The Travels and Adventures of James Massey. Simon Tyssot de Patot

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СКАЧАТЬ the most ridiculous Nonsense; and the Gospel a pious Fraud, invented to cajole silly Women, and captivate the Vulgar. What shock'd me first of all was to find, that in the Work of the Creation there was Light, before the Luminaries which produce it, and without which all wou'd be Darkness and Obscurity. Then I boggled at the Fatal Necessity Man was laid under to labour and die, as a pretended Consequence of his Crime. Afterwards I reflected on the Sentence pass'd upon the Woman, to bring forth Children in Sorrow, and that on the Serpent, to creep on its Belly, as if before it had Legs. The Rainbow, which was plac'd in the Clouds after the Deluge, to dispossess Mankind of the Fear of perishing by a second Flood: The Favour granted by Heaven to Lot, to depart out of Sodom, that he might be at liberty to go immediately and commit a double Incest with his Daughters: The Amours of Pharaoh and of Sarah the Wife of Abraham; and the Rape committed on her, when she was a decrepid old Woman, by Abimelech King of Gerar: The frequent Dialogues between the Creature and his Creator: The Passage over the Red Sea, and the many other Miracles wrought for the Jews: The Ass, whose Mouth was open'd to say so little to the Purpose; and a thousand other Difficulties of the same Nature, puzzled my Reason to a prodigious Degree. I cou'd not comprehend how Effects cou'd precede their Causes. I had been so often taught the contrary in the Schools, and daily Experience had so many times confirm'd this Truth to me in the Works of Nature, that I did not care so much as once to think of it. I thought it altogether as absurd to suppose that Man wou'd have been immortal, if he had not disobey'd God, because I did not see any Appearance that the Order and Constitution of his Parts wou'd have suffer'd any Alteration, after he had receiv'd Life. Nor did I conceive how the Earth wou'd have been in a Condition to bear its Fruits continually in the same Abundance, without Cultivation, unless it had been quite of another Nature then, than it is at present, which is not probable: 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. On the other hand, among the People who live towards the Poles, the Sex suffers a vast deal at such times, and even many of them lose their Lives; so that this varies proportionably to the Climates, and to Peoples Constitutions. 'Tis the very same thing in Beasts, which for no Crime by them committed, are equally subject to those different Changes. In fine, for it wou'd require whole Volumes to exhaust this Subject, when I consider'd the Cause of the Rainbow, and its Bigness, and Colours, having made a hundred artificial ones my self, which is easily done, by taking Water into one's Mouth and squirting it abroad, in some Place opposite to the Sun Beams, which has no very bright Objects beyond it, and by several other ways; I cou'd not well digest the Account which Moses gives us of it, as a Meteor unknown before that time.

      Nevertheless, all these Obstacles did not intirely discourage me; for I undertook to run over this holy Book a second time, on condition, however, that, as I went thro' it, I might desire my Master to explain the difficult Passages. He consented to it, and we were every Day deeply engag'd in Disputes, during which the good Man frequently rav'd at me, and I was well off if he only call'd me a Libertine, and a stubborn Unbeliever. I said to him sometimes, that it was no strange thing to see a Crowd of Swimmers follow the rapid Course of a wide deep River, because 'tis every whit as agreeable as 'tis easy; but as soon as any one Man turns his Back to the others, cutting the Stream, and hastening nimbly towards its Fountain, they are all surpris'd at the Action; for which, some admire him, and others, especially his Companions, envy him to such a degree, that they are ready to burst with Spite, and do every thing they can imagine to discredit and ruine him, because what he does is an evident Proof of Skill and Vigour on his Part, and of meer Dastardy and Folly on their Part. 'Tis the same thing as to our Sentiments concerning the Sciences, and especially Religion; the first we imbibe stick with us, so that we cannot bear to be contradicted. We are disgusted with every thing that is not conformable to them, and from the Moment that a Man talks of discarding them, he is infallibly reckon'd a Mad-man, or a Knave. Mean time, I declare to you, that as I entertain a much more favourable Opinion of a Man who swims against the Stream, than of another who suffers himself to be insensibly born away with it, so I am infinitely more inclin'd to think well of that Man's Penetration and solid Judgment, who examines every thing, and even sometimes opposes Opinions long since receiv'd, than of those Men who hold Sentiments, as by Right of Inheritance, from their Ancestors, and who only retain them for the sake of their Age or their Authority; because it seldom happens that People go out of the common Road, without Reasons for so doing; whereas 'tis not so much expected that Men shou'd give their Reasons for not deviating from it.

