blish, but nothing daunted
Mr. Murray when a new and original work was brought under his notice.
Although only 1,000 copies were printed, the payments to Belzoni and his
translators, as well as for plates and engravings, amounted to over
L2,163. The preparation of the work gave rise to no little difficulty,
for Belzoni declined all help beyond that of the individual who was
employed to copy out or translate his manuscript and correct the press.
"As I make my discoveries alone," he said, "I have been anxious to write
my book by myself, though in so doing the reader will consider me, with
great propriety, guilty of temerity; but the public will, perhaps, gain
in the fidelity of my narration what it loses in elegance." Lord Byron,
to whom Mr. Murray sent a copy of his work, said: "Belzoni _is_ a grand
traveller, and his English is very prettily broken."

Belzoni was a very interesting character, and a man of great natural
refinement. After the publication of his work, he became one of the
fashionable lions of London, but was very sensitive about his early
career, and very sedulous to sink the posture-master in the traveller.
He was often present at Mr. Murray's receptions; and on one particular
occasion he was invited to join the family circle in Albemarle Street on
the last evening of 1822, to see the Old Year out and the New Year in.
All Mr. Murray's young people were present, as well as the entire
D'Israeli family and Crofton Croker. After a merry game of Pope Joan,
Mr. Murray presented each of the company with a pocket-book as a New
Year's gift. A special bowl of punch was brewed for the occasion, and,
while it was being prepared, Mr. Isaac D'Israeli took up Crofton
Croker's pocket-book, and with his pencil wrote the following impromptu
words:

"Gigantic Belzoni at Pope Joan and tea.
What a group of mere puppets we seem beside thee;
Which, our kind host perceiving, with infinite zest,
Gives us Punch at our supper, to keep up the jest."

The lines were pronounced to be excellent, and Belzoni, wishing to share
in the enjoyment, desired to see the words. He read the last line twice
over, and then, his eyes flashing fire, he exclaimed, "I am betrayed!"
and suddenly left the room. Crofton Croker called upon Belzoni to
ascertain the reason for his abrupt departure from Mr. Murray's, and was
informed that he considered the lines to be an insulting allusion to his
early career as a showman. Croker assured him that neither M