| ID: | 0005 [see the .xml file] |
|---|---|
| Identifier: | John Rylands Library GB 133 Eng MS, 623 |
| Editors: | Edited with an introduction by Elizabeth Edwards |
| Cite: | 'Hester Piozzi, Journey through the North of England & Part of Scotland Wales &c. ' edited with an introduction by Elizabeth Edwards in Curious Travellers Digital Editions [editions.curioustravellers.ac.uk/doc/0005] |
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Hatfield House Herts is much improved, but the Weather was so bad we saw it to disadvantage -- the Country is a dry one however, and Rain is so desired by the Inhabitants for their chalky Soil, that one shower every Day, and two on a Sunday is here called the Farmer’s Toast. Travelling North we get bad Weather enough indeed without wishing for it & as the Country grows coarser, tis observable that the Cottagers grow neater, the Paling closer, & every sort of Fence better kept in repair. I used to tell the Devonshire gentlemen how their Mud Wall habitations disgraced their fine Climate, but that Contradictions of Good should of themselves unite in this Sublunary World is vain to hope, that sole Change may for ought I know make the difference we find when we come to the other. Here as Warmth and brilliancy of Sun advances, & the Heart begins to expand in a genial Climate, one begins to see Poverty, and feel Vermin which lower the Delight of driving South exceedingly, & never fail to cure one’s Passion for the garish Sun. Now every Step is towards a harsher Soil, our Inns are cleaner, our Accommodations better; Stone Cottages not Mud ones shew the Comforts of Industry, and never were fewer Alms asked on any Road than that from London to York I believe. Burleigh house is more magnificent than Hatfield, & the Porcelane it contains – invaluable, besides some Porphyry & Verd antique very precious in our Island, & provided for the Queen's Reception when she slept here in the year 1570 ^at which ^time the Difficulty of procuring it was greater still than now. 1 Some Pictures --- mere Echantillons of Italian Riches allure one’s Notice, among which Albano's Three Heads representing Fire Water & Air are the liveliest & sweetest I ever beheld -- and shew the Master's Power over greater Things – tho’ ’twas in elegance not Sublimity I always observed Albano to triumph upon the Continent: in a Scale of Poets & Painters one should rank Albano with Prior. The Churches are much handsomer on this Road than on that either to Wales or Cornwall, more solid without more spacious & better ornamented within,
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Ferry Bridge where I sit writing in a Bow Window, is a beautiful Situation, & the Road from Doncaster hither completely smooth & even, exhibiting both on the right & left Hand numberless Seats Parks &c laid out very tastefully indeed, and uniting the Merits of both Nations by combining German solidity and neatness with English skill in disposition of the Ground. Bavaria itself shews no handsomer Gates, no firmer Pales, no better formed Fences than this part of Yorkshire produces; but the Rivers of Great Britain are Brooks compared to those of Austria, and their Shallowness is not compensated by Translucency. Stone Buildings much encrease the Air of Opulence and Comfort that breathes thro’ this County, a Lady once told me she thought a Brick House resembled a Bob Wig, & I thought there was something pretty as well as whimsical in the Idea. it has often struck me that the great old wide spreading Oak Tree was emblematical of a Country Gentleman residing at his Seat in one of these remote Counties; while the Elm puts me rather in mind of the rich London Tradesman flourishing most happily when nearest the Metropolis. From Tuxford to Doncaster and some parts of Nottinghamshire before you get there look a very little like Brabant, but less richly cultivated – a Naked Foregound however almost always, & Spires among Trees on the Verge of the Horizon in the Style of les Vues de Flandres . York is a gloomy melancholy Town, clean enough tho’ & has an uncommonly fine Assembly Room built from a Design of Ld. Burlington's, & somewhat too crouded with Pillars, wch. However have a good Effect upon the Whole. 2 Their Courts of Justice Prison & are very fine here all together within one Inclosure, convenient and even Elegant one may say: clean to a Nicety and the Architecture approaching to Magnificence the ^whole consists of three separate Elevations, & a charming Outlet with Deer in it. Our Cathedral in this City is second to none in England for Space & covers a monstrous Quantity of Ground: the Façade is very fine, & the Windows appear to have beenWell! Exeter is not so clean as York, nor
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yet so well built; ’tis a gayer, pleasant looking Place however & the Shops there appear to better furnished .. the public Walk too is chearfuller at Exeter, though we have at York the advantage of a River by the Side of which Trees are planted, and it has more the Air of a Place formed for the Reception & Amusement of Company than Norney .. so our Devonshire Friends call it .. rising Ground w:ch adorns the little Capital of their sweet County, and tell us that the Word in contracted from Northen Hay to w.ch however I annex no more Ideas than to Norney . Castle Howard is ^a gallant Place however, the ^general Situation so well compensated by its peculiar Advantages – the Cold so kept off by Woods of venerable Dignity, and soft Ideas so delicately conveyed by dint of young Plantations that while one traverses the Pleasure Grounds ^every Image of a coarse Country is completely excluded from the Mind, & one is not much astonished to see the Gold Pheasants breed happily in the Menagerie, the Orange Trees flourishing in the Greenhouses. Mean Time here are large Specimens of rich Marbles in the House within; Columnets of Green Porphyry exceedingly fine with Busts Statues &cof surprizing Value. A Pallas of black Basalt her Drapery oriental Alabaster in particular a Jupiter Serapis wonderfully fine, & two Roman Emperors – Vetellius one, in Persid’s rosso worthy of Villa Borghese . Here are likewise two large Tables of Bloody Jasper & two of Paglia with Egyptian Vases on them fit for the Pope’s Museum, 4 & which have no Rivals nearer them than that Spot. 4 Slabs of Verd Antique and as many of the more highly valued but less beautiful Giallo astonish one, and the Pavement of the Chapel is meant as a distant Imitation of that in the Roman Pantheon; inlaid with small Pieces of Serpentine, Granite Jasper &c with great Taste indeed, & no small Expence.
