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overed an inclination to follow lewd courfes; he refused to take the advice of his parents, and purfued the bent of his inclination; he played at cards on fundays, called himself a gentle man; fell out with his mother and laundrefs; and, even in thefe early days, his father was frequently heard to obferve, that young THE. would be hanged.

As he advanced in years, he grew more fond of pleafure; would eat an ortolan for dinner, though he begged the guinea that bought it; and was once known to give three pounds for a plate of green peas, which he had collected over-night as charity for a friend in diftrefs: he ran into debt with every body that would. truft him, and none could build a better fconce than he fo that, at laft, his creditors fwore with one accord, that THE.--would be hanged.

But, as getting into debt by a man who had no vifible means but impudence for fubfiftence, is a thing that every reader is not acquainted with,I muft explain this point alittle, and that to his fatisfaction.

There are three ways of getting into debt; fift, by pushing a face; as thus: "You, Mr. Luteftring, fend. me home fix yards of that paduafoy, dammee; but, hearkee, dont think I ever intend to pay you for it,dammee." At this, the Mercer laughs heartily; cuts off the paduafoy, and fends it home; nor is he, till too late, furprifed to find the gentleman had faid nothing but truth, and kept his word.

The fecond method of runing into debt is called fineering; which is geting goods made up in fuch a fashion as to be unfit for every other purchafer; and if the tradéfman refufes to give them upon credit, then threaten to leave them upon his hands.

But the third and beft method is called, "Being the good customer." The gentleman firft buys some trife, and pays for it in ready-money; he comes a few days after with nothing about him but bank bills, and buys we will fuppofe, a fix penny tweezercafe; the bills are too great to be changed, fo he promifes to return puntually the day after and pay for what he bought. In this promise hes puntual, and this is repeated for

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eight or ten times, till his face is well known, and he has got, at laft, the character of a good cuftomer. By this means he gets credit for fome thing confiderable, and then never pays for it.

in all this, the young man who is the unhappy fubject of our prefent reflections, was very expert; and could face, fineer, and bring cuftom to a fhop with any man in England: none of his companions could exceed him in this; and his very compani ons at laft faid that THE.would be hanged.

As he grew old, he grew never, the better; he loved ortolans and green peas, as before; he drank gravyfoup when he could get it, and always thought his oyfters tafted beft when he got them for nothing, or, which was juft the fame, when he hought them upon tick: thus the old man kept up the vices of the youth, and what he wanted in power he made up by inclination; fo that all the world thought that old THE.-would be hanged.

AND. now, reader, I have brought him to his laft fcene; a fcene where, perhaps, my duty should have obliged me to affift. You expect, perhaps his dying words, and the tender farewell he took of his wife and children; you expect an account of his coffin and white gloves, his pious ejaculations, and the papers he left behind him. In this I cannot indulge your curiofity; for, oh! the myfteries of fate, THE was drowned?

"Reader," as Harvey faith," pause and ponder; and ponder and pause; who knows what thy own end may be?"

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days would have died in defence of the honour of his chafte miftrefs, beCaufe he really regarded her virtue and chara&er. A duellift of the prefent day, will fight for the character of his punk (who in truth has no chara&er) to defend, as he fays, her reputation, and his honour, while both are on a par in the public estimation.

Among the ancient Romans, it appears that honour and honefty were fynonimous terms, Among modern Europeans (Englishmen not. excepted) where is the analogy? do we not continually hear men talking of honour, when it would be-an, affront to common fense, to expect to find a portion of real honefty among them?

"Upon my honour," fays a macaroni, who knows not the meaning of the term. "Upon honour," fays my lord who cares not what it means. "On my honour," fays a knight of the poft, or a highwayman. "Pon honour," fays a lady of the ton, the might as well fwear by her chastity. Yet it is certainly unpolite not to give credit to the fashionable oath of fuch fashionable people; though like Shakespear's youth, that fwore "by his beard," having none, they cannot be forfworn, if they falfify on fuch occafions.

