The Sun.
London, England, 1825-11-26 00:00:00

BELZONI.

(From the Cambridge Chronicle, Nov. 25.)
Whilst we observe with Satisfaction the
progress of the subscription Which has been en-
tered into for the purpose of relieving-Mrs. BEL-
ZONI'S distresses, we cannot help lamenting the
apathy which .prevaileTt—in London with regard
to the Exhibition in Leicester-square. If the
public had but evinced a liberal feeling for the
success of an undertaking which had cost the life
of one of the party (James Courtine, Mr. Bel-
zoni's assistant),. and subjected the other to the
severest fatigues bmh of body and mind, Mrs.
Belzoni would have been spared the pain of
owing her subsistence to private charity, and
would have been enabled to secure a provision
for herself and for the relatives of her unfortu-
nate husband. The merits of BcLzoNl have been
appreciated by various writers abroad, and we
cannot help inserting some honourable passages
to his memory, extracted from the writings of a
Danish traveller :
" It was my good fortune at Copenhagen to meet one of the
remarkable men of the age—Mr. Belzoni. He had arrived at
the Danish capital from St. Petersburgh, through- Finland,
and by the way of Stockholm, in the short space of twelve
days. Some urgent business, which required his presence in
London as soon as possible, prevented him from minutely in-
specting Copenhagen ; but 1 found that his active and intelli-
gent mind had already made excellent use of the few hours he
had been here. He was acquainted with the exterior appear-
ance of the city generally, and had-inspected the principal li-
brary and collection of pictures belonging to the King, as well
as the Palace of Christiansborg, which from its stupendou7
size must he an object striking to those even who have beheld
the Palaces of the first-rate kingdoms of the Continent.
" The circumstance of our having lived many years in Eng-
land, and being able to communicate together in the language
of a country, respecting which our sentiments fully harmonized,
soon placed us on a footing which is not always readily esta-
blished between compatriots in a strange country, and Mr.
Belzoni kindly accepted my offer to be his Cicerone in Copen-
hagen, if he should be able to prolong his stay. It seemed to
be his most anxious wish to perform his journey with the
greatest dispatch possible, and he accomplished it, I have been
informed, some days within the usual period.
" It was highly gratifying to my national pride to hear Mr.
Belzoni speak of the king's great library in unqualified terms
of commendation. The librarians, who are all man of exten-
sive erudition and highly cultivated taste, had, it seems, eager-
ly seized the opportunity of displaying the most valuable stores
of the Danish Monarch before a traveller, who had so strong
claims on the friendly attentions of -men of science and
literature." 0 ° "

" Belzoni being fortunately delayed longer at Copenhagen
than he had expected, it fell to my lot to show some attentions
to 'that interesting person, by pointing out various objects
worthy of a stranger's notice. When we met again in the
evening, at the Hotel of England, he informed me that
he had been at the play, and bad conie away highl✓
gratified.
" But you do not understand our language, Sir, I presume ;
and the play of the evening happened to be one of Holberg's
most truly Danish pieces. How could you then be so highly
gratified ?" I inquired.
" Why, I went to the play, replied Belzoni, because I make
it a point, when I travel in foreign countries, to plunge at once
into the midst of some large assemblage of people, when the
opportunity offers. I seldom fail to come away with some idea
of the national character."

