CHAPTER VII.
[Sidenote: Aërial Scenes continued.]
Section 47. A Few Seconds of Time before the Balloon had attained its greatest Height; the Velocity of Ascent being every Instant retarded by the Escape of Gass thro’ the Opening;—the _remarkable Stillness_ which prevailed in so elevated a State of the Atmosphere, _apparently_ many Miles above all visible Vapour, far beyond the Sight of every living Creature, and where the human Voice was no longer heard from below; the larger Objects, with which the Surface of the distant Earth was covered, as Rivers Woods Inclosures, diminishing to the View, yet encreasing in their Beauty;—coud not but make a lively Impression on the Mind of the Aironaut.
The striking Contrast and Novelty of his Situation filled him with unusual and pleasing Sensations.
He had just left, for the first Time, his native Earth, where he had continued for a while the central Object to some _thousand_ Spectators; whose Eyes, he knew, were still turned towards him; that he was still the Subject of their Conversation: yet no human Figure met his Sight; no human Sound vibrated on his Ear.
An universal Silence reigned! an empyrèan Calm! unknown to Mortals _upon Earth_.
The Sky was painted with a purer, and more transparent Azure. The Sun shone hot, and with a brighter Lustre. His Beams were _white_ and sparkling: not surrounded with Haze or Vapour: but too fierce for the human Eye to look upon a second Time with Pleasure.[13]
[Sidenote: Objects which filled the Mind of the Aironaut with Wonder and Delight.]
48. A Chearful Serenity filled the Breast of the Aironaut.
In an erect Posture, and with the utmost Composure he gazed around: reflecting with Wonder and Delight on a Situation, where the +Beautiful+ and +Sublime+ were seen united, in a Manner perfectly novel and engaging.
[Sidenote: Novel situation illustrated by a familiar Comparison.]
If it be allowed, for the Sake of Illustration, to compare _great_ Things with _small_; he found himself suspended in the central Concave of an unmeasurable Crater Bowl or Bason; and considerably above the Rim or Margin, so as to peep fairly over it: for by looking _straight before him_, while the Balloon continued gently turning on its vertical Axis, he coud see quite round into the +Blue+.
The Earth was the _Miniature-Picture_[14] painted on the Bottom of the Bowl, on the Inside. The Sides of the Bowl next the Bottom were rather obscure: as the Objects, on the Surface of the Earth not immediately under the Eye, being foreshortened, were indistinct, either on Account of their immense Distance, or by mere Accumulation of Vapours, and mixed with Haze and Cloudiness.
[Sidenote: The Comparison carried on.]
From thence to the Top of the Bowl, was fantastically grouped, spotted, and dash’d with Clouds dense and luminous, in the strangest and most grotesque Forms; still smaller and more numerous, as the Eye was more extended: The Rim or Margin ending, not in a fringed Border; but in a plain smooth Line; to represent the amazing Distance, at which, the upper Surfaces of _Clouds in Perspective_ lost all their rugged mountainous and fringed Shapes; and terminated even and smooth: making a perfect horizontal Ring in the Heavens, somewhat below the Eye of the Observer. The whole formed a glorious _Concave_: and the Imagination was lost in the surrounding distant Azure.[15]
[Sidenote: _Apparent_ Altitude of the Balloon when stationary.]
[Sidenote: The _apparent_ Heights proportioned to the _barometric_ Height.]
49. Considering more attentively the Dimensions of this vast Amphitheatre; as he long continued _apparently_ in the _same_ Spot, and seemed to himself a mere Atom floating _invariably_ in the Center of the empty Space; yet as a sole thinking Being there, whose Mind was bent on estimating the Extent of his View, so accurately defined by the circular Horizon of dense accumulated Vapour; and judging, as of other Distances, by _the natural Eye_ alone; pointing downwards on Objects which were only distinguishable when immediately below it, frequently no more than the Circuit of a Mile on the Earth’s Surface, the _vertical Boundary_ of the profound Abyss; all else being obscured by Haze, or removed from Sight by Volumes of intervening Cloud; he coud not divest himself of the Idea, but that the _apparent_ Depth below him was at least _seven_ Miles: _three_ from the Earth to the upper Surface of the superior Clouds,[16] and _four_ above them.[17]
OBJECTION REMOVED.
[Sidenote: _Improbability_ of a concave Appearance of the Clouds and Earth, _lessened_, by a familiar Illustration.]
50. Some may find a Difficulty in conceiving, how the whole Prospect of Clouds and Earth together coud put on a _concave_ Appearance: both of which were in Reality _convex_, with Respect to the Situation of the Observer in the Car.
A familiar Illustration may help to remove the Objection.
Imagine a Person placed in the Center of a Plain, or Carpet; extended every Way beyond the Reach of the Eye. If in that Situation he was gradually elevated; the _distant_ Parts of the Carpet woud _seem_ to rise with him: and those Figures of the Pattern woud alone be distinguished, that lay immediately below the Eye: the more remote becoming dim and faint. The whole would put on the Form of a concave Bowl; as soon as he had risen to so great a Height, as plainly to perceive the Figures of the surrounding Pattern more and more foreshortened, in Proportion to their Distance from the Center of the Carpet.