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[59] the ground, which took with it a small parcel of the oats from the field, where they were raking. his WILLIAM HARPER, mark. her MARY BUTTERFIELD. mark. Sworn before me this 20th day of September, 1784. The voluntary declaration and deposition on oath of Elizabeth Brett, Spinster, servant to Mr. Thomas Read, farmer, in the parish of Standon, in the county of Herts. This Deponent on her oath faith, that on Wednesday, the 15th day of September, instant, between four and five o'clock in the afternoon, she, this Deponent, being then at work in her master's brew-house, heard an uncommon and loud noise, which, on attending to it, she conceived to be the sound of men singing, as they returned from harvest home. That upon going to the door of the house she perceived a strange large body in the air, and on approaching it in a meadow-field near the house, called Long Mead, she perceived a man in it; that the person in the machine, which she knew not what to make of, but which the person in it called an Air Balloon, called to her to take hold of the roap, which she did accordingly; that John Mills and George Phillips, labourers with said Mr. Thomas Read, came up soon after, and being likewise requested to assist in holding the rope, both made their [60] their excuses, one of them, George Phillips, saying he was too short, and John Mills saying that he did not like it; that this deponent continued to hold the rope till some other harvest men of Mr. Benjamin Robinson, of High Cross came up, by whose assistance the machine was held down till the person got out of the machine; and this Deponent, further on her oath faith, that the person now present, and shewn to her by William Baker, Esq the justice of peace before whom this Deposition is taken, as Mr. Vincent Lunardi, and in her presence declares himself to be Mr. Vincent Lunardi, was the person who called to me from the Machine, as above stated, and who descended therefrom in the said field, called Long Meadow. her ELIZABETH BRETT. mark. Sworn before me this 16th day of September, 1784, at Barford Bury, in the County of Hertford, aforesaid. The voluntary declaration and depositions on oath of Jonas Langton, John Chiven, James Cramplan, Edward Bentley, William Waller, severally made this 17th day of September, 1784, before William Baker, Esq. one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the county of Hertford. The said Deponents, on their oath, severally declare, that on the 15th of this instant, September, between four and five o'clock in the afternoon, being then at work, some of them in the harvest fields, and others in the farm- [62] farm-yard of Messrs. Benjamin Robinson and James Snow, in the parish of Stondon, in the county of Hertford, they saw a large and uncommon machine hovering in the air, which they severally followed till it arrived at a certain mead, called Long Mead, in the occupation of Thomas Read, yeoman, of Stondon aforesaid, where the same touched the ground, and on their severally arriving at the same place, they found Elizabeth Brett, Spinster, maid servant with Thomas Read aforesaid, holding a rope which was fixed to the said Machine; that on their severally approaching the said Machine, they perceived a gentleman in one part of it, who desired them to assist Elizabeth Brett the servant, who was then holding the rope, which they did accordingly; that by this assistance the Machine being stopped, the gentleman who was in it came out, and to these Deponents declared, that he had set out from the Artillery Ground in London, a little before two o'clock, in the afternoon of the said day, in the Machine, and had travelled through the air to the place where they found him. Sworn before me, this 17th day of September, 1784, at Barford Bury, in the county of Hertford. A Gen- [62] A Gentleman well known in the Literary World having sent Mr. Lunardi the following Epistle as a compliment to his Genius and enterprising Spirit, Mr. Lunardi's Friends have strongly expressed their wishes to have it annexed to these Letters, and the Author has obligingly given permission to have it printed with them. AN EPISTLE TO SIG. VINCENZO LUNARDI. Excuse it, both Youth, if a stranger should dare To address thus Your Highness as King of the Air, For I was a witness, a charmed one, I own, When you sprung to the skies, and ascended your throne Amid two hundred thousand good people assembled, Who felt for your fame, for your safety too trembled; Whilst you, a true Hero, of nothing afraid Took leave of the world, and mankind, undismay'd; Determin'd to bid every danger defiance For the noblest of conquests, the conquest of Science. When you bid us adieu, and first quitted the earth, To what varied sentiments gave you quick birth? Each mind was brim full of unnumber'd strange notions, Each eye all attention, to watch all your motions. The
