

"Her disc had now lost its former silvery appearance, and began to

look more like that of the earth, when seen at the same distance. It

was a most gratifying spectacle to behold the objects successively

rising to our view, and steadily enlarging in their dimensions. The

rapidity with which we approached the moon, impressed me, in spite of

myself, with the alarming sensation of falling; and I found myself

alternately agitated with a sense of this danger, and with impatience

to take a nearer view of the new objects that greeted my eyes. The

Brahmin was wholly absorbed in calculations for the purpose of

adjusting our velocity to the distance we had to go, his estimates of

which, however, were in a great measure conjectural; and ever and anon

he would let off a ball of the lunar metal.

"After a few hours, we were so near the moon that every object was

seen in our glass, as distinctly as the shells or marine plants

through a piece of shallow sea-water, though the eye could take in but

a small part of her surface, and the horizon, which bounded our view,

was rapidly contracting. On letting the air escape from our machine,

it did not now rush out with the same violence as before, which showed

that we were within the moon's atmosphere. This, as well as ridding

ourselves of the metal balls, aided in checking our progress. By and

by we were within a few miles of the highest mountains, when we threw

down so much of our ballast, that we soon appeared almost stationary.

The Brahmin remarked, that he should avail himself of the currents of

air we might meet with, to select a favourable place for landing,

though we were necessarily attracted towards the same region, in

consequence of the same half of the moon's surface being always turned

towards the earth."

The Brahmin now pointed out the necessity of looking out for some

cultivated field, in one of the valleys they were approaching, where

they might rely on being not far distant from some human habitation,

and on escaping the perils necessarily attendant on a descent amongst

rocks, trees, and buildings. A gentle breeze now arising, as appeared

by their horizontal motion, which wafted them at the rate of about ten

miles an hour, over a ridge of mountains, a lake, a thick wood, &c.

they at length reached a cultivated region, which the Brahmin

recognised as the country of the Morosofs, the place they were anxious

to visit. By now letting off two balls of lead to the _Earth_,

they descended rapidly; and when they were sufficiently near the

ground to observe that it was a fit place for landing, opened the door

of their Balloon, and found the air of the moon inconceivably sweet

and refreshing. They now let loose one of their lower balls, which

somewhat retarded their descent; and in a few minutes more, being

within twenty yards of the ground, they let go the largest ball of

lunarium, which, having a cord attached to it, served in lieu of a

grapnel; by this they drew themselves down, were disengaged from the

machine in a twinkling, and landed "safe and sound" on, we presume,

"_luna firma!_"

Having seen our travellers securely deposited in the moon, we may

remark, that in the passage from the earth, various topics of an

interesting and important character were canvassed by the Brahmin and

his companion; one, _on the causes of national superiority_,

suggested by the views of Africa, and a comparison between that

benighted country and others more illuminated, is especially worthy of

attention, as containing a condensed and philosophical view of the

subject; eloquently and perspicuously conveyed.

The view of America, suggests some remarks on the _political

peculiarities of the United States_, with speculations on their

future destiny.

A lively description of the contrast between the circumstances of the

Kamtschadale--

"The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone,"

and the gay, voluptuous native of the Sandwich, and other isles within

the tropics--the one passing his life in toil, privation, and care--the

other in ease, abundance, and enjoyment--leads to a similar conclusion

to that expressed by Goldsmith:--

"And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare,

And estimate the blessings which they share,

Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find

An equal portion dealt to all mankind."

A disquisition also takes place--_whether India or Egypt were the

parent of the Arts?_

This leads them to refer to the strange custom in the country of the

Brahmin, which impels the widow to throw herself on the funeral pile,

and be consumed with her husband:--

"I told him," says Atterley, "that it had often been represented as

compulsory--or, in other words, that it was said that every art and

means were resorted to, for the purpose of working on the mind of the

woman, by her relatives, aided by the priests, who would be naturally

gratified by such signal triumphs of religion over the strongest

feelings of nature. He admitted that these engines were sometimes put

in operation, and that they impelled to the sacrifice, some who were

wavering; but insisted, that in a majority of instances, the

_Suttee_ was voluntary.

