an ape. This Castilian is a supporter of the
atomic theory, and his discourses with his
fellow captive on the subject of atoms and a
vacuum, are in the spirit of Lucretius. The
author here is no longer the fantastic
novelist, but the zealous disciple of Gassendi.

The presence in the kingdom of two beings,
human in shape, diminutive in stature, and
biped by habit or nature, not only causes a
great commotion in the multitude, but
produces a schism among the learned, and the
question, whether Cyrano and his friend are
really to be deemed human or not, is the
leading topic of the day. The old assertion,
that man by holding his head erect
demonstrates his superiority to the brutes has ever
been a favourite common-place. Hence there
is humour as well as ingenuity in the argument
used by the orthodox lunar party, who
would disprove the humanity of the two
terrestrials, on the ground of their biped
condition. " Only look how they lift their heads
towards heaven; the universal privation
they endure is the cause of this position, by
which they lament to heaven that they were
born, and request permission to partake of
our leavings. But we—we have our heads
directed downwards that we may contemplate
the wealth that we possess, in the full conviction
that there is nothing above us to be desired
in our present happy condition."  Again:
"We walk on all-fours, because beings so
precious could not be trusted to a less firm
position; we rest upon four pillars that we
may not fall. But, as for these two brutes,
nature has only placed them on two paws,
deeming the preservation of such paltry
things unworthy of her solicitude."

The discussions that arise as to the true
character of the extraordinary dwarfs, are
deemed so dangerous to the public faith, that
a decree is issued declaring that Cyrano is
simply a bird without feathers, and he is
consequently put into a cage. Here, from the
concourse of visitors, he gradually learns
the language of the people, and displays so
much wit, that a new decree is necessary to
declare that these signs of intellect are to be
attributed to no higher source than animal
instinct. These official measures do not curb
the spirit of faction; the party in favour of
Cyrano increases in strength; his condition
is examined anew; and, at last, through the
exertions of hostile savans he is formally
brought to trial, for the impious assertion,
that the moon from which he came is a world,
and that the world on which he stands is only
a moon. A death by drowning is the punishment
proper to offences of the sort, but Cyrano
is saved by the arguments of a wise
advocate, who contends that if the prisoner
is a man, he has a right to freedom of thought;
if he is a brute, he has merely spoken by
native instinct, and cannot be regarded as a
criminal. The first of these positions enables
the author to inculcate religious toleration
and scientific freedom in a manner that, in
his day, was considered audacious. The
advocate proves afterwards to be Cyrano's old
friend, the Demon of Socrates, who has put
on this new shape to effect his deliverance.

With the liberation of Cyrano, who is,
however, forced to make a public recantation
of his heresies, his adventures in the moon
conclude, and the rest of his sojourn is chiefly
occupied with a record of the theories
propounded by divers lunar sages. These are,
for the most part, startling paradoxes,
maintained in a style that renders it sometimes
difficult to discover whether the author is in
jest or earnest. Youth is declared to be
more worthy of respect than age; the duty
of child to parent is explained away, with a
cynicism which anticipates Swift; and the
cruelty of cutting live cabbages is exposed in
a florid strain of virtuous indignation:—" Do
you not believe, in truth, that if this plant
could speak when it was cut, it would say:
' Man—my dear brother, what have I done to
merit death? I only grow in gardens; I am
never found in a savage place, where I might
live in security; I scorn all society but thine.
Scarcely am I planted, in thy garden, than,
to show my kindly feeling, I expand—I open
my arms. I offer thee my children in the
grain; and thou repayest my kindness by
cutting off my head.' This is the discourse,
that the cabbage would hold, if it had the
command of words. Well, then. Because it
is unable to complain are we justified in doing
it all the mischief that it cannot prevent?
If I find a miserable wretch bound, can I,
without a crime, kill him because he is unable
to defend himself? Perhaps a cabbage
possesses an universal intellect; a perfect
knowledge of all things. Perhaps for this very
reason, it has been provided, not with organs
like our—  like those of creatures who are
endowed with a weak and fallible reason
—but with others, more ingeniously elaborated,
stronger, and more numerous; with
which it carries on its high speculations."

A desire to return to earth having: taken
possession of Cyrano, he is carried back by
the friendly demon, who sets him down at his
own request in the neighbourhood of Rome.
No sooner has he touched terra firma than he
is assailed by dogs, with a ferocity for which
he cannot, at first, account. At last he recollects
that dogs are in the habit of baying at
the moon, and conjectures that the smell of
the moon fresh upon him, has been detected
by the canine nostril. By lying for some
hours in the sun he removes this
inconvenience; the clogs bark at him no longer:
and after having gratified his curiosity by
viewing the wonders of Rome, he sets sail for
his own country.

So ends the first of his two books. The
second commences with his arrival in France,
when he publishes the narrative of his lunar
expedition, and at once becomes a literary lion.
Soon, however, admiration for his
genius degenerates into a suspicion that he is