Wilkins, John, A discovery of a new world : or a discourse tending to prove, that 'tis probable there may be another Habitable World in the Moon ; with a discourse concerning the Probability of a Passage thither; unto which is added, a discourse concerning a New Planet, tending to prove, that 'tis probable our earth is one of the Planets

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        <div xml:id="echoid-div155" type="section" level="1" n="43">
          <pb o="159" file="0171" n="171" rhead="That the Moon may be a World."/>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2378" xml:space="preserve">I anſwer, 1. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2379" xml:space="preserve">’Tis not perhaps impoſſible, that a man
              <lb/>
            may be able to Fly, by the application of Wings to his
              <lb/>
            own body; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2380" xml:space="preserve">as Angels are pictur’d, as Mercury and Dæda-
              <lb/>
            lus are feigned, and as hath been attempted by divers,
              <lb/>
            particularly by a Turk in Conſtantinople, as Busbequius relates.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2381" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2382" xml:space="preserve">2. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2383" xml:space="preserve">If there be ſuch a great Ruck in Madagaſcar, as
              <note position="right" xlink:label="note-0171-01" xlink:href="note-0171-01a" xml:space="preserve">Mr. Bur.
                <lb/>
              ton.</note>
            cus Polus the Venetian mentions, the Feathers in whoſe
              <lb/>
            Wings are twelve Foot long, which can ſoop up a Horle
              <lb/>
              <note position="right" xlink:label="note-0171-02" xlink:href="note-0171-02a" xml:space="preserve">Melanch.
                <lb/>
              pa. 2. ſect. 2
                <lb/>
              mem. 3.</note>
            and his Rider, or an Elephant, as our Kites do a Mouſe;
              <lb/>
            </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2384" xml:space="preserve">why then ’tis but teaching one of theſe to carry a man, and
              <lb/>
            he may ride up thither, as Ganimed does upon an Eagle.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2385" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <note symbol="*" position="right" xml:space="preserve">Lib. 3.
            <lb/>
          c. 40.</note>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2386" xml:space="preserve">3. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2387" xml:space="preserve">Or if neither of theſe ways will ſerve; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2388" xml:space="preserve">yet I do ſeri-
              <lb/>
            only, and upon good grounds, affirm it poſſible to make a
              <lb/>
            Flying Chariot; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2389" xml:space="preserve">in which a Man may ſit, and give ſuch a
              <lb/>
            motion unto it, as ſhall convey him through the Air. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2390" xml:space="preserve">And
              <lb/>
            this perhaps might be made large enough to carry divers
              <lb/>
            Men at the ſame time, together with Food for their Via-
              <lb/>
            ticum, and commodities for Traffick. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2391" xml:space="preserve">It is not the bigneſs
              <lb/>
            of any thing in this kind, that can hinder its motion, if
              <lb/>
            the raotive Faculty be anſwerable thereunto. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2392" xml:space="preserve">We ſee a
              <lb/>
            great Ship ſwims as well as a ſmall cork, and an Eagle flies
              <lb/>
            in the Air as well as a little gnat.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2393" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2394" xml:space="preserve">This Engine may be contrived from the ſame Principles
              <lb/>
            by which Architas made a wooden Dove, and Regiomontanus
              <lb/>
            a wooden Eagle.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2395" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2396" xml:space="preserve">I conceive it were no difficult matter (if a man had lei-
              <lb/>
            ſure) to ſhew more particularly the means of compoſing it.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2397" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2398" xml:space="preserve">The perfecting of ſuch an Invention, would be of ſuch ex-
              <lb/>
            cellent uſe, that it were enough, not only to make a man
              <lb/>
            Famous, but the Age alſo where he lives. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2399" xml:space="preserve">For beſides the
              <lb/>
            ſtrange diſcoveries that it might occaſion in this other
              <lb/>
            World, it would be alio of inconceivable advantage for
              <lb/>
            Travelling, above any other conveyanee that is now in uſe.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2400" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2401" xml:space="preserve">So that notwithſtanding all theſe ſeeming impoſſibilities,
              <lb/>
            ’tis likely enough, that there may be a means invented of
              <lb/>
            Journying to the Moon; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2402" xml:space="preserve">and how happy ſhall they be,
              <lb/>
            that are firſt ſucceſsful in this attempt?</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2403" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p style="it">
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2404" xml:space="preserve">--------Fæliceſque animæ, quas nubila ſupra,
              <lb/>
            Et turpes fumos, plenumque vaporibus orbem,
              <lb/>
            Inſeruit cælo ſancti ſcintilla Promethei.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2405" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2406" xml:space="preserve">Having thus finiſhed this Diſcourſe, I chanced upon a
              <lb/>
            late fancy to this purpoſe under the feigned Name of Do-
              <lb/>
            mingo Gonſales, written by a late Reverend and Learned
              <lb/>
            Biſhop: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2407" xml:space="preserve">In which (beſides ſundry partlculars wherein </s>
          </p>
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