How magnificent was the sight which now burst upon me!
How sublime were my sensations ! I waved the flag of my
country ; the cheers of the multitude from a thousand house-tops
reached me on the breeze ; and a taste of the rarer atmosphere
elevated my spirits into ecstacy. The city, with a brilliant sun-
shine striking the spires and domes, now unfolded to view, a
sight incomparably beautiful. My gondola went easily upward,
clearing the depths of heaven, like a vital thing. A diagram
placed before you, on the table, could not permit you to trace
more definitely than I now could, the streets, the highways, ba-
sins, wharves, and squares of the town. The theatres and public
buildings, I recognised from their location near parks or open
grounds, and from the peculiarity of their being covered with va-
rious metals, as well as slate, or tiles. The hum of the city
arose to my ear, as fix>m a vast bee-hive ; and I seemed the
monarch-bee, directing the swarm. I heard the rattling of car-
riages, the hearty yo-heave-o ! of sailors firom the docks that, be-



PROSB MISCELLANIES.
girt with spars, hemmed the city round : I was a spectator of all,
yet aloof, and alone. Increasing stillness attended my way;
and at last the murmurs of earth came to my ear like the last vi-
brations of a bell.
My car tilted and trembled, as I rose. A swift wind some*
times gave the balloon a rotary motion, which made me deathly-
sick for a moment ; but strong emotion conquered all my physi-
cal ailings. My brain ached with the intensity of my rapture.
