Fowle's New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

Blanchard performed his 17th aerial excursion this 18th ult. from Douay. This ascension was the noblest sight the inhabitants of Flanders ever beheld. He mounted with the greatest intrepidity, and was followed by the eyes of the multitude for half an hour. This voyage, from the violence of the wind, may be considered as the most perilous experiment which this wonderful aeronaut ever made. He went 96 miles in the same number of minutes, and descended at L'Etoile, a village in Picardy. M. Deleloge, the lord of the manor, received him with every mark of distinction. Over St. Amand, in Artois, he dropped the following letter:

To the Editors of the Paris Journal.

In the air. April 18, 1786:

"I am reckoned an original, and am proud of the title. With an unsteady hand, on the border of my undulating car, and soaring eighteen thousand feet above the surface of the terrestrial globe, an immensity of space at my feet, and a wide extent of airy regions before me, I address, gentlemen, this letter to you. I intend to drop it over the first town I see when I am descending, and will send you a more particular account, when I am firmly fixed on the earth, and at leisure to make the necessary calculations.

I have the honour, &c.

BLANCHARD."

The people of Douay, they say, raised for him a subscription of 1000l. sterling; and are charmed with having liberally contributed to a performance so novel and amazing.