"'Women,' said he, 'are brought up from their infancy, to regard our

sex as their superiors, and to believe that their greatest merit

consists in entire devotion to their husbands. Under this feeling, and

having, at the same time, their attention frequently turned to the

chance of such a calamity, they are better prepared to meet it when it

occurs. How few of the officers in your western armies, ever hesitate

to march, at the head of their men, on a forlorn hope? and how many

even court the danger for the sake of the glory? Nay, you tell me

that, according to your code of honour, if one man insults another, he

who gives the provocation, and he who receives it, rather than be

disgraced in the eyes of their countrymen, will go out, and quietly

shoot at each other with fire-arms, till one of them is killed or

wounded; and this too, in many cases, when the injury has been merely

nominal. If you show such a contempt of death, in deference to a

custom founded in mere caprice, can it be wondered that a woman should

show it, in the first paroxysms of her grief for the loss of him to

whom was devoted every thought, word, and action of her life, and who,

next to her God, was the object of her idolatry? My dear Atterley,' he

continued, with emotion, 'you little know the strength of woman's

love!'"

Other topics of interest are also discussed with the like ingenuity.

After this episode, it is time for us to return to our travellers,

whose feelings, the moment they touched the ground, repayed them for

all they had endured. Atterley looked around with the most intense

curiosity; but nothing he saw, "surprised him so much, as to find so

little that was surprising:"--vegetation, insects, and other animals,

were pretty much of the same character as those he had before seen;

but, on better acquaintance, he found the difference greater than he

had at first supposed. Having refreshed themselves with the remains of

their stores, and secured the door of the machine, they bent their

course to the town of Alamatua, about three miles distant, which

seemed to contain about two thousand houses, and to be not quite as

large as Albany; the people were tall and thin, and of a pale,

yellowish complexion; their garments light, loose, and flowing, and

not very different from those of the Turks; they subsist chiefly on a

vegetable diet, live about as long as we do on the earth,

notwithstanding the great difference of climate, and other

circumstances; and do not, in their manners, habits, or character,

differ more from the inhabitants of this globe, than some of the

latter do from one another; their government, anciently monarchical,

is now popular; their code of laws very intricate; their language,

naturally soft and musical, has been yet further refined by the

cultivation of letters; and they have a variety of sects in religion,

politics, and philosophy.

The lunarians do not, as Butler has it--

"When the sun shines hot at noon,

Inhabit cellars under ground,

Of eight miles deep and eighty round."

But, one half of their houses is beneath the surface, partly for the

purpose of screening them from the continued action of the sun's rays,

and partly on account of the earthquakes caused by volcanoes. The

windows of the houses consisted of openings in the wall, sloping so

much upwards, that, whilst they freely admitted the light and air, the

sun was completely excluded. As soon as they were espied by the

natives, great curiosity was of course excited; not, however, to so

troublesome an extent, as might have been, from the circumstance of

the Brahmin's having visited the moon before. Hence he was soon

recognised by some of his acquaintances, and conducted to the house of

the governor, by whom they were graciously received, and who "began a

course of interesting inquiries regarding the affairs of the earth;"

but a gentleman, whom they afterwards understood to be one of the

leaders of the popular party, coming in, he soon despatched them;

having, however, first directed an officer to furnish them with all

that was necessary for their accommodation, at the public expense;

"which act of hospitality, they had reason to fear, occasioned him

some trouble and perplexity at the succeeding election."

A more minute description follows, of the dress of the male and female

lunarians, especially of that of the latter, to which we can merely

refer the reader. There is one portion, however, of the inhabitants,

with whom the reader must be made acquainted, inasmuch as they form

some of the author's most prominent characters. A large number of

lunarians, it seems, are born without any intellectual vigour, and

wander about like so many automatons, under the care of the

government, until illumined by the mental ray, from some terrestrial

brain, through the mysterious influence which the moon is known to

exercise on our planet. But, in this case, the inhabitant of the earth

loses what he of the moon gains, the ordinary portion of understanding

being divided between two; and, "as might be expected, there is a most

exact conformity between the man of the earth, and his counterpart in

the moon, in all their principles of action, and modes of thinking:"--

"These Glonglims, as they are called, after they have been thus imbued

with intellect, are held in peculiar respect by the vulgar, and are

thought to be in every way superior to those whose understandings are

entire. The laws by which two objects, so far apart, operate on each

other, have been, as yet, but imperfectly developed, and the wilder

their freaks, the more they are the objects of wonder and admiration."

"Now and then, though very rarely, the man of the earth regains the

intellect he has lost; in which case, his lunar counterpart returns to

his former state of imbecility. Both parties are entirely unconscious

of the change--one, of what he has lost, and the other, of what he has

gained."[7]

The belief of the influence of the moon on the human intellect, the

Brahmin remarks, may be perceived in the opinions of the vulgar, and

in many of the ordinary forms of expression; and he takes occasion to

remark, that these very opinions, as well as some obscure hints in the

Sanscrit, give countenance to the idea, that they were not the only

voyagers to the moon; but that, on the contrary, the voyage had been

performed in remote antiquity; and the Lunarians, we are told, have a

similar tradition. Many ordinary forms of expression are adduced in

support of these ideas.

