de Montgolfier, proprietors of a large paper-manufactory, to be witnesses of an experiment in physics.

The crowd thronged the thoroughfare.

An enormous bag, formed of a light canvas lined with paper, began to swell slowly before the curious eyes of the public; all at once the cords which held it were cut, and the first balloon rose majestically into the air.
Successive improvements made in the Montgolfiers' original invention permitted bold physicists ere long to risk themselves in a vessel attached to the air-machine.

There sailed across the Channel a balloon bearing a Frenchman, M.Blanchard, and an Englishman, Dr.Jefferies; the latter lost his flag.

Blanchard had set the French flag floating over the shores of England; public enthusiasm welcomed him on his return.