VII. This History, which was printed in French, was given me to read by
a stranger who was on his travels; but as soon as I had read what I have
just related, he snatched the book out of my hands, and asked me if I
comprehended what I had read? The question gave me to understand, there
was something mysterious in the History, and that under the plain letter,
was conveyed some signification, different from what the words expressed.
I answered him, that I had not understood it in any other sense, than
what the language seemed to imply; but that if he would permit me to
read it over again with a little attention, I might perhaps be able to
comprehend its meaning. He gave me leave, and then upon reflection,
first on the nature of the doctrines it mentioned, although they were
not pointed out very clearly, and secondly, on the allusion of the names
given to the personages who were introduced into the scene, I found it
was not very difficult to decypher the riddle, which I interpreted in the
following manner.
VIII. The kingdom of _Cosmosia_ is the world, which is the signification
of the Greek word _Cosmos_. _Solidina_ is experience, and _Idearia_
imagination. These names are very properly suited, both to the characters
and doctrines of the parties. Experience _solidly_ proves her maxims, by
sensible and clear demonstrations; and imagination, grounds her opinions
on the vain representation of her _ideas_. Solidina was a long while
banished, and during all that time, Idearia reigned triumphant; for
from the period that Pythagoras reduced all philosophy to his numbers,
Plato to his ideas, and Aristotle to his precisions; and for many ages
afterwards, the world knew no other but an ideal physic; nor did it pay
the least attention, to the experimental or solid. In the first maxims
of Idearia, we perceive many of the dogmas of the peripatetic doctrine,
and in her second, many of the Cartesian ones; and they gave the name of
Papyratius to the broacher of this last system, because the French word
_Carte_, signifies the same as the Latin word _Papyrus_, from whence
the appellative was derived. Des Cartes is ranged among the auditors of
Idearia, because he was disposed instead of less, rather more than the
Peripatetics, to regulate all physics by imagination and ideas. At length
the mistake of this method was perceived, and Solidina was recalled
from the villages to the city; and experiment and observation, which for
a long time had only been in use among the rustics, and employed in the
business of husbandry, to increase the product of the earth, improve
the mountainous land, and to encourage the propagation, and mend the
breed of herds and cattle; were not long since introduced in pomp, and
countenanced by some courts, in the neighbourhood of which, academies
were instituted, to examine nature by their help; and as the most
celebrated of these, were the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and the Royal
Society of London, which were founded under the protection of the kings
of France and England, they called the two princes who were the lovers
and patrons of Solidina, by the names of Galindo, and Anglosio, which
were derived from the Latin words _Gallia_, and _Anglia_, which in that
language signify France and England.
IX. The stranger approved of the whole, and every part of my explanation,
and assured me, that by the context that followed what I had read, the
intention of the author of that mysterious History, could be no other
than what I had described it. But I told him I was not inclined to
approve, nor could I approve of the whole and every part of its content;
for that I observed in it some latitudinary expressions, which seemed to
reflect upon, and were derogatory of the peripatetic doctrine, so I only
acknowledged to him, that in the most essential parts, the thing seemed
just and right. He replied, that as I was a Spaniard, and a sectary of
the peripatetic school, my objection and the reasons for it might be
admitted. Upon saying this, he took his leave of me, and pursued his
journey, leaving me in a disposition to meditate on the subject of our
conversation, and lay before the public, such reflections as should occur
to me respecting the matter of it, which may be seen in the sequel of
this discourse.