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xtract of a private letter, dated Paris, Sept. 23.
"I don't know what you may think of our [at]tempts to cut our way through the air; you [w]ill say, perhaps, that a Frenchman can go through any thing; but be as satirical as you [p]lease; certain it is, that all our good Parisians
[a]re petrified with wonder, and listen in the cor[n]er of every street, "with open mouth to the [?]an of news," I mean such as concern the air - [o]utstripping globe. There are, however, some [?]npious wretches who dare to scoff at and deride [t]he wonderful Messrs. de Montgolfier, and the
great and more surprising consequences that are expected to derive from their curious inven[t]ion. Among the satirical pieces published on that subject, the following letter, inserted in one of our news-papers, is not the most contemptible; it seems to be built on the Hora.ian
maxim, Ridiculum aeri, &c.

To the Gentlemen of the Aerial Navy.
   Gentlemen,
"I am as desirous as any of you to tr[[?]] to the air, and I think it my duty to fu[[?]] to your wisdom the thought which struck [[?]] on the flying up of the first areostatic globe [[?]] As an amateur I wish gracefulness should un[[?]] to the ease and safety of the traveller. This consideration persuades me, that the most eligible
form would be that of a Pegasus, of a size far exceeding nature. Its body will serve as a recipient for the inflammable air; the head, with mane flowing forwards, would then serve as a stern; by means of wings the degree of elevation might be determined as well as its velocity, whilst the tail would be employed as a kind of rudder, and the four feed placed in the attitude of a galloping horse, and poised by a weight fixed at the extremities of the hoof,
and proportioned to the rest of the machine, might be considered as a kind of ballast which would keep the rider in a steady posture. The whole should be covered over with a light coat of whalebone, wrapped up within a light, lute-string, prepared with elastic gum. This being constructed, it will be an easy matter to fix a spring, which would serve by the direction of the rider, such as the pressure of the knees against the horse to let out such portion of the inflammable air as would temperate the swiftness of the horse, in case he should make a bold and adventurous attempt to scale the firmament.
I am. &C"
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On Fire Balloons. - In Petits de la Croix's Reception of the French Ambassador by the King of Siam.
 The fire-works that were played at night were perfectly fine. There were rockets as big as one of our hogsheads, and of a proportionable length. They mounted about the middle region o the air, and east so great a blaze, that they lighted the country six leagues round, as if the sun had been shining at noon-day. The inventor of this fire-work fitting himself down on the end of one of these rockets, ordered it to be fired, and was whisked up into the air higher than any four steeples in the world could reach were they set one upon another. The rocket having spent its strength, and being ready to fall down, all luminous with the infinite number of stars that broke from it every moment, the engineer opened a sort of umbrella he had carried with him, which, when it was extended, was little less than thirty feet in diameter. This umbrella was made of feathers, and so very light, that the air supported it without any trouble; no otherwise than we see in France those machines of papers that are called kites, which being fastened to a long string of packthread, the children make them fly in the air. Insomuch that the engineer supported by this great umbrella, came to the ground, surrounded with stars, as gently as if he had had wings, [[and]] could have flown with them.
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