and the satellites, and by means of which the lives and destinies of the inhabitants of the one are interwoven with the lives and destinies of the inhabitants of the other; and above all, if it so please your Excellencies —­ above all, of those dark and hideous mysteries which lie in the outer regions of the moon —­ regions which, owing to the almost miraculous accordance of the satellite’s rotation on its own axis with its sidereal revolution about the earth, have never yet been turned, and, by God’s mercy, never shall be turned, to the scrutiny of the telescopes of man.  All this, and more- much more —­ would I most willingly detail.  But, to be brief, I must have my reward.  I am pining for a return to my family and to my home, and as the price of any farther communication on my part —­ in consideration of the light which I have it in my power to throw upon many very important branches of physical and metaphysical science —­ I must solicit, through the influence of your honorable body, a pardon for the crime of which I have been guilty in the death of the creditors upon my departure from Rotterdam.  This, then, is the object of the present paper.  Its bearer, an inhabitant of the moon, whom I have prevailed upon, and properly instructed, to be my messenger to the earth, will await your Excellencies’ pleasure, and return to me with the pardon in question, if it can, in any manner, be obtained.

“I have the honor to be, etc., your Excellencies’ very humble servant,

HANS PFAALL.”

Upon finishing the perusal of this very extraordinary document, Professor Rub-a-dub, it is said, dropped his pipe upon the ground in the extremity of his surprise, and Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk having taken off his spectacles, wiped them, and deposited them in his pocket, so far forgot both himself and his dignity, as to turn round three times upon his heel in the quintessence of astonishment and admiration.  There was no doubt about the matter —­ the pardon should be obtained.  So at least swore, with a round oath, Professor Rub-a-dub, and so finally thought the illustrious Von Underduk, as he took the arm of his brother in science, and without saying a word, began to make the best of his way home to deliberate upon the measures to be adopted.  Having reached the door, however, of the burgomaster’s dwelling, the professor ventured to suggest that as the messenger had thought proper to disappear —­ no doubt frightened to death by the savage appearance of the burghers of Rotterdam —­ the pardon would be of little use, as no one but a man of the moon would undertake a voyage to so vast a distance.  To the truth of this observation the burgomaster assented, and the matter was therefore at an end.  Not so, however, rumors and speculations.  The letter, having been published, gave rise to a variety of gossip and opinion.  Some of the over-wise even made themselves ridiculous by decrying the whole business; as nothing better than a hoax.  But hoax, with these sort of people, is, I believe, a general term for all matters above their comprehension.  For my part, I cannot conceive upon what data they have founded such an accusation.  Let us see what they say: