Report of the Labours of the French Architects at Rome. 187 
P. S.—One of the most powerful means of retarding the pro- 
gress of aérostation has been ridicule. In the Essay to whioh 
I have alluded there is the following passage : 
«< The disposition to ridicule every scientific project as absurd, 
until it has been absolutely brought to perfection, has been the 
common topic of complaint amongst men of inventive genius ; 
and it is curious to observe, that poets, who suffer so much them- 
selves by the taunts of men of the world, and by the apathy of 
the vulgar, should in their turn revenge themselves upon men of 
science, and treat their speculations with disdain. Ben Jonson 
has attempted this, in one of his masques, with a degree of hu- 
mour which is not always the portion of those who throw ri- 
dicule on science. Merefool, the clown of the piece, consults 
an adept, who promises to instruct him in all occult secrets, and 
to show him apparitions of all the learned men of the ancients; 
but every man who is called for happens to be busy, from Py- 
thagoras, ‘who has rashly run himself upon an employment of 
keeping asses from a field of beans,’ to Archimedes, who is 
meditating the invention of ; 
‘ A rare mouse-trap with owls’ wings, 
And a cat’s foot to catch the mice alone.’ 
“ Not only the same taste for ridicule, but the same ideas, 
we find repeated, with a slight alteration, at different eras. 
Aristophanes and Lucian amongst the ancients; and Butler, 
Swift, and Voltaire, the three modern masters of ridicule, have 
- in various shapes the same ideas, and are alike disposed to con- 
found the ingenious and the extravagant. The best way of 
parrying the stroke of ridicule is to receive it with good hu- 
mour; Laugh with those who laugh, and persevere with those 
who labour, should be the motto of men who possess the powers 
of invention. 
“‘ The late Dr. Johnson, who in his Rasselas ridiculed the 
idea of the art of flying, lived long enough to see the ascent of 
the first air-balloon.” | 
XLV. Report made by Messrs. Hzurtier, Percizr, and Du- 
FoURNY, to the Class of Fine Arts of the French Institute, of 
the Labours of the French Architects at Rome during the 
Years 1812 and 1813*, 
~Goxremnn,—You will recollect that the labours prescribed 
_ by your regulations to the pupils who are architectural pensioners 
* Megasin Encyciopédigue, Nov. 1815. 
of 
