A Collection of Newspaper Extracts Author:Thomas Bewick Subtitle: Being, With a Few Exceptions, Taken From the Newspapers of the Day, and Designed to Afford Some Amusement to Those Who Are Fond of an Every-Day Book General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1842 Original Publisher: printed by W. Davison Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no i... more »llustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: BELZONI, THE TRAVELLER. 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 Necro- logique (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 direction of Rome as far as the Appe- nines. 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, compelled the young travellers to return. Three years after, however, having enlisted a new companion, he 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 end, however, being fertile in resources, he took up the trade of a Monk for want of any better means of ...« less