tion. Speech were profanity. The sound of my own voice, breaking in upon this awful silence, would jar upon the ear as harshly as would the loud, boisterous song of some profane and drunken reveller disturbing the devout worshipper in the still and solemn aisle of a cathedral at midnight. It is with extreme reluctance that I force myself to make a slight necessary movement of one arm. The little creaking of the wicker car which this involves makes me shudder. The small sound is quickly gone, it is true. It goes out and returns not. It is instantly devoured swallowed up and lost in the unfathomable gulfs which open out on every side. There is no cloud near to give back even the faintest murmur of an echo.

it is of an intensely deep Prussian blue color, like its hue at midnight on an exceptionally clear night. It is a glorious, shining firmament of deepest transparent sapphire. In the whole grand hemisphere there is not one solitary minutest speck to mar its absolute unity and perfection. For we have left far behind every trace of fog or mist or vapor, together with the whole apparatus for their manufacture. We gaze everywhere uninterruptedly into the transparent blue ether of illimitable space.

The clouds are all far below. Their first effect when we rose above them was that of a vast, lustrous, many-rippled lake of snow-white gossamer cirrus. A little later, as we rose higher, and the larger It is only, of course, at first that one's masses below came more and more into sensations seem so purely sensuous. In-view, in the wide intervals between the. deed the situation is not without moral floating cirrus, they constituted a mighty and spiritual lessons of the highest order, ocean, with huge tumbling billows, and and to these, let us hope, we are not alto- each billow seems huger and more wongether blind or dead. Here there is noth-derful than the last. But far away, ing but the Almighty and his greatest works. And we can, in some faint and far-off measure, understand how small in his sight must be the little rivalries, the narrow prejudices, the unworthy jealousies, the petty anxieties, the fashionable trivialities, which make up so much of our lives below. Here, far above it all, we feel as if, like Lear and Cordelia in their coveted prison, we could

take upon us the mystery of things As if we were God's spies.

His greatest works, -surely sun and sky and cloud are these. And here there is nothing else, and we see them in an unimagined perfection. The sun is no longer the sun which we know so well on earth. There he is perpetually half obscured, and even on the brightest summer's day he has to shine through innumerable varying layers of lower, moister, and denser atmosphere, which half quench his rays. But here he is a mighty burning orb, illuminating everything with one overpowering flood of glorious light. And such is the power of his rays, that without a thermometer I should be quite unconscious of the circumstance that the temperature of the surrounding air has fallen twenty or thirty degrees since we left the earth.

The sky when on the ground, was quite obscured by clouds. As we ascended higher, and it came, here and there, into view, it was of the usual milky "sky-blue" tint. It has grown brighter and brighter, bluer and more blue as we rose; and now

towards the horizon, their giant forms melt gradually down and mingle with the cirrus, as the distance continually increases, until at last the vanishing point takes the form of a distinct and clear horizontal arc. This is as well defined all round the entire circumference as the ocean horizon at sea, and upon it I could take a sextant observation fully as well.

Besides these three grand elements of sun and sky and cloud, there is nothing, apparently, in the whole universe but my tiny car, and the soaring balloon above. Stay-far below, projected horizontally on a gigantic cloud, I see another and a far larger balloon, with car, aëronaut, ropes, every detail distinct and clear. It is the shadow of my own balloon, enormously elongated, half a mile long, or it may be ten miles; for I have no means of judging distances in this vast abyss wherein I float, an utterly insignificant speck, with no single known or fixed point anywhere, other than the sun overhead. These then make up the apparent sum total of things. A simple total. But all monotony in the picture is amply dispelled by the wonderful variations of form and color in the clouds themselves. From the lightest snowy flecks of floating cirrus, through all conceivable or inconceivable shapes of giant cumulus, down to dense impenetrable layers of solid stratus, there they are. Their forms, their hues, and grouping are perpetually changing. Not rapidly, that would be out of harmony with the scene. But in a slow, silent manner, which seems to eliminate the

