AEROSTATION. 
•ready for their departure. At one o’clock M. Blanchard 
denred the boat to be pulhed off, which now flood only 
two feet d-iftant from that precipice fo finely defcribed by 
Shakefpeare in his tragedy of King Lear. As the balloon 
.was fcarcely fufficient to carry two, they were obliged to 
.throw out all their ballaft except three bags of ten pounds 
.each; when they at laft rofe gently, though making very 
little way on account of there being fo little wind. At a 
quarter after one o’clock, the barometer, which on the 
cliff flood at 29-7 inches, was now fallen to.27’3, and the 
weather proved fine and warm. They had now a mofl 
beautiful profpedt of the fouth coaft of England, and 
were able to count thirty-feven villages upon it. After 
palling over feveral veffels, they found that the balloon, 
at fifty minutes after one, was defcending, on which they 
threw cut a fack and a half of ballad; but, as they law 
that it dill defcended, and that with much greater veloci¬ 
ty than before, they now threw out all the ballad. This 
dill proving ineffectual, they next threw out a parcel of 
books they carried along with them, which made the bal¬ 
loon afcendjwhen they were about midway betwixt France 
and England. At a quarter pad two, finding themfelves 
again defcending, they threw away the remainder of their 
books, and, ten minutes after, they had a mod enchant¬ 
ing profpeft of the French coad. Still, however, the ma¬ 
chine defcended; and, as they had now no more ballad, 
they werd fain to throw away their provifions' for eating, 
the wings of their boat, and every other moveable they 
could ealily fpare. “ We threw away (fays Dr. Jeffries) 
our only bottle, which, in its defcent, cad out a deant like 
frnoke, with a ruffling noife ; and, when it druck the wa¬ 
ter, we heard and felt the fliock very perceptibly on our 
car and balloon.” All this proving infufficient to dop the 
defcent of the balloon, they next threw out their anchors 
and cords, and at lad dripped off’ their clothes, fattening 
themfelves to certain flings, and intending to cut away 
the boat as their lad refource. They had now the fatis- 
faClion, however, to find that they were riling; and, as 
they palled over the high lands between Cape Blanc and 
Calais, the machine rofe very fad, and carried them to a 
greater height than they had been at any former part of 
their voyage. They defcended fafely among fome trees in 
the fored of Guiennes, where there was juft opening 
enough to admit them. 
It would be tedious as well as unneceffary to recount all 
the other aerial voyages that have been performed in this 
and other countries; we fhall therefore conclude with an 
account of the ingenious Mr. Baldwin’s excurfion from 
Cheder. 
On the 8th of September, 1785, at forty minutes pad 
one, P. M. Mr. Baldwin afcended from Cheder in M. 
Lunardi’s balloon. After traverfing, in a variety of dif¬ 
ferent directions, he fird alighted, at twenty-eight minutes 
after three, about twelve miles from Cheder, in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Frodfham ; then, re-afcending and purfuing 
his jexcurfion, he finally landed at Rixton Mofs, five miles 
N. N. E. of Wavington, and twenty-five miles from Chef- 
ter. Mr. Baldwin has publifhed his Obfervations and 
Remarks made during his voyage, and the following are 
fome of the mod important and curious:—“ The fenfa- 
tion of afcending is compared to that of a drong p re flu re 
from the bottom of the car upwards againft the foies of 
his feet. At the didance of what appeared to him feven 
miles from the earth, though by the barometer fcarcely 
a mile and a half, he had a grand and mod enchanting 
view of the city of Cheder and its adjacent places below. 
The river Dee appeared of a red colour; the city very 
diminutive; and the town entirely blue. The whole ap¬ 
peared a perfefi plain, the highed building having no ap¬ 
parent height, but reduced all to the fame level, and the 
whole terredrial profpeft appeared like a coloured map. 
J 11ft after his fird afcent, being in a well-watered and mari¬ 
time part of the country, he oblerved a remarkable and 
regular tendency of the balloon towards the fea; but 
fltprtly after, rifing into another current of air, he efcaped 
Vol. I. No. 11. 
