He was about to proceed; but the Old Landlord coming in, made our Philosopher think of withdrawing: He brought in Christals full of Glow-worms, to light the Parlour; but seeing those little fiery Insects lose much of their Light, when they are not fresh gathered, these which were ten days old had hardly any at all. My Spirit stayed not till the Company should complain of it, but went up to his Chamber, and came immediately back again with two Bowls of Fire so Sparkling that all wondred he burnt not his Fingers. "These incombustible Tapers," said he, "will serve us better than your Week[9] of Worms. They are Rays of the Sun, which I have purged from their Heat; otherwise, the corrosive qualities of their Fire would have dazzled and offended your Eyes; I have fixed their Light, and inclosed it within these transparent Bowls.[10] That ought not to afford you any great Cause of Admiration; for it is not harder for me, who am a Native of the Sun, to condense his Beams, which are the Dust of that World, than it is for you to gather the Atomes of the pulveriz'd Earth of this World." Thereupon our Landlord sent a Servant to wait upon the Philosophers home, it being then Night, with a dozen Globes of Glowworms hanging at his four Legs. As for my Preceptor and my self, we went to rest, by order of the Phisiognomist. He laid me that Night in a Chamber of Violets and Lillies, [and] ordered me to be tickled after the usual manner. [1] _Part_ and _depart_ were interchangeable in the seventeenth century. _Cf_. Shakspere, _Two Gentlemen of Verona_: "But now he parted hence "; and, on the other hand, _King John_: "Hath willingly departed with a part" (= _given up_ a part). [2] Two alike, or all three alike. [3] Two sixes and a one. [4] Wondered at. [5] Notice that the basis of this discussion is the supposition that the visual rays _start from the eye_. [6] Lucretius. [7] Democritus was the originator of the atomic theory. [8] A lively Spanish dance-measure. [9] Wick (_cf_. the Standard Dictionary). Some modern French editions have "pelotons de verre," meaning "glass bulbs," but this is evidently a mistake, since the seventeenth-century editions have _verres_, which is their form, in all cases, for the modern _vers_. See also the first meaning of _peloton_ in Littré. [10] The incandescent electric light? CHAPTER XV. _Of the Books in the Moon, and their Fashion; of Death, Burial, and Burning; of the Manner of telling the Time; and of_ Noses.