"Thus," says the Brahmin, "it is generally believed, throughout all

Asia, that the moon has an influence on the brain: and when a man is

of insane mind, we call him a lunatic. One of the curses of the common

people is, 'May the moon eat up your brains!' and in China, they say

of a man who has done any act of egregious folly, 'He was gathering

wool in the moon.'" I was struck with these remarks; and told the

hermit that the language of Europe afforded the same indirect evidence

of the fact he mentioned,--that my own language, especially, abounded

with expressions which could be explained on no other hypothesis: for,

besides the terms "lunacy," "lunatic," and the supposed influence of

the moon on the brain, when we see symptoms of a disordered intellect,

we say the mind _wanders_, which evidently alludes to a part of

it rambling to a distant region, as is the moon. We say too, a man is

"_out of his head_," that is, his mind being in another man's

head, must of course be out of his own. To "know no more than the man

in the moon," is a proverbial expression for ignorance, and is without

meaning, unless it be considered to refer to the Glonglims.[8]

"We say that an insane man is 'distracted,' by which we mean that his

mind is drawn two different ways. So also, we call a lunatic _a man

beside himself_, which most distinctly expresses the two distinct

bodies his mind now animates. There are, moreover, many other

analogous expressions, as 'moonstruck,' 'deranged,' 'extravagant,' and

some others, which, altogether, form a mass of concurring testimony

that it is impossible to resist."

Leaving this ingenious _badinage_ with the defence of the serious

and sentimental Schiller,

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft in Kindischen Spiele,"

we return to our travellers, who, at their lodgings, meet with an

instance of _lunar puritanism_--the family eating those portions

of fruits, vegetables, &c., which are thrown away by us, and _vice

versa_, "from a persuasion that all pleasure received through the

senses is sinful, and that man never appears so acceptable in the sight

of the Deity, as when he rejects all the delicacies of the palate, as

well as other sensual gratifications, and imposes on himself that food

to which he feels naturally most repugnant."

_Avarice_ is satirized by the story of one of these Glonglims, who

is occupied in making nails, and then dropping them into a well--refusing

to exchange them for bread or clothes, notwithstanding his starved,

haggard appearance, and evident desire for the food proffered:--

"Mettant toute sa gloire et son souverain bien

A grossir un trésor qui ne lui sert de rien."

And this is followed by a picture of _reckless prodigality_ in

another Glonglim.

We pass over the description of the physical peculiarities of the

moon, which seem to be according to the received opinions of

astronomers, as well as the satire on _National Prejudices_, in

the persons of the Hilliboos and Moriboos, and that on the Godwinian

system of morals.

An indisposition experienced by Atterley, occasions his introduction

to Vindar,[9] a celebrated physician, botanist, &c., on whose opinions

we have a keen satire.

On leaving Vindar's house, they observed a short man, (Napoleon,)

preparing to climb to the top of a plane tree, on which there was one

of the tail feathers of a flamingo; and this he would only mount in

one way--on the shoulders of his men:--

"I could not see this rash Glonglim attempt to climb that dangerous

ladder, without feeling alarm for his safety. At first all seemed to

go on very well; but just as he was about to lay hold of the gaudy

prize, there arose a sudden squall, which threw both him and his

supporters into confusion, and the whole living pyramid came to the

ground together. Many were killed--some were wounded and bruised.

Polenap himself, by lighting on his men, who served him as cushions,

barely escaped with life. But he received a fracture in the upper part

of his head, and a dislocation of the hip, which will not only prevent

him from ever climbing again, but probably make him a cripple for

life.

"The Brahmin and I endeavoured to give the sufferers some assistance;

but this was rendered unnecessary, by the crowd which their cries and

lamentations brought to their relief. I thought that the author of so

much mischief would have been stoned on the spot; but, to my surprise,

his servants seemed to feel as much for his honour as their own

safety, and warmly interfered in his behalf, until they had somewhat

appeased the rage of the surrounding multitude."

The _absurdities_ of the _physiognomical system_ of Lavater,

and of the _craniological system_ of MM. Gall and Spurzheim, were

not likely to escape animadversion, in a work of general satire,

fruitful as they have already been in such themes. The representative

of the former, is a fortune-telling philosopher, Avarabet, (Lavater,)

whose course of proceeding was, to examine the finger nails, and,

according to their form, colour, thickness, surface, grain, and other

properties, to determine the character and destinies of those who

consulted him; and that of the latter, a physician, who judged of the

character of disposition or disease, by the examination of a lock of

the hair. The upshot of the story is, as might be anticipated, that

the fortune-telling philosopher is caught, and exposed in his own

toils.