      At the beginning of our Conversation, another Affair happen'd, which gave occasion to another Dispute. A Captain of a Ship having brought some Negroes from Africa, made a Present of one of the handsomest to a Friend of his, a Man of Figure and Substance, but whimsical, and hard to be pleas'd. This Negro, after having liv'd several Years with so rigid a Master, and suffer'd a thousand Abuses from him, could bear it no longer, and resolv'd, whatever might be the Consequence, to take Revenge in a way the most dangerous that cou'd be. For this End, he went to the Apothecary that serv'd the Family, and under pretence that they were extremely pester'd with Rats, he desired two or three Pennyworth of Arsenic. The Fellow was scarce got out of the Shop to do some Errands, when the Apothecary sent to tell the Gentleman, that since his Black came for the Ratsbane, he had thought of an admirable Composition to destroy those Vermin, and that if he pleas'd he would immediately send him the Receipt. The Gentleman, who was naturally of an uneasy Temper, being surpris'd at this Message, and the more because he very well remember'd that he had us'd his Domestic barbarously but the Day before, sent for him to know what he meant to do with that Poison, and swore by all that's sacred he would murder him, if he gave him the least Cause to suspect him. It happen'd that the Valet was not then in the way, but as soon as he came home, a Servant-maid, who dreaded that she shou'd see him broke upon the Wheel, gave him secret Notice of what had pass'd. The Wretch was sadly affrighted; and being conscious that he had not Courage enough to stand the Test, he stole away, and without more ado, hang'd himself. Mean time, his Master was out of all Patience because he did not see him; and after having order'd Messengers to go and find him out, at the Places to which he had sent him, a Footman came and surpris'd him with the News, that he found him hanging in the Corn-Loft.

      The Notice of this tragical Action was quickly spread every where. The Gentleman being one of my Master's best Patients, he went to him immediately, and desired him for several Reasons to order it so, that he might have the Body. The Gentleman, who was a Person of no small Influence, made no Scruple to assure him he should have it, and the very same Day he perform'd his Promise. As soon as the Body was put into our Hands, we dissected it in form. All the Parts of it were disposed like those of the Body of a white Man, at least, we observ'd no Difference; but what surpris'd us was, to find immediately under the Epidermis, a very thin delicate Membrane, which my Master had never perceived in other Bodies, and which I had never heard of before. He immediately sent for a famous Physician of the Town, to whom he imparted this Discovery, but the Doctor did not seem so much surpris'd as I expected, for the same thing had happen'd to him upon the like Occasion. We concluded that this must be the true Cause of the Blackness of this Race of Men, forasmuch as this Tunick stifles, and no doubt absorbs the Rays of Light; as on the contrary, a Leaf of Quicksilver plac'd behind Venice Glass, makes them reflect, and strikes them back towards the Place from whence they came. This gave occasion to a strong Debate concerning the Origin of the Ethiopians, which, when we consider this remarkable Difference, seems not to be the same with other Men. Upon this Principle I was going to draw Consequences which would have tended to no less than the intire Subversion of the System of the Sacred Author in Debate. But I was silenc'd by being told, That there were many things, which it was the Will of Heaven we should admire, but are forbid to dive into.

      I was much delighted to hear this Doctor discourse upon the Construction and Operations of the Humane Body. He spoke Latin like Cicero, and was as good an Orator as Demosthenes. I was charm'd with every thing he said, СКАЧАТЬ