In the course of an hour this objection had been removed, and the party prepared to set off on their kite-flying expedition.
“Bring me the kite, and let me sling it properly over Tom’s shoulder,” said Mr. Seymour.
“I will carry the string,” exclaimed Louisa; “how nicely it is wound round the stick.”
As the party walked forwards, the vicar asked Tom whether he knew from whence the name of the kite originated.
“A kite is a bird of prey,” answered the boy, “which soars a great height; and from remaining stationary in the air, was, I suppose, thought to resemble the paper kite.”
“That is a very good explanation,” said the vicar; “or it may, perhaps, have derived its name from the circumstance of its having been originally constructed in the shape of a bird of this description. In China the flying of kites is much more practised than in this country; and I understand that their shape is always that of some bird.”
“In the London toy-shops you may constantly meet with them in such forms, as well as in many other fantastic shapes,” observed Mr. Seymour; “and,” continued he, “I remember to have seen, some years ago, a kite which resembled a man. It was made of linen cloth, cut, and painted for the purpose, and stretched on a light frame, so constructed as to resemble the outline of the human figure. It stood upright, and was dressed in a sort of jacket. Its arms were disposed like handles on each side of its body, and its head being covered with a cap, terminating in an angle, favoured the ascent of the machine, which was twelve feet in height; but to render it easier to be transported, it could be folded double, by means of hinges adapted to the frame. The person who directed this kind of kite was able to raise it, though the weather was calm, to the height of nearly five hundred feet; and, when once raised, he maintained it in the air by giving only a slight motion to the string. The figure, by these means, acquired a kind of libration, like that of a man skaiting on the ice. The illusion, occasioned by this spectacle, did not fail, as you may readily suppose, to attract a great number of spectators.”
“I believe, however,” observed the vicar, “that the figure commonly adopted, is the one best calculated for the purpose.”
“Undoubtedly,” replied Mr. Seymour, “and for obvious reasons; the curvature of the bow enables it to escape the resistance of the air, as it rises; which, after having struck it, slides off, just as the current is more effectually turned aside by the gently curved prow, than by that which has a sharp outline; for the same reason, the mast of a ship, though it has a conical shape, is more easily drawn through the water with its broad, than with its narrow end, foremost; for although the primary obstruction is, no doubt, greater in the former case, yet the water heaped, as it were, on the front, is made to stream off with a slight divergency, and therefore does not hang on the sides of the mast, as it would in the latter case. This shape of the kite, moreover, presents the largest surface at the point upon which the wind can act with the greatest effect, while the whole is lightened by the removal of parts that would obstruct its action. The tail has also a greater control over a figure of such a description.”
Mr. Seymour asked the vicar, “whether he could explain the origin of the French term for the kite, viz. cerf volant, or flying stag; I never can believe,” continued he, “that the kite could ever have been constructed in the shape of that animal.”