who defcended from the Oliverian hell-hounds, their guilt is in their faces, and their date of being is at hand. Now, my dears, keep clofe to command, and obferve what the gofpel faith ;—Sis fidelis ufque ad mortem, et dabo tibi coronam vita-Be you faith ful unto death, and you fhall have the crown of life; and that we may have that, let us a' implore the Almighty God upon our knees to grant us that; and after that, a' that is pleased to join me, let us invoke the interceffion of the glorious Mother of God, who will, no doubt, obtain what she afks from our dear Saviour Jefus Chrift, her dear Son, that he would be pleafed to profper our royal captain, direct our steps, and forward our good defigns, to the glory of God and the benefit of our King and country. Amen. Amen. Of the Philofophers who have believed in a Plurality of Worlds, and of fuch as have adopted that Idea; by M. Gerard. Tis HOUGH the plurality of worlds is not a philofophical dogma altogether proved, yet the opinion fhould appear the more probable, as it has, for its foundation, first, that principle of truth that nature does nothing in vain; and, fecondly, aftronomical obfervations which cannot be refuted. The ancients, deprived of the advantages of the telescope, fupplied the defect with an extraordinary perfpicacity of mind. They difcovered, with the eyes of genius, what our inftruments have brought within our view. They knew the path we have taken in order to establish the doctrine of a multitude of worlds, and they have deduced, from the fame principle, the confequences which the moderns have drawn. We cannot have a greater or more fublime idea, nor one more worthy of the greatness of the Deity, than their notions of the deftination of the planets, and of the multiplicity of ftars that adorn the firmament: the fages of antiquity confidered them as fo many funs, round which planets fimilar to thofe in our folar fyftem revolved: they went still farther; they maintained that these planets were inhabited by beings, the nature of whom they did not define, but who, they faid, yielded neither in beauty nor in fize to ourselves. whofe opinion on this subject has been preferved. Próclus, in his commentary on Timæus, quotes three verses of this philofophical poet, in which he exprefsly fays that "the moon is a world like ours, which has its mountains, its vallies, &c. Pythagoras, who followed Orpheus in many of his opinions, alfo taught that "the moon is a world fimilar to our own, inhabited by animals whofe nature he did not determine;" although he believed them larger and more beautiful than thofe that inhabit our globe, and not fubject to the fame infirmities. The fentiment of Democritus, as related by Stobeus, on the nature of the moon and the cause of the spots we obferve on her difc, which he believed to be "nothing but fhades formed by the great height of the mountains he fuppofed to be in the moon,' well as the queftion agitated by Plutarch on the fame fubject, further prove our affertion. Laftly, Ariftotle, Epicurus, and Heraclitus believed in the plurality of worlds; as did Thales, Anaximenes, Alcinous the Platonist, Xenophares, Anaxagoras, Xenophon, Lucian, &c. Origen explained the opinion of Democritus on the existence of an innumerable quantity of worlds, lome of which were inhabited by ani as mais, mals, but others had neither animals nor plants. This was the doctrine which furnished Alexander the Great with the idea, which has been preferved as an evidence of his ambition, when he wept that he had only one world to fubdue. The magnificence and fecundity of nature fhine in all her works. The hand of the Almighty, which laid the foundations of the univerfe, which fufpended from the arch of heaven millions of globes of light, which gave them the first impulfe, which created planets fimilar to that we inhabit, could it have been unable to people thofe orbs as it has peopled ours? We have ftronger reafons than the ancients had for believing that the moon is inhabited. All the modern obfervations tend to perfuade us that the moon has an atmosphere, that fome parts are lighter and more elevated than others, and that thofe places which reflect the light lefs ftrongly, and prefent a furface at all times equally fimooth, are vaft feas: from all which it has been concluded, that in the moon there are mountains, the height of which has even been measured geometrically. The celebrated Galileo determined, that the highest of these inequali ties exceeded the height of any of the mountains of the earth. The total eclipfes of the fun, the aid of the telefcope, the affertions of the most ilJuftrious aftronomers, especially of Caffini, the man of our world, fays Fontenelle, to whom the heavens were best known, all concur in perfuading us, that fince there is in the moon, as in our earth, an atmosphere, mountains, feas and rivers, we muft conclude that there will alfo be rain, faow, and all the other meteors which are the confequence of thefe fuppofi'tions; nor is it lefs to be concluded, according to our ideas of the wifdom of God, that he has there placed beings, of whatever nature they may be, to inhabit that planet, that all thofe things, all that accumulation of phe P VOL. XIV. No. 80. nomena may not be ufelefs; for we will not fuppofe that nature, or the Supreme Architect of the universe can have made any thing in vain. Among the moderns, thofe who have thought that because the moon is furnished with hills and vallies, fogs, forefts, feas, and houses, it must therefore be an inhabited or a habitable country, are Father Marfenius, Gilbert, Gaffendi, &c. Kepler was also of opinion that the moon was inhabited. Hevelius, in his ingenious defcription of that planet (Selenographia) has divided it into provinces. Cyrano de Bergerac's Hiftoire comique of the empire of the moon is well known. It would appear from the burlefque, inflated, and fingular ftyle of that work, that the spirit of the author had made frequent journies to the country he defcribes. It is evident, however, notwithstanding the fooleries in which he indulges, that he was well acquainted with the principles of Defcartes, and that, had age ripened his talents, he would have been capable of fomething better. Superftition and enthufiafm, which mingle in all religions, do not injure the truths they are fometimes connected with. Father Kircher has tranf ported himself in idea into all the pla nets, and has given us the description of their inhabitants according to the fancies of his own brilliant imagination. Thus, according to thofe fancies, there are for example in Saturn, melancholy old men, walking with the pace of a tortoife, cloathed in mournful habits, armed with finoaking torches, and whofe countenances are pale and forbidding. In Venus, on the contrary, there are young people of the molt enchanting fhape and beauty, fome dancing to the found of lyres and cymbals, others fcattering flowers and perfumes. The author explains the reafon of this difference in the inhabitants of the two planets; and his reafons, which are not wanting, are as folid as his vifions. Perfons who have time time to fpare, or to throw away, may find, in the Iter extaticum of that famous Jefuit, a defcription of the inhabitants of the other planets. It is very extraordinary that this book fhould have had fo great a reputation as to make it go through feveral editions; this is ftill more furprifing, when we confider the following extravagant queftions which it contains. Would it be proper to make ufe of the wine that is produced in Jupiter in the facrifice of the Mafs? Could we venture to make use of the water found in the moon, in the facrament of baptifm?' &c. After what we have here faid, it is evident that Fontenelle was not the firft who imagined that each planet, from the Moon to Saturn, was a world inhabited like our earth. In doing him this honour, the learned authors of the Encyclopædia have been mitaken. But it is true, that the inge. nious academician, in his Difcourfe on the Plurality of Worlds, has developed, in the moft pleafing manner, a doctrine nurfed in the cradle of philofophy; and that his pencil, guided by the Graces, has given innumerable at tractions to a fubject little fufceptible of them. Those who have advanced that Huyghens's Treatife on the plura lity of worlds formed the groundwork of Fontenelle's on the fame fubject, are not lefs deceived; for this work appeared twelve years before that of Huyghens. But however that may be,, the general reafon by which Fontenelle fupports the doctrine already eftablished by other obfervets fince Pythagoras, is, that the planets are bodies fimilar to our earth; that our earth itfelf is a planet, and confequently, fince this laft is inhabited, the others must be fo too. "Let us fuppofe, fays he, that there is no intercourfe between Paris and St Denis, and that an honeft citizen of Paris, who has never been out of his native city, fhall be placed on the turrets of Notre Dame, and fhall fee St Denis at a distance. If he fhall. be afked whether he fuppofes St Denis to be inhabited like Paris, he will boldly anfwer, "No; for I fee people in Paris, but I fee none in St Denis, nor ever heard of any." Should it be reprefented to him, that indeed when one is on the turrets of Notre Dame no inhabitants are feen at St Denis, but that the distance alone is the caufe of this; for that in other refpects it resembles Paris; it has steeples, houses, and walls, and confequently may have inhabitants; all this will not perfuade our citizen; he will fill maintain that there are no inh.b.tarts in St Denis, because he does not fee them." This work is defervedly the moft celebrated performance of Fontenelle. We fee him there as he really was, a clear and profound philofopher, a fprightly, elegant, and polite wit.— This book, fys Voltaire, gave the -firft example of the delicate art of beftowing graces even on philofophy: but it was a dangerous example, because the true garb of philofophy is order, perfpicuity, and especially truth: and that, fince the appearance of this ingenious work, men have but too often endeavoured to fubftitute for thefe, points and fallies of wit, and falfe ornaments. What alone will hinder it from being placed by pofterity in the lift of our claffic works, is its being founded in part on the chimerical vortices of Defcartes, of whom Fontenelle was all his life a great admirer, and defended till his death the errors he had adopted in his infancy. Among thofe who have loudly condemned the reveries of Father Kircher we muft ciftinguish Huyghens. This learned man, however, also believed that the planets are inhabited, and for the following reafons: As water is the principle of all things, it must exist in the planets; and if it does exist, by the affiftance of the heat of the fun it muft produce plants and trees.But thefe productions would be vain. and and ufelefs, were there not men in the planets; they must therefore be inhabited and following out this confequence, the author fhews that these inhabitants muft be fimilar to those on our earth. Accordingly he peoples thefe worlds with fools and wits, with rogues and honest men; and in order to restrain thefe different characters within juft bounds, he fuppofes there must be laws and judges. Thus Huy ghens fupports the fame fyftem with Fontenelle, with this difference, that he finds in the planetary inhabitants the greatest analogy with us, and afcribes to them the fame arts and acquirements. 1440 and ftable pofition, and that no change has been obferved in it from the beginning of the world to the prefent time. But Hevelius answers, that our earth, however corruptible it may appear to us, has endured as long as the moon; that there may have been corruption imperceptible to us from its diftance, happening only in its fmalleft parts, or on its furface like that on our earth, which we could not perceive were we as diftant from it as we are from the moon. He adds many other reafons, which he confirms by difcoveries he fays he has made by means of a telescope of his own invention, which has fhown him that the luminous and dark places, the large and the fmall appearances in the moon, have a juft corrcfpondence with our feas, rivers, lakes, plains, mountains, forefts. Wolfius not only declared himself a zealous partizan of the plurality of worlds, but fuppofed he had good reafons for determining even the ftature of the aftrean inhabitants. Thofe that poffefs Jupiter, fays he, muft be giants of thirteen feet high, which was nearly the stature of Og, king of Bafhan, whose bed, according to Mofes, was nine cubits long and four broad. Benjamin Martin likewife adopted the hypothefis of Fontenelle. M. Save rien thinks the doctrine poffible; but, adds he, fimple conjectures, however ingenious they may be, advance but 1tle the knowledge of nature, and philofophers are content with probabilities when facts are wanting. Since the invention of the telescope thefe conjectures have been fortified. Dutens thinks the doctrine so probable, that no found mind can reject it. I fhall now mention fuch learned men as have not admitted the plurality of worlds, and folve the difficulties which have been propofed against the fyftem. Although it appears that Ariftotle had embraced the opinion of Democritus on this fubject, yet the Peripatetics maintained that the moon could not be a world, because it contained no animals, that they could not exist there except by generation or corruption; that the moon is incorruptible, that it has always enjoyed a conftant P 7 Plutarch, after having explained the opinion of a plurality of worlds generally taught by the ancient Greek philofophers, fays, that he was far from condemning