nearly
eleven o’clock
Of Mr. Monck Mason , and Mr. Ainsworth . The body of the journal , as given , is in the hand-writing of Mr. Mason , and a P. S. is appended , each day , by Mr. Ainsworth , who has in preparation , and will shortly give the public a more minute , and no doubt , a thrillingly interesting account of the voyage . `` _ Saturday , April the 6th _ . -- Every preparation likely to embarrass us , having been made over night , we commenced the inflation this morning at daybreak ; but owing to a thick fog , which encumbered the folds of the silk and rendered it unmanageable , we did not get through before nearly eleven o'clock . Cut loose , then , in high spirits , and rose gently but steadily , with a light breeze at North , which bore us in the direction of the British Channel . Found the ascending force greater than we had expected ; and as we arose higher and so got clear of the cliffs , and more in the sun 's rays , our ascent became very rapid . I did not wish , however , to lose gas at so early a period of the adventure , and so concluded to ascend for the present .