NATURALISTS ON VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY. 393 



Surely there might have been found among the 

 young independent students of nature, in this 

 country, some who would have accepted these 

 situations with small salaries and less work, for the 

 sake of the leisure they allowed, and the respect- 

 ability they gave. 



(270.) There is yet another and a very important 

 mode by which a liberal government can provide 

 both for the advancement of science and the em- 

 ployment of her votaries : we mean the appoint- 

 ment of scientific men, of known reputation, to ac- 

 company our voyages of discovery. These oppor- 

 tunities, indeed, are "few and far between;" a 

 reason which might be urged as the best for con- 

 ducting them with a liberal spirit in their minor de- 

 tails. But here, again, we have reaped neither honour 

 nor credit. Not to compare the French expedition 

 to Egypt with our own, — the one accompanied by 

 a splendid train of the most eminent savans of 

 France, the other without a single philosopher, — 

 we need only think on the different fates that 

 attended two of the more celebrated Egyptian 

 travellers, Denon and Belzoni ; the one, honoured, 

 patronised, and enriched by the favour of his 

 government ; the other neglected, dishonoured, and 

 heart-broken. Belzoni, impoverishing himself to 

 accomplish that which the British government 

 should have felt honour in patronising, and thus 

 leaving his widow dependent on the casual bounty 

 of strangers. Where, again, are the zoological or 

 botanical results of Flinders's voyage ? where those 

 of the Congo expedition ? or those of Ross and 

 Parry? We admit, and we do so with pleasure, 



