404 Notes for the Month. [OcT. 



Henry Siddons, the son of Mrs. Siddons, was a very bad actor indeed. 

 Lewis had two sons upon the stage ; neither of them of any value. 

 Mr. Dowton has two sons (or had) in the same situation. And Mrs; 

 Glover's two daughters will never rise above low mediocrity. On the 

 other hand, Mr. Macready and Mr. Wallack, are both the sons of very 

 low actors ; and the late John Bannister and Mr. Tokely were similarly 

 descended. Almost the only modern instance of the immediate descen- 

 dant of a valuable performer turning out well, was in the case of Mrs. 

 Jordan's daughter, Mrs. Alsop ; who was very nearly as good an actress 

 as her mother. Mr. Kean, junior, is stated to be very young : this is not 

 in favour of his present excellence. We doubt if there is an instance 

 on record of a very young man being a considerable actor. Both houses, 

 however, advertise strong companies whether they can afford to bring 

 them into play, is another matter. 



Navigation in the Air. We noticed a short time since in the scientific 

 department of our Magazine, the project of a gentleman of the name of 

 Pocock, a schoolmaster of Bristol, for propelling a species of wheel car- 

 riage by means of the power of kites. An experiment made with this 

 char-volant, some months back, near Windsor, in which it overtook and 

 outstripped the carriage of the Duke of Gloucester (his Highness chancing 

 to be travelling the same way) was noticed, at the time, by several London 

 and provincial papers ; and Mr. Pocock has now published a quarto book 

 in explanation of his invention, interspersed with plates some exhibiting 

 men flying in the air at the tails of kites others, ships at sea and stranded, 

 sending messengers to shore by them others still, carriages drawn over 

 hill and dale by them, which horsemen riding venire a terre, as the French 

 describe it, are unable to overtake ; altogether a work as wild and eccen- 

 tric as some persons will consider the discovery itself. 



The objects that is to say, the more important objects to which Mr. 

 Pocock finds his invention particularly applicable, are three in number: the 

 propelling of ships in calm weather at sea ; the drawing of carriages by 

 land ; and the elevating of individuals to enormous heights in the air, for 

 the purposes of observation, escalade of fortresses, crossing of rivers, or 

 any other acts for which such an exalted location may be considered avail- 

 able. All these works, he assures the public, have been EXPERIMENTALLY 

 ACCOMPLISHED by the Kites ; and although the author himself admits 

 that some of his accounts have been thought a little strange by people not 

 habitually incredulous, yet there is considerable curiosity in the steps by 

 which his invention has been brought to its present state, as well as 

 approved truth in many of the results which he describes to have been 

 obtained from it. 



Mr. Pocock informs us that having, when a boy, conceived some notions 

 of the probability of making the drawing power of a kite applicable to 

 useful purposes in life, it became an object with him, of course, in the 

 first place, to try to what extent the force of the engine in question could 

 be carried. With this view, he conceived the idea of procuring two paper 

 .kites : and flying up the first until it would carry no more string, he 

 then tied the end of the first kite string, to the back of the second kite ; 

 and letting that up with its own length of cordage, he soon discovered that 

 by adding kite after kite in this manner, an almost indefinite extent of 

 power and elevation might be obtained. Encouraged by having fixed this 

 principle, he proceeded in his labours ; making a variety of improvements 

 almost immediately in the construction and management of his kites : 