it, and he thought it very probable, that there was a vaft, though determinate number of worlds like ours. It appears from a paffage of the fame author, that, in his time, the quellion was agitated, whether in the moon there were exhalations and vapours, which, rifing from is furface, caufed rain, and other meteors. Platarch feems to incline to those who maintained the negative; he thought the moon would be fo heated, by the conftant endurance of the fun's rays on its furface, that the whole moifture would be evaporated, and nothing left to fuffice for new vapours, whence he concludes, that there were neither ran nor clouds, nor wind, confequently neither animals nor plants. The fame reafon is ftill alledged by thofe moderns, who oppofe the opinion of the moon's being peopled; though the only neceffary confequence to be drawn from those diffe culties fhould be, that the beings living on that planet are different from thofe thofe on ours, and that their conftitu. tions are accommodated to the climate, and to the nature of the place deftined for them. M. de la Hire, from his obfervations, concluded that thofe fpots on the moon, which have been supposed feas, are only large portions, the foil of which is naturally darker. But if there be no feas in the moon, there can be no atmosphere, at leaft no fenfible one; and he endeavours to explain that ring of light, which appears in the folar eclipfes without fuppofing an atmosphere. It should fol low from this, according to la Hire, that as there are no vapours, nor rain in the moon, there can be neither plants nor men. The moft univerfal fcholar in Europe, who held in his hands the chain of all human acquirements, the illuftrious Leibnitz, has diverted himself with our prefent fubject, and thus explains himfelf: "If the communication with thofe planetary men, who, according to Huyghens, are the moft like curfelves, were open, it would deferve the confideration of a general council, whether we fhould extend the propagation of the faith beyond our own earth. Many, no doubt, would infift that the reafonable animals of thofe countries,, not being of the race of Adam, have no right to the redemption of Jefus Chrift; but others I would perhaps fay, that we are not fufficiently certain, neither where Adam always was, nor what has become of all his pofterity, for there have been even divines, who have fuppofed that the moon was the feat of paradife, and therefore that it would be the fafeft way to baptife thofe doubtful men conditionally, that is, if they were fufceptible of it: but I muft doubt, if they would ever be priefts of the Roman church, becaufe, their confecration would always be doubtful, and people would be expofed, in the opinion of that church, to the danger of idolatry. Luckily for us the nature of things exempts us from the embarrafiment." In another place, having mentioned Huyghens, Fontenelle, and the ingenious fiction of Kepler. on the state of the moon, our philofopher aðds : "It will perhaps be faid, that it is juft in the empire of the moon as it is here.. It is true, that we judge otherwise of moons, (which are only fatellites,) than we do of primary planets. An Englishman, a man of wit, has given a pleafant defcription a of Spaniard,, whom fome birds of paffage tranf ported to the moon; not to mention Cyrano, who afterwards went to find this fame Spaniard. Some men of genius, wishing to draw a fine, picture of another world, convey the fouls of the bleffed from world to world, and we find in them a part of what men of genius can conceive. But whatever their conceptions may be, I am afraid, confidering the great diftance between us and fuch geniuses, and until thefe glaffes are difcovered which Descartes. makes us hope for, that are to fhew us parts in the moon no larger than houfes, we shall not be able to decr mine what are the contents of a world different from ours." The Abbé Paulian confiders plurality of worlds as a chimera and the work of Fontenelle as a-ron ance, to which, however, he in fome ref pects does juftice. He cites the raffage of the Parifian on the turrets of Notre Dame, and fays, that this is the foundation on which the author builds his opinion ofthe moon's being peopled. I think, adds he, that this is to. prove a propofition, as a man would do who does not care whether he is believed or not. But Fontenelie knew that comparifons are not reafons, and it is not on this foundation alone that he has reared his firucture. The difficulties urged against the doctrine of the planets being peopled may be reduced to the following; it, |