1801.] 
book, Mémoires du Comte Gabalis, but 
that is not in my poffeffion. 
<< If you have this noble ambition, as 
the figure of your nativity convinces me, 
confider maturely whether you are capable 
of renouncing every thing which might 
prove an obftacle to your views.”’—* He 
paufed, and looked at me attentively, as 
if defirous of reading in my very heart. 
‘The word renounce had ftartled me. I 
doubted not he was about to propofe my 
renouncing baptifm or falvation. ‘* Re- 
nounce!”’ faid] with inquifitive hefitation. 
*¢ Yes (replied he), and begin by fo 
doing, Sages will never admit you into 
their fociety, unlefs you immediately re- 
nounce whatever is incompatible with the 
true wifdom: it cannot dwell along with 
fin. You muft (added he, in a whifper) 
renounce all carnal intercourfe with wo- 
men.” 
‘I burft into laughter at the odd propo- 
fal.** You let me off very cheap(T replied), 
if only women are to be renounced, that 
has been done this many'a year: but as 
Solomon, who was no doubta greater lage 
than I fhall ever be, could not help re- 
lapfing, will you tell me how you initiated 
gentlemen manage ? of what fort of aguus 
cafiusis your tree of knowledge, and what 
inconvenience would there be, if, in the 
paradife of philofophers, every Adam had 
his Eve?”’ 
“© You afk mighty queftions (faid he, 
deliberating within himfelf whether he 
fhould vouchfafe an anfwer); but as I 
perceive you can fo eafily detach yourfelf 
from womankind, I will te!l you one of 
the reafons which have obliged the adepts 
to exact this condition from their afpi- 
rants. When you fhall be inrolled among 
the children of the philofophers, and your 
eyes fortified by the ufe of the holy elixir, 
you will difcover that the elements are in- 
habited by very perfect creatures, of the 
knowledge of whom the fin of Adam de- 
prived his unfortunate pofterity. The im- 
menfe fpace between earth and fky has 
ether inhabitants than birds and flies; 
the ocean other guefts than whales and 
fprats: the earth was not made for moles 
alone, nor is the defalating flame itfelf a 
defert. 
<¢ The air is full of beings of human 
form, proud in appearance, but docile in 
reality, great lovers of {cience, officious 
toward fages, intglerant toward fools. 
Their wives and daughters are mafculine 
Amazonian beacties —_ 
«© How! you do not mean to fay that 
{pirits marry ?” 
' © Be not alarmed, my fon, about fuch 
On Sylphs, from Count Gabalis. 
131 
trifles: believe what I fay to be folid and 
true, and the faithful epitome of cabalif~ 
tic fcience, which it will only depend on 
yourfelf one day to verify by your own 
eyes. Know then that feas and rivers are 
inhabited ag well as the air; and that 
afcended fages have given the names of 
Undanes, or Nymphs, to this floating po- 
pulation. They engender few males 5 
women overflow ; their beauty is extreme; 
the daughters of men are incomparably 
inferior. 
‘© The earth is filled down to its very cen- 
tre with Gnomes, a people of {mall ftature, 
the wardens of treafures, mines, and pre- 
cious ftones. ‘They are ingenious, friend~ 
ly to man, and eafy to command. ‘They 
furnifh the children of fages with all the 
money they want, and afk as the reward of 
their fervice only the honour of being com- 
manded.* Their women are fmall, very 
agreeable, and magnificent in their attire. _ 
‘¢ As for the Salamanders, who inhabit 
the fiery region, they wait on the fages, | 
but without any eagernefs for the tafk: their 
females are rarely to be feen.”’—** So much 
the better (interrupted I): who withes to 
fall in with fuch apparitions, and to con- 
verfe with fo ugly a beaft, as a male or 
female Salamander ?’—** You are under 
a miftake (replied he); fuch may be the 
idea of ignorant painters or ftatuaries, but 
the women among the Salamanders are 
very beautiful, and more fo than any 
others, inafmuch as they belong toa purer 
element. I pafs over the defcription of 
thefe nations, becaufe you may yourfelf, if 
fo difpofed, fee them at your leifure, and 
obferve in perfon their raiment, their food, 
their manners, their wonderful laws and 
fubordination. You will be yet more 
charmed by the beauty of their minds than 
of their bodies : but you will not be able to 
aveid pitying thefe unfortunates, when 
they inform you that their fouls are mor- 
tal, and that they have no hope of that 
eternal fruition of the Supreme Being, 
whom they know and adore religioufly. 
They will tell you that being compofed of 
the purer particles of the elements which 
they inhabit, they live indeed for ages, 
but then diffolve. Ah what is time com- 
pared with eternity! The thought of fe- 
parating into unconfcious atoms deeply 
affliéts them: we have great difficulty in 
confoling them. 
“¢ Our forefathers in true wifdom, who 
fpoke with God face to face, complained to 
him of the lot of thefe people. God, 
whofe mercy is without end, revealed to 
them that a remedy might be found for 
this woe, ard infpired them with the in- 
$2 ; formation, 