169 
the danger: this upper current, he fays, was vifible to him 
at the time of his afcent, by a lofty found dratum of 
clouds flying in a fafe direction. The perfpeCtive appear¬ 
ance of things to him was very remarkable. The lowed 
bed of vapour that fird appeared as cloud was pure white, 
in detached fleeces, increadngas they rofe: they prefent- 
ly coalefced, and formed, as he expreffes it, a fea of cot¬ 
ton, tufting here and there by the action of the air in the 
undidurbed part of the clouds. The whole became an 
extended white floor of cloud, the upper furface being 
fmooth and even. Above this white floor he obferved, 
at great and unequal diftances, a vad aff’emblage of thun¬ 
der-clouds, each parcel confiding of whole acres in the 
denfed form: lie compares their form and appearance to 
the finoke of pieces of ordnance, which had confolidated 
as it were into maffes of fnow, and penetrated through the 
upper furface or white floor of common clouds, there re¬ 
maining vifible and at red. Some clouds had motions in 
flow and various directions, forming aii appearance truly 
dupendous and majeftic. He endeavours to convey fome 
idea of the fcene by a figure in the annexed plate of aerof- 
tatioii, which represents a circular viqw he had from the 
car of the balloon, himfelf being over the centre of the 
view, looking down on the white floor of clouds, and fee¬ 
ing the city of Cheder through an opening, which difco- 
vered the landfcape below, limited by furrounding va¬ 
pour to lefs than two miles in diameter. The breadth 
of the outer margin defines his apparent height in the 
balloon (viz. four miles) above the white floor of cloiids. 
Mr. Baldwin alfo gives a'curious defcription of his tracing 
the fhadow of the balloon over tops of volumes of clouds. 
At fird it was fimall, in fliape and fize like an egg; but 
foon increafed to the magnitude of the fun’s dil’c, dill 
growing larger, and attended with a mod captivating ap¬ 
pearance of an iris encircling the whole fhadow' at fome 
didance round it, the colours of which were remarkably 
brilliant. The regions did not feel colder, but father 
warmer, than below. The fun was hotted to him when 
the balloon was dationary. The difcharge of a cannon, 
when the balloon was at a confiderable height, was dif- 
tindlly heard by the aeronaut; and a difcharge from the 
fame piece, when at the height of thirty yards, fo dif- 
turbed him as to oblige him for fafety to lay hold firmly 
of the cords of the balloon. At a confiderable height he 
poured down a pint bottle-full of water; and, as the air 
did not oppofe a refidance diffident to break the dream 
into final I drops, it modly fell down in large drops. In 
the courfe of the balloon’s track it was found much affeft- 
ed by the water (a circumdance obferved in former aerial 
voyages). At one time the direction of the balloon kept 
continually over the water, going diredly towards the fea, 
fo much as to endanger the aeronaut; the mouth of the 
balloon was opened, and he in two minutes defcended in¬ 
to an under-current blowing from the fea: he kept de¬ 
fcending, and landed at Bellair Farm in Rinfley, twelve 
miles from Cheder. Here he lightened his car by thirty- 
one pounds, and, indantly re-afcending, Avas carried intu 
the anterior part of the country, performing a number of 
different manoeuvres. At his greated altitude he found' 
his refpiration free and eafy. Several bladders which lie 
had along with him crackled and expanded very confide- 
rably. Clouds and land, as before, appeared on thp fame 
level. By way of experiment, he tried the upper valve 
two or three times, the neck of the balloon being clofe ;. 
and remarked, that the efcape of the gas was attended 
with a growling noife like millftones, but not near fo 
loud. Again, round the fhadow of the balloon, on the 
clouds, lie obferved the iris. A variety of other circum- 
ftances,and appearances he met with, is fancifully defcri¬ 
bed ; and at fifty-three minutes after three he finally 
landed.” 
The frequency of aerial voyages, accompanied with 
particular details of trifling and uninterefting circumflan- 
ces, and apparently made with a view to promote the in- 
terefl of particular perfons, regardlefs of any advance- 
X x meat 
