"He seems to be uneasy until he gets back to
his Parliamentary papers. Yet it can hardly fail to be pretty widely
interesting; but I would not have you make yourself too uneasy about
these things. Pitt's name, and the Bishop's, will make the work sell."
Gifford was right. The "Life" went to a fourth edition in the following
year.
Among Mr. Murray's devoted friends and adherents was Giovanni Belzoni,
who, born at Padua in 1778, had, when a young man at Rome, intended to
devote himself to the monastic life, but the French invasion of the city
altered his purpose, and, instead of being a monk, he became an athlete.
He was a man of gigantic physical power, and went from place to place,
gaining his living in England, as elsewhere, as a posture-master, and by
exhibiting at shows his great feats of strength. He made enough by this
work to enable him to visit Egypt, where he erected hydraulic machines
for the Pasha, and, through the influence of Mr. Salt, the British
Consul, was employed to remove from Thebes, and ship for England, the
colossal bust commonly called the Young Memnon. His knowledge of
mechanics enabled him to accomplish this with great dexterity, and the
head, now in the British Museum, is one of the finest specimens of
Egyptian sculpture.
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