A certain courtezan of the laft agewas fo fenfible of this maxim of the poet, that he was accuftomed frequently to forfeit the oath of her honour, which however, he has frequently ufed when the thought it might ferve her purpose. When the was reproached with a breach of her promife thus confirmed, the would often anfwer with much of the fang froid, that he did not conceive the had made any breach at all by fuch an affeveration. "For (fays the) I speak freely, a woman's honour is her chafity, which you know I have long fince parted from; and how can fuch a confirmation be binding?" If every woman conceived her chafity and her honour to be fo nearly connected, it might be well for many married men in these kingdoms, who in fuch a cafe might exclaim, "Horns horns, horns, we defy you!"

But while debts of honour as they are called, are paid by the male fex One way, and by the women another, inftead of debts of honefty; while duelling and fuicide are the fashion among the men, and infidelity and confequent divorcement among the women; nothing better than fuch abfurdities can be expected; nor can we reafonibly hope to fee Hosov and HONESTY go hand in hand till fuch practices are abolished.

A farther Account of Aerial Navigation, from the Monthly Review of May laft.

(Continued from Page 435.)

XI.

GAS-balloon, which had been

A fometime preparing by order of

the academy of Dijon, was at length. completed, and launched on the 25th of April laft, from the garden of an abbey in the town of Dijon. We have not yet learnt its dimenfions, and only know, that its power of afcenfion was effimated at 550lb. and that a great part of the inflammable air with which it was filled, was procured from potatoes, by distillation, which was found to be lighter than that produced from metals, in the proportion of 6 to 7. M. de Morveau and the Abbe Bertrand, were named commiffaries, by the academy, for conducting this experiment; and they actually ascended in a gondola annexed to it. As this is the most important expedition fince that of Meth's. Charles and Robert, our readers will no doubt with to learn fome particulars concerning it, and nothing will probably gratify them more, than the account which the navigators themfelves have given in an affidavit, drawn up immediately on their landing.

"Being apprehenfive," fay the commiffaries," left the very high and boisterous wind that rofe a few moments before our departure, and which had already blown us feveral times from the heighth at which we were held by ropes against the ground,

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ground, fhould endanger our apparatus, and throw us upon the town (the place of our afcent being at the foot of one of its highest fleeples *) we thought it expedient to discharge all our ballaft, and even a part of our provifions, weighing between 75 and Solb. When we had afcended beyond the roof of the church, and were fet free by thofe who held the ropes below, we foared with very great rapidity, and foon faw the fteeple a great way below ust.

"Perceiving now, by the form of our balloon, that the air it contained was exceedingly dilated, both by the heat of the fun, and on account of the diminution of denfity of the circumambient medium, we opened at once both our valves; but their apertures not being fufficient to emit a proper quantity of the fluid, the balloon burft at the bottom near the appendices, the rent meafuring about 7 or 8 inches in length. This accident, fo far from alarming us, ferved rather to remove our apprehenfions.

"We now felt ourselves in a perfeЯ calm, and in a manner flationary and yet we foon perceived that we were got to fome diftance from the

town.

"At 5h. 5m. we paffed over a village of which we had no knowledge: we there dropped a note faftened to a bag filled with bran, bearing a little freamer; we therein gave notice that we were perfe&ly well, that the barometer flood at 20 inches 9 lines; the thermometer 1 d. and half below

(about 28 d. of Fahr.) and the hygrometer at 59 d. of Mr. de Retz's, and 24 d. and half of Mr. Copineau's

fcale.

"We dropped two other notes, which we were obliged to write with a pencil, the cold not allowing us the ufe of the pen. At sh. 11m. the thermometer flood at 3 d. below o (near by 25 d. of Fahr.) and it had in the whole of our afcent funk 14 d. (about 31 d. and half of Fahr.)

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"We obferved by a flop watch the time of the fall of one of the notes. It was no doubt fomewhat retarded by the ftreamer, for although its defcent was almoft vertical, it yet took no less than 57f. in reaching the ground.

"The intense cold affected our ears, and this was the only inconvenience we experienced; and even for this we were amply indemnified by the fenfations which Mr. Charles has fo well described. We have only one obfervation to make upon his lively reprefentation, which is, that fo far from its being exaggerated, it appeared to us rather too faint when we faw the clouds floating beneath us, and fecluding us in a manner from the earth. We then jointly repeated the motto affixed to our aeroflat, furgit nunc Gallus ad æthera.