The _impolicy of privateers, and of letters of marque and

reprisals_, is next animadverted on, by the story of two

neighbours, who are at variance, and whose dependants are occupied in

laying hold of what they can of each other's flocks and herds, and

doing as much mischief as possible, by which both parties, of

necessity, suffer.

A visit to a projector in building, husbandry, and cookery, introduces

us to some inventions not unworthy of the occupation, of the courtiers

of _La Reine Quinte_, or of the Professors of the Academy of

Lagado.

The doctrine of the aerial formation of meteoric stones, receives,

too, a passing notice from our author, who is clearly no supporter of

it. It was a long time before the ancients received credit for their

stories of showers of stones; and all were ready to joke with Butler,

at the story of the Thracian rock, which fell in the river Aegos:--

"For Anaxagoras, long agon,

Saw hills, as well as you i'th' moon,

And held the sun was but a piece

Of red hot iron as big as Greece.

Believ'd the heavens were made of stone,

Because the sun had voided one:

And, rather than he would recant

Th' opinion, suffered banishment."

A difficulty surrounds the subject, however we view it.

_Aerolites_, as they have been designated, have now been found in

almost every region and climate of the globe--from Arabia to the

farthest point of Baffin's Bay; and this very circumstance would seem

to be opposed to their aerial origin, unless we are to suppose that

they can be formed in every state, and in the opposite extremes of the

atmosphere. The Brahmin assigns them a lunar origin, and adds, "our

party were greatly amused at the disputations of a learned society in

Europe, in which they undertook to give a mathematical demonstration,

that they could not be thrown from a volcano of the earth, nor from

the moon, but were suddenly formed in the atmosphere. I should as soon

believe, that a loaf of bread could be made and baked in the

atmosphere."

The "gentleman farmer and projector," being attacked, during their

visit, with cholera morbus, and considering himself _in extremis_,

a consultation of physicians takes place, in which one portrait

will be obvious--that of Dr. Shuro, who asserts disease to be

a unit; and that it is the extreme of folly, to divide diseases into

classes, which tend but to produce confusion of ideas, and an

unscientific practice. The enthusiasm of the justly celebrated

individual--the original of this portrait, was so great, that the

slightest data were sufficient for the formation of some of his most

elaborate _hypotheses_--for _theories_ they could not properly

be called; and, accordingly, many of his beautiful and ingenious

superstructures are now prostrated, leaving, in open day, the

insufficiency of their foundation. One of the most striking

examples of this nature, was his belief that the black colour of

the negro is a disease, which depletion, properly exercised, might

be capable of remedying--a scheme not a whit more feasible, than

that of the courtiers of _La Reine Quinte_, referred to by

Rabelais, "who made blackamoors white, as fast as hops, by just

rubbing their stomachs with the bottom of a pannier."

The satire here is not so fortunately displayed, as in other

instances, owing probably to the difficulty of saying any thing new on

so hackneyed a subject; for it has ever happened, that,--

"The Galenist and Paracelsian,

Condemn the way each other deals in."

The affair concludes, by the Doctors quarrelling; and, in the mean

time, the patient, profiting by some simple remedies administered by

the Brahmin, and an hour's rest, was so much refreshed, that he

considered himself out of danger, and had no need of medical

assistance.

_Pestolozzi's system of education_, is with justice satirized;

since, instead of affording facilities to the student, as the

superficial observer might fancy, it retards his acquisition of

knowledge, by teaching him to exercise his external senses, rather

than his reflection.[10]

In a _menagerie_ attached to an academy, in which youths of

maturer years were instructed in the fine arts, the travellers had an

opportunity of observing the vain attempts of education, to control

the natural or instinctive propensities.

"Naturam expellas furca tamen usque recurret."

"For nature driven out, with proud disdain,

All powerful goddess, will return again."

The election of a town constable, exhibits the violence of _Lunar

Politics_ to be much the same as the terrestrial, and seems to have

some allusion to an existing and important controversy amongst

ourselves. The _prostitution of the press_ is satirized by the

story of a number of boys dressed in black and white--wearing the

badges of the party to which they respectively belong, and each

provided with a syringe and two canteens, the one filled with rose

water, and the other with a black, offensive, fluid: the rose water

being squirted at the favourite candidates and voters--the other fluid

on the opposite party. All these were under regular discipline, and at

the word of command discharged their syringes on friend or foe, as the

case might be.