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Meantime the Wind howls like the End of October in Sussex & this is the 12: of June: our Bay at Scarbro’ is beautiful, & did the Climate confirm a Fancy nothing can more effectually contribute to keep at a Distance; one might say that y.e castle on the Hill reminded one of the Cestorini5 at Naples, and that the Town lay round the Semicircle somewhat in the manner of their Chiaja. Be it as it may, the Sea here is bluer --- of a more Cerulean Colour somehow than we find it in less cold Latitudes ---- even on the Coasts of Devonshire & Cornwall may be observed a very great Difference, & manifest Inferiority of Tint: and the Mediterannean is almost ever of a wheyish or chalky blue, nothwithstanding the cloudless Azure of its Canopy, which however cannot be complained of even here; as I never saw a brighter Atmosphere any where than at this Place since we have resided in it. Flamboro’ is famous for the Resort of Birds which among those Cliffs are innumerable and fly off in such Clusters on the Report of a Gun that their Plumes darken the Air as they wheel about. – Our old Castle here has nothing remarkable but its Age; it was built in the Roman Time, & the Gothick Arches of it are modern.6 ----- What more can said about Scarborough? that it was the first place which invited People to bathe in the Sea, & taste a Pleasure we English can now scarce Exist without; but which is a Luxury not fourscore Years old I believe, even in our Country, & no other inhabitants of Europe have taken Delight as yet to follow our Example & seek Health united with innocent & natural Recreation by dipping in the Ocean's beneficial Waters that surround this Island replete with Advantages derived from its Vicinity. Well! travelling thro’ the North of England isf. 3r
very unlike driving thro’ the South of France that’s certain for here we have a fire every Evening, and should not find it disagreeable at Noonday: but if we are not regaled with the Produce of a hot Sun, his very long Duration makes some Amends – one can see to read without Candles at 10 o’clock at Night, and between two & three i’ the Morning he gilds the Horizon again --Young Day pours in apace
And opens all the lawny Prospect wide.
7
The want of Twilight and the short Evenings seen in Nations nearer the Tropic do not please one; I feel
accustomed somehow to connect the Ideas of Summer and long Days together, & feel a sensation like Disappointment when the Night shuts in so precipitately. In short
These pale unripened Beauties of the North as old Syphax calls them,8
have many Compensations in their striking Features, and vigorous Form, for the soft and vivid Complexion that charms the visitor of warmer Climates. Here however if Figs
& Vines and Melons are denied, the Eye is seldom disgusted by Deformity or the Ear pained by the Sound of Supplication --- the Smell is not offended with Nastiness,
nor one’s Feeling irritated by the biting of Vermin. No poor objects shock Humanity here; our low people are well:housed, well:clothed, well:fed;
chearful in their Cottages and active in their Fields. I have not seen a ragged Family, nor been obliged to refuse a Beggar on the Road. Let
France and Genoa blush at the Account, for what must be the Curse of
Despotic Governments, where the people starve so in the midst of Plenty. Nor are our prospects void of milder Beauties, a little Village five or six
Miles Westward, where the poor Marquis of Annandale has a Seat his State of Health suffers him not to enjoy, is wonderfully pretty: all the
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a Thick Wood covering the shelter’d Hills, and exhibiting as much variety in its Verdure as the Season will allow: while Cattle of particularly majestic Size and elegant Colours adorn every Meadow and evince the Riches of their pasture. Hawthorn Bushes perfuming meantime those Hedges w:ch separate the Fields and direct the Rivulet which rattles through them & pursues its Course Across our little Town, whose cherry cheeked Children & neatly repaired Steeple prove thatf. 4r
when forwarder upon their Journey: Wales produces that Fish in perfection. But here are Lettuces which shame the South, I never saw such anywhere: & ’tis observable that Vegetable Life is very docile; Scotch Gardeners, or Men brought from these remote Counties always do more towards training Ground, & getting in order the Spot committed to their Charge, than any dwellers in a softer Climate, who are commonly lull’d to Idleness by that spontaneous Readiness their Country feels to yield its Virtues without Violence, and which is therefore like other willing Beauties, often neglected for those of coyer Cultivation. The Road to Whitby is a savage one, and the Country round coarse as Westphalia - some Moor Game relieved one’s Eye from Time to Time, but they are at once a softner & a Proof of the Poverty of such Contours. - Whitby is a pretty Place however the Sea comes in so Triumphantly, & the Piers are such fine ones – the Harbour so handsome too, yet there is a wildness about it, not unworthy a Port where the Whalefishers repose after an Expedition to Greenland – some smart Houses overlooking the Bay with Gardens hanging down from them to the Town are pretty enough however; and here is a ruin of some Consequence upon the Hill. Roads such as our Ancestors were confronted with, but we are now little accustomed to in England, carried us forward after a Stay of as few hours as possible to Stockton which looks like a Place upon the Continent, so quiet, so few Carriages, so dull. but incessant Rain washes away all hope of Amusement in a Northern Tour I see, while twelve bright Hours together seem totally unexpected by the Inhabitants; our Coach breaking among the Moorlands added nothing to our Comfortf. 4v
