motion;

it appeared as if the balloon was the only point stationary, and that the earth and the people were suddenly sinking away. The rapidity with which it ascended was such that it prevented every sensation of giddiness, the whole country appearing in the course of a few seconds as one prodigious map. The almost instantaneous transition from the shouts of the spectators, and from the absolute tumult in which we had been engaged, to the death-like stillness that reigned in the upper regions, only broken at intervals by the report of a cannon at Walthamstow, filled the mind with indescribable sensations. It appeared difficult to persuade the mind that it was a reality; and the mixed sensations of delight and astonishment completely deprived me of the power of expressing my wonder at the scene beneath the eye. It seemed a dream, and hardly possible to be a reality.

"A few moments, however, were all that I allowed myself to feast on the delightful scene; for the confusion that had taken place around the car had compelled those that had taken charge of the instruments to use very great exertions to convey them to us in the car. They were accordingly lying in a distressing state of confusion at the bottom of the car; though, on examination, fortunately without having suffered the smallest injury. As soon therefore as the usual ceremony of waving the farewell flag could be dispensed with, I threw off my hat, and proceeded to arrange and suspend the instruments. To effect this it was necessary to have both hands at liberty. I was desirous of disposing of the flag I held in my hand, and accordingly thrust the staff through the back of the car; but as I was obliged to stand upon the scar to fix the barometer sufficiently high, the flag fell from its situation, and was afterwards picked up at about a quarter of a mile from the place of

ascent,

ascent, though neither of us missed it until some considerable time after the accident. The instruments being fixed in their respective situations, the next care was to regulate the gauge of the barometer; all which several occupations consumed the first ten minutes of the voyage.

"After having made the first set of observations, I had an opportunity of viewing at leisure the prospect from the balloon. The first and most striking object was the Thames, which was seen meandering in endless gigantic sinuosities through the long line of country down as far as the Nore. The ships, and even boats, were distinguishable on its mirror-like surface with astonishing minuteness; and I have no doubt that, had the ascent been made with reference to that particular object, the number of shipping afloat in the river and wet docks might have been most accurately counted.

"The sun shone full upon the river, and presented at once the grandest and most delightful sight imaginable. It would be fruitless to attempt the description of the scene, though in candour it must be acknowledged that it agreed precisely with the idea that I had preconceived, and differed in no respect whatever from the view from the summit of a lofty situation; except that it was infinitely more extended in its range; the eye em braced a larger field within its scope; and then that listless sensation of delight which is derived from the nature of the voyage itself. In short, as has been already stated, the gratification arising from the situation is altogether indescribable, but to such as have experienced it

themselves. Though moving with such wonderful velocity, the travellers are themselves totally unscious of any motion whatever. They feel themselves floating in a most delightful acriform fluid, and seeming to convey a most exquisite idea of unlimited elasticity. The extreme elasticity, indeed, was found on this occasion to be materially against the accuracy required in ail barometrical observations. The slightest motion on the part of either of us causing a vibration of the quicksilver, in the tube, of an inch, a half, and two inches, which required to be steadied with the hand to bring it to any thing like a stationary point. Finding this to be the case, I noticed each time the two extreme divisions of vibration, and took the mean as the sum to be placed in the barometer column. In no one instance was the barometer stationary; for even when we were both of us perfectly still, the barometer ebbed and flowed with great rapidity, though not to such an extent as in the case already mentioned.

"In looking over the country, it gave the idea of an immense map, executed with uncommon neatness; the fields presenting a much livelier and brighter green than the trees. The colours of objects were not in the least changed or affected in any instance that came under observation. In passing over Epping Forest, I was particularly struck with its appearance; it seemed to consist of a vast number of clumps of something of a very dark green, certainly conveying an accurate idea of what it really was-a forest; but so much fore-shortened as to preclude any idea of comparative elevation. It occurred to me at the

very moment of my noticing it, that although Captain Snowdon had been much joked for having described Epping Forest as looking like a gooseberry bush, the error really existed by no means in the point of fact, but in the unfortunate selection of words in which he had chosen to express himself; for had he said that Epping Forest looked exactly like a large plantation of gooseberry trees of a gigantic size and width, he would have conveyed a very accurate idea of the fact. I particularly noticed that the forest presented to the eye a tract of dark green detached patches; where the turf (as I supposed) was visible, there seemed to be an edging of varied extent of courses of a green of a much brighter colour. All objects, of whatever kind, ceased to give any idea of comparative height, unless when seen at a considerable angle, before the balloon became in a vertical situation. I observed that white objects, as Chigwell and Ongar Church, Wanstead House, and the Town Hall at Chelmsford, conveyed a much better idea of our elevation above the surface of the earth than any other objects I observed. The small rill of water that runs through the main street of Chelmsford sparkled with peculiar brilliancy; much more so indeed than either the Thames or any other water that caught the eye in the course of the voyage. Such of the roads as took the attention seemed all of one uniform colour, and that an orange

