[Footnote 3: We have in the name of this church an answer to A. E. B.'s
Query, Vol. ii., p. 396., as to whether the Strand was ever known as _Le
Strand_,--the Church of St. Mary-le-Strand.--ED.]
_Aërostation_ (Vol. ii., pp. 199. 317. 380.).--I happen to remember a few
old verses of a squib on Lunardi, which may be enough seasoned with the
dust of oblivion to interest some of your readers.
"Good folks, can you believe your eyes?
Vincenzo di Lunardi
Has made a voyage to the skies,
That foreigner foolhardy!
"He went up in a round baloon
(For moon is luna, Latin),
To pay a visit to the moon;
A basket-boat he sat in.
"And side by side the moon, he cried
'How do, fair cousin moon? eh!'
Through telescopes they were espied,
Baloon--Lunardi--Luna.
* * * * *
"When weary on the wing, to perch
Once more, and air abandon,
Quite apropos he swooped in search
Of solid earth to 'Stand-on.'[4]
* * * * *
"Now after all remains to tell
How learned Mr. Baker,
Set up a _moonstone_ where he fell,
And called the field 'wise-acre.'
Perhaps some of your correspondents could supply the remaining stanzas. I
fancy there were several more. As far as I can remember, they chiefly
related to M. Lunardi's conversation with the moon, which, involving some
political allusions, did not so much hit my youthful imagination at the
time. When a boy, I have frequently heard my father repeat the lines.