neither, though our Conversation was somewhat quickened ^perhaps by talking over the temporary distress, & rejoicing that no worse Consequences followed &c. Durham affords ev’ry Consolation, and displays every Charm which bad Weather cannot destroy – Woods! Walks! Water! majestic in their kinds, with a Cathedral of immense Antiquity and Weight, conveying Gothick and gloomy Images to the Mind, with more true Power than even York minster itself, the Situation combining in favour of such Fancies more than of any Place I ever yet saw. Every Step round these Grounds would form a beautiful Picture: our modern Bridge elegant though solid, thrown over so sweet a Ruin contrasts very happily with the Church - - - and a beautiful Knowl covered only by reposing Cattle of exquisite Beauty and uncommon Value makes pleasing Opposition to the two large Hills loaded with noble Timber, & fringed ^down to the ^very Riverside. Our Fish here is particularly fine, Sunderland lies but a very few Miles off, & supplies us with Soles &c from the Danish Ocean: Trout, Eel, and every Produce of fresh Water comes to our door. – A Coal Mine three Miles off makes the best Compensation possible for want of Sun Shine w:ch was never more wished for by me --- were it only to illuminate the surrounding Scenery, so deserving a strong Light. – We have however been to hear Divine Service at the Cathedral, and all that part of our Travels should be thrown into Shade I think. Never was anyf. 5r
church in any County more shamefully neglected sure than ys where the Bishop has 15000L - a year, the Dean 2000L – and Prebendaries in proportion: yet they suffer their Choristers to appear in dirty Surplices on a Sunday – lolloping about too in a way wholly new as offensive to me, who have seen Boys reproved & driven out of much inferior Churches ^in England for less Indecorums than were practised by these Youth while doing their Duty in it – the Cushions likewise --- the Books --- the Throne! all in such wretched Repair; it shocked one – but the Chapter &c are going to think of Reforms; and begin on the outside I am told, by giving Height & Beauty to an old Tower which wants little else. --- Never was there a Feature of more Dignity or Beauty save than this old Tower viewed from the Seat of Carr Ibbetson near Durham; 9 but that Seat certainly unites such variety of Excellence & exhibits Objects so worthy of attention, that it can have had little Chance of waiting for my Pen to celebrate the Bends of a River rapid in its Course, as elegant in its windings: of a Breadth beyond what one had formed any Idea, and of a Disposition to Violence which might alarm one – were not the embankments solid in proportion, and defended by a Rock inferior to none boasted by Derbyshire that frown over the delicate Derwent - or incumber the Banks of the Dove. Here is Wood too at Cockerton wirthy of Hagley Park; & hanging down to the River Edge beyond any thing at Richmond or Hampton: I never saw so sweet a Place. the Walk, the Shrubbery – the Ruins of Hinckley Abbey - the Bust by the Diary House ---- the rich & warm Plantation: the unworkedf. 5v
Coal Mine! the Chalybeat Spring!10 the insult offered to the 55th Degree of Latitude where they have scooped the Rock to catch a Mid day Sun & produce Grapes by a Vine scarcely trained against it, but growing wild as if at Florence or Genoa. Nectarines too and peaches produced in the same manner with Almonds innumerable & Portugal Laurels of a respectable Size astonish the Beholder, till he reflects on that impervious Shelter from the northern Winds which such Stony Limits cased with a prodigious Heighth & Depth of Timber certainly afford. When we consider this however, our Wonder ceases; & one sees clearly that Oranges might be led up in those Recesses to the Astonishment of Foreign Travellers, without any assistance from either Glass or Fire. Let us add that ’tis a Situation of such peculiar Felicity that Frost seldom affects, though Rain is useful to fructifie its Soil, & indeed we saw it on a Day remarkably cold, yet were much Incommoded both by Heat & Flies. – Durham is in itself all the while a very old ugly straggling disagreeable Town; but ^such all the Contorni that we were not tempted till the 1:st of July to leave it for New Castle where every thing is making new I believe: Streets widening, & Houses building quite in a Modern Style like Liverpool or Manchester while its Gothick & even Roman Antiquities are very well worth Inspection & have had Engravings made of them. S.t Nicholas's Steeple is preeminently beautiful & the Church itself full of curious Monuments --- one of Edw.d the 3.ds Sons lies here interred & they boast some Relics of the celebrated Hotspur. A Public Walk & new Assembly Room are however greater favourites with the Inhabitants than all these Rareties together: there is much Commerce & uncommon Population at Newcastle: I know where oncef. 6r
