Simon Tyssot de Patot

“ La Foret answer'd with very great Respect, 'Don't reproach me, Madam, I beseech you; my very Silence has an Eloquence in it which must fully apprize you of the Sentiments of my Heart. Tho' your Presence, continued he, has depriv'd me of the Faculty of Speech, it is only suspended to give me the more Leisure to contemplate the Delicacy of your Charms. Words are not always in season. There are Moments when the Eyes express themselves infinitely better than the Tongue can, so that without being a Conjurer, a Person, by observing their Motions, may know the Sentiments of the Soul. ”

“ That may be, I reply'd, in your Country, where you have no Communication with other Parts of the World; but with us, if the Sciences decay in one Place by Wars and Conflagrations, or by the Indolence and Indifference of some People, of which we have several Instances, yet they are advanc'd else where to a higher Degree of Perfection thro' the Diligence of others; and I question whether any considerable Part of former Inventions is lost; whereas on the contrary, every Day produces some Discovery or other that is curious and advantageous to Society. ”

“ If she wants you to give her a Watch, said I, 'tis a plain Sign that her Love is self-interested, and tho' it were not so, how do you propose she should make use of it? The King who will know it presently, will also be satisfy'd where she had it, upon which the Mystery will break out, and then farewel the two Lovers. You are in the right, upon my Word, said my Friend, I had not that Foresight; but in short, we must make an end of it, and by that time, I warrant we shall find some Expedient or other to bring us off; for Love is too ingenious to lurch us when we are in so fair a way. ”

“ In the Formation of Society, every Man may transfer the Right and Authority which Nature has given him over himself to another, as to his Prince or Sovereign, but he cannot give him any Power over his own Life. 'Tis God who thro' the Means of our Parents has made us without our Participation, and since we have not contributed to our own Existence in any Manner whatsoever, 'tis but just and lawful to leave it to that same God to unmake us, and to content our selves with laying our Hands upon the other Creatures which he seems to have left to our Disposal. ”

“ Tho' this Discourse alarm'd me, I could not help telling him, that I was of the same Belief as that Man; that the Maxims of the Religion I profess'd, led me to it, and that I was surpriz'd to think that Persons of their Wisdom and Humanity could find in their Hearts to be so barbarous to a poor Friar, who no doubt was sent to them by Heaven for their Salvation. Perhaps, said my Landlord, it was owing in a great measure to State Policy. Princes don't love great Alterations in Worship, for fear their Persons should suffer by it, or that it should be prejudicial to the Government. ”

“ The Planets are hard opaque Bodies, which bear a good Resemblance to the Earth, and are by many People thought to be inhabited, for they give no Light but by Reflexion, after having receiv'd it from the Sun. For this Reason it is that we have no Eclipse of the Moon, except when this Planet is rising on the one hand, while the Sun is setting on the other, and when the Earth happens to interpose directly between them, and hinders their seeing each other Face to Face. But if the Sun, said La Foret, be the Source of Light, how happens it that at certain times it loses it? ”

“ What is it will sustain such material heavy Bodies? They will be sustain'd, said I, by the Almighty Power of God. I am weary to hear you talk so much, reply'd he, of the Power of God. I plainly perceive that you practise the very same thing in your Religion, that we observe in our Mysteries of Nature; when we are at a Loss to give a Reason for a Thing, we say that 'tis the Effect of some latent Power. I say it again, I make no manner of question of God's Power; but I don't see the Necessity of inventing Chimeras in order to have recourse to it. ”

“ I am, said he, a Universalist, or of the Religion of honest Men. I love God with all my Heart, I fear him, I worship him, and I endeavour to do to all Men without Exception what I wish they would do to me. ”

“ I have no Watch, reply'd La Foret, nor have I need of one, for on these Occasions my Head is a Minute-Watch, so that I would not lose one Moment. Have you not a Watch? said Lidola; 'tis surprising that you should be without those Jewels which you bestow upon others? If I had the Skill to make such pretty Machines, it should never be said that I had not one for my own Use, and another at the Service of my Mistress. ”

“ Most People are fond of Life, and few there are but wou'd be glad to add an Age to the Years they have liv'd already, if it were in their Power, but for my own part, I wish with all my Heart I had dy'd a thousand Years ago.' As the Droll talk'd all manner of Languages, had by consequence a happy Memory, and had been a Traveller all his Life-time, it was a Pleasure to hear him relate a thousand Stories, as clear and evident Truths, which past Ages have transmitted to us in a very confused Light, and after a very uncertain manner. ”

