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BRIEF MEMOIR OF M. GARNERIN.

THIS bold Aeronaut is a native of Paris, and the son of a Pewterer in that capital. His father, though far from being in opulent circumstances, fent him to the Univerfity at an early age; but it cannot be faid that he went through any thing like a regular courfe of ftudies, as he only remained three years at College, and never entered the clafs of Natural Philofophy. It was at the period that the noted Montgolhier first invented and exhibited his balloon, that young Garnerin, more captivated by the new difcovery than in love with claffical learning, conceived the idea of making little balloons for himfelf, and of letting them out from his chamber windows. The Principal of the College, however, seeing that he totally neglected his ftudies for the purfuit of fuch baubles, told him, in the most peremptory manner, that he should either abjure his balloon mania, or quit the feminary. Garnerin preferred the latter, and went home to his father, who was far from being fatif fied with his conduct.

When the Revolution broke out, which was foon after his leaving College, he became a Volunteer in the Parifian National Guard; and though he proved attentive to his military avocations, he did not lofe fight of his favourite amusement. Not having money fufficient to purchase a balloon himself, he applied to a rich and avaricious perfon, who bought one for him, and gave him a mere trifle for afcending in it, on condition that he fhould receive the cash which the Public were to pay for admiffion. Even this propofal was acceded to by Garnerin. His parents, however, learning that he was on the eve of going up in a balloon, applied to the Mayor of Paris, and conjured him to prevent their fon from expofing himfelf to fuch imminent danger. But the Magiftrate-(it was the

unfortunate Bailli)-refused to interfere, faying, that the bufinefs was not within the fphere of his jurifdiction. The distracted father and mother then waited on General La Fayette, who was Commander in Chief of the Parifian Guard, and begged he would interpofe his military authority, and not suffer the giddy youth to afcend. M. La Fayette acquiefced, and fent a file of foldiers to put the young adventurer in confinement; but Garnerin faw the men approach, and, gueffing what had been their orders, immediately drew his fabre, threatened to run the first perfon through who fhould interrupt him, cut the cords which kept the balloon to the ground, and afcended with the utmoft velocity, amidst the acclamations of thoufands.

When the monfter Robespierre filled France with widows and orphans, the Revolutionary Committee of Public Safety deputed Garnerin to the Army of the North, then commanded by General Bonfonnet. He appeared there in the capacity of Commissioner, and his functions called him to Marchiennes, in Flanders, a few days before the Auftrians attacked that place and carried it. The Austrian division was under the immediate command of his Royal Highnefs the Duke of York, and Garnerin became a prifoner to the British; he was fent, with the others, about 1600, to Oudenard, whence he efcaped about two months after, but was retaken almost immediately. He paffed into the hands of the Austrians, was conveyed up the Danube into Hungary, where he remained till he was exchanged. He complains of the French Government's having refufed to pay. him his arrears during the period of his captivity!

Garnerin is of a very diminutive fize, and in his thirty-third year.

ORIGIN OF BALLOONS.

A DESIRE to fly has prevailed in all ages, and most children have a with to imitate the birds. Roger Bacon, born at Ilchefter, in Somerfetfhire, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, was the first that is known to have con

ceived the idea of rifing in the air, fupported by exhausted balls of thin cop. per. He was ignorant of the existence of light air, endowed with as great an elattic force as common air; and therefore, though his example of light balls

was

was the fame as that on which balloons are now made, it was impracticable.We find, that Dr. Black, of Edinburgh, was the first perfon known to have fuggefted the poffibility of inclofing in. flammable air fo as to render it capable of raising a veffel into the atmosphere, which was done in his lectures in 1767 and 1768; and Mr. Cavallo, in 1782, first made experiments upon the fub jest; but he was unable to retain the air in any material light enough for the purpose, except a thick folution of foap, which the practice of children had fhewn would afcend even with refpired air, rarefied by heat. In the "fame year Stephen and Jofeph Montgolfier, paper-manufacturers of Annonay, about ten leagues from Lyons, filled a filken bag with air rarefied by burning paper, which rofe first in a room, and afterwards to the height of feventy feet, in the open air. Several repetitions of the experiment were made in the enfuing year, and finally dry ftraw and chopped wool were con fumed, instead of paper. One of their balloons, about thirteen feet in diameter, rofe to the height of 3000 feet in two minutes.

