Dec. 12, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



481 



not to Venus what Venus is to the earth : I mean, that 

 •the earth is too big to be the Mother of Love, or the 

 •Shepherd's Star to Venus ; but the moon, which appears to 

 ^'enus of the same bigness as Venus appears to us, is 

 assigned to be the Mother of Love, and Shepherd's Star to 

 Venus ; for such names are only proper for a little brisk, 

 airy panet, bright and shining as the goddess herself. Oh, 

 blessed moon, how happy art thou to preside over the 

 amours of those gallant inha'oitanta of Venus, where all 

 they say is soft and moving, and perfectly refined !" 



" O, without doubt," says I, " the very common people 

 of Venus are all Celadons and Silvauders, and their 

 most trivial discourses are infinitely finer than any in 

 Clelia ; their very climate inspires love ; Venus is much 

 nearer than the earth to the sur, from whence she receives 

 a more vigorous and active influence." 



" I fincl," says the marchioness," it is easy enough to 

 guess at the inhabitants of Venus ; they resemble what I 

 have read of the Moors of Grauada, who were a little black 

 people, scorched with the sun, witty, full of fire, very 



