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ji? tliey approached the land, it began to rife : and in two 

 hju'.s ih-y reached the high grounds, near Calais, and the 

 b^dioon rifing iHU higher over the land, they defccnded 

 fafely in the foreil oi Guiennes. In confequence of this 

 voyage the king of France prefented Mr. Bhirichard with a 

 gift ot I2O0O hvres, and granted liim a peniion of I 200 litres 

 a year. A bottle which was thrown out of the boat in the 

 time of their danger, ftruek the water with fueh foice, that 

 {he fiiock was heard at a corifidei-able elevation, and fenfihly 

 fell on the car and ballooji. 



On the 19th of [aniinry Mr. Crofbie afcendcd at Dnblin 

 with aiT infiammable air balloon to a great height, and rofe 

 fo rapidly as to be oiit of hght in 3 J minutes. By opening 

 the valve he defccnded fuddenly as he approached very 

 rear the fea. On the 23d of Marcli Count Zambeccari and 

 Admiral Sir Edward Vernon afcended at Lor.don, and 

 failed to Horfham in Suflex, at the dillance of 35 miles, in 

 lefs than an hour. At the height of about two miles, the 

 barometer having fallen from 30. 4 inches to 20. 8 inches, 

 an accident endangered tiiem, and obliged them to defcend. 

 In their defcent they paffed through a denfe cloud, which 

 covered them with fnovv. Tliey obferved that the balloon 

 revolved perpetually round its vertical axis, with fucli ra- 

 pidity as to perform each revolution in four or live feconds ; 

 they alio mention a kind of ruftling noife, which they heard 

 among the clouds, and that the balloon was greatly agi- 

 tated in its defcent. On the 5th of May, Mr. Sadler and 

 Mr. Windham afcended at Moulfey Hurft ; and wxre 

 driven by a current of air towaids the fea. They fortu- 

 nately defcended at the conflux of the Thames and Med- 

 way ; but the cords of their machine being releafed, it in- 

 ftantly afcended and floated to a confiderable diftance, and 

 was taken up by a trading veflel at fea, where it fell. On 

 the 1 2th of May, Mr. Crolbie afcended at Dublin, but foon 

 came down again with a velocity which alarmed the fpcc- 

 tators. Upon his defcent, Mr. M'Guire, a c;-^;ge youth, 

 fprung into the machine, and was earned off by the afcend- 

 ing balloon tov.-ards the Channel ; he at length fell into 

 the fea, and was taken up by a boat dilpatched for his relief, 

 juft when h;-. ftrength was exhaufted with fwimming, and 

 thus his life was faved. 



The fate of M. P. de Rozier, the fini aerial navigator, 

 and of his companion M. Romain, has been much lamented. 

 They afcended at Boulogne on the 15th of June, with an 

 intention of croflnig the Channel to England. Their ma- 

 chine confifted of a fphcrical balloon 37 feet in diameter, 

 filled with infl.xmmable air ; and under this balloon was fuf- 

 pended a fmall Montgolfier, or fire-balloon, ten feet in 

 diameter. This Montgolfier was defigned for rarefying the 

 almolpheric air, and thus diminilhing the fpeciiic gravity of 

 the whole apparatus. For the firlt twenty minutes they 

 feemed to purine the proper courfe ; but the balloon fcemed to 

 be much inflated, and the aeronauts appeared anxious to de- 

 fcend. Soon h.owever, when they were at the height of 

 about three quarters of a mile, the whole apparatus was in 

 flames, and the unfortunate adver.turers fell to the ground, 

 and were killed on the fpot. 



On the 19th of July Mr. Crofbie afcended at Dublin, 

 with a view of crofling the Channel to England. To a 

 wicker ba!l<et of a circular form, which he hud fubftituted 

 for the boat, he had affixed a number of bladders, for the 

 purpofe of rendei'ing his gallery' buoyant, in crfe of a difafter 

 at fea. The height to which he afcended at one time was 

 fuch, that by the intenfe cold his ink was frozen, and the 

 mercury funk into the ball of the thermometer. He him- 

 felf was fick, and he felt a ftrong imprelfum on the tym- 

 panum of his ears. At his uimoll elevation he thought 



Vol. I. 