idea of motion, and harmonizes well. | which broods over all here like a presidAnd the great sun above pours down ing spirit, that I seize greedily on any upon them all alike one tremendous flood excuse for putting off, just for a few of dazzling radiance, giving rise alter- moments longer, the inevitable time of nately to the brightest of lights or the energetic action. But every moment is deepest of shadows, according as they are precious. We are driving steadily on at exposed to, or screened from, his power- an unknown rate. So with an effort I ful rays. rouse myself, and seize the valve line. One, two, three, four, five, six,—I count the time, holding the great valve on top of the balloon wide open. It would be sheer insanity, under any ordinary circumstances, thus to challenge my balloon to a headlong course downwards. But I am now fully awake to the situation. A decided effort must be made, and any half measures would be foredoomed to disastrous failure. I calculate that the clouds below will tend to check the inevitable acceleration of speed in our downward course to a considerable extent. No doubt when we get through them I shall have to look out, for she will be likely to accelerate greatly; but there is sufficient ballast to enable me to put on a powerful brake to stop her down below. In any case it seems better to run any unknown risk, which the uncertainty as to stopping her involves, than to incur the absolute certainty of falling into the sea a little later on.

At first it might well seem a wonder and a pity that no man has ever seen these magnificent clouds, and that no human eye ever will see them but mine. To the artist and to every loving worshipper of nature in her grandeur and her beauty they would be naught else than an education, and a supreme delight. Yet doubtless beings of another world, and with far better eyes than ours, behold their marvellous perfection, and rejoice. And, whether or no, let it abundantly suffice that the all-seeing eye of the great Creator is upon every one of them, and that his sovereign approbation has forever stamped them as good.

But now it is high time to attend to the balloon and her path. On entering the clouds and losing sight of the earth, I had, knowing that our course might be nearly straight for the sea, fixed a time by my watch, beyond which, on a rough estimate, we must on no account remain lost in the clouds, otherwise, on descending, I might find myself over the water. That time has now expired, or nearly so. The balloon has been travelling at her own will. For a considerable time after rising above the clouds the expansion of the gas, due to the powerful direct rays of the sun, sustained her well. But of late she has been settling slowly downwards. We are now between six and seven thousand feet from the ground. The clouds below are less dense than they were. Through rifts in their dark masses I begin to catch occasional fleeting glimpses of the earth. I lean over the edge of the car, and fancy that there is thus dimly to be discerned a long, ill-defined line which might be the coast-line. A few moments later, and the truth is clear. There it is. The sea is below and most perilously close. We are driving right on to it. There is yet considerably more than a mile to fall. Shall I ever get down in time? or is it possible to stand on, husband the ballast carefully, and cross over? One glance at the size of the balloon and the limited quantity of ballast available should suffice to dismiss the last idea as quite impracticable. But I cannot help toying with the thought for a few moments. The truth is, that I have 'drank so deeply of that intense repose

Down we go accordingly. I employ the short time available before we reach the clouds in piling up the bags of ballast on the seat of the car ready to hand for instant dismissal, keeping an intermittent eye on the barometer all the time. When we enter the clouds the whistle and swish of the light vapor as we rush through warns me plainly that we are travelling, but although the barometer is running up rapidly, it does not seem to indicate any marked increase of speed. This gives me time to cut adrift the lashing which ties up the grapnel rope, and to shake out the coils till the falling rope hangs in a single bight below. The grapnel itself I hang by its tines over the side of the car, all ready to let go. The clouds are thick, and before we are through them everything is in readiness for a landing. Still rapid progress, but no very marked acceleration of speed.

Now we are through, and the earth bursts upon us all at once. The sea is still considerable distance off, and I am inclined to think that all is well. One more glance at the barometer-we are, say, three thousand feet from the ground. I throw out a few pieces of paper. If they were to journey down alongside of us we should be falling rapidly, but at a reason

The barometer, which I can now

able rate. But now they rise sharply, and | scends. are soon left far above out of sight. Cer- again afford to consult, informs me that tainly we are travelling. I now watch the we are a little under one thousand feet ground below steadily. We are over an from the ground. We have gained a open marsh. There are one or two soli- thousand in pulling up. tary shepherds' cottages, and a few dykes full of water. These objects are apparently moving out from below to right or left. The rapidly increasing velocity of this, their angular movement of divergence from the vertical, together with the progressive enlargement in size of each field, or defined area below, gives some measure to the eye of the rapid rate of our | progress downwards, and greater nearness to the ground. I throw more paper. It runs up faster than before. Shall I ever pull her up? But the sea is advancing steadily in a swift, silent manner, which is not reassuring. We are driving fast right on to it. There is plenty of room under us yet, and I will stand on a little longer. But I heave up a heavy bag of ballast with both hands, poise it on the edge of the car, and hold it ready to throw.

