The Blazing World

of Newcastle’s soul; which the spirit did; and after she came to wait on the Empress, at her first arrival the Empress embraced and saluted her with a spiritual kiss; then she asked her whether she could write? Yes, answered the Duchess’s soul, but not so intelligibly that any reader whatsoever may understand it, unless he be taught to know my characters; for my letters are rather like characters, than well formed letters. Said the Empress, you were recommended to me by an honest and ingenious spirit. Surely, answered the Duchess, the spirit is ignorant of my handwriting. The truth is, said the Empress, he did not mention your handwriting; but he informed me, that you write sense and reason, and if you can but write so, that any of my secretaries may learn your hand, they shall write it out fair and intelligible. The Duchess answered, that she questioned not but it might easily be learned in a short time. But, said she to the Empress, what is it that your Majesty would have written? She answered, the Jews’ Cabbala. Then your only way for that is, said the Duchess, to have the soul of some famous Jew; nay, if your Majesty please, I scruple not, but you may as easily have the soul of Moses, as of any other. That cannot be, replied the Empress, for no mortal knows where Moses is. But, said the Duchess, human souls are immortal; however, if this be too difficult to be obtained, you may have the soul of one of the chief rabbis or sages of the tribe of Levi, who will truly instruct you in that mystery; when as, otherwise, your Majesty will be apt to mistake, and a thousand to one, will commit gross errors. No, said the Empress, for I shall be instructed by spirits. Alas! said the Duchess, spirits are as ignorant as mortals in many cases; for no created spirits have a general or absolute knowledge, nor can they know the thoughts of men, much less the mysteries of the great Creator, unless he be pleased to inspire into them the gift of divine knowledge. Then, I pray, said the Empress, let me have your counsel in this case. The Duchess answered, if your Majesty will be pleased to hearken to my advice, I would desire you to let that work alone; for it will be of no advantage either to you, or your people, unless you were of the Jews’ religion; nay, if you were, the vulgar interpretation of the holy Scripture would be more instructive, and more easily believed, than your mystical way of interpreting it; for had it been better and more advantageous for the salvation of the Jews, surely Moses would have saved after-ages that labour by his own explanation, he being not only a wise, but a very honest, zealous and religious man: Wherefore the best way, said she, is to believe with the generality the literal sense of the Scripture, and not to make interpretations everyone according to his own fancy, but to leave that work for the learned, or those that have nothing else to do; Neither do I think, said she, that God will damn those that are ignorant therein, or suffer them to be lost for want of a mystical interpretation of the Scripture. Then, said the Empress, I’ll leave the Scripture, and make a philosophical Cabbala. The Duchess told her, that, sense and reason would instruct her of nature as much as could be known; and as for numbers, they were infinite; but to add nonsense to infinite, would breed a confusion, especially in human understanding. Then, replied the Empress, I’ll make a moral Cabbala. The only thing, answered the Duchess, in morality, is but, to fear God, and to love his neighbour, and this needs no further interpretation. But then I’ll make a political Cabbala, said the Empress. The Duchess answered, that the chief and only ground in government, was but reward and punishment, and required no further Cabbala; But, said she, if your Majesty were resolved to make a Cabbala, I would advise you, rather to make a poetical or romancical Cabbala, wherein you may use metaphors, allegories, similitudes, etc. and interpret them as you please. With that the Empress thanked the Duchess, and embracing her soul, told her she would take her counsel: she made her also her favourite, and kept her sometime in that world, and by this means the Duchess came to know and give this relation of all that passed in that rich, populous, and happy world; and after some time the Empress gave her leave to return to her husband and kindred into her native world, but upon condition, that her soul should visit her now and then; which she did: and truly their meeting did produce such an intimate friendship between them, that they became platonic lovers, although they were both females.

One time, when the Duchess her soul was with the Empress, she seemed to be very sad and melancholy; at which the Empress was very much troubled, and asked her the reason of her melancholic humour? Truly, said the Duchess to the Empress, (for between dear friends there’s no concealment, they being like several parts of one united body) my melancholy proceeds from an extreme ambition. The Empress asked, what the height of her ambition was? The Duchess answered, that neither she herself, nor no creature in the world was able to know either the height, depth, or breadth of her ambition; but said she, my present desire is, that I would be a great princess. The Empress replied, so you are; for you are a princess of the fourth or fifth degree, for a duke or duchess is the highest title or honour that a subject can arrive to, as being the next to a king’s title; and as for the name of a prince of princess, it belongs to all that are adopted to the