The Sun.
London, England, 1827-08-28 00:00:00

THE TRAVELLER BELzoNL

A medallion, of elaborate workmanship, has
been executed at Padua, to the memory of the
Egyptian traveller, Belzoni, who was a native of
that city ; and a public oration, in presence of
the magistracy and chief inhabitants of the town,
delivered in his praise.

The following notices of the: early life',of this
singular and indefatigable. man, are from the
Annuaire Necrologique (a French periodical
work), and are understood to .be, contributed by
M. Depping:— , .
" John Baptist Belzoni was the son of a poor
barber at Padua, and was born in the year 1778.
When a boy, he worked at his father's trade, but
had always a desire to see the world, and at 13
years of age left his home, taking his brother
Anthony with him, and made his way in the di-
rection of Rome as far as the Appennines.
Arrived at this point, and being almost in a
state of destitution, the alarms of Anthony, who
sat upon a rock, and refused to proceed. farther,
3compelled
after,
however,yoini
havingtraveller t
enloi s
treturn.new Threecoin .
panion, be started a second time, and then.
reached Rome in earnest. What Belzoni did
at Rome is uncertain. It has been. said that he
applied himself to the study of hydraulics, but we
should doubt whether he ever received any regular
instructions in that science. In the cad, how-
ever, being fertile in resources, he took up
the trade of a Monk for want of any better means
of livelihood, and remained
in that condition
O until the period of the revoluti
Having laid
aside the cowl, Belzoni then returned to -Padua ;
but finding little prospect there, in the
year 1800
he proceeded to Holland, proposing to teach
the Dutch in the science of hydraulics. Pit:Ta-
rently, however, there was some miscalculatiot..l
in this arrangement; the Dutch turned Out to
know considerably more of hydraulics than their
Italian master; and at the end of twelve months
the traveller again appeared in Italy, from whence
he proceeded to England in the year 1803. By
this time his colossal -figure began to develope
itself, and his personal strength was in propor-
tiOn to his exterior appearance. He married a
young English woman, and being still something
at a loss for a profession, he determined to profit
by the curiosity which his personal powera excited
and to exhibit from town to town through Great
Britain his hydraulic experiments and feats of
muscular strength. It was a curious spectacle to
see this Colossus coining forward on the stage,
carrying sometimes as many as twenty men placed
in different ways upon his body.
" ThiS.resource, however, did not last long.
The people got tired, and Belzoni was obliged
to seek his fortune elsewhere. In 1812, he
went with his wife to Portugal, and offered his
services to the manager pf the great theatre of
San Carlos, in Lisbon. The Portuguese spe-
culation did well for a time, for a pantomime,
offeredcciailalrea tdcSelriai bnpson, was brought out, and Belzoni
attracted tsemurmtveicnaet l
essse
aiaiguadtbientcbee professors peoplei tolif ehylpicerlirrtaet
to got
t Ismaeliredtoo, Gibraltar,andßelz agentonilvenotftte
ohMpaaletaba, ‘ovfhEergeyphte,
Belzoni's exhibitions as a posture master termi-
nated y
til
at thise p
a cperiod f :
Egypt,butthobugish
firshet.was
ae)rngaaag.a-
professor of hydraulics was rather unfortunate:
He had been presented to the Viceroy, who em-
ployed him to construct a machine to water.the-
gardens of Sautra, a villa which, he possessed on
Ithe banks of the Nile. -The work was perform-
; ed, and according to tehoni's account success-
fully ; but the event was unfortunate, and had
nearly proved tragical. The Viceroy took it
into his head to put fifteen men, besides Bel-
zoni's Irish servant, upon the machine when it
was in motion. The result was, that an acci-
dent occurred. The men were thrown froin the
machine. Belzoni's servant had his thigh broken,
and, but for the exertion Of his master's great
personal strength, would have been entirely de-
stroyed. The superstitious temper of the Turks
led them to regard this event as ominous ; and—
that which, perhaps, 'Went as far in finally knock-
ing up the project—the Pacha discovered that
it cost him more to water his garden with the
new machine than it had done by the old system
with the bullocks.

' Fortunately for Belzoni, he fell at this time
into the hands of the Consul, Mr. Salt, who,
perceiving his capacities, employed him in those
works by the performance of which he afterwards
acquired so much reputation. His physical
powers fitted him admirably for the execution of
the new duties intrusted to him. Dressed in the
Turkish garb, he ruled the Egyptian peasants
with the gravity of a Cadi or an Aga ; and it is
said that he (lid not scruple to administer per,
sonal correction for any failures of duty of which
they might be guilty. In his temper, however,
and manners, lie was mild in general and unas-
suming ; and M. Depping describes his peacea-
ble demeanour as rather curiously contrasted with
his herculean figure and appearance. One day,'
says M. Depping, relating his first interview with
the eastern traveller, ' in the autumn of the year
1821, I saw a man of extraordinary Stature. enter
my house. He was built like a Hercules, and
t wasing
i n,
8,
and his head touched the top of the door as he came
nothing but
his
fierce
or
en a
alarming
re in. His shoulders were broad, and his hair
thic kt
thew
ed
was
bushyl,o ;
demeanour. He carried a book under
his arm,
and was followed by the publisher Galignani ;
from which circumstance I guessed that he was
an author, though certainly I bad never before
seen one of such dimensions. If the. PatagOnians
wrote, probably his fellow might be discovered
among them. This Hercules, however, explained
to me, with great mildness and simplicity, the
object of his visit, which was, to get a translation
made of his Egyptian travels which had just ap-
peared in English. At the time, I knew very
little of the man even by report ; but I eppreei-
, ated his character as soon as I looked over his
work ; and lwas still more astonished wlien-I he-
came acquainted with the details of his early life;
and found the individual who had begun by
walking upon stilts and playing the mountebank
for bread, concluding by opening the pyramids
of Egypt, and digging.
out from under a moun-
tain of sand the gigantic .temple of Ipsamboul.'"

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ckstone
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.VI
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