about eleven
o’clock in the evening
`` And the balloon withstood it ? '' `` Perfectly well . It was at the time of the coronation of Napoleon , in 1804 . The aeronaut , Gernerin , sent up a balloon at Paris , about eleven o'clock in the evening . It bore the following inscription , in letters of gold : ` Paris , 25 Frimaire ; year XIII ; Coronation of the Emperor Napoleon by his Holiness , Pius VII . ' On the next morning , the inhabitants of Rome saw the same balloon soaring above the Vatican , whence it crossed the Campagna , and finally fluttered down into the lake of Bracciano . So you see , gentlemen , that a balloon can resist such velocities . ''