The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-WorldNewcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of
Science
The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World
Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of
Science fiction; Utopias -- Fiction; Voyages, Imaginary -- Early works to 1800
heard by her Imperial Majesty, how well and happily the World had been
governed when she first came to be Empress thereof, she would advise her
Majesty to introduce the same form of Government again, which had been
before; that is, to have but one soveraign, one Religion, one Law, and
one Language, so that all the World might be but as one united Family,
without divisions; nay, like God, and his Blessed Saints and Angels:
Otherwise, said she, it may in time prove as unhappy, nay, as miserable
a World as that is from which I came, wherein are more soveraigns then
Worlds, and more pretended Governours then Government, more Religions
then Gods, and more Opinions in those Religions then Truths; more Laws
then Rights, and more Bribes then Justices; more Policies then
Necessities, and more Fears then Dangers; more Covetousness then Riches,
more Ambitions then Merits, more Services then Rewards, more Languages
then Wit, more Controversie then Knowledg, more Reports then noble
Actions, and more Gifts by partiality, then according to Merit; all
which, said she, is a great misery, nay, a curse, which your blessed
Blazing-World never knew, nor 'tis probable, will never know of, unless
your Imperial Majesty alter the Government thereof from what it was when
you began to govern it: And since your Majesty complains much of the
factions of the Bear- Fish- Fly- Ape- and Worm- men, the Satyrs,
Spider-men, and the like, and of their perpetual disputes and quarrels,
I would advise your Majesty to dissolve all their societies; for 'tis
better to be without their intelligences, then to have an unquiet and
disorderly Government. The truth is, said she, wheresoever Learning is,
there is most commonly also Controversie and quarelling; for there be
always some that will know more, and be wiser then others: some think
their Arguments come nearer to Truth, and are more rational then others;
some are so wedded to their own opinions, that they'l never yield to
Reason; and others, though they find their Opinions not firmly grounded
upon Reason, yet, for fear of receiving some disgrace by altering them,
will nevertheless maintain them against all sense and reason, which must
needs breed factions in their Schools, which at last break out into open
Wars, and draw sometimes an utter ruin upon a State or Government. The
Empress told the Duchess, that she would willingly follow her advice;
but she thought it would be an eternal disgrace to her, to alter her own
Decrees, Acts, and Laws. To which the Duchess answered, That it was so
far from a disgrace, as it would rather be for her Majesties eternal
honour, to return from a worse to a better, and would express and
declare Her to be more then ordinary wise and good; so wise, as to
perceive her own errors, and so good, as not to persist in them, which
few did: for which, said she, you will get a glorious fame in this
World, and an Eternal Glory hereafter; and I shall pray for it so long
as I live.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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