436 
ferior situation in the finances, and nothing 
at that period foretold that he would one day 
become one of the most able natural philo- 
sophers in Europe; still, either in the cul- 
tivation of the arts, or in his ordinary occu- 
pations, he undertook nothing but what he 
completed with elegance, justness, and. pre- 
cision, At length the plans of the comp- 
troller-general of the finances forced M. 
Charles to enter into the career of the sciences. 
‘This employment was soon suppressed, when 
the name of Franklin and his discoveries 
mainly contributed to bring into vogue the 
study of natural phenomena. M. Charles 
therefore launched into the arena of science 
by public demonstrations, and was attended 
by numerous auditors, and in a short time 
his lectures gained great celebrity; inso- 
much, that Franklin himself, then ambassa- 
dor at the court of Versailles, being present 
at one of them in which he had been emi- 
nently successful, said, “‘ I see very well that 
nature has nothing to refuse you.”’ 
M. Charles had proceeded several years as 
a professor, when a striking and unlooked- 
for discovery astonished the amateurs of 
science. The brothers Montgolfiers had 
succeeded in constructing a machine capable 
of moving and elevating itself in the air to a 
great height, and supporting a considerable 
weight, which was received with joy and 
admiration throughout Europe ; it was hail- 
ed as a new era, in which man, master at 
last of the only element left for him to con- 
tend with, might see his power over nature 
doubled. It was on the 5th of June, 1783, 
when the Montgolfiers made their first ex- 
periment, in presence of the states of Viva- 
rais, assembled at Annonay ; their balloon 
weighed 500 Ibs., and elevated itself in ten 
minutes to the height of 1,000 toises; it 
then became stationary for a short time, and 
slowly descended, after having made an 
horizontal line of 7,200-feet. As soon as 
this was known at Paris it excited a general 
enthusiasm; all lovers of science felt the 
most lively desire to repeat the experiment, 
and M. Charles, from his celebrity, was 
fixed on to undertake it; andon the 27th of 
August, 1783, his balloon ascended from the 
Champ-de-Mars, in presence of a prodigious 
number of persons, who had the satisfaction 
of witnessing its complete success. The pub- 
lic astonishment was carried to its highest 
pitch afterwards, on viewing the ill-fated 
Pilatre-de-Rosiére, and the Marquis d’Ar- 
lande, ascend in the air, seated in a boat 
suspended, to a balloon. At length M. 
Charles formed a project not less adven- 
turous, and, accompanied by M. Robert, 
ascended, from the Tuilleries, to the height 
of 7,000 feet, and travelled in the air nine 
leagues in the course of several minutes, and 
safely descended at Nesle, in presence of the 
- celebrated Duc d’ Orleans (then Duc de Char- 
tres), and the éJite of the court of France. 
After M. Robert had quitted the car, M. 
Charles reascended, the balloon rapidly at- 
taining the region of the clouds in a still 
Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 
[Oar 
higher degree, when he again descended 
perfectly safe. 
We well remember two anecdotes worthy 
recording upon this subject, of Louis XVI., 
both denoting the kind character of that 
prince. When he had been informed of the 
intention of M. Charles, fearful of the event, 
he ordered the police magistrate.to prevent 
the ascension ; but from some accident the. 
order was eluded ; and when his majesty 
heard the success of this daring enterprise, 
he gave M. Charles a pension from his own 
private purse, which was continued to the 
period of the revolution. : 
Some time after this event, the Duke of 
Orleans ascended with Messrs. Charles and 
Robert, from his (then) park of St. Cloud. 
It was in this excursion aux” nues that the 
duke found himself obliged to cut open the 
balloon with his sword, which caused. the 
zrial travellers to descend with more alacrity 
than they wished, although without any 
material accident. 
Although erostatic ascensions have offered 
spectacles the most astonishing, which the 
genius of man could ever imagine, yet they 
have not hitherto conferred any immediate 
advantages to society ; still it must be con- 
fessed, that in their progress, the process dis- 
covered and perfected by M. Charles, has 
been uniformly followed. 
Once during the lectures of M. Charles, 
the terrific leveller Marat, who professed the 
physical sciences; without any ceremony 
went to the apartments of M. Charles, and 
annoyed him with his opinions, which he 
called discoveries. M. Charlies in retwn, 
with his usual perspicuity, explained the ob- 
jects in discussion, when Marat, whom no- 
thing reasonable could ever convince, became 
frantic, and drawing his sword, fell upon the 
professor, who being a powerful man, and 
excited by the imminent peril, rapidly seized 
his enemy, threw him down, and taking his 
sword from him, broke it to pieces. Marat 
fainted away,* and for some time life ap- 
peared doubtful. M. Charles called in his 
neighbours to assist him, and Marat was 
carried home, whilst Charles went to the 
minister of police to inform him of the trans- 
action. We need hardly hint what a source 
of affliction this event became to Charles’s 
friends, during the system of terror, when 
his adversary possessed such unbounded 
power ; but luckily Charles had the happi- 
ness of being forgotten ; he was lost in the 
innumerable host of the monster’s new 
enemies.” 
® Marat, previous to the revolution, pretended 
to be the apostate of liberty, and was the same 
yain captious egotist in England, when he pub- 
lished here his ‘‘ Chains of Slavery,” written ex- 
pressly against the court of Versailles, about the 
year 1775. He was an envious mountebank, per- 
petually endeavouring to overthrow the reputation 
of every man of merit, and loading himself with 
consummate praise ; and this attack upon Charles, 
whom he would have murdered, was solely be- 
cause that professor had not spoken with adula- 
tion of his experiments. He was always the san- — 
guinary wretch he afterwards so fully demon- 
