Not in a balloon, or in anything on the levitation principle:
That was all very well for Mr. Green and M. de Montgolfier,
But I say that levitation is all my eye and my elbow.
(Proverb that verges on slang, but its uses hath slang, like adversity).
No levitation for me; but force like that of a cannon-ball.
Not that I mean to be shot out of a twelve-pounder like Zazel at the Aquarium,
But to be propelled by tame gunpowder. “How shall I tame it?”
Have you never heard of Carter the Lion King, or of Myn Heer Van Amburg?
Did not they tame furious mammalia? And did they tell you how they did it?
So shall I not tell you how I intend to tame this “villanous saltpetre.”