Secretary and Micromegas. [1] The Gazettes record that this vessel ran ashore on the coast of Bothnia, when returning from the polar circle with a party of philosophers on board who had been making observations, for which nobody has hitherto been the wiser; but, according to this romance, the vessel was illegally captured in the Baltic sea by the Sirian giant Micromegas and the Saturnian dwarf.--E. II. THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN MICROMEGAS AND THE INHABITANT OF SATURN. His excellency having laid himself down, and the secretary approached his nose: "It must be confessed," said Micromegas, "that nature is full of variety." "Yes," replied the Saturnian, "nature is like a parterre, whose flowers--" "Pshaw!" cried the other, "a truce with your parterres." "It is," resumed the secretary, "like an assembly of fair and brown women, whose dresses--" "What a plague have I to do with your brunettes?" said our traveler. "Then it is like a gallery of pictures, the strokes of which--" "Not at all," answered Micromegas, "I tell you once for all, nature is like nature, and comparisons are odious." "Well, to please you," said the secretary-- "I won't be pleased," replied the Sirian, "I want to be instructed; begin, therefore, without further preamble, and tell me how many senses the people of this world enjoy." "We have seventy and two," said the academician, "but we are daily complaining of the small number, as our imagination transcends our wants, for, with the seventy-two senses, our five moons and ring, we find ourselves very much restricted; and notwithstanding our curiosity, and the no small number of those passions that result from these few senses, we have still time enough to be tired of idleness." "I sincerely believe what you say," cried Micromegas "for, though we Sirians have near a thousand different senses, there still remains a certain vague desire, an unaccountable inquietude incessantly admonishing us of our own unimportance, and giving us to understand that there are other beings who are much our superiors in point of perfection. I have traveled a little, and seen mortals both above and below myself in the scale of being, but I have met with none who had not more desire than necessity, and more want than gratification. Perhaps I shall one day arrive in some country where nought is wanting, but hitherto I have had no certain information of such a happy land." The Saturnian and his guest exhausted themselves in conjectures upon this subject, and after abundance of argumentation equally ingenious and uncertain, were fain to return to matter of fact. "To what age do you commonly live?" said the Sirian. "Lack-a-day! a mere trifle," replied the little gentleman. "It is the very same case with us," resumed the other, "the shortness of life is our daily complaint, so that this must be an universal law in nature."