Page:Wonderful Balloon Ascents, 1870.djvu/147

Rh developing into a clamour, arose amongst the multitude; then, wild with disappointment, the frenzied populace threw themselves upon the barricade, broke it, attacked the gallery of the balloon, the instruments, the apparatus, trampling them under foot, and smashing them in bits. They then rushed upon the balloon and fired it. There was then a general mélée. Far from fleeing the fire, every one struggled to seize and carry off a bit of the balloon, to preserve as a relic. The two abbés escaped as they best could, under protection of a number of friends.

After this there fell a perfect shower of lampoons and caricatures. The Abbé Miolan was represented as a cat with a band round its neck, while Janninet appeared as a donkey; and in a coloured print the cat and the ass are shown arriving in triumph upon their famous balloon at the Academy of Montmartre, and are received at the hill of Moulins-à-Vent by a solemn assembly of turkey-cocks and geese in different attitudes. Numerous songs and epigrams, of which the unfortunate abbés were the subjects, also appeared at this time. The letters which composed the words "l'Abbé Miolan" were found to form the anagram, Ballon abîmé—"the balloon swallowed up."

The most extravagant balloon project was that of Robertson, who published a scheme for making a tour of the world. He called it "La Minerva, an aerial vessel destined for discoveries, and proposed to all the Academies of Europe, by Robertson, physicist" (Vienna, 1804; reprinted at Paris, 1820), Robertson dedicated his project to Volta, and in his dedication he does not scruple to say: "In our age, my friendship seeks only one gratification, that we should both live a sufficiently long time together to enable you to calculate and utilise the results of this great