No sooner had the news of the remarkable balloon exploits of de Rozier and Blanchard spread throughout the nations, than people of all classes became interested in the future of ballooning. There were those who regarded it as the great coming sport, and there were also those who, like the French military authorities, saw in this new invention a possible weapon of war whose development they dared not neglect. It was only a short time before the French had an army training school for aeronauts, and a number of military service balloons. The romance of ballooning had captured the imaginations of great masses of people and they proved their eagerness to back up the efforts of sportsmen balloonists with the necessary funds to carry on the many aeronautic projects which were suggested. We have already mentioned Chevalier Vincent Lunardi, the young Italian who was the first to accomplish a voyage in a balloon in England. The English people had read with ever increasing curiosity and impatience the stories of the French balloonists. What was their delight when this young Italian, poor but clever, proposed to give them an exhibition of their own. He had little difficulty in obtaining permission for a start to be made from London. The next step was to obtain funds by popular subscription for the construction of the balloon. For a time money flowed freely into the coffers; but a Frenchman named Moret came into the limelight as a rival of Lunardi and announced a balloon ascent some little time before that planned by his opponent. The demonstration promised by Moret never came off, his balloon refused utterly to take to the air, and the indignant spectators went home, feeling that they had been cleverly hoodwinked out of the price of admission. Their wrath naturally turned upon the unfortunate Lunardi, and it was only with difficulty and after much discouragement that he actually succeeded in carrying his undertaking to completion. Finally, however, he had his balloon built. The King had withdrawn his permission for a flight from the grounds of the Chelsea hospital, but he succeeded in securing another starting place, and announced that he was ready to demonstrate what the balloon could do. Vast crowds gathered to witness the spectacle. The balloon itself was gorgeous to behold. It looked like a mammoth Christmas-tree ball, of shining silk, in brilliant stripes of red and blue. It was filled with hydrogen gas, and as it gradually took form before their eyes, the people shouted with excitement and eagerness.