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Article A FRENCH NOVELIST OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. ← Page 4 of 12 →
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A French Novelist Of The Seventeenth Century.
they became attracted by the fierce heat ( on the same principle that the great orb absorbs the vapours ) , and raised him to such an altitude that he soon found himself above the middle region ; but as this attraction caused him to ascend with too much rapidity , and that , instead of approaching the moon , as he sought to doit appeared to be further from him than everhe
, , broke several of the phials in order to diminish the speed of his ascension ; Avhen he discovered that , as he had anticipated , his weight overcame the attraction , and he was once more descending earthward . This he did , he says , so effectually , that ere long he was once more on terra firma ; but instead of landing at midnightaccording to his calculationhe was
sur-, , prised to find that the sun was high in the horizon , and that it was in fact mid-day . His astonishment was , moreover , increased by the conviction that he was an utter stranger to the country in which he had alighted ; for having , as he conceived , ascended in a straight line , he had anticipated that he should descend on the same spot whence he had departed .
Wandering about in search of shelter , he encountered some savages , who took to flight when he approached ; probably , as he quaintly remarks , because he was the first man Avhom
they had ever seen clothed in bottles . His next encounter was with a party of soldiers preceded by a drummer ; and he Avas no sooner perceived by these troops than two of them , detaching themselves from the main body , hastened to ascertain who he was , and whence he came . In reply to these inquiries the traveller demanded to know in what land he hacl arrived .
" You are in France , " was the ready answer ; " but what devil has accoutred you after this fashion ? Are the ships arrived ? And why have you divided your brandy into so many bottles 1 " The explanations of our author proved far from satisfactory to his interlocutors : " Oh , oh ! you woulcl be witty at our expensewould you ? " exclaimed the officer in command ;
, " since that is the case , we will see the joke to an end ; " and despite the expostulations of the unlucky aeronaut , he was marched off a prisoner , and carried before the viceroy , from whom he ascertained that he was indeed in France , but that it was in French Canada .
Bergerac made known to the august functionary his name , his rank , and the circumstances which had occasioned his apparition in the colony ; and thence he entered into a grave discussion on the systems of Descartes and Gassendi ; by which the governor , who piqued himself upon his scientific knowledge , was greatly interested ; so much so , indeed , that he condescended in his turn to inform his guest , that he , on his side , firmly believed
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A French Novelist Of The Seventeenth Century.
they became attracted by the fierce heat ( on the same principle that the great orb absorbs the vapours ) , and raised him to such an altitude that he soon found himself above the middle region ; but as this attraction caused him to ascend with too much rapidity , and that , instead of approaching the moon , as he sought to doit appeared to be further from him than everhe
, , broke several of the phials in order to diminish the speed of his ascension ; Avhen he discovered that , as he had anticipated , his weight overcame the attraction , and he was once more descending earthward . This he did , he says , so effectually , that ere long he was once more on terra firma ; but instead of landing at midnightaccording to his calculationhe was
sur-, , prised to find that the sun was high in the horizon , and that it was in fact mid-day . His astonishment was , moreover , increased by the conviction that he was an utter stranger to the country in which he had alighted ; for having , as he conceived , ascended in a straight line , he had anticipated that he should descend on the same spot whence he had departed .
Wandering about in search of shelter , he encountered some savages , who took to flight when he approached ; probably , as he quaintly remarks , because he was the first man Avhom
they had ever seen clothed in bottles . His next encounter was with a party of soldiers preceded by a drummer ; and he Avas no sooner perceived by these troops than two of them , detaching themselves from the main body , hastened to ascertain who he was , and whence he came . In reply to these inquiries the traveller demanded to know in what land he hacl arrived .
" You are in France , " was the ready answer ; " but what devil has accoutred you after this fashion ? Are the ships arrived ? And why have you divided your brandy into so many bottles 1 " The explanations of our author proved far from satisfactory to his interlocutors : " Oh , oh ! you woulcl be witty at our expensewould you ? " exclaimed the officer in command ;
, " since that is the case , we will see the joke to an end ; " and despite the expostulations of the unlucky aeronaut , he was marched off a prisoner , and carried before the viceroy , from whom he ascertained that he was indeed in France , but that it was in French Canada .
Bergerac made known to the august functionary his name , his rank , and the circumstances which had occasioned his apparition in the colony ; and thence he entered into a grave discussion on the systems of Descartes and Gassendi ; by which the governor , who piqued himself upon his scientific knowledge , was greatly interested ; so much so , indeed , that he condescended in his turn to inform his guest , that he , on his side , firmly believed