At length, on the 15th of October 1783, M. Pilatre de Rozier rofe from the garden of the Fauxbourg St. Antoine, at Paris, in a wicker gallery about three feet broad, attached to an oval balloon of 74 feet by 48, which had been made by M. Montgolfier, and which also carried up a brafier, or grate, for the purpofe of continuing, at pleafure, the inflation of the balloon, by a fire of ftraw and wool. The weight of this machine was 1600 pounds. On that day it was permitted to rife no higher than eighty-four feet; but on the 19th, when M. Giraud de Villette afcended with him, they rofe to the height of 332 feet, being prevented from further afcent only by ropes. In November of the fame year, M. P. de Rozier and the Marquis D'Arlandes firit truited a balloon to the elements, who, after rifing to the height of 3000 feet, defcended about five miles from the place of their afcent.

About the fame time, Count Zambeccari fent up from the Artillery Ground, in London, a fmall gilt balloon, filled with inflammable air, which in two hours and a half, reached a fpot near Petworth, in Suffex, and would not then have fallen had it not burst. The difcovery was now nearly

as complete as in its prefent state. Inflammable air, produced by iron filings and vitriolic acid, was foon ufed in the inflation of larger balloons, and by one of 27 feet diameter M. Charles and M. Roberts rofe in December from the Garden of the Thuilleries in Paris, and in an hour and half defcended about twenty-feven miles from that city. In this voyage, the thermometer fell from 47 to 31, from which datum the balloon was fuppofed to have reached the height of 3500 feet. Subfequent experiments may rather be enumerated than defcribed. The adventurers in them

were

M. J. Montgolfier, who, in 1784, afcended, with fix other perfons, from Lyons, by a balloon 131 feet high and 104 broad.

M. Blanchard, in March of the fame year, rofe to an altitude which is calculated at 9500 feet, and defcended in an hour and a quarter, having experienced heat, cold, hunger, and an excellive drownels.

M. Bertrand, in April, rofe from Dijon to the height of about 13,000 feet, and in an hour and a quarter failed 18 miles.

Madame Thible, who was the first female adventurer, afcended in June from Lyons, with M. Fleurant, in the prefence of the late King of Sweden, and reached the height of 8500 feet.

M. Mouchet, in the fame month, afcended from Nantz, and travelled 27 miles in 58 minutes.

M. Rozier, in another experiment, reached the height of 11,700 feet, and found the temperature of the air reduced to five degrees below the freez ing point.

The Duke de Chartres (Orleans) afcended in July from the Park of St. Cloud, with three other persons.

Vincent Lunardi, on September 15, rofe from the Artillery Ground, by a balloon 33 feet in diaineter. In his afcent the thermometer fell to 29, and fome drops of water round his balloon were frozen.

M. Roberts and Hullin, in the fame month, failed from Paris to Arras in fix hours and a half.

Mr. Sadler, who was the first Englishman that afcended with a balloon, rofe in October, from Oxford.

Mr. Sheldon afcended from Chelsea in the fame month.

M. Blanchard and Dr. Jefferies, on

the 7th of January 1785, croffed the Channel between Dover and Calais, by means of a balloon, but had fuch difficulty to keep it above the water, that they were obliged to throw overboard every thing they had with them.

Mr. Crofbie afcended from Dublin, in the fame month, with fuch rapidity that he was completely out of fight in three minutes.

Count Zambeccari and Admiral Sir E. Vernon, in March, failed from London to Horsham, 35 miles, in lefs than an hour.

Mr. Windham and Mr. Sadler afcended from Moulley Hurt in May, and defcended at the confluence of the Thames and Medway.

having afcended from Dublin, was taken up in the Channel by a boat, when on the point of expiring with fatigue.

M. M. P. De Rozier and Romain afcended from Boulogne on the 15th of July, with the intention of croffing the Channel; but their balloon, being a Montgolfier, took fire at the height of 1200 yards, and they were dathed to pieces by the fall.

Mr. Crosbie, who again afcended from Dublin, and Major Money, from Norwich, in the fame month, both fell into the fea, and were with great difficulty faved.

M. Blanchard, in August, failed from Life to a distance of 300 miles before

Mr. M'Guire, in the fame month, he defcended.

LITERARY ANECDOTES.

LEIBNITZ, 1646—1716.

NUMBER VIII.

WHEN a great man appears, his fupe. riority over thofe who furround him is foon difcovered. Thousands of others who compare their own infigni. ficance with his coloffal height, complain that Nature fhould trip a whole generation to form the mind of one. But Nature is just-she distributes to each individual the neceflary attainments by which he is enabled to fulfil the career affigned him. To a chofen few alone the referves the privilege of poffeffing uncommon talents, and of enlightening mankind by their exertion. To one the lays open the means of explaining her phænomena; to another the affigns the talk of framing or expounding the laws which bind his fellow creatures; to a third it is given to depict the cultoms of nations and defcribe the revolutions of empires. But each has in general purfued one track, and excelled only in one particular line. A man at length appeared, who dared lay claim to univerfality, whofe head combined invention with method, and who seemed born to fhew, in their full extent, the powers of the human mind. That man was Leibnitz.

Godfrey William, Baron of Leibnitz, was born at Leiptic, and lost his father at the early age of fix. The education of great men will generally be found to be more fimple than that

of men of ordinary capacities, to whom a guide is abfolutely requifite, who receive no impreffions but fuch as are inftilled into them, and have no bias but the commands of a mafter. The boy of natural genius, on the contrary, requires only to be taught the firit principles of fcience; the inftinct of talent alone either impels to the study which Nature has chalked out for him, or, like Leibnitz, he aims at every fpecies of learning. His mother was a virtuous and enlightened woman, who had fufficient penetration to difcern the genius the had produced. With the aflistance of the learned who then flourished at Leipfic, he rapidly paffed through the claffes of ancient literature, mathematics, and theology. The talents of Thomafius, Bofius, and Weigol, united in forming the great mind of Leibnitz; under their guidance, it acquired that decided fuperiority which altonished Europe.

This is not the place to compare Leibnitz with Newton, or to enter into the merits of the aftronomical and metaphyfical difputes which so long kept thefe great men divided in opinion, without leffening the esteem each felt for the other. A few anecdotes have been felected indicative of the man, divefted of his character as a philofo. pher.

A complaint has very generally been made, that men of great literary merit

feldom

feldom meet with rewards in proportion to their talents. It is pleafing in fome few inftances to find this affertion un founded. The tranfcendent genius of Leibnitz early commanded, and ob tained, the notice and patronage of Sovereigns. The Flector of Hanover, afterwards George the Ift of England, whose subject he was, conferred on him honours and penfions. These he alfo obtained from the Emperor of Germany and Peter the Great of Ruffia, who even paid him a vifit to confult him on the means of effecting an entire change in the laws and cuftoms of his ftill barbarous country. His correfpondence was universal, and extended to the learned and fcientific of every country. Superior to the common jealousy of authorship, he entered into every literary fcheme, he offered to others his affiftance, he animated their exertions, and ftimulated their endeavours. His reading was prodigious, embracing every department; and it was a common faying with him, that there was no book, however bad, but fomething useful might be extracted from it. With all this, neither pedantry nor pride formed a part of his charac ter. He was familiar and affable with men of every defcription. He even courted the fociety of women, and in their prefence was more the man of the world than the man of letters. His temper was in general even and lively, occafionally roufed into anger, but easily appeased.

He was never married. When he attained the age of fifty, he had thoughts of fo doing; but the Lady whole hand he folicited having defired fome time to confider of his propofals, this alfo gave him an opportunity of making his own reflections, and the refult was, that he continued a bachelor.

He was of a robust conftitution, and feldom incommoded with illness, till late in life, when he was troubled with the gout. His manner of living was fingular. He always took his meals alone, and thefe never at ftated hours, but as it fuited his appetite or his tudies, After his first attack of the gout, his dinner confifted only of milk, but at fupper he was a great eater, though he drank little, and always mixing water with his wine. He would often fleep in his chair, and awake next morning as refreshed as if he had risen from his bed. At the time when he Audied molt, he would be, whole months

in his room without ever leaving it; a custom probably neceffary for the completion of the work he had in hand, but certainly very injurious to his health. It accordingly fubjected him to a diforder in his legs, which he increased by attempting to cure it himself; for he thought flightingly of phyficians. The confequence was, that for the last year of his life he could fcarcely walk, and spent the greater part of his time in bed.

He died at Hanover on the 14th of November 1716. He employed his last moments in difcuffing the method propofed by Furstenbach, of tranfmuting iron into gold. When on the point of death, he called for ink and paper; he wrote; but attempting to read what he had written, his eyes became dim, and he expired at the age of feventy.

When a German Nobleman complimented George the It on being at once Elector of Hanover and King of England, his Majefty replied, "Rather congratulate me on being the Sovereign of two fuch fubjects as Leibnitz and Newton."

PONTANUS, 1426-1503.