All at once it strikes me that she is accelerating frightfully. The cottage, which at first seemed at rest right underneath us, and then was creeping slowly out to the left, is now going off at full gallop like a runaway horse. The whole country immediately below has become an uncertain sort of moving phantasmagoria. We are two thousand feet from the ground, by eye, for I dare not lose sight of the earth to look at barometers. Sea or no sea, I must bring her to while yet there is room, or surely I shall be smashed to pieces. Over goes the ponderous mass of ballast, bag and all; and more follow as fast as I can seize and throw them. Over they go, till I have only one bag left. The heavy sacks of wet sand go down like thunderbolts. They ought, of course, to be emptied of their contents, which would then descend as usual in a harmless shower. Probably there is nothing but marsh, or only a few cattle, below. But were their flocks and herds innumerable, and a stray shepherd or two into the bargain, I should be sorry to assert very positively that they would not have one and all to take their chance of a bag.

Bad judgment, and badly done! For it is clear that I have greatly overdone the whole thing. Had one thrown only one. half that precious ballast up above there, just to check the balloon's course, and the remainder by successive instalments later on as required, we might now have been nearly on the ground, and moving towards it at a safe and manageable rate; whereas now she has lost all her way. We are still a long distance from the earth, with the sea very close. A long white line of hungry-looking foam is coming straight upon me with the speed of a railway train, and in a weird, silent manner which half fascinates me.

And now her great downward momentum has carried her far below her true equilibrium level. Now, by all the laws which govern balloons, she is bound, if I let her go-like a light float driven forcibly down into a pool of water and then left to itself—to rise rapidly again. She will run up above the clouds once more, and carry me thousands of feet higher than we have ever yet been to descend later on into the sea, miles from the shore, with a tremendous crash, for there will then be no ballast to stop her. We must get down now at all costs, if not on the land, then as near as possible to it. Below is a favorable marsh, covered with long rank grass. I have still one bag of ballast left, and the heavy grapnel to throw. This Í can cut away, rope and all, if necessary; and she can hardly gather any very dangerous way now, however much gas I have to let out to get down in time.

There is no time for weighing such considerations as these before taking action, nor do I need any. For, indeed, at a crisis like this, as the plot steadily thickens, and your nerves get wound up more and more to the sticking point, your wits also seem to sharpen continually, until you arrive at a point at which you seize, as it were by inspiration, at a momentary glance, all the leading points We are still running at a great rate, but of the situation, and translate them into it soon becomes clear that the balloon is instant action with a result as good, or losing her way. A little later, and she is better, than an hour's careful considerabringing to. There is no longer an up- tion would give at an ordinary time. The ward rush of air against my flattened instant it became clear that the balloon hand held horizontally over the side of was bringing to, or had already brought the car. The moving phantasmagoria has to, and before she had time to gather way settled down into a well-defined ground upwards, I had seized the valve line and plan. A piece of paper thrown over de-opened the valve full. I am now steadily

