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."*

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

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.

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.*

"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

* 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 write, comicall, facetiously-quicke, and unparallel? John Lylie, Master of Arts!'”

·

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,* 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,

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?

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 fortunetelling 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 Ægos:

"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, 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

but