There was still a fourth feat which I performed, knowing that no one could equal it, and that was to turn a somersault whilst holding a weight of 56lbs. in each hand. These performances I repeated in the provinces. During this tour I had the pleasure of visiting not only many of the chief cities of England, but also Edinburgh and Glasgow. Who can fail to be deeply impressed by the grandeur and magnificence of the scenery of Scotland? Certainly I was not proof against it. Never have I visited a more beautiful city than Edinburgh, and the Scottish people themselves I found exceedingly kind and agreeable. Since then, I have been to Ireland, and can testify that its people are as frank, generous, and warm-hearted, as they are always represented to be. Certainly, some of the happiest days of my life were those spent in the Emerald Isle. At the end of my first provincial tour I returned to London to fulfil an engagement at the Palace Theatre. Here I introduced another novelty. In place of the orchestra I held three horses on my chest. These animals stood on a plank, one at each side and the third in the centre, holding the balance in a game of see-saw. Included in this performance was the feat in which a Horse Guardsman on his horse rode over me, thus completing at that time the chapter of living weights. [Illustration] CHAPTER VI. ON THE “ELBE”: BOUND FOR NEW YORK. We come now to the year of the Chicago Exhibition, when I entered into a contract for an engagement in America, with Messrs Abbey, Scheffel, and Grau. An old friend and famous pianist, Martinus Sieveking, whom I knew years before in Belgium and Holland, accompanied me to the New World. Sieveking was a brilliant artist, but as a man he was exceedingly weak and delicate. He had no powers of endurance, and it was difficult for him to remain at the piano long at a time. “If I had only your strength,” he used to say, “I think I might become almost the greatest player in the world.” I suggested that he should come with me as my guest to America, guaranteeing that in nine months or a year, under my personal supervision and training, he would grow so strong that his best friends would scarcely recognise him. Agreeing to come, he travelled with me all through America. The result of my system and supervision was that his strength grew marvellously. Within the year, weak as he was at the start, he became the strongest of all my pupils, and the most redoubtable amateur I have ever met. The portrait, which is printed on an earlier page will speak for itself when you remember that a year before it was taken the sitter had a gaunt, slim, delicate figure, with narrow chest, sloping shoulders, and no muscles worth speaking about.