The fun, after exhibiting to us a magnificent parhelion, was now near fetting; and perceiving by the flaccidity of the lower part of our balloon that it was time for us to defcend, we began to look out for a proper landing place. We concluded, from the direction of the compafs, that we could not be far from the town of Auxonne; and, in fact, a large mafs of buildings which we perceived about 25 d. to our right, proved to be that place. We then had recourfe to all our expedients in order to fteer towards that point. Our apparatus for this purpofe had been greatly damaged by the blaft of wind at our departure. The rudder was unhinged, one of the oars had fnapped near its handle, and dropped off the moment we attempted to ule it in order to accelerate our courfe. Another oar had been entangled in one of the ropes by which we were at firft held to the ground, and we could never recover left, which being both on the fame it. We had therefore only two oars fide, were perfealy ufelefs during the great eft part of our navigation in the calm, and even after we felt ourselves advancing, although without any perceptible current. But having now entered a ftream which carried us towards the eaft, we worked our oars with great facility for about 8 or > minutes this made us verge fo

much

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much to the fouth east, the point of Our deftination, that we found it ne celiary to fufpend our work, left we fhould exceed our mark, having no means to make us revert to the eaftward.

"We were in hopes of landing near the clufter of buildings which we had taken for Auxonne, but our globe loft fo much of its gas through the rent, that we Taw little profpect of reaching that distance. We were now over a large tract covered with wood, and felt ourselves defcending, We had kept what ballaft we had left, which confifted of little elfe than our loofe benches, that we might have the means of retarding the fall in cafe we should find it neceffary. We threw out one of thefe benchet, and then defcended very gently upon a copfe, the name of which we have fince learnt, is Chaignet, belonging to the Countess de Brun. Our gondola had fcarce touched the tops of the boughs, when it reafcended with fome force. We laid hold of the boughs in order to come to an anchor, and to avoid our being thrown against fome tall trees that rofe here and there above the reft of the wood. We tried to defcend by hauling thofe boughs in the fame inauner as fhips are moved by towing, but our efforts were ineffectual. We heard human voices, and we called for their aid to ground us. The people we heard were in habitants of Maguyles-Auxonne: one of them answered, that he would gladly affift us, if we would promife to do him no harm; we dispelled his fears, and his example, as well as our repeated defire, induced at length his companions to affid us. We landed at 6h.25m. Among the number of zahabitants who were aflembled, two men and three women were feen to kneel to the balloon.

Signed De Morveau and Bertrand
Commiffaries: Bidal, prieft of Atee
Buvee, a principal magiftrate in the
jurifdiction of Auxonne, and 14

more.

To this account, which is all that is hitherto publifhed, we have it in our power to add fome farther authentic information. The heighth to which this balloon afcended is computed to have been about 200 French torfes (above 2 English miles) the diftance it went in a firait line was about 6 leagues; the time it remained in the air 1h. 27m. It seems that the perfons who held the ropes were exceedingly alarmed at the violence of the wind, and refuted to let go, till in a manner compelled to it by a geotleman appointed to repeat the fignals of the navigators, who, by dif charging all their ballaft, and by every other means in their power, expreffed their eagerness to be set at liberty.

He

One of thofe who held the ropes was raifed above three feet from the ground before he quitted his hold, and in the fall be hurt his shoulder. has fince acknowledged that his inteation was to tye the rope to his wrift," and to follow the balloon: had he fucceeded, his rafhness would inevi tably have proved his own deftru&ion, with that of the navigators, and of many of thofe who were flanding immediately under them; fince his weight muft have drawn the equatorial circle out of its horizontal politjon, which would have made fame of the ropes, to which the gondola was fufpended, pre's fo hard againft" the balloon as infallibly to burft it.

Explanation of the Plate."

ONSIEUR Montgolfier's

We had juft mcored our appara M Air Balloon, after having af

tus, placed fomebody to guard it, and difpatched a meffenger to Dijon, when we faw a number of people approaching on the road of Magny, who having perceived us at Auxonne were coming to meet us. As many as had room were pleafed to fign the prefent affidavit, which we drew up immediately at the parfonage of Atee, the 25th of April, 1784."

cended an amazing heighth above the clouds and being carried in the air 45 degrees, [fee our laft number.] fell down near a cottage, where the poor country people were exceedingly frightened and afton fhed; the Cock, the Sheep, and the Duck, came out of the basket, which had been tied to it, unhurt.

To

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The Descent of the Air Balloon.

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