"I have acquainted my Friends here present, who are come to pass some Days with me, both with the Contents of the Cacklogallinian Emperor's Letter, and the Reasons which mov'd this Prince to desire an Intercourse between the two Worlds, and we will all of us wait on you to our Prince's Court, tho' strictly speaking, we neither have, nor need a Governour; and we pay the distant Respect due to your Princes to the eldest among us, as he is the nearest to eternal Happiness. But that I may give you some Idea, both of this World, and its Inhabitants, you must learn, that Men in yours are endued with a Soul and an Understanding; the Soul is a material Substance, and cloathes the Understanding, as the Body does the Soul; at the Separation of these two, the Body is again resolved into Earth, and the Soul of the Virtuous is placed in this Planet, till the Understanding being freed from it by a Separation we may call Death, tho' not attended with Fear or Agony, it is resolved into our Earth, and its Principle of Life, the Understanding, returns to the Great Creator; for till we have here purg'd off what of Humanity remains attach'd to the Soul, we can never hope to appear before the pure Eyes of the Deity.
"We are here, said he, in a State of Ease and Happiness, tho' no way comparable to that we expect at our Dissolution, which we as earnestly long for, as you Mortals carefully avoid it. We forget nothing that pass'd while we were cloath'd in Flesh, and Inhabitants of your Globe, and have no other Uneasiness, than what the Reflection of our Ingratitude to the Eternal Goodness, while in Life, creates in us, which the Eternal lessens in proportion to our Repentance, which is here very sincere. This will cease your Wonder at hearing the Sublunary Languages.
"We have here no Passions to gratify, no Wants to supply, the Roots of Vice, which under no Denomination is known among us; consequently no Laws, nor Governours to execute them, are here necessary.
"Had the Cacklogallinian Prince known thus much, he would have been sensible how vain were his Expectations of getting from us the Gold he thirsts after: For were we to meet with the purest Veins of that Metal, by removing only one Turf, not a Selenite would think it worth his while.
"This is a Place of Peace and Tranquillity, and this World is exactly adapted to the Temper of its Inhabitants: Nature here is in an Eternal Calm; we enjoy an everlasting Spring; the Soil yields nothing noxious, and we can never want the Necessaries of Life, since every Herb affords a salubrious Repast to the Selenites.
"We pass our Days without Labour, without other Anxiety, than what I mention'd, and the longing Desire we have for our Dissolution, makes every coming Day encrease our Happiness.
"We have not here, as in your World, Distinction of Sexes; for know, all Souls are masculine (if I may be allow'd that Term, after what I've said) however distinguish'd in the Body; and tho' of late Years the Number of those which change your World for this (especially of the European Quarter) is very small; yet we do not apprehend our World will be left unpeopled."
"You say, replied I, that none but the virtuous Soul reaches these blissfull Seats; what then becomes of the Vicious? and how comes it, that the Soul, when loosed by Sleep, I suppose without Distinction, retires hither?"
"The Decrees, said he, of the Almighty are inscrutable, and you ask me Questions are not in my Power to resolve you."
"Have not, said I, the Cacklogallinians Souls, think you, since they're endued with Reason?" "If they have, said he, they never are sent hither."