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L E T T E R VI

My Dear Friend,

I Should, at this time, have as much difficulty in describing the effect of my success, on the whole English nation, as I had in conveying to you an idea of the apprehension and distress I felt, lest any untoward circumstances should prevent or defeat my undertaking.

The interest which the spectators took in my voyage was so great, that the things I threw down were divided and preserved, as our people would relicks of the most celebrated saints. And a gentlewoman, mistaking the oar for my person, was so affected with my supposed destruction, that she died in a few days. This circumstance being mentioned on Saturday, when I had the honour of dining with the Judges, Lord Mayor, Recorder and Sheriffs of London, I was very politely requested by one of the Judges, not to be concerned at the involuntary loss I had occasioned; that I had certainly saved the life of a young man who might possibly be reformed, and be to the public a compensation for the death of the lady. For the jury was deliberating on the fate of a criminal whom after the utmost allowance for some favourable circumstances, they must have condemned, when the Balloon appeared, and a general inattention and confusion ensued. The jury was perplexed with considerations on the case, which their curiosity would not suffer them to weigh, and being under a necessity to determine before they departed, they took the favourable side, and acquitted the criminal immediately: on which the court was adjourned to indulge itself in observing so novel a spectacle. 

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I mention these things as they may prepare you for the reception I was honoured with on my return to London. No voyager from the most interesting and extensive discoveries; no conqueror from the most important victories, was ever enquired for with more solicitude, or welcomed with greater joy. The house of Prince Caramanico, had been besieged by multitudes early and late to have some account of my safety, or to applaud my return.

You may suppose when I came to town, I hastened to Prince Caramanico, who received me with every mark of affection and condescending friendship.

Here circumstances of gratulation and joy crouded on me every hour. I was flattered by learning that while I hovered over London, his Majesty was in conference with his principal ministers. On being informed that I was passing, the King said, 'We may resume our deliberations on the subject before us at pleasure, but we may never see poor Lunardi again.' The conference broke up, and his Majesty attended by Mr. Pitt and other great officers of state, viewed me through telescopes while I remained in their horizon.

I had received insults which I thought cruel by persons whose houses over-looked the ground, who erected scaffolds and let out their rooms, so as to deprive me of a chance of having my expences defrayed. I was no sooner returned, but some of these people hastened to attone for their mis-apprehenshions of me. They had considered and treated me as an impostor. My ascension, as a charm, dissipated their ill opinion, and gave them an enthusiasm in my favour. I am offered the houses and scaffoldings for my own use, if I chose to exhibit again. These 
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things shew the importance of success in all undertakings which are not thoroughly understood by the multitude. I am introduced, not only into private families, but into public institutions with the most advantageous and flattering distinctions. The civilities of the Lord Mayor, the Judges, and other Magistrates, led me into the Courts of Law, and though I had made them objects of curiosity; I had never attended trials in circumstances so favourable to information. Every precaution which the wisdom of man can devise, seems to be taken here, to administer equal Justice between all contending parties. The Judges are appointed by the King, but rendered independent by an ample provision for their support, and by the tenure of their places, which is during good behaviour, and a proper discharge of their duty. But the peculiar happiness of English jurisprudence, is the appointment of juries from the neighbourhood of every offender to adjudge his particular case. The hint is taken from the appointment of judges in the courts of the Praetors, in the Roman republic: but those judges were chosen wholly from the citizens of Rome. In England every dispute is decided by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who are obliged to attend the parties to the assizes, because they alone are capable of determining the nature of their actions, from a knowledge of their circumstances and characters. It is extraordinary, that Rome, who gave the first hints of this admirable mode of trial, should be insensible to its advantages, and perhaps ignorant of its existence.

My fame has not been sparingly diffused by the newspapers, which in England are the barometers of public opinion; often erroneous, as other instruments are, in their
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particular informations, but yielding the best that can be obtained. You will imagine the importance of these vehicles of knowledge, when you learn, that in London alone, there are printed no less than a hundred and sixty thousand papers weekly, which by a stamp on each paper, and a duty on advertisements, bring into the treasury of the nation upwards of eighty thousand pounds a year. They are to the English constitution, what the censors were to that of ancient Rome. Ministers of state are checked and kept in awe by them; and they freely, and often judiciously, expose the pretensions of those who would harrass government, meerly to be taken into its service. But the principal reason of their extensive circulation is, the information and entertainment they afford an oppulent people, who have leisure and inclination to interest themselves in all public occurrences. On this account, the conductors of news-papers seize every opportunity of conveying the earliest information of all the events that take place in the kingdom, and though they must be often mistaken, yet the dexterity with which they trace all sources of Intelligence is such, that they are generally right.

I have reason to thank the managers of all the papers, for their candour and partiality to me. I send you an account from one of them, written and published within a few hours after my descent, founded only on immediate observation ad conjecture. You will, thereby, form your opinion, of the attention and industry employed in these prints, on all similar, and indeed on all interesting occasions, and you may amuse yourself by comparing their conjectures with facts.

MORNING
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