would have risen several
thousand feet higher, but the professor thought it would burst, and he
opened the valve, eventually making a safe descent about 7 miles from
his starting-place.

England lagged behind her French neighbour's in balloon
aeronautics--much as she has recently done in aviation--for a
considerable time, and, it was not till August of the following year
(1784) that the first balloon ascent was made in Great Britain, by Mr.
J. M. Tytler. This took place at Edinburgh in a fire balloon. Previous
to this an Italian, named Lunardi, had in November, 1783, dispatched
from the Artillery Ground, in London, a small balloon made of oil-silk,
10 feet in diameter and weighing 11 pounds. This small craft was sent
aloft at one o'clock, and came down, about two and a half hours later,
in Sussex, about 48 miles from its starting-place.

In 1784 the largest balloon on record was sent up from Lyons. This
immense craft was more than 100 feet in diameter, and stood about 130
feet high. It was inflated with hot air over a straw fire, and seven
passengers were carried, including Joseph Montgolfier and Pilatre de
Rozier.

But to return to de Rozier, whom we left earlier in the chapter, after
his memorable ascent near Paris. This daring Frenchman decided to cross
the Channel, and to prevent the gas cooling, and the balloon falling
into the sea, he hit on the idea of suspending a small fire balloon
under the neck of another balloon inflated with hydrogen gas. In the
light of our modern knowledge of the highly-inflammable nature of
hydrogen, we wonder how anyone could have attempted such an adventure;
but there had been little experience of this newly-discovered gas in
those days. We are not surprised to read that, when high in the air,
there was an awful explosion and the brave aeronaut fell to the earth
and was dashed to death.

CHAPTER IV. The First Balloon Ascent in England

It has been said that the honour of making the first ascent in a balloon
from British soil must be awarded to Mr. Tytler. This took place in
Scotland. In this chapter we will relate the almost romantic story of
the first ascent made in England.

This was carried out successfully by Lunardi, the Italian of whom we
have previously spoken. This young foreigner, who was engaged as a
private secretary in London, had his interest keenly aroused by the
accounts of the experiments being carried out in balloons in France, and
he decided to attempt si