I was apprehensive that it might be my
last voyage."  (Is it not strange that this
should have been written after the death
of M. Rozier?)  "In another moment, a
report like that of suddenly bursting an
inflated bag, such as boys frequently amuse
themselves with, informed us that the balloon
had rent; and at the same time some of the
cords—two of them—separated from the
concentrating hoop; and that side of the balloon
at which this took place as quickly bulged out,
and immediately the atmosphere round the
machine got filled with a whitish filmy vapour.
This was a consequence of a mixture of warm
hydrogen with cold atmosphere.  Although the
breaking of two cords next to each other, out of
the twenty-four (which was the number in this
machine), did not seem to endanger my situation
much, but seemed rather to have relieved me to
some extent from the very perilous position in
which I had been a few moments previously,
it still destroyed that mathematical strength
existing in its complete state, which made me
feel anxious to return to terra firma.  I looked
at my watch, and found the time to be five
minutes past four.  After the explosion of the
lower part of the balloon, it commenced a
tolerably rapid descent; and as the atmosphere
had got considerably clearer than it had been
when I started, I could more easily distinguish
the face of the country beneath.  On observation,
I found the balloon was gradually
descending on the village of Womelsdorf.
Here I received a salute from a volley of
musketry, by a company of volunteers who
were celebrating the national republican birthday
at that place.  Although I had determined
to let the balloon sink to the ground as soon as
it possibly would from its own gravitation,
occasioned by the loss of the gas through the
rent—for I had no control of the valve—this
salute of firing and shouting inspired me to
rise again; and accordingly papers and ballast
were thrown overboard, sufficient to send the
machine up at least two miles high.  No sooner
was this height attained than it again
commenced to descend very gradually, which
brought me to the earth about four miles west
of Reading.  Here an incident occurred which
was as amusing to me as it was terrifying to
the individual who was a party thereto.  Being
likely to descend in a cluster of trees, I threw
out some ballast to cross them; at the same
time the grappling-hook took hold in a branch
of one of the trees, which was broken off, and
dragged along.  At this moment I perceived a
countryman mounting the top rail of a
wormfence about a hundred paces ahead of the
balloon, to which point the wind was driving it.
I hailed him to assist, for the balloon was floating
the length of the grappling-rope above, and
dragging the broken limb of the tree below.
He looked in every direction but upwards, and
in another moment the limb and grapnel came
square up against the panel of fence upon
which he was sitting, and threw it down, pitching
the man head-foremost into the meadow
before him, from which he sprang terror-
stricken—if fleetness of feet is any evidence of
such feeling; for he was soon out of sight,
leaving me to manage the best way I could,
which was by being drawn up against a wood.
Here I got the assistance of two women who
had been working in a hay-field.  Had it not
been for these Amazonian ladies, I should
inevitably have gotten into the wood, for a brisk
gale was just passing over at the time."

One of the most notable balloon ascents ever
made in England was that of Mr. Green's Great
Nassau, that succeeded in reaching Germany
after one of almost the longest aërial voyages
that had then been made.  The expedition was
fitted out by Mr. Robert Holland, an enthusiast
in aërostation.  The object was to make a trip
on a grand scale, and thoroughly to test the
powers of one of the largest balloons that had
yet been exhibited.  The air-ship, built in the
strongest manner, was sixty feet high, contained
eighty-five thousand cubic feet of gas, and was
calculated to support a weight of many hundred
pounds.  The wicker car was nine feet long and
four broad.  The car contained a windlass for
raising and lowering the guide-rope, and the
bottom of the car was cushioned, so that the
aëronauts might have a sleeping-place, if necessary.

The ascent took place on the 7th of November,
1836.  Very few persons were admitted
inside Vauxhall Gardens; but outside thousands
were crowded, eager to watch the soaring of the
monster.  Mr. Green had provided a fortnight's
provisions, and a ton of ballast arranged in bags.
All round the hoops were hung cloaks, carpetbags,
barometers, cordage, wine-jars, spirit
flasks, barrels of wood and copper, speaking-
trumpets, telescopes, and lamps.  They also
took to the upper regions a coffee-machine, the
heat in which was evolved from slaking quicklime.
The aëronauts also carried with them a
letter of introduction to the King of Holland,
and special passports for all parts of the
Continent.

At half-past one the mooring ropes were let
go, and the air-ship slowly drifted away to
the south-east, across the hop-fields of Kent,
over Bromley and Footscray.  The day was cold
and fine, and the few light clouds that there
were served to point out the different currents at
different altitudes.  At forty-eight minutes past
two they crossed the Medway, and an hour after
they caught sight of the stately towers of
Canterbury.  Here Mr. Green dropped a parachute,
with a letter for the mayor, who had been a
patron of his.  A few minutes after they came in
sight of the sea, red with the setting sun; and
as evening grew on the balloon descended so
near the earth, that the navigators could carry
on a flying conversation with persons over
whom they passed.  A covey of partridges fled
at their approach, and a colony of rooks
scattered before them in noisy dismay.

As night approached, dark and wilhout moon,
fires seemed to break out of the earth, massing
here and there where there were villages, towns,