Рудольф Распе – The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen (страница 15)

Holland, purchased this marine horse, to make an exhibition of, for

seven hundred ducats, which was upwards of three hundred pounds, and the

next day my father paid his passage back in the packet to Harwich.

_ – My father made several curious observations in this passage, which I

will relate hereafter._

CHAPTER XII

_The frolic; its consequences – Windsor Castle – St. Paul’s – College of

Physicians – Undertakers, sextons, &c., almost ruined – Industry of the

apothecaries._

THE FROLIC.

This famous sling makes the possessor equal to any task he is desirous

of performing.

I made a balloon of such extensive dimensions, that an account of the

silk it contained would exceed all credibility; every mercer’s shop and

weaver’s stock in London, Westminster, and Spitalfields contributed to

it: with this balloon and my sling I played many tricks, such as taking

one house from its station, and placing another in its stead, without

disturbing the inhabitants, who were generally asleep, or too much

employed to observe the peregrinations of their habitations. When the

sentinel at Windsor Castle heard St. Paul’s clock strike thirteen, it

was through my dexterity; I brought the buildings nearly together that

night, by placing the castle in St. George’s Fields, and carried it

back again before daylight, without waking any of the inhabitants;

notwithstanding these exploits, I should have kept my balloon, and its

properties a secret, if Montgolfier had not made the art of flying so

public.

On the 30th of September, when the College of Physicians chose their

annual officers, and dined sumptuously together, I filled my balloon,

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