The "_glorious uncertainty of the law_" (proverbial with us,)

falls also under notice. In Morosofia, it seems, a favourite mode of

settling private disputes, whether concerning person, character, or

property, is by the employment of prize fighters who hire themselves

to the litigants:--

"And out of foreign controversies

By aiding both sides, fill their purses:

But have no int'rest in the cause

For which th' engage and wage the laws

Nor farther prospect than their pay

Whether they lose or win the day."

The chapter concludes with a discussion between an old man and his

wife, in which the _policy of encouraging manufactures_, is

argued.

In an account of Okalbia--a happy valley--similar only in name to that

in _Rasselas_, the author seems to sketch his views of a _perfect

commonwealth_, and glances at some important questions of

_politics_ and _political economy_. Prudential restraints are

considered sufficient to obviate a _redundancy of population_--and

on _Ricardo's theory of rent_, the author holds the same opinions

as those already expressed in this Journal.

Some useful hints are also afforded on the subject of _legislation

and jurisprudence_.

After having passed a week amongst the singular and happy Okalbians,

whom our travellers found equally amiable, intelligent, and

hospitable, they returned to Alamatua.

Jeffery's _theory of beauty_, as developed in the article

_beauty_, of the _supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica_,

in which he denies the existence of original beauty and refers

it to association, is ridiculed by an extension of a similar kind

of reasoning to the smell.

A description of a _Lunar fair_ follows, which, like a

terrestrial, is the resort of the busy, the idle, the knavish, and the

gay: some in pursuit of pleasure; others again, without any settled

purpose, carried along by the vague desire of meeting with something

to relieve them from the pain of idleness. _Political contests_

are here represented under the character of gambling transactions, and

if we mistake not, there is a distinct allusion to more than one

important contest in the annals of this country.

Having now satisfied his curiosity, Atterley became anxious to return

to his native planet, and accordingly urged the Brahmin to lose no

time in preparing for their departure. They were soon, however,

informed that a man high in office, by way of affecting political

sagacity, had proposed to detain them, on the ground that when such

voyages as their's were shown to be practicable, the inhabitants of

the earth, who were so much more numerous than those of the moon,

might invade the latter with a large army, for the purpose of rapine

and contest; but notwithstanding the influence of this sapient

politician, they finally obtained leave to quit the moon whenever they

thought proper.

Having taken a "respectful or affectionate" leave of all their

lunarian friends, and got every thing in readiness,--at midnight of

the twentieth of August, they again entered their copper

_balloon_, and after they had ascended until the face of the moon

looked like one vast lake of melted silver, with here and there small

pieces of grayish dross floating on it, Atterley reminded the Brahmin

of a former promise to detail the history of his early life, to which

he assented:--of this, perhaps the most interesting part of the book,

to the general reader, we regret that our limits will only admit of

our giving a very condensed and imperfect narrative.

