An account of the first aërial voyage in England : in a series of letters to his guardian, Chevalier Gherardo Compagni, written under the impressions of the various events that affected the undertaking / by Vincent Lunardi.

  • Lunardi, Vincent, 1759-1806.
Date:
1784
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the first aërial voyage in England : in a series of letters to his guardian, Chevalier Gherardo Compagni, written under the impressions of the various events that affected the undertaking / by Vincent Lunardi. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    [ * ] Thefe two nations emulate each other in all circum- fiances. And the progrefs and advantage of manufactures are not watched on either fide with greater anxiety and jea- loufy, than a difcovery in fcience, or an improvement in fine arts. This has the happieft effect, as it is accompanied with a liberality and candour that do honour to human nature. The firfl rumours of Aerial Voyages were fo fwollen by the breath of fame, and the imaginary advantages to at¬ tend them, fo rapidly and plaufibly multiplied, that the genius of Englifh philofophy, which, fince the days of Newton, has born the palm of fcience, clouded her brows with a kind of fullennefs, and perhaps feared for a mo¬ ment, the afcendency of her filler. The glory of a difcovery is indivifible as the atoms of Epicurus; and in refpedl to aeroflation, it remains, and mull remain with France. It is fuppofed, and I fpeak it on better authority than rumour, that fome of the molt attentive and penetrating obfervers in England, meditate fuch improvements of Aeroftatic Balloons, and fuch modes of applying them to ufe, as may give them an equal claim to glory with their philofophical rivals in France. But this has not hitherto been attended with any remarkable efFedls. You will poffibly wonder, that in fuch circumilances, at my age, with the numerous engagements and occupa¬ tions of my office, not yet diflinguifhed in the records of fcience, and but little known in a country fo enlightened as England, I fhould have the ambition to be the firft man who vifited its atmofphere. I have already acquainted you with the proje£l of our friend Zambecari, and the reafons of its failure. Little difappointments