112 Hist or y os Aerostation.

the neighbourhood of Cheadle, in Stafford-shire, who took that, to them strange,machine into a room of a farm-house,where, after some consideration, they con-cluded that it was something like a half-blown bladder, and began to sill it quiteup, by applying a pair of bellows to anaperture that was in it; but as some of thegas was still coming out, the approach ofa candle unfortunately set it on fire, inconsequence of which, the balloon explodedwith a report much louder than a cannon,which struck four persons down to thefloor. They soon recovered from the fall,but were so stunned, as not to be sensibleof fire, till they perceived their heads in ablaze: their beards and eye-brows wereburned quite off, and their faces ter-ribly scorched. The windows were forcedout with great violence, and the house warotherwise much damaged *.

At this time the Academy of Lyons'offered a prize of fifty pounds to the author

* The account of this accident has been extractedonly from the daily news-papers.

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