“At what rate should you think the air travelled this morning, when we flew our kite?” enquired Louisa.
“I should think at about five miles an hour, for it was a pleasant but gentle breeze.”
[41]. The author has been thus minute, in order to afford his young friends clear directions for constructing a kite, and which, as far as he knows, are not to be found in any work hitherto published; and he will also avail himself of this opportunity to state, that the thin glazed linen of various colours, commonly known to haberdashers by the name of lining, has been found to be the best material as a covering for the kite. It is not only more durable than paper, defying the most boisterous wind, but superior to it as being secure from the effects of a shower of rain.
[42]. Those readers, who are inclined to enter more deeply into the subject, may consult, with advantage, a memoir on the kite, by Euler, published in the Transactions of the Academy of Berlin for the year 1756.
[44]. From associations of an interesting nature connected with the residence of the author’s children.
[45]. Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, vol. xli.; and Miss Edgeworth’s Harry and Lucy, vol. iv. p. 288.