yellow; and, at the elevation at which the balloon was at the time, conveyed the idea of fine gravel walks. In one instance, in which a flock of sheep were passing in a direction from London, the dust they left behind them was very distinguishable, and this at an ele vation of nearly 3000 feet. All sounds seemed to be transmitted with distinctness to us aloft, at a distance in which we could not make ourselves heard by those under us. This was to be expected, as there could be no objects near enough to the balloon to assist in reflecting the sound; whereas to those beneath us this objection did not apply; the hills and hollows all tending to influence the propagation of sound on the earth. It did not appear that any change in the state of the atmosphere affected the propagation of sound. This was contrary to my expectations. For some years since, when Colonel Beaufoy was out on a shooting party on one of the Swiss mountains, in company with the late Sir Harry Mildmay, they were enveloped in a very dense cloud; by accident Sir Harry's fowling-piece went off, and the report was instantly followed by a complete roll, like that of thunder. The experiment was repeated again and again with similar results. Col. Beaufoy waited there some time, till the cloud had cleared away, and the ordinary clearness of the atmosphere was restored. He again tried the effects of the discharge of his piece; but now, no roll followed.

Time

Remarks made at the different Periods of the above Observations.

"Observation I made at Hackney Wick, at the moment the balloon was seen rising over the trees, and as the data from which the experiments were to be made during the voyage. The first 10 minutes were occupied in fixing the instruments, and regulating the gauge of the barometer. Mr. Sadler directed me to attend solely to the observations, and that he would himself look to the management of the balloon. Assisted in putting to rights and coiling away rope, grapnel, &c. &c. which were lying in a confused heap in the bottom of the car. Stuck the flag-staff through the

back of the car, and threw off hat.

"Obs.. 2.-Threw out two bags of ballast, and soon after a third. A most enchanting view. Mr. Sadler pointed out some high chalk cliffs, which he said were the Nore.

"Obs. 3.-The balloon had a rotatory motion, which tended to confuse any very distinct idea of situation. This motion most probably caused by some accidental twirl in the confusion in which the balloon was launched.

"Obs. 4.-Sent off one of the pigeons, marked No. 7, which the instant it was at liberty flew boldly from the car in a circle, and then towards the earth at a very consi

derable

derable angle. View clear and distinct.

Obs. 5.-Mr. Sadler uncorked a bottle of Champaigne, and we drank the health of the Prince Regent, and afterwards that of Sir Daniel Williams, followed by All Friends at Hackney. Did not perceive any alteration in the senses of taste or smell, either in the wine, or in some sandwiches. On removing the cork, the fixed air escaped from the bottle in the form of a rather denser kind of smoke, and the wine sparkled with more vivacity than I had remarked on uncorking champaign on other occasion. It appeared that the gas escaped with greater facility under the diminished pressure of the atmosphere at this elevation.

"Obs. 6.Observed that the least motion caused by us occasioned an amazing vibration of the quicksilver in the barometrical tube, sometimes considerably more than an inch. The compass-needle not at all altered from its horizontal position.

"Obs 7.-Mr. Sadler tried the effect of the valve, to ascertain whether it was in good order. The gas made its escape through the valve with a noise precisely similar to that of weak steam rushing through the valve of a steam boiler.

"Obs. 8.-The balloon was now in the midst of a heavy shower of rain, which was presently changed into a violent bail-storm. The sound produced by the battering of the hail and rain against the upper surface of the balloon, contrasted with the general stillness that otherwise reigned around the balloon, was very striking. Threw out a board which had been taken up to answer the purpose of a table, but not used, because the weight of the 1813.

load caused the angle formed by the ropes, by which the car was attached to the netting, to become more acute, and we were. apprehensive that the edges of the board would cut the ropes. Threw out the wicker basket. The effect of the rain and hail on the balloon was exhibited in a copious discharge of fluid through the neck of the balloon, arising probably from a condension of the warm hydrogen gas, by the constant succession of cold fluid pouring in torrents on the upper surface of the balloon. This fluid appeared to have dissolved a portion of the varnish; for wherever it fell on the clothes or hat it left a permanent stain of a whitish-looking gummy appearance. At this time we experienced a very strong current of air or wind, not only cold and chilly to the feelings, but apparently blowing from no one particular point of the compass, as it rush ed sometimes from one, at another moment from a directly opposite direction. This current of air caused the balloon to acquire a rotatory vertical motion, which made the compass traverse as nearly as I could guess, for I did not note it by the watch, once in about 20 or 30 se conds. The confusion round the car at the launching was here productive of inconvenience: for the car did not hang perfectly parallel. I was at the lowest end, and therefore found this vertical motion exceedingly inconvenient. The car was lowest on my right hand; so that it was not only lowest towards that end, but was lop-sided on my right. The motion of the balloon was from my left towards my right hand. The wind made no noise, and would not have been perceptible but for the freshness of the air Q