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+====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ======
+===== 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,
+brought it over the dome of their building, clapped the sling round
+the golden ball at the top, fastening the other end of it to the
+balloon, and immediately ascended with the whole college to an immense
+height, where I kept them upwards of three months. You will naturally
+inquire what they did for food such a length of time? To this I
+answer, Had I kept them suspended twice the time, they would have
+experienced no inconvenience on that account, so amply, or rather
+extravagantly, had they spread their table for that day's feasting.
+Though this was meant as an innocent frolic, it was productive of much
+mischief to several respectable characters amongst the clergy,
+undertakers, sextons, and grave-diggers: they were, it must be
+acknowledged, sufferers; for it is a well-known fact, that during the
+three months the college was suspended in the air, and therefore
+incapable of attending their patients, no deaths happened, except a
+few who fell before the scythe of Father Time, and some melancholy
+objects who, perhaps to avoid some trifling inconvenience here, laid
+the hands of violence upon themselves, and plunged into misery
+infinitely greater than that which they hoped by such a rash step to
+avoid, without a moment's consideration.
+If the apothecaries had not been very active during the above time,
+half the undertakers in all probability would have been bankrupts.
+----
+Go to [[CHAPTER XIII]]