LIVING AGE. VOL. XXXIII,

1684

Now one can afford to sit quietly down for a few moments, to recover from a somewhat dazed and bewildered state in which the smart landing, following on Suwarrow, who in his old age was such a rapid fall, had left me. No harm pinched, shrivelled, and dwarfish, was in whatever has been done, except that I his prime of a burly build, rather short am partly deaf for a time. My ears seem of stature, but well-proportioned. A mahalf disposed to strike work. They fur-lignant gossip says that he had the body ther express their resentment at the great of an ape and the soul of a bull. The and sudden increase of barometric pres-medals struck in his honor give a false

idea of his personal appearance. The or pamper his tired flesh, he might tempt waving ringlets, the finely-chiselled fea- the drowsy god by unfastening one spur. tures, the stately presence, bear little Lest he should slumber too long he alresemblance to the great original. The truth is that he was so ugly as to inspire even his own soul with disgust; and the looking-glass was the only enemy he did not dare to face. The first duty of the officer appointed to secure a lodging for him was to remove all articles of luxury -books, pictures, plate, but especially mirrors; and if one of the latter proscribed articles had accidentally been overlooked, Suwarrow had no sooner set his eyes on it than he smashed it to a thousand fragments. His restless, spasmodic nature showed itself in his rapid glances; in his laconic remarks where the hearer had to supply from his own suggestiveness the words that were lack ing to complete the sense; in his abrupt conversation which was ever darting from subject to subject like a bird among the twigs. He seemed always anxious to do a thousand things at once, and to follow as many different trains of thought and talk simultaneously. Once in an engagement with the Turks he all of a sudden rushed forward into the ranks of the enemy, stabbed several of the Janissaries, cut off their heads and filled a large sack with them, which he brought away and emptied at the feet of his general. And the impetuosity of resolve and daring which he displayed while a common soldier was in keeping with the fertility and promptitude of expedient he exhibited when, as a Russian marshal, he controlled the movements of armies. If he had been expostulated with for the risk he ran in attacking such fearful odds, he would have answered, as he did on another occasion when comparing the relative worth of a clever man and a fool: "One man is worth three fools; even three are too few, say six ay, six are too few, say ten; one clever fellow will beat them all, overthrow them and take them prisoners."

ways carried a dunghill-cock with which he shared his bedroom, and whose shrill clarion sounding at his ear always summoned the warrior in good time to the duties of the day. "I hate idleness," said he; "and that bird," pointing to the cock, "is very punctual in waking me." So highly did he appreciate the services of the bird that, in emulation of its virtues, he would go to the door of his tent and, instead of ordering the drum to beat, or the bugle to sound, imitate its cries as a signal that the camp was to awake. His own imitation of the crowing of the cock was the bugle-call for the march. He drilled his troops in his shirt-sleeves; and often rode in front of the army on a barebacked horse, with no other clothing than his shirt. Summer and winter alike he rose at two in the morning and took a bath, or rather had bucketfuls of cold water thrown over him by his servants. Thereafter he breakfasted; dinner was served at eight; and breakfast and dinner alike consisted of the coarse, black bread of the common soldiers, which in his case was washed down by deep draughts of brandy. During these repasts an officer stood by and, at his discretion, informed Suwarrow that he had eaten and drunk enough, and that the servants would now remove the bread and bottles. "By whose orders dare you interfere with me, sir?" Suwarrow would exclaim. "By the orders of Marshal Suwarrow.' If so, he must be obeyed." He had issued general instructions to his subordinates to command him, in his own name, to desist from doing anything likely to injure his health. He owned neither villa, nor plate, nor carriage, nor books, nor liveried servants, nor pictures, nor rare collections of any kind; and, when he came to St. Petersburg, slept in the cart which all his days, on the march and in triumphal enSuwarrow affected great simplicity of tries, was his favorite vehicle. For life and coarseness of manners. A heap twenty years at a stretch he never used a of fresh hay with a sheet spread over it looking-glass for the purposes of the toiformed his bed alike on the march, in the let; nor did he ever encumber his person fortress, or at home. He could not sleep with watch or money. In his day perwithout abundance of fresh air; and if sonal cleanliness, even among the ladies the windows would not open he would of the Russian nobility, was not held in break every pane of glass in them, and much account; and Suwarrow was often even order the frames to be taken out, seen to take off his shirt and bid his solsaying that he did not fear cold. Before diers hold it to the fire, adding that it throwing himself down to rest, he seldom was the best method he knew for killing took off his boots, spurs, or military ac- certain unclean parasites. In conversacoutrements; sometimes when he wanted tion his tone, especially to his equals, was either to refresh his exhausted energies | abrupt and imperious; whomsoever he

"