THE GREAT BALLOON HOAX.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The feat of ' R34' recalls Edgar Allan Poe's most successful imposition on the public). One 'day in April, 1844 the New York Sun astonished its readers with au article headed. in magnificent capitals:— " ASTOUNDING NEWS BY EXPRESS VIA NORFOLK THE ATLANTIC CROSSED IN THREE DAYS I.
SIGNAL TUIDDIPH OP Ma. MONDE MASON'S FLYING MAMMA! 1 1 1
Arrival at Sullivan's Island, near Charleston, South Caro- lina, of Mr. Mason, Mr. Robert Holland, Mr. Henson, Mr.. Harrison Ainsworth, and four others in the Steering Balloon, ' Victoria.' after a- passage of seventy-five hours from land to' land Full particulars of the voyage!"
Poe is recorded to have stated that the rush for the " inks paper that had the news " was something beyond even the prodigious. After seventy-five years Englishmen have justified the genius of this great American and the credulity of his
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