4 06 Notes for the Mon th. [O CT. 



" what mode could be so desirable as to swing them securely in a ham- 

 mock or cot, and thus transport them above the foaming billows, and land 

 them dryshod on the shore?" And again, " these kites having power to 

 elevate one in the air," might be of the highest use in military service : as 

 from such " flying observations, all the movements and manoeuvres of an 

 army might be distinctly marked." 



As this particular portion of Mr. Pocock's plan is the most curious and 

 surprising, we regret that he has not been more careful in communicating 

 the details of his experiments with respect to it. He pledges himself, in 

 distinct terms, that the thing that sort of elevation has been done ; and 

 that his <k daughter, who earnestly claimed from him the daring honour, 

 was the first Aeropleust." Still this is all the account we have of what has 

 been effected in the way of actual ascension into the air, while the notices 

 of experiments upon terra firma are given with the greatest possible am- 

 plitude and particularity : which is rather unlucky. 



For the present, however certainly regretting the absence of information 

 upon this material point, and also that his work generally is written in a 

 style which makes it difficult to distinguish sometimes whether he is in jest 

 or earnest we must leave Mr. Pocock and his invention; not at all pre- 

 judicing our right to return to the discussion of his operations hereafter. As 

 the thing stands, what has been done is very amusing, and displays great 

 ingenuity ; but we rather doubt the possibility of applying the power to 

 any purposes beyond those of diversion. When the public, however, shall 

 be possessed of more ample details as to the extent and result of Miss 

 Pocock's, or any body else's " Aeropleustic " elevation, we shall then 

 be better qualified to offer an opinion upon the probable eventual success 

 of the author's project. 



The efforts at change and improvement, are various and manifold, which 

 are anticipated from the exertions of the new ministers, and especially 

 from the presence of Lord Lansdown at the head of the Home Depart- 

 ment : there is one great and necessary work which we hope the noble 

 Marquis will not overlook especially as it was most zealously laboured 

 at by his predecessor in office we mean some alteration in the detes- 

 table system of the Game laws. It is sufficient to read the grand jury 

 charges of almost all the judges upon the late circuit, to see that some 

 modification of the existing law every day becomes more necessary : and 

 that the land-owners are now enjoying the right of crowding our gaols 

 with prisoners, for depredations upon property, so situated and circum- 

 stanced by their own wilful insolence and obstinacy, that the law were 

 that property any other than what it is would refuse altogether to notice 

 or protect it. The Game laws of England by some strange anomaly 

 that it is difficult to understand the toleration of instead of having 

 amended and improved with the general increased freedom and informa- 

 tion of the times, have been for years (practically) retrograding in spirit, 

 and exhibiting, from day to day, a more atrocious disregard for the morals 

 and security of the community. For every ten poachers that existed 

 twenty years ago, the system since pursued by the land-owners them- 

 selves has raised up fifty. At a period when the daily increasing popula- 

 tion and cultivation of the country pointed out every day what must be 

 the increased difficulty of securing any property in it which was not accu- 

 rately guarded, or at least ascertained and defined this is the time that 

 they have chosen for setting up their at best dull and unsportsmanlike 

 system of " preserves," and " battues ;" for collecting together upon 