The interval comprehended between the dawn of learning after a long night of ignorance and barbarifm, and the time when it attained its meridian fplendour, forms a period highly interesting to the literary enquirer. To Italy we must look for this revival of learning and talte, as the nurfe of every fcience,the country which produced and cherished a long lift of scholars and poets, who contributed to the reitoration of letters, and recalled the glorious days of Auguftus. When every other part of Europe was involved in darkness, Italy alone retained in its bofom poets, hiftorians, and lawyers. The fourteenth, fifteenth, and fixteenth centuries, abounded in learned men of every defcription, many of whom at prefent are barely known but by name, but whofe works deferve the attention of the prefent age, from the excellence of their fubject and the purity of their diction. The labours of Roscoe, Tenhove, and Grefwell, have contributed to diffeminate in this country a talte for Italian literature. But much yet remains to be done. New, or improved, tranflations of Guicciardini, Giannone, Fra. Paolo, Bembo, and Denina, are obvious defiderata in our language. There are allo many de

tached

tached portions of Italian history which, from the richness of materials, the multiplicity of events, and the interest they would excite, would amply repay the time and labour bestowed on them. Among many others may be pointed out, A History of the Republics of Florence, Pifa, Lucca, Genoa, and Venice; Memoirs of the Houfe of Visconti, Sovereigns of Milan, on the admirable plans of Tenhove's "Honfe of Medici," or Rofcoe's "Lorenzo;" a continuation of the latter work to the extinction of the House of Medici, which we beg leave to fuggest to its elegant author; the work of Tenhove, however judicious in its outline, being defective, and incomplete in its execution. To these may be added, A Philofophical History of the Popes, as temporal Sovereigns of Rome, from the Age of Leo the Xth to the prefent Time. A very pleafing volume might alfo be formed of fpecimens of the va rious minor poets who have flourished in Italy, with poetical verfions of their Italian and Latin poems. Among these, Joannes Jovianus Pontanus would hold a diftinguished rank.

He was born at Cerreto, in Umbria. He was Secretary of State, and filled various offices under Alfonfo and Ferdinand, Kings of Naples; yet he found leifure and inclination for the purfuits of literature, in which he was fo fuccessful, that many have confidered him as the most accomplished poet and fcholar of his age. He alfo diftinguifhed himself as a writer on various fubjects. His poetical works were published by Aldus, in two volumes, in 8vo. 1505, and his profe works in three volumes, 8vo. 1513, 1519. He is faid to have injured his reputation by writing haftily whatever occurred to him, and neglect ing afterwards to retrench any part of what he had thus written. So fparing was he of the file, that it was his cuftom rather to add than diminish upon every revifal of his works. A better founded objection, and more injurious to his character, has been urged against him, and that is, the indecency which per vades many of his poetical compofi

tions.

He is faid to be himself the author of the following infcription, which was after his death engraven on his tomb:

Sum Joannes Jovianus Pontanus
Quem amaverunt bone Mufe
Infpexerunt Viri probi,

Honeftaverunt Reges, Domini.
Scis quis fim, aut potiùs quis fuerim,
Ego, vero te, Hofpes! nofcere in tene.
bris nequeo:

Sed teipfum ut nofcas rogo, vale.

MAUPERTUIS, 1698—1759,

born at St. Malo, of a noble family, difcovered from his early youth a great inclination for mathematics and military tactics. He entered among the Moufquetaires in 1718, and employed in ftudy the leifure which his occupations allowed him. Having ferved two years in this corps, he obtained a company of horse in the regiment of La Roche-Guyon, which he foon refigned, and with it all thoughts of a military life, that he might devote his time to the fciences. He foon obtained a place. in the Académie des Sciences at Paris. A few years after, the defire of inftruction induced him to vifit London, where the Royal Society admitted hini a Member. On his return to France, he went to Basle to visit the two Bornouillis, the literary ornaments of Switzerland. His talents, and the reputation he had now acquired, placed him at the head of thofe Academicians whom the King fent in 1736 into the North of Europe, to afcertain the figure of the earth. He was the chief promoter and director of this scheme, which was executed in one year with every poffible diligence and fuccefs. He was then invited to Berlin by the King of Pruffia, who gave him the Prefidency and chief direction of the Academy he had just established. That Monarch was then at war with the Emprefs of Germany. Maupertuis, whofe military ardour now revived, was defirous of tharing all the dangers of the King his patron. He expofed his perfon with the most undaunted courage, was even made prifoner, and conducted to Vienna. But his captivity was not of long duration, and far from being unpleafant to him. The Emperor and Emprefs-Queen permitted him to return to Berlin, after loading him with favours and expreffions of efteem. He then paffed into France, where his friends and admirers flattered themselves he would remain,

But his ardent imagination, his eagernefs after every novelty of literature, never fuffered him to remain long in one place, and precluded every prof pect of domestic peace and happiness.

He

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