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468 THE CASKET OF LITERATURE, 
The sky was serene; the beams of the setting sun fell on the parachute, and every part was distinctly visible; the breeze in the region in which it was descending was so gentle as scarcely to exert any perceptible influence in turning it from its perpendicular direction, and where I stood, perhaps about 600 yards from where it alighted, the air did not move the leaves of an elm-tree. For a few moments the parachute descended so beautifully, and preserved its position so steadily, notwithstanding its fearful motion, that I thought it would reach the ground in safety, and I felt relieved from an intense momentary excitement, from an apprehension flashing across my mind that perhaps some human being was periling life itself in the experiment. 
Being ignorant of the real form of the parachute, I speak of it as it appeared from a distance. To my eye it had a round flattish shape, and at this moment it seemed to lean a little to one side; it was not horizontal. It remained for a moment or two in this position. All the while it was descending rapidly. 
It then fell, as it were, to the opposite side, but with a quicker motion than when it first lost its horizontal position. It now oscillated several times quickly. A sort of flapping motion was then perceptible, and the parachute appeared lessened in diameter. It then apparently turned over, and at this moment something fell out of it at a great height, which, for the instant I could keep it in sight, did not fall much faster than the parachute. The parachute again turned over, and, to me and some others standing near, it disappeared for the twinkling of an eye, and in the succeeding instant it was seen to have changed its flattish circular form to that of a long body, like an umbrella partially opened, or more correctly, perhaps, to a balloon very much collapsed and descending with a great velocity. Some trees intervening prevented my further observation. 
I made my way through the fields in the direction in which I had seen it falling, and as I reached a spot at a little distance from where it fell, I saw the lifeless body of the unfortunate gentleman placed on a hurdle to be conveyed by some farm labourers to an inn at Lee. 
(Another Account.)
'I lament to describe what I was an eye-witness of:--The noise produced, I suppose, from the breaking of the supports, was astounding; it indeed seemed impossible that an individual could live in such a situation. He reached the earth alive, but quite insensible. He was alive for ten minutes after he came on the earth, but it was apparent that all was hopeless, from the great wound on his temple. The place where he fell is called the Six Acre-field, belonging to Mr. Norman, Lee, Kent. He was conveyed to the Tiger's Head public-house, kept by Mr. Thomas Seares. 
Previous to the falling of the parachute, something descended from the car of the balloon, to all appearance like a large black handkerchief. 

MR. GREEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE ASCENT AND DESCENT. 
In consequence of the sad and fatal catastrophe which has befallen the late Mr. Cocking, I feel myself called upon to communicate to the public the whole of the particclars of my ascent with the Vauxhall Balloon, taking up with me Mr. Cocking in his parachute. The inflation commenced about 12, under the able direction of Mr. Hutchinson, the engineer to the London Gas Company, and was completed by 5 o'clock. Prior to the parachute being attached to the balloon, I caused a trial to be made with the view of ascertaining whether the buoyancy of the latter was sufficient to carry up the former with safety. The result of this trial was, after some arrangements with respect to the ballast, of which I was compelled to give out about 650lb.s in weight, had been effected, satisfactory. The abandonment of this large quantity of ballast I found to be absolutely requisite in order with safety to commence the ascent. The balloon was then allowed gently to rise a sufficient height to be conveyed over the parachute; but in consequence of the great and unavoidable delay which was necessarily caused in affixing the two machines, the gas in the former became very considerably condensed, from a reduction of its temperature. It thereupon became a matter of compulsion that I should get rid of 100lbs. more of ballast, which I emptied out of the bags through a tube, constructed of canvass, and about 50 feet in length. The object in having this tube was, that any ballast I might deem it advisable to throw out during our voyage should take such a course as would entirely clear the broadest expanse of the parachute. The connexion between the balloon and the parachute was at length completed by the rope of the latter being made fast to the liberating iron by which Mr. Cocking was to free himself from the balloon. 
It is but justice to myself I should here state, that I had on several occasions expressed my determination not to liberate the parachute from the balloon, upon the ground, setting aside any other considerations, that I might select a moment for the severance when Mr. Cocking was not altogether prepared or ready for his descent, and therefore if any accident were to accrue to him, that I of course should be regarded as the responsible party, and the one to whom blame would naturally attach. 
Mr. F. Gye, every thing being in readiness, about 25 minutes to 8 o'clock, gave the signal for the whole of the apparatus to be released from its trammels, and we instantly rose very steadily, taking an easterly course. 
'Mr. Cocking had always desired that we should ascend to an elevation of 8,000 feet, about one mile and a quarter, at which height he proposed to detach himself from the balloon, and to commence his descent. Finding, therefore, that our upward progress was very slow, I requested Mr. Spencer to discharge some more ballast, and he accordingly threw the contents of a bag weighing 20lbs. through the tube already named. This proving of little avail, I directed a second and then a third bagful to be got rid of by the same means. 
'At this period we were floating nearly over the Surrey Zoological-gardens, at an elevation of about 2,000 feet. It was at this moment that a portion of the lower end of the ballast-tube became detached, a circumstance which was caused by the occasional swinging to and fro of the parachute. This accident led to the inconvenience which I had foreseen some days before the ascent, and which led to the adoption of the tube, and of that of rendering it extremely difficult for us to discharge the ballast without its falling into the parachute. 
'Our inability to this as we were then situated I communicated to Mr. Cocking, adding that under the circumstances it was impossible for us to rise any higher unless we were to attempt to throw the ballast in bags beyond the outer spread of his machine, a course of procedure which we considered to be attended with much danger to any persons who might chance to be beneath, but that we would, if he wished it, make the experiment as soon as we had cleared the houses. Mr. Cocking replied, "Very well, it is of no consequence; if you think I have time to rise as high as I want, and to descend before dark." I remarked, "I think you have; and you will then also have a more open country for the descent." We now continued to glide along, guided by the pleasure of the wind but nearly the same elevation until we had cleared all the buildings. During this time Mr. Spencer and myself were busily engaged in dividing our ballast into small parcels, so that we might be able to throw them over without injury to the parachute. 
As soon as we found that we had arrived over the fields, and presuming that no danger could arise from the falling of the ballast, we quickly began to relieve ourselves of that essential commodity. In doing this our anxiety respecting any of it lodging in the parachute was much relieved by finding that hat machine continually swung backwards and forwards, evidently occasioned by the operation of the currents through which we passed, so that we were enabled withoutheny difficulty to cast away the bags without damage to tge vehicle immediately below us. We continued to discharge ballast until we had lessened our quality by 50lb., in addition to that already sent over. The balloon now began to rise, and soon entered a tier of clouds, when we lost sight of the earth. So great, however, was the resistance offered by the parachute to this densor atmosphere that we were again obliged, in order to attain the elevation Mr. Cocking pressed for (that gentleman considering that the greater the distance he had to fall, the greater would be the atmospheric pressure under the parachute, and therefore the easier his descent) to rid ourselves of 400lb. more ballast, and even then, we only arrived at the height of 5,000 feet, which is a trifle less than a mile. 
'We were still 3,000 feet lower than Mr. Cocking's desired elevation.
'Whilst these operations were going on, Mr. Spencer and