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
To prove, and publish in a book

Fig. 39.

65

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).

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

And muster, like the warlike sons
Of Rawhead and of Bloodybones,
As numerous as Soland geese
I' th' islands of the Orcades,
Courageously to make a stand,

90

And face their neighbours hand to hand,

Until the long'd-for winter's come,

95

And then return in triumph home,

And spend the rest o' th' year in lies,
And vapouring of their victories.

From the old Arcadians they're beliey'd
To be, before the moon, deriv'd,

100

And when her orb was new created
To people her were thence translated:
For as th' Arcadians were reputed
Of all the Grecians the most stupid,

quarters of the moon, and the alternate victory and defeat, or ascendency and depression of those quarters, arising from her librations; which are the subject of so much humorous poetry in Hudibras. The epithet silly, in line 86, points to idiotism, or lunacy, as connected with the

noon.

90. If the figure of Cerdon, (drawn ante, No. 21,) be turned upside down, in addition to the face of Colon, which it will then exhibit fronting the left hand, there may be seen, fronting to the right, an accurate resemblance of a human skull, alluded to occasionally in Hudibras, and frequently in the ensuing volumes.

Whom nothing in the world could bring

To civil life but fiddling,

They still retain the antique course

And custom of their ancestors,

105

And always sing and fiddle to

Things of the greatest weight they do.

110

While thus the learn'd man entertains
The assembly with the Privolvans,
Another of as great renown

And solid judgment, in the moon,
That understood her various soils,

And which produc'd best genet-moyles,
And in the register of fame

Had enter'd his long living name,

115

106 and 109. These lines refer to the likeness of a fiddle in the moon, as drawn in the hand of Crowdero (fig. 14, ante). The singing regards the music of the spheres, so frequently alluded to by the ancient poets.

110. This line contains a strong allusion to the preponderances or librations of the moon, as mentioned in the note on the 88th line.

113. The third member of the society is drawn in fig. 40, together with the elephant, the object of his discovery, situate in the moon at the end of the prototype of his telescope. It is the same character as constituted the goddess Fame in Hudibras, (drawn ante, fig. 25,) to which there seems to be an allusion by the mention of great renown in this line, and of Fame herself in line 117. She