Page:Tales of humour and romance translated by Holcroft.djvu/214

 the man in the moon, just as the English ware is, with the figure of an angel. It may even be questioned, my dear, whether thou thyself knowest that the moon is but a few miles smaller than all Asia. How often must I sing it at thy window, before thou rememberest it, that not only its day lasts half a month, but what is more worth hearing, its night also; so that there, a gay girl who is torn by her mother home from a ball at midnight, will have at least waltzed and whirled her good hundred and fifty hours.—Now tell me Philippina, whether thou thinkest that the moon, or rather its inhabitants, will not, during so long a night, be desirous of seeing and walking about like ourselves, and consequently will require as big a moon as we do, one, at any rate, no smaller than an ordinary coach wheel.—I have it from good authority, that thou hast no notion what the moon sees above it for a moon. Fair fickle one, our Earth is its moon, and appears to those above, no bigger than a bride's-cake. I add too, for the sake of my story, which is to follow, that we can throw no light up to them, (moonlight or earthlight) when we have none here below ourselves, which is the case in an eclipse of the Sun; consequently the inhabitants of the moon during an eclipse of the Sun, can say nothing else than, "We have an eclipse of the Earth to-day."

I beseech you earnestly Philippina, consider those