ever saw so many Children in one City of the size – They about the Streets in little Flocks -- our Inn was good, but we had loiter’d too much, & wanted to see Alnwick, whither a Road planted all the way from Morpeth by the late Duke, carried us next Morning – the Castle makes no Show till you come close to it upon it one may say: yet ’tis hard to tell why --- for there is not so much Wood round, & it stands upon a Hill. be this as it may the Appearance is magnificent, and brings back all the Notions of Surly Greatness and Colossal Power which dwelt in Castles and put its Enemies real or imagined – in the Dungeon. ---- The place appropriated for that purpose still exists at Alnwick to show what Blessings have followed where the Plough of Commerce has turned the Clods of Barbarity & levelled Aristocracy’s proud Hill to the Surface of its Neighbour’s Earth. Au zeste as the French say the Terrein is wonderfully beautiful as a Work of Art completed in Defiance of the Climate; every barren Spot clothed w:th all the Trees that will grow on it: among which Planes & Ash make the most considerable Figure. Syringa and Laburnum do best among the Shrubs, but there is now and then a wild Rose found in the Hedges, and a few newly set Cherries upon stunted Standards. The Menagerie is surprizingly sheltered however, by some ruins of a Convent well kept in Repair, preserving every possible Trace of its old original Appearance, & an extraordinary large Sycamore growing through the Stones of a Wall which seems to have fallen upon it without impeding its Growth. A Tower built for an Object four Miles from the House, is likewise well imagined; and in an excellent Taste of Gothic Solidity: it commands an extensive Horizon bounded on by the Sea on one Side, the Cheviot Hills on the other: more interesting than beautiful however is the Prospect seen from any Spot near Alnwick --- the Interest confined too to the Possessor of the Place for who but a Percy can much care about a Douglas? 11 Here is a good flow of natural Water & the late Duke placed his Clumps so judiciously that in a very few Years the coarseness of thisf. 6v
inhospitable Climate will be wholly concealed from a cursory or superficial Observer. The House is not a good one, – as a Dwelling: but we must remember while we run over the Apartments that they are made in a Castle or strong Place of Defence, not intended as the Purpose of Elegance & Security, such as Modern Times & Softer Manners afford. The Library notwithstanding is handsome enough, & the Chapel – as it should be – transcendent. a Cenotaph to Elizabeth late Duchess of Northumberland’s Memory mighty happily fabbricated, somewhat in the Style of an ancient Sarcophagus and her Pedigree drawn from Charlemagne upon the Wall, rather by its ingenious Disposition adorns, than takes from the Beauty of the whole. I never saw so sweet a Structure for devotional Purposes belonging to any private Subject. Cappella Borghese is only richer ’tis not more striking than this at Alnwick. --- The Model was taken from King’s College Cambridge, and cannot be in a more exquisite Taste --- every thing else is far inferior to Castle Howard, whose remarkable Mausoleum should not be forgotten however, as it is calculated to impress the Mind very forcibly, and to contain two hundred and fifty Bodies in separate Cells or Oven:like Apartments with an Octagonal Chapel over all --- richly paved & suitably ornamented.12. From Alnwick – the Elephant of the North we drove forward to Belford, a savage looking Place with comfortable Accomodations somehow in a most unpromising and hateful Hôtel. Berwick upon Tweed rec’d us two Days after, & exhibited good Crops of backward Corn as we were carried along. This Town is a sort of little Fortress not ill defended by Cannon, & the Walls make an agreeable Walk round the Whole. Here are some English Churches, but the Inhabitants seem chiefly Scotch Calvinists for ought I can observe, & the Inn &c so nasty – it disgusts one. Entering Scotland the Country changes its Appearance gradually, and the manners fade away visibly upon the Borders: M.r Piozzi'sf. 7r
Remark that the Scotch Scotch were like Chinese, made me laugh from its Novelty, but ’twas their Bonnets produced the Observation. Trees however will shortly be no Rareties sure; for never were more elegantly disposed Plantations scattered round a Country, & both of the Duke of Roxburgh's Seat & Haddington have a vast Quantity of ancient & respectable Timber about them very fine thick Hedges adorn & shelter our Roads, and Roses growing naturally among them gives no Idea of a coarse or cruel Climate: We have not seen any [...] Crops of Wheat, tho’ the South affords much forwarder, & no Inconvenience but that of a hot Sun could we find to complain of till arriving at Edinburgh it set most gloriously behind the Mountains of Fifeshire, shewing the Bay or Firth to such Advantage that the lovely Valley of Tees Bridge so Alpine and so elegant, was lost in the present Splendour of Situation --- tho’ as we passed it reminded us of Vanvitelli’s Aqueduct at Caserta I remember, while measuring the Height of the Work from the bottom of the Glen – we admired the Beauties of Nature, and respected those of Art which surrounded us. Nothing can strike one more than the Magnificence of Edinburgh new Town,13 or surprize me more ^thanthat so little should hitherto have been said of it by English Men, who might be naturally proud methinks that Foreigners can find few Places to oppose to the Second City of Great Britain. Truth is, the general Appearance resembles no other Town I have ran over; and of all other Towns perhaps least resembles London. Houses eleven Stories high, of excellent Stone; a Pons sine Flumine14 w:ch joins one Part of the Town to the other, with Habitations under it & most of Greenplace wild enough where the Women bleach Linen milk Cows &c have a strange Look, whilef. 7v