Gurameer, the Brahmin, was born at Benares. He was the only son of a

priest of Vishnu, of rank, and was himself intended for the

priesthood. At school, he meets with a boy of the name of _Balty

Mahu_, between whom and himself a degree of rivalry, and

subsequently the most decided enmity, existed--a circumstance that

decided the character of Gurameer's subsequent life. They afterwards

met at college, where a more extended theatre was afforded for the

exercise of Balty Mahu's malignity. During a vacation, Gurameer, being

on a visit to an uncle in the country, one day, when the family had

gone to witness a grand spectacle in honour of an important festival

in their calendar, which he could not himself attend consistently with

the rules of his caste, was tempted to visit the deserted Zenana, or

ladies' apartment, where he accidentally meets with a beautiful young

female. The acquaintance, thus begun, soon ripened into intimacy, by

means of walks in the garden, contrived by Fatima, one of his female

cousins. At length they are constrained to separate. Veenah (for so

the young lady is named) returns to Benares, whither Gurameer soon

follows her. On making his father acquainted with his attachment, the

latter endeavours to persuade him to overcome it, and informs him that

Veenah's father is avaricious, and a bigot, and hence, that he would

probably be prejudiced against him, owing to some imputations which

had been cast on Gurameer's religious creed, and industriously

circulated by his old enemy, Balty Mahu, who proves to be the cousin

of Veenah These considerations prevail upon Gurameer to defer any

application to Veenah's father, until the suspicions regarding his

faith had either died away or been falsified by his scrupulous

observance of all religious duties. This resolution he determines to

communicate to his mistress. Accordingly, in the evening, he betakes

himself to the quarter of the city where Veenah's father lives; and,

walking to and fro before the house, soon discovers that he is

recognised. By a cord, let down from the window, he conveys a letter

to her, which, the following evening, she answers; and thus a regular

correspondence was kept up, which, by the exercise it afforded to

their imaginations, and the difficulties attendant upon it, inflamed

their passion to the highest pitch. He had, however, soon the

misfortune to be discovered by Balty Mahu, and, in consequence, Veenah

is debarred from pen and ink, but contrives to acquaint her lover that

their intercourse has been discovered, by a short note, written with a

burnt stick. Gurameer now goes in despair to Veenah's father, from

whom he experiences a haughty repulse, and who, in the following

night, secretly leaves the city, with his daughter, embarking on the

Ganges, and taking measures to prevent the discovery of the place of

his retreat. At the expiration of two or three months, an end is put

to Gurameer's doubts and apprehensions, by his return, with his

daughter and son-in-law--a rich Omrah, four times her age. After the

first ebullitions of rage have subsided, his love returns; but he is

never able to succeed in obtaining an interview with Veenah. By his

cousin Fatima, he learns the circumstances of Veenah's marriage, and

the deceptions which had been practised on her, aided by the unbounded

authority which parents exercise in eastern countries. The unhappy

Veenah, as firm in her principles as she was gentle in disposition,

refuses to see him. "Tell him," said she, "that Heaven has forbidden

it, and to its decrees we are bound to submit I am now the wife of

another, and it is our duty to forget all that is past. But if this be

possible, my heart tells me it can be only by our never meeting!"

Gurameer now fell into a state of settled melancholy, and consented to

travel, more for the purpose of pleasing his parents, than from any

concern for his own health; but travelling had little effect--"he

carried a barbed arrow in his heart; and the greater the efforts to

extract it, the more they rankled the wound." When so much emaciated

that he was not expected to live a month, he took a voyage, coastwise,

to Madras; and, on his arrival there, learned that Balty Mahu had

recently left that place. This intelligence operated like a charm; the

desire of revenge roused all his energies and became his master

passion. He immediately set off in pursuit; but, although often near,

could never overtake him. His health rapidly improves; and at length

he hears that the old Omrah's health is rapidly declining. This

information awakens new thoughts and hopes, and Balty Mahu is

forgotten. He hastens hack to Benares; and when near the city, hears

two merchants, in conversation, remark that the Omrah is dead, and

that his widow was the next day to perform the _Suttee_. He

immediately mounts his horse, and reaches the city the next morning at

sunrise. In the street he mixes with the throng;--hears Veenah pitied,

her father blamed, and himself lamented. He now sees Veenah approach

the funeral pile, who, at the well known sound of his voice, shrieked

out, "he lives! he lives!" and would have attempted to save herself

from the flames; but the shouts of the surrounding multitude, and the

sound of the instruments, drowned her voice. He now attempts to

approach the pile for the purpose of rescuing her, but is forcibly

held back until the wretched Veenah is enveloped in flames. On his

again attempting to reach the pile, he was charged with profanation;

and, on Balty Mahu's making his appearance and encouraging the charge,

in frantic desperation he seizes a scymetar from one of the guards,

and plunges it in his breast. The influence of his friends, and the

sacred character of persons of his caste, saved the Brahmin from

capital punishment; but he was banished from Hindostan. He now removed

to the kingdom of Ava, where he continued so long as his parents

lived, after which he visited several countries, both of Asia and

Europe; and in one of his journeys, having discovered Lunarium Ore in

the mountain near Mogaun, he determined to pass the remainder of his

days in that secluded retreat.--"So ends this strange, eventful

history."

When the Brahmin terminated his narrative, the extended map beneath

them was already assuming a distinct and varied appearance:--

"The Brahmin, having applied his eye to the telescope, and made a

brief calculation of our progress, considered that twenty-four hours

more, if no accident interrupted us, would end our voyage; part of

which interval I passed in making notes in my journal, and in

contemplating the different sections of our many peopled globe, as

they presented themselves successively to the eye. It was my wish to

land on the American continent, and, if possible, in the United

States. But the Brahmin put an end to that hope, by reminding me that

we should be attracted towards the Equator, and that we had to choose

between Asia, Africa, and South America; and that our only course

would be, to check the progress of our car over the country of

greatest extent, through which the equinoctial circle might pass.

Saying which, he relapsed into his melancholy silence, and I betook

myself once more to the telescope. With a bosom throbbing with

emotion, I saw that we were descending towards the American continent.

