The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-19 00:00:00

A BALLOON VIEW OF BLORDIN.

(Extract from " Coxtvell's Aerial Log.")
Oa the Bth and 9th of July, I was engaged to
ascend from Aston Park, Birmingham, and on the
10th from the Crystal Palace, with a view, I sup-
pose, of adding a second ascensionist feature to
that of the tightrope performance of the celebrated
M. Blondin. Of course the balloon was but a
small satellite attending the great acrobatic lu-
minary, but it was there diverting public atten-
tion, and was in keeping with the aerial character
of the principal attraction. My ascent on Tuesday
took place about ten minutes before M. Blondin
mounted the rope, and I was not a little curious to
observe the popular exhibition from an altitude of
some two or three thousand feet.
The first intimation that the intrepid Frenchman
was within view came in the form of a loud and
long continued burst cf applause which distinctly
reached the car. The object (I ask pardon of M.
Blondin) which I irst perceived appeared to be that
of a small monkey dangling between two sticks ;
but the balloon was rising fast, and both M. Blon-
din and the people became extremely small by de-
grees, and in a few seconds more almost ludicrously
so. The tight-rope excitement, I found, had taken
as much possession of my mind as it doubtless had
with terrestial obsarvers. It would be difficult to
do scribe the pictorial representation in the grand
and imposing language which a grave reporter would
employ taking notes in the immediate vicinity of the
lion of the day. I can only record in my diary the
scene as it appeared to me in mid air, and
this is the picture :—ln a park where stately trees
assumed the diminutive form of gooseberry bushes
and large sheets of water looked like little ponds,
and Aston Hall seemed but a tiny architectural
model, there was congregated on the right hand
slope of Lilliputian ground a swarm of busy bees.
A spider's web betwixt two twigs was spun near
them, and a gnat-fly perched on one thread, which
caused the bees to buzz, and move their heads as if
prodigiously pleased.
several times
the leg of a spider across him, andb
The gnat, in moving along, appeared to have
buzzed and
he turned over, and then th.eb
saw him cross from twig to twig,t the humming sound rose. big e easanndd a t
settlel ls
on
he top of either
a bud which stuck out
lnear
resented himself, but
twig. Again,
.the morsel
headf
webbing,and body
withby his i
sort
or
t o
tlookinghi s ti time
so as to deprive him of the use of his eyes.
eg
morere ya as ikce a
surroundedspld ep
His steps too were cautious and faltering, and
once I fancied he actually fell; but again, the bees
buzzed, and I was convinced it was not so.
Just as I noticed the spider was approaching the
opposite twig a murky evening puff of vapour inter-
vened, and I betook myself to my own business, by
hospitality
no means uninterested with the singular sight
had
A fte r witnessed.descen d
ng, and partaking of the
of a country squire I described the balloon view of
Blondin, when the squire moralized on the event,
to the effect that the most illustrious men are bit
insects when seen from above, and that the uproari-
ous shouts of assembled thousands sound but as the
humming of bees when distance
reader great things fgagl. and comparison