Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/367

 KIRWAN. 363 ing the balloon and i t s master; and thither i t was con veyed. The place was crowded from morning till night; Lunardi walked round a t intervals amongst the throng o f his visitants, who stared with wonderment whenever he approached. But the circumstance which more imme diately concerns the subject o f this article i s , that the Rev. Walter Blake Kirwan, whether from his friendship t o Mr. Lunardi a s a member o f the same diplomatic suite, o r whether, i n consideration o f a share i n the profits, o r from what other cause, i t i s difficult t o conjecture, was induced daily t o attend and give his personal aid i n exhi biting the balloon, and describing i t s apparatus and use t o the inquisitive spectators; and, between the acts, h e appeared elevated i n the orchestra, from whence h e read t o the crowd, passages from the pamphlet which detailed the aerial voyage o f his friend; and for the sale o f which pamphlet, a n agent from the bookseller attended within the building. The afternoons were generally devoted b y Mr. Lunardi t o convivial parties with Mr. Bell, and certain others o f his admirers. The presence o f the aëronaut was con sidered a high treat with the curious. At those parties, the celebrated George Anne Bellamy, then i n high vogue, from the apology for her life just then published, Mrs. Sage, a noted courtesan, then under the protection o f Lunardi, and afterwards herself a n aeronaut, and some other ladies, not o f the purest fame, were frequently among the guests; and the Rev. Mr. Kirwan was a regular attendant. How far such office and associations were thought decorous for a n ecclesiastic o f his eminence and situation, will appear b y the result. Mr. Lunardi was too much engaged with his balloon t o attend t o his duties a s a page o f the ambassador, and was therefore dismissed for degrading the dignity o f his official rank; and Mr. Kirwan was also obliged t o relinquish his chaplaincy for similar reasons. But this was not all: h e decidedly lost the coun tenance and friendship o f some highly respectable rela tives o f his own name, then moving i n the mercantile