When we were about ten or twelve miles from the earth, the Brahmin

arrested the progress of the car, and we hovered over the broad

Atlantic. Looking down on the ocean, the first object which presented

itself to my eye, was a small one-masted shallop, which was buffetting

the waves in a south-westerly direction. I presumed it was a

New-England trader, on a voyage to some part of the Republic of

Colombia: and, by way of diverting my friend from his melancholy

reverie, I told him some of the many stories which are current

respecting the enterprise and ingenuity of this portion of my

countrymen, and above all, their adroitness at a bargain.

"'Methinks,' says the Brahmin, 'you are describing a native of Canton

or Pekin. But,' added he, after a short pause, 'though to a

superficial observer man appears to put on very different characters,

to a philosopher he is every where the same--for he is every where

moulded by the circumstances in which he is placed. Thus; let him be

in a situation that is propitious to commerce, and the habits of

traffic produce in him shrewdness and address. Trade is carried on

chiefly in towns, because it is there carried on most advantageously.

This situation gives the trader a more intimate knowledge of his

species--a more ready insight into character, and of the modes of

operating on it. His chief purpose is to buy as cheap, and to sell as

dear, as he can; and he is often able to heighten the recommendations

or soften the defects of some of the articles in which he deals,

without danger of immediate detection; or, in other words, big

representations have some influence with his customers. He avails

himself of this circumstance, and thus acquires the habit of lying;

but, as he is studious to conceal it, he becomes wary, ingenious, and

cunning. It is thus that the Phenicians, the Carthagenians, the Dutch,

the Chinese, the New-Englanders, and the modern Greeks, have always

been regarded as inclined to petty frauds by their less commercial

neighbours.' I mentioned the English nation.

"'If the English,' said he, interrupting me; 'who are the most

commercial people of modern times, have not acquired the same

character, it is because they are as distinguished for other things as

for traffic: they are not merely a commercial people--they are also

agricultural, warlike, and literary; and thus the natural tendencies

of commerce are mutually counteracted.'

"We afterwards descended slowly; the prospect beneath us becoming more

beautiful than my humble pen can hope to describe, or will even

attempt to portray. In a short time after, we were in sight of

Venezuela. We met with the trade winds and were carried by them forty

or fifty miles inland, where, with some difficulty, and even danger,

we landed. The Brahmin and myself remained together two days, and

parted--he to explore the Andes, to obtain additional light on the

subject of his hypothesis, and I, on the wings of impatience, to visit

once more my long-deserted family and friends. But before our

separation, I assisted my friend in concealing our aerial vessel, and

received a promise from him to visit, and perhaps spend with me the

evening of his life. Of my journey home, little remains to be said.

From the citizens of Colombia, I experienced kindness and attention,

and means of conveyance to Caraccas; where, embarking on board the

brig Juno, captain Withers, I once more set foot in New-York, on the

18th of August, 1826, after an absence of four years, resolved, for

the rest of my life, to travel only in books, and persuaded, from

experience, that the satisfaction which the wanderer gains from

actually beholding the wonders and curiosities of distant climes, is

dearly bought by the sacrifice of all the comforts and delights of

home."

We have thus placed before the reader an analysis of this interesting

Satirical Romance. The time and space we have occupied sufficiently

indicate the favourable sentiments respecting it with which we have

been impressed. Of the execution of the satires, from the several

extracts we have given, the reader will himself be enabled to judge.

This is of course unequal, but generally felicitous. In the personal

allusions which occur through the work, the author exhibits, as we

have before noticed, a freedom from malice and all uncharitableness,

and in many of them has attained that happy _desideratum_ which

Dryden considered a matter of so much difficulty:--

"How easy is it," he observes, "to call rogue and villain, and that

wittily! But how hard to make a man appear a fool, a blockhead, or a

knave, without using any of those opprobrious terms! To spare the

grossness of the names, and to do the thing yet more severely, is to

draw a full face, and to make the nose and cheeks stand out, and yet

not to employ any depth of shadowing. This is the mystery of that

noble trade, which yet no master can teach to his apprentice; he may

give the rules, but the scholar is never the nearer in his practice;

neither is it true, that this fineness of raillery is offensive. A

witty man is tickled, while he is hurt, in this manner, and a fool

feels it not: the occasion of an offence may possibly be given, but he

cannot take it. If it be granted, that, in effect, this way does more

mischief--that a man is secretly wounded, and, though he be not

sensible himself, yet the malicious world will find it out for him,

yet, there is still a vast difference betwixt the slovenly butchering

of a man, and the fineness of a stroke that separates the head from

the body, and leaves it standing in its place. A man may be capable,

as Jack Ketch's wife said of his servant, of a plain piece of work, a

bare hanging; but to make a malefactor die sweetly, was only belonging

to her husband."[11]

