many had laboured in the same field before him. Nor can the story
of the ovoador, or flying man, a legend very confused, and of
which there are many versions, have given to Montgolfier any
valuable hints. It appears that a certain Laurent de Guzman, a
monk of Rio Janeiro, performed at Lisbon before the king, John
V., raising himself in a balloon to a considerable height. Other
versions of the story give a different date, and assign the
pretended ascent to 1709. The above engraving, extracted from
the "Bibliotheque de la Rue de Richelieu," is an exact copy of
Guzman's supposed balloon.

In 1678 a mechanician of Salle, in Maine, named Besnier invented
a flying-machine. The machine consisted of four great wings, or
paddles, mounted at the extremities of levers, which rested on
the shoulders of the man who guided it, and who could move them
alternately by means of his hands and feet. The following
description of the machine is given in the Journal de Paris by an
eye-witness:

"The 'wings' are oblong frames, covered with taffeta, and
attached to the ends of two rods, adjusted on the shoulders The
wings work up and down. Those in front are worked by the hands;
those behind by the feet, which are connected with the ends of
the rods by strings. The movements were such that when the right
hand made the right wing descend in front, the left foot made the
left wing descend behind; and in like manner the left hand in
front and the right foot behind acted together simultaneously.
This diagonal action appeared very well contrived; it was the
action of most quadrupeds as well as of man when walking; but the
contrivance, like others of the same kind, failed in not being