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.
- Vincenzo Lunardi
- Date:
- 1784
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.
47/76 (page 39)
![LETTER VI. Mv Dear Friend, I Should, at this time, have as much difficulty in de~ fcribing the effect of my fuccefs, or? the whole Eng- lifh nation, as I had in conveying to you an idea of the apprehenfion anddiftrefs 1 felt, left any untoward circum- ftances ftiould prevent or defeat my undertaking. The intereft which the fpe£tators took in my voyage was fo great, that the things I threw down were divided and preferved, as our people would relicks of the moft cele¬ brated faints. And a gentlewoman, miftaking the oar for my perfon, was fo affedded with my fuppofed deftrudtion, that Ihe ditd in a few days. This circumftance being men¬ tioned on Saturday, when I had the honour of dining with the Judges, Lord Mayor, Recorder and Sheriffs of London, I was very politely requelted by one of the Judges, not to be concerned at the involuntary lofs I had occalioned 5 that I had certainly faved the life of a young man who might poftibly be reformed, and be to the public a com- penf2tion for the death of the lady. For the jury was de¬ liberating on the fate of a criminal whom after the ut- moft allowance for fome favourable circumftances, they muff have condemned, when the Balloon appeared, and a general inattention and confufion enfued. The jury was perplexed with confiderations on the cafe, which their curiofity would not fuffer them to weigh, and being under a neeeffity to determine before they departed, they took the favourable fide, and acquitted the criminal immediate-* ]y : on which the court was adjourned to indulge itfelf in itbfervjng fo novel a fpedfacje. I men-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30793014_0047.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)