one thing surprised me: i did not see any inhabitants in these gardens of delight. i know not how many ideas disturbed my mind on that occasion, when a voice struck my ears, uttering these words: “stop and look stedfastly before thee; behold him who has inspired thee to undertake so dangerous a voyage.” amazed, i looked a good while and saw nothing: at last i perceived a sort of spot, a kind of shade fixed in the air a few paces from me. i continued to look at it more attentively, and fancied, i saw a human form with a countenance so mild and ingaging 14that instead of being terrified, the sight was to me a fresh motive of joy.
i am (said the benevolent shade) the prefect of this island. thy inclination to philosophy has prepossessed me in thy favour: i have followed thee in thy late journey and defended thee from the hurricane. i will now show thee the rarities of the place; and then i will take care to restore thee safe to thy country.
this solitude with which thou art so charmed, stands in the midst of a tempestuous ocean of moving sands; it is an island surrounded with inaccessible desarts, which no mortal can pass without a supernatural aid. its name is giphantia. it was given to the elementary spirits, the day before the garden 15of eden was allotted to the parent of mankind. not that the spirits spend their time here in ease and sloth. what would you do, o ye feeble mortals! if dispersed in the air, in the sea, in the bowels of the earth, in the sphere of fire, they did not incessantly watch for your welfare? without our care, the unbridled elements would long since have effaced all remains of the human kind. why cannot we preserve you entirely from their disorderly sallies? alass! our power extends not so far: we cannot totally screen you from all the evils that surround you: we only prevent your utter destruction.
it is here the elementary spirits come to refresh themselves after their labours; it is here they hold their assemblies, and concert the best measures for the administration of the elements.
