Moon Lore

Epigraph

VOYAGING TO THE MOON
From Domingo Gonsales [A.D. 1638]
See page 46.

Moon Lore

By The

REV. TIMOTHY HARLEY, F.R.A.S.

“And when the clear moon, with its soothing influences, rises full in my view,—from the wall-like rocks, out of the damp underwood, the silvery forms of past ages hover up to me, and soften the austere pleasure of contemplation.”
Goethe’s “Faust.” Hayward’s Translation, London, 1855, p. 100.

LONDON:
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, LE BAS & LOWREY,
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1885

BUTLER & TAYLOR
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“I beheld the moon walking in brightness.”—Job xxxi. 26.

“The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained.”—Psalm viii. 3.

“Who is she that looketh forth, fair as the moon?”—Solomon’s Song vi. 10.

“The precious things put forth by the moon.”—Deuteronomy xxxiii. 14.

“Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale.”—Addison’s Ode.

“In fall-orbed glory, yonder moon Divine
Rolls through the dark-blue depths.”—Southey’s Thalaba.

“Queen of the silver bow! by thy pale beam,
     Alone and pensive, I delight to stray,
And watch thy shadow trembling in the stream,
     Or mark the floating clouds that cross thy way;
And while I gaze, thy mild and placid light
     Sheds a soft calm upon my troubled breast:
And oft I think-fair planet of the night—
     That in thy orb the wretched may have rest;
The sufferers of the earth perhaps may go—
     Released by death-to thy benignant sphere;
And the sad children of despair and woe
     Forget in thee their cup of sorrow here.
Oh that I soon may reach thy world serene,
     Poor wearied pilgrim in this toiling scene!”
—Charlotte Smith.

PREFACE

This work is a contribution to light literature, and to the literature of light. Though a monograph, it is also a medley.

The first part is mythological and mirthsome. It is the original nucleus around which the other parts have gathered. Some years since, the writer was led to investigate the world-wide myth of the Man in the Moon, in its legendary and ludicrous aspects; and one study being a stepping-stone to another, the ball was enlarged as it rolled.

The second part, dealing with moon-worship, is designed to show that anthropomorphism and sexuality have been the principal factors in that idolatry which in all ages has paid homage to the hosts of heaven, as heaved above the aspiring worshipper. Man adores what he regards as higher than he. And if the moon is supposed to affect his tides, that body becomes his water-god.

The third part treats of lunar superstitions, many of which yet live in the vagaries which sour and shade our modern sweetness and light.

The fourth and final part is a literary essay on lunar inhabitation, presenting in nuce the present state of the enigma of “the plurality of worlds.”

Of the imperfections of his production the author is partly conscious. Not wholly so; for others see us often more advantageously than we see ourselves. But a hope is cherished that this work—a compendium of lunar literature in its least scientific branches—may win a welcome which shall constitute the worker’s richest reward. To the innumerable writers who are quoted, the indebtedness felt is inexpressible.

List of Illustrations

1	Voyaging to the Moon	Frontispiece
	From Domingo Gonsales, 1638
2	The Man in the Moon	9
	From Hone’s Facetiae and Miscellanies, 1821. Drawn by George Cruikshank.
3	“The Man in the Moon Drinks Claret”	12
	(From the Bagford Ballads, ii, 119, Brit. Mus.)
4	“Who’ll Smoak with the Man in the Moon?”	13
	(Banks Collection in Brit. Mus.)
5	The Man in the Moon	22
	From Ludwig Richter’s Der Familienshatz, Leipzig, p. 25
6	Seal	28
	In the Archaeological Journal for March, 1848, p. 68
7	Representation of the Sabbath-Breaker in Gyffyn Church, Near Conway	32
	From Baring-Gould’s Curious Myths
8	The Hare in the Moon	63
	From Colin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal