operations of the fierce fiery warriors which are often feen upon their march, and fometimes fighting till they

"Drizzle blood upon the Capitol;"

men that are withal fo clear-fighted, that they scorn to borrow any part of their perceptive faculties from northern lights, which they confider only as Spectacles for thofe beneath them. I would alfo have coffeehoufes established above, fuch as they formerly were' on earth, wherein thefe grave and important matters might be properly difcuffed. But, in preference to all the reft, inns for the accommodation of a fect which may with great propriety be deemed highflyers, who, as ambition is faid to know no bounds, which must' apply to low ambition, which, let its fituation on earth be ever fo commodious, is very apt to want elbowroom, and to endeavour, by every laudable means, to exalt itself, may take their flight into another fphere, where at prefent (how long it will continue Heaven only knows) there feems to be an expanse admirably adapted to their talents.

Hail to that original genius Shakspeare! who, unaided by the lantern of antiquity, was the firft English' author that turned his eyes towards the Zenith. From his Pharos he discovered a great cloud in the shape of a camel; he then faw this animal purfue his march. cross the Defert, and his place occupied by an oufel: a whale then appeared to have taken the fituation of this bird. Whether these were ideal forms, the mere creatures of fancy, whether they really exift, or whether, like Butler's elephant in the moon, a deception was practifed upon the eye of the poet, may be matter of future difcuffion among the learned, who have, indeed, in former ages, difputed about smaller matters in the works of this author than a camel, a whale, or an elephant. I believe they are as furely there as the twelve figns, which by the bye I would have taken

down,

down, and placed against those houfes that are, or, if this kind of fpeculation goes on with the fuccefs which is likely to attend fome others of lefs importance, may be, erected.

In fupport of this propofition, Pope, who may be confidered as our poetical Newton, does not difcountenance the idea of dolphins fporting in the fkies; which, as I take it, was exhibited in the theatre in order to give to the minds of the audience an aftronomical, and confequently a fenfible turn; and whofoever will take the pains to look upward, which every one that has got a place (than which, it is said, nothing caufes a man to carry his head more erect) generally does, will, efpecially if his mind is turned toward fuch difcoveries, fee ftill more extraordinary objects. He will fee what has been obferved at the beginning of this fpeculation, caftles innumerable in the air, palaces, in the phrafe of a celebrated auctioneer, ftanding folic, furrounded by lawns, gardens, office, pleasure grounds: he will fee ftate and other carriages, ribands of various colours, maces, wands, truncheons; robes, black, red, purple, blue, &c. powdered with ermine; wigs of different bottoms, ties, length, and defcription, powdered with meal; all hanging upon pegs in the clouds: he will, perhaps, fee fome delightful vacancies in the moft eligible fituations, and only be puzzled how to arrive at them. Now if this fhould be the cafe, he will agree with me that balloons will greatly aflift him in the art of foaring. Inns will by that time be licensed, where, after the fatigues of the purfuit, he may repofe till he can find a better place.

In order to facilitate this ufeful undertaking, I fhould, in pursuance of my fcheme, propofe, that, till a conveyance better adapted to the dignity of the objects can be procured, a number of eminent furveyors be appointed, and fent up in the manner of fop's children, in whofe time the fame idea was afloat, that

they

ey fhould form plans in which rocks fhould be removed, tunnels conftructed, the courfes of rivers: turned, churches demolished, public edifices be dilapidated, hofpitals deftroyed, and fuch other improvements made as the ingenuity of the artifts, and the neceffity of the cafe, may fuggeft. Only I fhould with, in order to fecure a plentiful inundation, which may ultimately be beneficial to the earth, that wherefoever the face of the country feems most repugnant to the operation, it fhall be cut into canals, upon which, as a balloon is nothing without a boat, the paffengers may fecurely fail. The milky way will ferve admirably for this purpofe; and if part of its contents were bottled, and fent down to us as an article of commerce, like Seltzer and Spa waters, they might probably have the effect of lowering the prices of butter and cheefe ; which, fuch is the operation of fublunary ingenuity, nothing upon earth will be able to effect. I do not know whether it would be amifs to fend down fome of the celestial horned cattle for the fame laudable purpose.

