Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 03.djvu/256

230 side, and helped him to a variety of puddings, he having informed her that the Gangarids never dined upon anything which had received from the gods the celestial gift of life. The events of his early life, the manners of the Gangarids, the progress of arts, religion, and government were the subjects of a conversation equally agreeable and instructive all the time of the entertainment, which lasted till night, during which my lord What-then did nothing but push the bottle about, and call for the toast.

After dinner, while my lady was pouring out the tea, still feeding her eyes on the young stranger, he entered into a long conversation with a member of parliament; for every one knows that there was even then a parliament called "Wittenagemot," or the assembly of wise men. Amazan inquired into the constitution, laws, manners, customs, forces, and arts which made this country so respectable; and the member answered him in the following manner:

"For a long time we went stark naked, though our climate is none of the hottest. We were likewise for a long time enslaved by a people who came from the ancient country of Saturn, watered by the Tiber. But the mischief we have done one another has greatly exceeded all that we ever suffered from our first conquerors. One of our princes carried his superstition to such a pitch as to declare himself the subject of a priest, who dwells also on the banks of the Tiber, and is called the Old Man of the Seven Mountains. It has been the fate of the seven moun-