In conclusion, we must express our regret, that the author should not

have added notes to the work--the want of them will be seriously felt

by every one; some of the satires, indeed, must escape the reader,

unless he pay a degree of attention, which notes would have rendered

unnecessary. In his next edition, we trust that this deficiency may be

supplied; and we anticipate as much instruction and entertainment,

from the wide scope which such an undertaking will afford, as we have

derived from the perusal of the text. Cheerfully would we extend to

him, if required, the leisure claimed by Spenser, after he had

composed the first six books of his "_Faerie Queene_," provided

he would promise us similar conditions:--

"After so long a race as I have run

Through Faery Land, which those six books compile,

Give leave to rest me, being half foredonne,

And gather to myself new breath awhile;

"Then, as a steed refreshed after toyle,

Out of my prison will I break anew,

And stoutly will that second work assoyle,

With strong endeavour, and attention due."

* * * * *

[APPENDIX FOOTNOTES]

[Footnote 1: Scott's Swift, vol. xi. p. 4]

[Footnote 2: Aristoph. in Pace. 130.]

[Footnote 3: Orlando furioso, Canto xxxiv. St. 68 and 69.]

[Footnote 4: Micromègas, Histoire Philosophique, chap. 8.]

[Footnote 5: Fuller, a learned contemporary of the Bishop, has given

us an amusing case of litigation, originating from this nourishing

character of odours.--

"A poor man, being very hungry, staid so long in a cook's shop, who

was dishing up meat, that his stomach was satisfied with only the

smell thereof. The choleric cook demanded of him to pay for his

breakfast, the poor man denied having had any; and the controversy was

referred to the deciding of the next man that should pass by, who

chanced to be the most notorious idiot in the whole city be, on the

relation of the matter, determined that the poor man's money should be

put betwixt two empty dishes, and the cook should be recompensed with

the jingling of the poor man's money, as he was satisfied with the

smell of the cook's meat."--_Fuller's Holy State_, lib. iii. c.

12.]

[Footnote 6: Aristophan. in pace. 137.]

[Footnote 7: The idea of the Glonglims is the author's. Ariosto makes

the lost intellect, of those who become insane upon the earth, ascend

to the moon, where it is kept _bottled_.--

"Era come un liquor suttile e molle,

Atto a esalar, se non si tien ben chiuso;

E si vedea raccolto in varie ampolle,

Qual più, qual men capace, atte a quell' uso."

_Orlando furioso_, Cant. 34. St. 83.]

[Footnote 8: Our author might also have alluded to the old apology for

every thing inane or contemptible--"It is a tale of the man in the

moon." When that arch flatterer, John Lylie, published (in 1591) his

"_Endymion_, or _the man in the moon_"--a _court comedy_, as it

was afterwards called; in other words, intended for the gratification

of Queen Elizabeth, and in which her personal charms and attractions

are grossly lauded--he pleads guilty to its defect in plot, in the

following exquisite apologetic prologue:--

"Most high and happy Princess, we must tell you a tale of the man in

the moon; which, if it seem ridiculous for the method, or superfluous

for the matter, or for the means incredible, for three faults we can

make but one excuse,--it is a tale of the man of the moon."

"It was forbidden in old time to dispute of Chymera, because it was a

fiction: we hope in our times none will apply pastimes, because they

are fancies: for there liveth none under the sun that knows what to

make of the man in the moon. We present neither comedy, nor tragedy,

nor story, nor any thing, but that whosoever heareth may say this:--

'Why, here is a tale of the man in the moon.' Yet this is the man

designated by Blount, who re-published his plays in 1632, as the '_only

rare poet of that time, the witie, comicall, facetiously-quicke, and

unparallel'd John Lylie, Master of Arts!'"]

[Footnote 9: It is to be regretted that the author has not followed

the good example set him by Johnson, in his _Debates in the Senate

of Magna Lilliputia_, published in the Gentlemen's Magazine for

1738: the denominations of the speakers being formed of the letters of

their real names, so that they might be easily deciphered. This

neglect has obscured many of the author's most interesting satires.

Who could suppose from the letters alone, that _Wigurd_, _Vindar_,

and _Avarabet_, were respectively intended for _Godwin_, _Darwin_,

and _Lavater_?]

[Footnote 10: It is a curious circumstance, that Swift, in his

description of the Academy of Lagado, should have so completely

anticipated the Pestalozzian invention.]

[Footnote 11: Dryden's Essay on Satire]