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At this time upwards of twenty thousand persons had attended the exhibition of the Balloon and apparatus at the Lyceum; and I had no doubt the proprietor of the room, who had received the money, and who had made such a bargain that the pecuniary advantage was to be his, and the hazard and loss to be mine, would immediately enable me to fulfill my agreement with the Artillery Company, and remove the Balloon and apparatus to the ground. But I was mistaken. There are men like sharks, who, by devouring, seem only rendered insatiable; and those men are not peculiar to the Jewish nation.
If there were not a probability that these letters may appear in England, I would lay open the whole of this transaction, and the character of the man with whom I unfortunately became connected. But the English boast of the liberty of the press, they enjoy it with such exceptions, as are difficult to be understood by a stranger. Indeed it is not understood by themselves, for they are ever debating the subject. One of the exceptions to the liberty of writing and speaking, which nearly annihilates it, is, that truth constitutes, or is at least an aggravation of a libel. Satirists therefore in this country, are strictly confined to falsehood; and this, it is very possible they may yield obedience to a learned judge's opinion of the law. It is possible, however, that this celebrated lawyer, being at the head of the King's Bench, may only aim to wrest from the press the adjudication and punishment of every species of delinquency; and that he considers reciprocal defamation and injury in the public papers, like dueling, an appeal from the laws to the passions of individuals. Be this as it may, I shall err on the best side, if I err at all, by avoiding expressions of resentment against a character
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character too insignificant for public notice, and too fixed in its habits to be amended by reprehension. It will be sufficient to say, that he attempted to tale cruel advantages of my situation, and proposed such conditions of assistance as I must have been insane to accept. 
What to do in these circumstances I was at a loss to imagine. Fatigue, agitation of mind, and that kind of shame which attends a breach of promise, however involuntary, induced me to fend an apology to the committee of the Artillery Company, instead of waiting on them myself. Conceiving this attempt to deceive them, they rescinded their former resolution respecting the appearance of the men under arms, and ordered the materials for fixing and preparing the balloon which had been sent, to be thrown out; unless I paid the hundred guineas the next morning, and found securities in five hundred pounds to indemnify the Artillery Company for any injury that might be done to the premises. 
Difficulties generate difficulties. The man at the Lyceum, apprized of the resolutions of the Artillery Company, locked up my Balloon and apparatus, and declared they should never be removed until I consigned to him a moiety of all the possible advantages which my present and future enterprises of a similar kind might produce. -- Moderate oppression might have ruined me. Enormous injustice rouses and interests the generous and humane. My case was soon known; I was enabled to send the money; Sir Watkin Lewis and Mr. Kirwan were kind enough to become securities to the Artillery Company. The magistrates of the police took me under their protection; warranted me in forcibly wresting my Balloon out of the Lyceum, and also protected me in conveying it
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it to the Artillery Ground on Tuesday, the 14th, under a guard, which was ordered by Sir Sampson Wright and William Addington, Esq. in a manner that did honour to their personal as well as official characters. 
Behold me - I was going to say - but I should be extremely sorry you were to see me, exhausted with fatigue, anxiety and distress, at the eve of an undertaking that requires my being collected, cool, and easy in mind. The difficulties thrown my way, have postponed all my preparations; and indisposed and exhausted as I am, I cannot avoid paying such attention to the operations of this night, as will allow me but a little sleep. Doctor Fordyce is applying his ingenious apparatus to fill the Balloon. The process is admirable though slow; but, I hope by attending to it all night, I shall keep my appointment with the public to-morrow. 
Adieu, my honored and respectable friend; my health and spirits are injured by a series of unfortunate and cruel incidents; but if I succeed I shall be abundantly rewarded. 
I am sincerely and affectionately your's,
London, Sept. 14, 1784 VINCENT LUNARDI.
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LETTER V.
My Dear Friend, London, Wednesday, 15.
The auspicious morning is arrived; and I will write the occurrences of it as they arise, left any of those supposed impossibilities over-take me, which have lately haunted my designs. I have no apprehension, but of the populace; which is here, as it is every where, an impetuous, impatient and cruel tyrant. A disappointment is an offence, whatever be the occasion; and offenders, in every degree, are punished with the same species of injustice. The practicability of the experiment, though perfectly known to philosophers and men of letters, is not believed by the populace; and I have their prejudices to remove at the risqué of that resentment and violence, which Sir George Howard did not chuse to encounter, even at the head of the veterans of the British army; which have made the Artillery Company doubt, hesitate, resolve and re-solve; and which prevent those who would wish to encourage me from entering the ground. 
Twelve o' Clock.
The view from the upper-appartments of the Artillery House, into which I sometimes retire, is striking and extraordinary; and serves to animate my imagination, for scenes more extensive and picturesque which I shall soon survey.
The fear of the populace, in case of a disappointment, has, as I expected, prevented my having much company in the Artillery Ground. But the windows and roofs of the fur-
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