George Street, Princes Street, & Queen’s Street, each a Mile long & not inferior to Portland Place in general Splendour of Appearance with the new Assembly Rooms of an exquisite Doric Architecture give an Air of Dignity unrivall’d by any City I have seen yet, as each terminates with a striking View either of the Country, the Castle or the Sea. Mean Time the old Town as we call it has a Parisian Look; and puts one in mind of Rue S.t Honoré: especially as the Bakers & other little Shopkeepers take the French Method of painting the Wares they sell in ill drawn & worse Coloured Figures upon the Wall, which leaves an Impression of Dirt & Meanness not pleasing to an English Eye. The poor Women too have much of the French Manner by what I can observe; go like them without Hats, and carry their Baskets &c on their Backs, slung like Gypsie Children, not in their Hands as we see People of the same Rank in London - add to this their Notion of living numberless Families in one House, and carrying the Stairs to the Door without Passage or Hall, which you find on a first Floor where these are likewise Antichambers for Servants to wait as in Italy or France – no Port Cocher15 however, but small Doors Londonwise the Names of the Owners upon them ---- & a Board offering to let or sell Rooms in a House where one should not suspect any such Parsimony to be thought on from its Appearance. S.t Andrews Square is beautiful, looks into the Country, & is scarce less than Lincolns Inn Fields I think but not so long: the Servants say tis like Portman Square; while I see little Resemblance.16 Stone Buildings put some of us in mind of Bath too, but it is not me; neatf. 8r
Elegance & delicate Gayety are the Characteristics of that Place --- Symmetrical Regularity and Dignity of Appearance distinguish this --- yet in the midst of all the Splendor one sees the Continental Taste of mixing Misery with their Magnificence, & the moment you are out of a fine Street or Square there are old tumbling down Cottages to offend your Eyes, or Houses where the Grass literally grows out of the Thatch. -- Beggars too with Ulcers Nakedness & every kind of disgusting deformity follow one about as in the South of France, and devoured themselves by Vermin threaten of Infection while they ask for Alms. – Perhaps the English conceal such Objects as much from Shame as they relieve them from Charity, but no other Nation seems so earnest to keep Sights of Sorrow at a Distance as ours; and no Nation if really actuated by Philanthropy, can be worse rewarded, for go where one will, the English ^People are never belov’d I think, though almost all others profit by the diffusion of that Wealth which they acquire only tof. 8v
Dr. Walker professor of Natural History --- & indeed Mr: Mackenzie Author of the Man of Feeling, a much younger Person, told me they had shot Partridge in St. Andrews Square before a Stone was laid there towards Building it, but Game of all Sorts seem very familiar about Edinburgh & in prodigious Plenty. Roslane Castle & Hawthorn Dale are really charming Spots; our Treasurer of the Navy Dundas has an amazing fine House & Park here and some Mr. Clerke who lives at a Place they call Mavis Bank seems to enjoy all the Pleasures of Romance --- I never saw so lovely a Situation, quite Savoyan it is with a rushing Torrent under the Rock all concealed by Bushes & sheltered by Trees, So beautifully! --- we go to Hopeton House next --- mean Time the Spiral Column in an old Gothic Chapel which they shew one out of Town somewhere is past my Comprehension: there is but that single Pillar wreathed round in the whole Church; its Capital & Base are Animals, according to the very old Notions of early revived Architecture: the Garland Flowers. – tis an extraordinary Thing of which I can give no Acct. at all. Holy Rood House retains the Bed Queen Mary slept in, 18 her Work, her Dressing Box --- brought from France one might swear; for their Perfumes are still the same – a Flour de Luce over her Canopy & Prie Dieu show the Partiality for that Nation in which She received her first Impressions of Pleasure -- the Blood of illprotected Rizzio 19 that still stains some Boards of her Banquetting room prove her Change of Country to have been illy calculated for the Happiness of a Woman who loved Variety like Mary – She has of late however become much a favourite with the World; and what is odd Enough we recollect her Beauty & forget her Faults. The Bones of Lord Darnley 20 indeed remind the Scots of her Vindictive Spirit while his Picture still preserved here in the palace ^fails not to evincef. 9r
his Beauty too, as the greatest of the Age he lived in, tho’ not sufficient to screen him from Royal Vengeance.French Manners and French Words which came into Scotland with Mary have in many respects taken deep Root, and will I trust never be completely eradicated. The Spirit of boasting, or as we call it Puffing their own Possessions can scarcely exist more commonly, or breath more warmly at Paris than at Edinburgh, where they take such Pains to display, & to convince you of their Greatness, that one is tempted to fear they are glad to see you only as a fresh Admirer, or as a fresh person to whom they may without imputation of Tautology repeat the unfeigned Admiration they feel for themselves. a Scotch Vocabulary is full of French French Words too – I canno’ be fash’d say they from Faché teized or troubled. Bonny which recurs every Moment, means no other than Bonne I believe, and a Husband is still called Marrow from Mari French. The Love of Dirt is another Continental Taste, and their Attachment to it can surely be with difficulty denied while they continue building fine Places, and polluting them with Nastiness that shocks an English Reader even to think of --- but tho’ within these last 20 Years have grown up in this great City ^Public Edifices which do honour to their Skill in Architecture, & ^private Dwellings of a uniform & symmetrical Beauty sought for elsewhere in vain; Squares of uncommon Magnitude, and Streets unrivalled so far as my Experience has carried me both for Construction & Space – the Scots have never turned their Thoughts towards making a Common Sewer, nor ever considered Cleanliness as an Ornament, much less a Necessary of Life. Every thing
