in the centre of a field, where he was first welcomed by a sheep,
which stared at this visitor from the clouds in utter amazement. Mr.
Hampton repeated the experiment twice in London, though on both
occasions with considerable danger to himself, the first time falling
on a tree in Kensington Gardens, the second on a house, which threw
him out of the basket.

After this experiment there was a lull in the Parachute folly until
some twenty years ago, when Madame Poitevin startled the Metropolis
from its propriety by her perilous escapes both in life and limb.
Although considerable ingenuity was displayed in the plan of
expanding the Parachute by the sudden discharge of gas from the
balloon; still the very fact of a woman being exposed to such danger
by her husband, will, we trust, hereafter prevent Englishmen from
countenancing such an exhibition by their presence.




CHAPTER V.

UMBRELLA STORIES.


Who could for a moment suppose that so important an article as the
Umbrella would be without its lighter as well as its more serious
history? Umbrellas are still, we regret to say, regarded rather in a
comic than a serious light; so, if any of the following anecdotes
seem to treat of Umbrellas in too mocking or frivolous a vein, it is
the fault of the bad taste of the British public, not ours, who have