Agreed, upon a summer's night,

To search the moon by her own light;
To take an inventory of all
Her real estate, and personal;

And make an accurate survey
Of all her lands, and how they lay,
As true as that of Ireland, where
The sly surveyors stole a shire:

T'observe her country, how 'twas planted,
With what sh' abounded most, or wanted;
And make the proper❜st observations

For settling of new plantations,

10

5

If the society should incline

15

T'attempt so glorious a design.

This was the purpose of their meeting,
For which they chose a time as fitting,
When, at the full, her radiant light
And influence too were at their height.

20

10. Several of the characters introduced in the poem of Hudibras, are brought into action in this poem also; this arrangement may be easily understood, if, instead of a cudgel, a whip, or a sword, conceived to be in the hands of those characters in the former, we now suppose them to have, for the most part, a telescope in their hands. We are now, indeed, to fancy the prototypes of those different characters in the moon, to be themselves employed in looking at the moon, where, in fact, the tenth line insinuates them to be stationed.

And now the lofty tube, the scale
With which they heaven itself assail,
Was mounted full against the moon
And all stood ready to fall on,
Impatient who should have the honour
To plant an ensign first upon her.
When one, who for his deep belief
Was virtuoso then in chief,

Approv'd the most profound and wise

To solve impossibilities

Advancing gravely to apply

To th' optic glass his judging eye,

Cry'd, strange !--then reinforc'd his sight
Against the moon with all his might,
And bent his penetrating brow
As if he meant to gaze her through;
When all the rest began to admire,
And, like a train from him took fire,

25

30

35

27. The first member of the society noticed by the poet has precisely the same prototype as Sidrophel in Hudibras, whose position in the moon has been already pointed out in the note on his figure, numbered, ante, 33, to which I beg to refer the reader: he has only to suppose the moon itself to be the object now observed, instead of a

star.

38. On the head of this first character are those streaks of light, before pointed out on various occasions, which, being now supposed to resemble a train of gunpowder

Surpris'd with wonder, beforehand,
At what they did not understand,
Cry'd out, impatient to know what
The matter was they wonder'd at?
Quoth he, th' inhabitants o' th' moon,-
Who when the sun shines hot at noon,
Do live in cellars under ground,

Of eight miles deep and eighty round,
(In which at once they fortify

Against the sun and th' enemy)

40

45

Which they count towns and cities there,
Because their people's civiller

50

Than those rude peasants that are found
To live upon the upper ground,
Call'd Privolvans, with whom they are
Perpetually in open war;

And now both armies, highly enrag'd,
Are in a bloody fight engag'd,

And

many fall on both sides slain,
As by the glass 'tis clear and plain :
Look quickly then, that every one
May see the fight before 'tis done.

With that a great philosopher,
Admir'd, and famous far and near,

55

60

fired, are connected, directly or indirectly, with all the other light parts of the moon.

61. The second member of the society is drawn in

As one of singular invention
But universal comprehension,
Apply'd one eye and half a nose,
Unto the optic engine close:

For he had lately undertook
prove, and publish in a book

To

65

Fig. 39.

We

having the same prototype as Cerdon, in Hudibras (drawn, ante, in figure 21); by a reference to which prototype in the moon, his spectacles may be easily traced there, as mentioned in line 76; and he is called great (61 and 79,) because his person occupies the whole of the shadows of the moon. The star-like explosion of light, so. often noticed, may be easily imagined to resemble a book, (as in line 68,) with a hand, (in shadow,) resting or writing upon it with a pen, (in light).

VOL. I.

That men, whose natural eyes are out,
May, by more powerful art, be brought
To see with th' empty holes, as plain
As if their eyes were in again;
And if they chanc'd to fail of those,
To make an optic of a nose,

As clearly 't may, by those that wear
But spectacles, be made appear,
By which both senses being united,
Does render them much better sighted.
This great man having fix'd both sights
. To view the formidable fights,

Observ'd his best, and then cry'd out;
The battle's desperately fought;

The gallant Subvolvani rally,

70

75

80

And from their trenches make a sally

Upon the stubborn enemy,

85

Who now begin to rout and fly.

These silly ranting Privolvans

Have every summer their campaigns,

88. If the moon be observed with a telescope in the summer time, there will appear a sort of motion all over her surface, which may be assimilated to the motion of bubbles of soap-suds blown in a bason. These objects in apparent motion constitute the Privolvans and Subvolvani, whom the poet describes as being engaged in so fierce a contest; which contest, in a more enlarged view, has regard to the opposition subsisting between the different