f. 9v
most odious is brought & thrown out before the owners door at 10 o’Clock of an Evening without Shame or Sorrow – Carts being provided to carry it off before Morning, leaving only the Smell behind -- as Not a Privy ^is yetf. 10r
Here are very thick Strong Hedges to shelter the Fruits & Flowers these Hedges chiefly composed of ever Greens & well kept like such as I remember at my Grandmother's Seat in Hertfordshire Ages ago, & have never seen since. Mean time some standard Holly Trees a Yard & Nail in Circumference were wholly new to me, and Eughs [sic] of enormous Growth which have no Rivals nearer than one surprizing Tree of the kind in Wanstead Park Essex. The Limes here grow to a monstrous Size I see, so do the Ash, and here are Beech of good Respectability --- while Garden Flowers to a Degree of Profusion I never yet saw unsecluded gratify the Sense of Smelling most delightfully, nor does the Rododendron scorn to grow & blossom in the open Air against the Coast of bleak and barren Norway --- such are the Powers of Culture & of Coin. Lord Hopeton's Deer are many of them milkwhite I see, & will take an Opportunity of asking Dr Walker whether it is Art or Chance ----- so near as we now are to the North Pole I trust, a little Art will do. The Palace meantime bosomed in Wood and warmed by the Sea Breezes, consist of a splendid Suite of Rooms,f. 10v
has a ruined Castle on its Top the other is Inch Keith of which Dr. Johnson gives the Description.21 Descriptions vary according to the Describers Turn of Mind – if a Man loves painting he will have that best in Nature which is easiest to paint, by the same Rule a Player might think that Character greatest which tis least difficult to represent – & so wish every Man a Bajazet, every Lady an Alicia22 – but it is not so:f. 11r
Operation Room a small Octogon fitted up as a sort of theatre, with raised Seats for the Students is wonderfully pretty & serves as a Chapel on Sundays. A Botanical Garden well supplied with plants from both Hemispheres deserves Admiration at Edinburgh & with some general Reflexions and Observations on it Manners -- the people delighting to walk in the middle of the Street tho’ our Trottoirs are good – some Old Men dressing much like French people with long Ruffles &c. the Young Women ^below a certain Rank all without Shoe or Stocking and a Degree of Populousness I never witness’d but at Naples; we leave the Place for Glasgow, which was a fine Town before Edinburgh began to think of symmetry or magnificence. This City then at w.ch we arrive 25: July, by a Road paved à la mode de France up the middle which cracks one’s Crown to drive over it as theirs do indeed – is a noble one and may stand first for ought I know among the second Rate Cities of Europe. ’tis larger than Dresden I think & the Situation finer than Munich; Streets more spacious, Houses of greater Dignity & ^exhibits a larger Portion of Regularity than the best of them all – Berlin alone excepted. while a very elegantly planted Walk upon the Banks of Clyde amuses the Inhabitants, and two Stone Bridges of considerable Merit as mere Fabrics, and of Beauty as mere Objects, attracts a Travellers Notice. --- This is wholly like a Continental Town, nor can England pretend to oppose any Equal against it: yet how sincerely do I wish myself at Salisbury or Nottingham! Oxford or Ousely Bridge! Tho’ Candour must confess that we have here Colonades to walk under as at Bologne, that the Streets are paved after the foreign Manner, & better than in London, that the College is very handsome, & that the Cathedral would have been so too, but for the violating hand of hasty & rapacious Reform. For the Absence of Cleanliness indeed Uniformity or ever Grandeur hardly make amends & I have nowf. 11v
found a most discreditable Reason why Passengers walk up the Coach way so in Edinburgh and Glasgow – ’tis because People used to throw Ordure &c out of the Windows, and Foot folks rationally enough chose rather to hazard being run over. But we are going A Trip to the Highlands, and now I am at Dumbarton no Cause can by best Wit render how this Rock so rough, so steep so barren came stuck in A Sand Bank in so strange a Manner. – Here are few or no Appearances of Volcanick Explosions, & by what other Power this little round Mountain should be placed in the middle of a River so – I cannot guess. The stairs are convenient ^ quite up to the Castle - tho’ they are the identical Steps down which poor Sir W.m Wallace 23 came in Defence of his Country -- How great must have been their Courage & Skill who forced it! A beautiful & interesting Prospect ending in Alpine Mountains Pen Lomond at their Head – pays your Trouble inf. 12r