" Well, Sir, I should like to know what you will say of us,
in addition to what Shakspeare, Molesworth, Yorick, Coxe,
Wraxall, Dr. Clerke, Nary Wollstonecraft, Sir John Carr,
and Mr. Macdonald have already said."
" From what I heard and saw at the play, I should say you
were a very quiet, good-natured people, who are very fond of
a hearty laugh. You have reason to be proud of a dramatist,
who can shake your sides in the manner I noted to night : as
for your music, I fancied myself in my own counery."'
" Belzoni spoke this in a tone, anti with a look, which satis-
fied me that the words were not the badinage of a captain of
compliments.
" On the following morning I took BelZoni in the first in-
stance, max institution, which I conceived. to bei of paramount
interest to an Italian—the Academy of Arts. The exterior of
the structure is prepossessing, and the interior did not disap-
point the expectations which Belzoni had been led to form from
the appearance of the city, on which the Academy of Arts
has in so many respects had the most, salutary effects. Ite
classes arc attended by many hundreds oflads of all professions
and trades, who receive gratuitous instrtection from the. loyal
Academicians, most of whom are ledgedeta the Academy.
Belzoni was highly pleased with the specimens of the , pupils
which he inspectetl in the class rooms. The works painted
by Royal Academicians for admission, and afterwards hung
up in the Council-Chamber, also gave. him so much satisfac-
tion, that I could not suffer the opportunity to slip of asking
him, " Now, Mr. Belzoni, if you should chance to hear some
reviewenof great authority say, 'lt would be loss of time to
speak of the fine arts in Denmark ; they hardly exist.' " " Ile
should not repeat so flippant an assertion in my hearing, re-
plied Belzoni, unless he could efface a recollection of what I
have seen here to-day." In the Hall of Marbles, Belzoni
would of course be gratified to meet with excellent casts of the
finest monuments of art produced in his own country. But
his visit to the Academy was rendered particularly interesting,
and, I may say affecting, to a person of such excellent disposi-
tions as Belzoni, by the marked attentions of the different pro-
fessors to whom he was introduced. Three of them addressed
hint in his mother tongue, and with all the elegance and ease
of well-bread Italians. Others used the French language,
which Belzoni also spoke with great facility. One of the
professors, the celebrated engraver Clemens, a venerable
old man, addressed Belzoni, with much neatness, in the
language with which the labours of Belzoni, and the
tenderest sympathies of his nature, were most intimately
associated. Mr. Clemens addressed Belzoni in English,
the domestic language of both, Mr. Clemens, like Bel-
zoni, being married to an Englishwoman. Mr. Clemens was
at the moment occupied with an engraving from a picture of
Christ's agony in the garden, by Professor Ecersberg. The pic-
ture being turned upside down for the purpose of engraving,
Mr. Clemens politely took it down and hung it on the wall for
Belzoni's inspection. I wished Professor Eckersberg had been
present. Nothing could have been more satisfactory. to an
artist, whose merits are only exceeded by his' modesty, than
to have marked the contemplative mood in which Belzoni
stood wrapt for sonic time, and then made a few remarks, more
eloquently expressive of the value of the picture, than the
most laboured and methodical display of connoisseurship."
• • • •
" There were many other objects without and within the city
of Copenhagen, to which I could have wished to draw Belzoni's
attention ; but the urgency of the business on which he travell-
ed would not admit of it. It was perhaps as well, that a per-
fect picture of Copenhagen was not exhibited to him. French
tyranny had driven Belzoni from his native land to England,
which he had made his own country, as much as any foreigner
could do. The city of Copenhagen could not therefore but
be tender ground to a well-wisher to Britain of so much sensi-
bility as Belzoni." * • * *
" Belzoni now took a farewell view of the city of Copenhagen,
which would be concealed the moment his carriage began to
descend the hill of Frederiksberg to the westward. As the plea-
sure of meeting so unexpectedly this remarkable man had been
great, so would the pain of parting with hint have been ; but
when the moment of separation arrived, he expressed himself so
kindly of the persons he had become acquainted with in Den-
mark, and to whom he desired me to convey his acknowledge-
ments, with his best wishes for their individual welfare and the
prosperity of Denmark, that I could not but feel happy ; at the
same time that he produced the most pleasurable effect on my
mind, by calling out, ae the carriage moved away, " We shall
soon meet again in Old England."'
• The pleasure of meeting Belzoni again, and in England,
fell to my lot on the 14th of July in the same year (1822).—
Knowing how much his time was occupied, I called and took
my leave at the same time. This arrangement at first drew
from Belzoni a gentle rebuke in the shape of a question :
" And did you not think, my dear Sir, that I would have been
happy to do for you in England what you did for me in Den-
mark ?" But when I had explained my motives, lie was satis-
fied. After some conversation, in the course of which he fre-
quently reverted to Denmark, I prepared to depart. But I was
not allowed to do so, before he had put into my possession some
additional tokens of kindness, which now mournfully remind the
of an excellent man, whose fate will be deplored by " the wise
and good of every nation and language in the civilized world,
while his name descends to the latest posterity, as that of one,
who perished in the glorious attempt of extemling human know-
ledge."--(Mr. Houtson's letter to ars. Belzoni, communicat-
ing the death of her husband 1
Ettrected from 'Denmark Deline; to 1, Fy A ndrson Feldborg
member of the University of Copenhagen..