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himfelf ftationar)' ; but on dlfcharglng feme gas, lie de- 

 fccnded to a very rough cnn'cit of an blowing to the nortli. 

 He then entered a denfe cloud, and ex;eri.nccd Ihong 

 blafts of winds, with thunder and lightning, which brought 

 him with rapidity towards the furface of the water. Tiie 

 water foon entered his car; the force of the wind plunged 

 him into the ocean ; and it was with difficulty that he put 

 on his cork jacket. The bladder-; wliieh he had prepared 

 were now found of grtat ufe. The water, added lo his 

 own weight, ferved as ballad ; and the balloon maintaining 

 its poife, anfwered the purpofe of a fail, by means of which, 

 and a fnatch-block to his car, he moved before the wind as 

 regularly as a failing veflel. He was at length overtaken by 

 fome veil'els that were crowding fail after him, and conveyed 

 to Dunleary, with the balloon towed after them. On the 

 2 2d of July, Major Money, who afcended at Norwich, was 

 driven out to fea, and after iiaving been blown about for 

 about two hours, he d-opped into the water. After much 

 exertion for preferviug his life, and when he was almoll de- 

 fpairing of relief, he was taken up by a revenue cutter in 

 a Hate of extreme weaknefs ; having been ilruggling to 

 keep himfelf above v.ater for about feven hours. The 

 longeft voyage that had been hitherto made was performed 

 by Mr. Blanchard towards the end of Auguil. He af- 

 cended at Lifle, accompanied by the chevalier de L'Epi- 

 nard, and traverfed a diilancc of 300 miles before th.ey de- 

 fccnded. On this, as well as on other occafions, Mr. Blan- 

 chard made trial of a parachute, in the form of a laige 

 umbrella, which he contrived for breaking the fall in cafe 

 of any accident. With this machine he let down a dog, 

 which came to the ground gently, and unhurt. 



On the 8th of September Mr. Baldv.-in afcended froTTi 

 the city of Chefter, and perfoi-mcd an aerial voyage of 25 

 miles in two hours and a quarter. His grcateft elevation was 

 about a mile and an half, and he fuppofes that the velocity 

 of his motion was fometimes at the rate of 30 miles an 

 hour. He has publifliecl' a circumftantial account of his 

 voyage, defcribed the appearances of the clouds as he paffed 

 through them, and annexed a variety of obfervations relat- 

 ing to aeroftation, which render his treatife valuable and in- 

 tereiling to thofe who wifli to acquaint themfclves withthis 

 fubjeft. It would be tedious to recount the aerial expedi- 

 tions that were performed in various parts of our own 

 conatrv', as well as on the continent, in the whole courfe 

 of the year 1785; more efpecially as they have afforded 

 us no experiment or difcovery of any peculiar impoitance. 

 The moll perfevering aerial navigator has been Mr. Blan- 

 chard. In Augufl 1788, he afcended at Brunfwick for the 

 tiiirty-fecond time. Within two years fiom the firll dif- 

 covery of this art of navigating the atmofphere, more than 

 forty different perfosis performed tlie experiment without 

 any material injury ; and it may be juftly queflioned, fays 

 Mr. Cavallo, whether the firft forty perions, who trailed 

 themfelves to the fea in boats, efcaped fo fafely. The ca- 

 tallrophe that befel Rozier, and the unpleafant circum- 

 flances that have happened to fome of the aeronauts in our 

 own country, have been owing not fo much to the principle 

 of the art, as to want of judgment, or imprudent manage- 

 ment in the conduft of it. 



We fliall 'clofe this abfti-aft of the hiftor)' of aeroflatioa 

 with the obfervations of a very competent judge on the re- 

 fpeclive advantages and difjidvrfntages of balloon.s made with 

 inflammable air, and of thofe that are raifed by means of hot 

 air, to the former of which he gives the preference. The 

 principal comparative advantages of the rarefied air-balloons 

 are, their Ixing filled with little or no expence ; their not 

 requiring to be made of fo expenfive materials ; and the corn- 

 er CL bulliblei 