^than at of Lough [sic] Lomond ^w.ch at last I hardly dare speak ^of for fear of not saying enough: so various are its Beauties, so quick the Transition from one Beauty to another --- original in all its resembles no other Lake, tho’ its Environs are an Assemblage of whatever is most striking – most pleasing – most magnificent. The Mountain at its Head Pen Lomond has peculiar Merit from the Proof it gives that so enormous a Mass is capable of finest ^but even [...] Proportion: ^of Scotland affect Symmetry I [...] a Painter would hardly venture to delineate so perfect a Form lest he should be suspected of Exaggeration: the other Rocks are some richly planted with noble Timber Trees, some clothed with Bushes, flowring Shrubs and Heath exhibiting a variety of Verdure quite unrivall’d for brilliancy of Colour & softness to the Sight ^ [...] – while others more craggy present more Northern Ideas & increase the Noise ^of Torrents which rush in white Cascades from the Top with even Alpine Violence – Roses however If. 12v
^winds elegantly along the Lake’s least beautiful Side, commands the opposite Hills, & gives SerpentineThe Rocks here are ^not like those of Savoy, and ^except
one which they call the Cobler
29
^yt is exceedingly high indeed, craggy & irregular: running up in sharp points, & apparently Volcanick, most of the others
^all the rest are round – ^I think Here are very soft Plantations about the Country but none so sweet &
lovely as Glen douglas on the Banks of the fresh ^Water Lake, the Scenery here roughens at every Step and
Glencroe exhibits a Theatre of Horror to those who never saw Savoy
^travel’d among the Appenines
w:ch in some Respects it resembles closely enough; but instead of a road winding up
^the piny Summits of the Mountains to a terrifying Height ^as in Savoy, whence is heard
& nearing the ^heavy roar of Waters at
^in a bottom almost viewless; you tread
^trot
by the Riverside in our Scotch Valley & look up the Hills which being wholly desolate tho’ green
^not denuded, and capable ^enough of decent Cultivation, create produce Ideas of Blank Sorrow ^rather
than of active Fear: or if Terror obtrudes itself for a Moment tis
f. 13r
in a Form wholly different from what is excited by Alpine Situations where as Collins saysf. 13v
it must however be confessed that Scotland has too many, its Elevations are ^immense. Piles of Earth rather than of Stone, and should be covered with Sheep & Goats to render them less void of Interest for though as among the surly Appenines one sees here & there a Stone of prodigious Magnitude torn from the Mountain by some accidental Torrent like those which armed the Heroes described by Homer HomerBlack craggy, vast. Yet this is not the general Character of the Highlands ^among which I have not found one with fantastic Shape except that over agaist Arrucha [sic]they call the Cobler, but ’tis Time to talk of
Inverary Castle which being insulated looks ancient and being unadorned with Flowring Shrubs or other frivolities gives the Mind an Idea of simple Grandeur & Solitary Dignity. not of a sullen haughtiness
[...]
^tho’ or inhospitable Pride: Alnwickapparently commands Submission &
forbids Approach. Inverary promises a gentle Reception, and its Interior performs
^cherishes
every Promise Hope. The State Rooms are furnished with Tapisserie de Beauvais
31
rich and elegant --- their Chearfulness delights consoles one in a Place so unfrequented, and I see not why exclusion of Gayety should be considered as perfection of Taste ^at anytime. Here is much Disposition to Amenity about
The Duke of Argyll, ^a bright sun with ye addition of sixty of seventy People making Hay before the Stomp inspires Good Humour -- those Mountains wch
are most solemn ^too are seen only at a distance; the nearer Hills rich in variegated Verdure exhibit only Images of Delight In Short
Inverary is more is princely but Alnwick is Tyrrannical.
f. 14r
32f. 14v
Our return by the Salt Water Lake was thro a pleasing Country – The Highlands receding gradually give place to gentler Sensations, & the View of Greenock pleases and the Sight of Paisley makes one proud of an Island that can supplyf. 15r
it which have no Rivals nearer than Wilson, and one Rubens which has no superior even at Antwerp. Such a Composition! such Art in the Painter! such Nature in the Figure! The subject is not often chosen as far as I have observed tho a very noble one Daniel in the Den of Lyons.33 Rubens has seized the Moment when Nebuchadnezzar looking into the Cavern puts in Play those Passions till then tranquillized by thef. 15v
contradict the Speech made about Scotland's having no Tree in it planted before the Union these are at least 3 or 400 Hundred Years old, and very fine ones of this Kind. being planted up the Sides of a Glen as the Scots call it gives them great Effect, & the Rush of Water at the Bottom of the Valley is very pleasing. – at Douglas Mill however, & from thence to Moffat no Beauties can be spy’d I think; Crawford Moor is pregnant of Ideas indeed, but all black ones, & melancholy as itself. The Mineral Waters that gush from these Hills here ^at Moffat might attract Company if better Accommodations were prepared for them --- but the Inns are too far from the Well, and I see no Attendance given --f. 16r