It may here perhaps be faid, that if we credit Homer, Virgil, and a thousand other poets, ancient and modern, fufficient accommodations, not only for paffengers, but horfes and carriages, are already to be found above. The steeds of Apollo, it is well known, befides their short ftages, annually travel through the Zodiac, like a London rider through the country. Whether, like thefe, they ftop at every proper fign, it is impoffible to conjecture; but it is certain, with refpect to the diurnal rotation of the chariot of the god, when it arrives at its laft ftage, the feet of the horfes are, by the care of the celeftial oftler, as is the practice with oftlers on terra firma, washed in the Atlantic, which feems to be a pond fufficiently capacious, and therefore properly adapted to the sublimity of the objects.

The

The chariot of Juno, which may be compared to the carriage of a modern matron of fashion, many of whom have been complimented for their similarity to' that goddess, in more refpects than that of equipage; the car of Mars, who feems to have travelled like one of our artillery-men, loaded with combuftibles; the fhell of Venus, drawn by doves, by which our citizens may observe that these birds are fit for other purposes than enclosing in a pie; and that, if properly trained, they might, as well as peacocks, be used as cattle: thefe inftances, with many other of curious beasts, birds, fishes, &c. from the dragons of Medea to the butterflies of Pfyche, fhew us, that travelling in the air is not a new invention; and indeed, from the amazing traffic that was formerly carried on over fea and land, we might fuppofe that the roads were as thoroughly beaten as the highways to Brentford, Uxbridge, Barnet, or Romford: but as thofe kinds of machines have long fince ceafed to run aloft, though they fometimes creep in verfe below, we may reasonably fuppofe, that the places where they ufed to put up are gone to decay. I fhould therefore propofe, while the furveyors are fo much above the world, that they fhould confider whether chains of inns, magnificent and reafonable as thofe from London to Holyhead, for inftance, fhould not be established for different directions; fo that our aërial travellers, who will unqueftionably afcend to behold a country, the forms of which are continually changing, with the fame avidity as numbers have lately, as the faying is, flown across the Channel, may be fure to be properly treated upon their arrival; which however, it is to be lamented, has not always been the case in Parifian tours.

To prevent thefe and other terreftrial emigrations, which experience tells us, like all fublunary things, end in disappointment, I muft in conclufion repeat my advice, that the balloon fyftem be immediately carried into effect that inns be erected in the clouds as foon

as

as poffible, as there is no queftion but those who, from a laudable defire to improve their conftitutions, and fee the world at the fame time, go to Paris; or those who, tired of the confinement of this, with to range at liberty in a new hemifphere on the other fide the Atlantic, will, inftead of thefe excurfions, take their feats in the first of those machines that are regularly established, as they will foon perceive, provided they can meet with proper places for their reception, that all thefe defirable objects may be attained with very little trouble or expenfe; and while, as Shakspeare fays, they "fail through the air," they may have a bird's-eye view of our forefts dwindled to goofeberry-bufhes, rivers appearing like fkeins of red filk, and a hundred other wonders, fuch as would tax the credulity of the believers in Mandeville or Munchaufen; and if ever the time fhould arrive that they alfo become tired of their elevated profpects, and with to return to their mother earth, fhould they then happen to be unprovided with that ingenious invention a parachute, they have only to take a bold leap, and they will be fure to come down much fafter than they afcended; which may not always be the cafe with thofe that either crofs the Channel, or the Western Ocean, if they fhould ever be troubled with that patriotic diforder which the Swiss emphatically term the home fickness.

AGE and difficulties having reduced a performer,

once of fome diftinction, to a ftate of diftrefsthe fons and daughters of Thefpis, whofe liberality (at least) muft ever remain unimpeached, fet on foot a fubfcription in the green-rooms of the London theatres. Guineas, fingle or in pairs, were the general

I 2

donation