“ We are poor unfortunate Wretches abandon'd by God and Man, but we are civiliz'd Christians. That was enough to oblige us to go over to them. The Tears fall from my Eyes whenever I think on't; tho' they were very much alter'd, yet we knew them; we embrac'd one another with inexpressible Marks of Tenderness, and cry'd for Joy like Children. ”

“ I am convinc'd, said the Monarch, from the little Knowlege I have of Astronomy, that it would not be impossible to divide an artificial Day into any equal Parts by the Shade, which might be form'd from a Body in the Sun-shine, but we have had no Body here that I know of, who ever apply'd to it. ”

“ Our Bodies are every Moment changing, and no Man ever liv'd to Twenty-five Years of Age, that retain'd any one thing that he brought into the World. The Blood, Flesh, Skin, Nerves, and Bones, are continually diminishing on one hand, and increasing on the other, and the whole Machine is every now and then renew'd. ”

“ Mean time, the Way prov'd worse and worse; but, to our Comfort; the Nights were clear, and the Days long, and the farther we advanc'd into the Spring of this Country, and the farther we got from the Line, the more charming we thought the Climate and the Soil; and either the one or the other was generally the Subject of our Conversation.
Du Puis, above all things, seem'd to be charm'd with the Sun, which, from its Rising to its Setting, continually smil'd on us with its agreeable Rays. ”

“ He could not comprehend how Men of Sense that boast of the glorious Lights of Revelation should not see that their Worship is envelop'd in the thickest Darkness of Paganism. Is it not far flung, said he, that People should take Pleasure in being wilfully blind to such a Degree, as to have an Abhorrence of those who shew them plainly, that their chief Maxims and the most essential Articles of their Religion are miserable Puerilities, and Impertinencies which they themselves say were a Stumbling-block to the Jews, and Foolishness to the Greeks! ”

“ I am far from thinking it a Crime to tread in the Steps of such great Men, and to have their Lives, Precepts, and Sentiments in Veneration; yet I have so much Respect for your Person, that I had rather be for ever silent, than give you any Cause of Disgust. ”

“ Most of the Arts that you have now mention'd are unknown to us, and yet for all this, our Part of the World is as old as yours: We may be here a Million of Years without knowing them, because we have no need of them, and 'tis not impossible but others may do without them a long time, as well as we. ”

“ Do you think that was the right Method to make all Mankind sensible of so necessary a Thing as the Will of God? Has not he who created and dispos'd of every thing according to his good Pleasure, and without any Possibility of being hinder'd in it, has he not put all Things in the Condition he at first design'd them? ”

“ I had read a hundred Voyages, which assur'd me that the Women in general, in the East-Indies, in Africa, and in America, about the Line, scarce suffer any Pain at all in the Delivery of the Humane Species into the World; insomuch that the Women of Brasil commonly go to be deliver'd near some Spring or River, where they wash themselves, cleanse the Infant, and then carry it to their Husbands, who immediately take to their Beds, where they lie-in, and receive the Compliments of the Gossips, while the Woman goes abroad for Provision to regale them. ”

“ We have an Empire call'd Spain, in the Bowels of which a War broke out some time ago, which rag'd fifty or sixty Years, and cost the Lives of a Million of Men.
The prevailing Religion of that Country, and in which I was born, is the Christian, which differs extremely from all others; nor have all that profess it the same Sentiments in every respect. The greatest part pretend, 'tis not sufficient to worship one God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, but that Prayers should also be made to the departed Saints, to the end that they may intercede for us in Paradise. ”

“ We can have no Idea of any but Internal Time abstractedly, before the Creation of the World, because then there was no Being existent, but God, the Being of Beings, whose Duration is without Beginning or End, and cannot properly be defin'd or measur'd: But the very Moment that the Sun appear'd in the Firmament, and that the Earth was suppos'd to turn round its Centre, which it does from West to East, in a certain Space of Time, the Name of a Day Natural was given to each of those Periods ”

“ Tho' I knew not whether he understood what we said to him, yet he seem'd to be affected, by his shedding of Tears. He gave us a Supper, and in an Hour after we were carry'd to a Bed, which was all done in so handsome a manner, that we were charm'd with our Entertainment. Next Day it was as good as a Comedy to see the Crowds of People that came from all Parts to gaze at us. Every one look'd upon us with Amazement, because no body could comprehend from whence or which way we came hither. ”

“ Thus, for Example, the Story of the Temptation, which appears to be ridiculous and impossible, if taken literally, means nothing but that the Kings and Princes of the Earth, who are as high as the Mountains above other Mortals, the Clergy, those Directors of Consciences, who preach in the Temples and sacrifice at the Altars, are equally liable to Trials and Temptations with the poor illiterate people in the Deserts, but that there is nothing which ought to divert them from their Duty, and to hinder them from paying their Homage to the Monarch of Heaven and Earth. ”

