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470   THE CASKET O
with beds by the ""Rev. Mr. Money, who, singular to relate, informed me that he is the son of Major Money, the aeronaut, who, on the 23rd of July, 1785, ascended from Norwich, and fell into the sea twenty miles off Lowestoff.
'At half-past ten o'clock this morning we quitted Town Malling, and it was not until our arrival at Wrotham, at which place I inquired whether they had heard where Mr. Cocking had descended, that I became acquainted with the unexpected and melancholy result of his experiment.
'I trust it is needless for me to say, how deeply the feelings of Mr. Spencer and myself were harrowed up by the sad intelligence thus conveyed to us.
'It is only due to the late Mr. Cocking I should add, that throughout the whole of our voyage, up to the moment when he released himself from the balloon, he displayed the greatest courage and fortitude, and the expression of his features, and the light and joyous, although earnest way, in which he made his inquires and conversed with us, manifested his great satisfaction that at length a theory to which he had devoted the last 25 years of his life was about to be triumphantly put to the test.
'We were up about one hour and 20 minutes.
'Individually my opinion was, that having withstood the difficulties and severe pressure of the atmosphere in its ascent, Mr. Cocking's parachute would accomplish its descent with perfect safety.

To the Editor.
SIR,--Perhaps the following particulars which I witnessed of the parachute descent of the unfortunate Mr. Cocking may be worth notice. The situation from which I viewed the ascent of the balloon and parachute was on Sydenham Common. At twenty-three minutes to eight o'clock the balloon and parachute ascended steady and majestically from the gardens, appearing to pass along without the least oscillation of either balloon or parachute. Mr. Cocking appeared distant from the car of the balloon about three-fourths the height of the balloon and car. The parachute in form was that of an inverted cone, with its sides from the apex to the base slightly convex; at seven minutes and a-half to eight o'clock, when it was detached from the balloon, its sides from the apex to the base then appeared slightly concave, descending very steadily for about ten seconds, when it appeared to enter a cloud, and I lost sight of it about eight or ten seconds; it then emerged from beneath the cloud, and continued to descend as steadily as when first separated from the balloon for about 40 or 45 seconds, its distance then being, I should judge, from the earth, by the elevation of my telescope, to be about one mile, when the upper rim of the parachute suddendly collapsed, and its descent instantly became more rapid, and descended with such  accelerated velocity that I did not keep it in sight more than five or six seconds. The whole time elapsed in its descent from its separation from the balloon to the time I lost sight of it was one minute and ten seconds. At the time it was detached from the balloon I should judge it was full one mile and a quarter from the earth.
     'Your's, respectfully,     'T.BISHOP.
  '3, Poland Street, July 25.'

Independent of the experiment of a descent on a new construction of parachute, Mr. Cocking intimated his determination of trying an additional experiment with certain apparatus which he had prepared, and which he proposed to take up with him in the parachute. This resolution was strennuously combatted by his friends, and it was supposed that the project was abandoued until the evening of the ascent, when it was ascertained that Mr. Cocking intended to persevere, and had come provided with the aparatus. This new experiment consisted of a certain arrangement of rope by which Mr. Cocking believed he should be able so to regulate his descent, that in place of falling vertically, he could give the descent a diagonal direction, and thus, should it be necessary, have the means of clearing any object, such as a tree or even a house. Whether Mr. Cocking really did put his apparatus into action or not is a matter of doubt, but strong grounds exist for believing that he actually did endeavour to effect his purpose, and that in so doing he caused the parachute to swerve on one side, and ultimately to collapse.
   I is evident from the marks in the basket in which Mr.
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