balloon-ascents

Updated: January 16, 2026

Occasional variety was provided by regattas and shooting-matches, and balloon-ascents, and displays of diving. No doubt Ranelagh was at its best and gayest when the scene of a masquerade. But unfortunately those entertainments had their sinister side. Fielding impeaches them in "Amelia" by their results, and the novelist was not alone in his criticism.

Henry C. (Henry Charles) Shelley - Inns and Taverns of Old London