lighter wicker car, or rather gallery, took his place within
and severed the cords just as the last gun fired. The Prince
of Wales raised his hat, imitated at once by all the
bystanders, and the first balloon that ever quitted English
soil rose into the air amid the extravagant enthusiasm of the
multitude. The intrepid aeronaut, pardonably excited, and
fearful lest he should not be seen within the gallery, made
frantic efforts to attract attention by waving his flag, and
worked his oars so vigorously that one of them broke and fell.
A pigeon also gained its freedom and escaped. The voyager,
however, still retained companions in his venture--a dog and a
cat.

Following his own account, Lunardi's first act on finding
himself fairly above the town was to fortify himself with some
glasses of wine, and to devour the leg of a chicken. He
describes the city as a vast beehive, St. Paul's and other
churches standing out prominently; the streets shrunk to lines,
and all humanity apparently transfixed and watching him. A
little later he is equally struck with the view of the open
country, and his ecstasy is pardonable in a novice. The
verdant pastures eclipsed the visions of his own lands. The
precision of boundaries impressed him with a sense of law and
order, and of good administration in the country where he was
a sojourner.

By this time he found his balloon, which had been only
two-thirds full at starting, to be so distended that he was
obliged to untie the mouth to release the strain. He also
found that the condensed moisture round the neck had frozen.