“ For, in short, nothing can be more obvious than the impossibility of the Union of the Sun with the Earth, and that those two inanimate Creatures, being destitute of Understanding and Thought, are incapable of the Effects which are so absurdly ascrib'd to them. ”

“ I pity your Fate; for at this rate you are only a Prey to the Wicked, and wretched Victims to the Ambition and Self-Interest of your Sovereigns. The very Dogs have a better time on't in my Country, than Men have in yours. ”

“ Not at all, reply'd the Priest; for in the first Place, if Whoredom was a Sin, God himself would be the Author of it, and, what is worse, of Incest it self, because, according to you and your great Moses, as there were at first but one Man and one Woman, their Descendants must have committed several Acts of Incest before there were Persons enough living for them to avoid it: And as to the pretended Necessity of it at that time, I can't bear to hear it, for God could as easily have created a hundred Persons, as only one. We are all Children of the first Man. ”

“ What Necessity for exterminating the Race of Man, to bring them to Life again hereafter? If Christ was God, could not he have exempted Man from that Death, as well as from the other? And besides, if we were all to be living at one time, which way should we subsist? There would not be Provision enough for a Breakfast thro' the whole Country. But, said I, our Bodies will be of another [Pg 114] Nature; we shall neither eat, nor drink, nor be subject: to any natural Infirmity; and moreover, God will translate us into the Heaven of Heavens, where we shall be fill'd with his Glory. ”

“ As the King went often to see his Wives, there is no question but he was fond to shew them his Watch, and that every one admir'd the Genius of the Workman. For tho' they had seen the Clock a thousand times, and seem'd even astonish'd at its Performance, they thought it nothing in comparison to this pretty Instrument, which, though small, went as regularly, and pointed out all the Parts of the Day as exactly as the great one. ”

“ What, said La Foret, does the Earth go faster at one Season, than at another? Yes, said I, in Appearance the Difference is about four Minutes, because the Earth being much farther from the Sun in Summer, than in Winter, it must necessarily seem to have a slower Motion during the long Days, than the short ones; as a Waggon which is not above 50 Paces off, seems to go much faster than when it is at the Distance of 500. ”

“ I have heard of a learned English gentleman, who lately publish'd a Dissertation to prove that there's nothing miraculous, nor even extraordinary, in this Pillar of Fire, by which the Israelites were conducted into the Wilderness; and to shew them from the best Authors, ancient and modern, that it was always the Custom in Deserts of this kind; to make use of a Fire to direct Armies or Multitudes of People in their March, by causing it to be carry'd before them in such a manner that the whole Company might see the Smoke by Day, and the Flame by Night. ”

“ You have but a melancholy Reception here, but you must not be surpriz'd at it, for 'tis impossible without a happy Temper and a great Courage not to be dispirited in so disagreeable a Place as this, especially when a Man has been here some time. For my part, I thank God, I am of an Age to bear a great deal, and am so resign'd to the Decrees of Providence, that I laugh at all that Man can do to me. ”

“ Tho' you are a Foreigner, and of a Religion very different from mine, I assure you that I will do every thing for you that is in my Power. If you make your Addresses to any Free Person, I'll find the way to make her marry you; but let me advise you not to delude any Woman, because, should you be taken in the Fact, all my Credit would not be of weight enough to save you. Galantry may perhaps prevail among us, but if it does, 'tis conceal'd; and you are not ignorant that 'tis a Breach of one of the Articles of our Law, which the Judge treats with the greatest Severity. ”

“ Leave every thing; to my Management, and don't you meddle or make. Farewel. I kiss'd his Hand, and recommended myself to his Favour.
About a Month after, my Master, to my very great Surprize, call'd me to him, and taking me by the Hand, said, I am overjoy'd, Friend, that you are going to return to your own Country. Mr. Elliot has bargain'd with me for your Ransom. Go to Algier and meet him. I wish you a good Voyage. At these Words I embrac'd him, and thank'd him for his Civilities, and the Regard he had always shewn to me from the very first Day of my Arrival. ”

“ We don't think, reply'd he, that one Day is a Jot better than another. They are undoubtedly all alike, and though we are but one Hour in the Morning in our Churches, yet we don't fail to devote the rest of the Day to God, to meditate every Moment upon his Greatness, and to admire his Goodness to all his Creatures. But as to Prayer, 'tis absolutely needless, besides the offering Violence as it were to his Nature, which being immutable, 'tis evident that he cannot suffer any Shadow of Change. ”