the unexamined Bill is discharged. Carlisle looked cheerful & pretty as we approached it, & seemed still in a certain Degree to deserve its ancient Epithet of merry Carlisle: I had not seen Brick Houses so long the Sight of them revived me I think; & the Women wearing Shoes and Stockings looks so comfortable to one returning from Scotland. Our Cathedral here looks as much better than Durham within as it looks worse without making no Figure at Distance, and being vulgarly fabricated of the Red Stone so Common in this Country its date is 1121 and its decorations truly antique. The Lives of Saint Anthony, Saint Austin & Saint Cuthbert ill painted in Compartments, with a Rhyme in black Letter to tell the meaning of each adorn the Walls, but there is little colour’d Glass remaining in any Window.35 Some one, the Lyttleton Bishop I believe, newly repaired the Choir, and it is not disgraced with dirt not left open for Passengers to walk thro’ as Durham is. - Penrith looks very handsome from a Hill one drives down coming the Carlisle & Kendal Road, and few Prospects are finer than that of the Westmorland Mountains prettily grouped on one’s right hand, the Town upon one’s left, and all situated in a soft & smiling Country. Ullswater is a lovely Mere too, headed by high Grounds thrown about as if on purpose to be ^described not painted; a sweetly planted Hill at its foot – Hay Makers & comfortable Cottages filling the foreground on every Side – Lago Lugano half in the Swiss, half in the Milanese Dominions is like Ullswater for Size & Beautyf. 16v
but the Town renders it more respectable --- one Fells in Cumberland aref. 17r
enjoy the charming Originals. Tis very lately tho’ that we have ourselves taken to esteem & glory in them: I know not whither Mr. Cumberland was not the first whoKendal is an agreeable town & I
f. 17v
have seen no Country Church so pretty in one Nation: when one adds that it reminds one tho’ distantly & coarsely of S.tn Giustina di Padua --- tis enough. Sizergh claims not only my approbation but partiality I have loved the Name of it for thirty Years, how should I help loving the Place itself? Levens is one of the Show things hereabouts but hardly of Consequence enough to mention, Lancaster Bridge is well built & many things in the Town are of a good Style as to Architecture – Preston is hateful & till one arrives at Liverpool few Attractions ^are found to detailsNothing ^sure was ever so improved f. 18r
[...]
as this Place; the Docks is magnificent, the Streets so large, so splendid with ^richly furnished Shops all Day, so luminous with well ranged Lamps all Night – so clean tho’ crouded,
so comfortable tho’ splendid – so decent tho’ unavoidably noisy. Viva Liverpool! our Friends the Kembles help to make it pleasant & here are no drawbacks. We have a mighty pretty Theatre and Lord Derby’s Park at Knowesley
37
serv’d for a Day’s Amusement well enough. He possesses some curious Rareties, for example two original rough Drawings of Salvator Rosa on Wood; very valuable, which the Worms are eating, a showy Rembrant not ill preserved of Belshazzar’s impious Feast; & Borgognones painted on Gilt Leather, very strange things indeed: and a good Vandyke
of Christ delivering
[]
f. 18v
find yourself as long in going as if they were ^situated in a comfortable Country. from many Seats scattered up & down thisf. 19r
& Maesmynan where we meant to reside is occupied by the dear Parrys who were overturned close to it, & broke their Bones which has detained them half the Summer. – a vile Road carried us to Mold, a viler still to Chester, but thro’ a sweet Landscape a lovely disposition of Grounds all the way; England however always strikes on, come from what Place one will – its Verdure, its Neatness, its Opulence, its Amænity! I have returned to England fromf. 19v
are by all observed to have the prettiest Babies. Our Cathedral here at Hereford is rebuilding,41 it will be very handsome: the old Tower is retained --- I never saw neater Workmanship than that one Turret ’tis beaded like a Toothpick Case in a fine Jeweller’s Shop. M.r Pennant would riot in Anecdotes did he but hear the Man talk who shows the Tombs; ^& now their Majesties have visited the place so lately, I expect Gloucester to be full of Gossiping Stories as he is.42The People who boast Kyrle's Picture, & tell Tales about the Man of Ross at our Dining Place are still happier -- They have the Trees to show wch he planted and the Spire which he built to be proud of -- &
Charming is the View of the Wye from y.e Church Yard. Gloucester is however the finest of our Island Cities to please
me, who have seen so many – always excepting Oxford & Bath – the Head Quarters of Learning and Pleasure. Its Shops are more elegant, its Rivers more majestic, its general Air more the Air of a Capital than any of them: Streets more ample, Carriages more frequent and the
Cathedral unrivalled for neatness in its Keeping, and Soft Simplicity in its Decorations. Such Cloysters I have not Walked round even in Italy. their Cieling is an astonishing Work; the Antiquity most venerable, & the Preservations such as one should wonder at were it the
Work
^Labour of the Year 1500 instead of 1100.43
From Gloucester to Bath every Step is strewed
f. 20r
with Beauty – and when one arrives there – ’tis always fresh Admiration that fills the Mind. Every Day sees Population & Accommodation encrease ---- and omne quod exit in Ation 44I believe except Mortification, from which Bath affords best Refuge is Variety can allure me from thinking about Sorrow – or Friendship alleviate such Griefs as never can be forgotten.At this Place some new Phenomena have this Autumn attracted Attention – the Bridgetowers Father & Son astonish and delight us. I will speak the Boy first, as his Talents maintain them both: & such are his Powers upon the Violin as ^to have extorted Money and Applause from the professor themselves, who acknowledge the superior Merit of a Baby not yet ten Years old, with a Candour that does them Honour. This wonderful Child is a Mulattoe, Offspring of an African Negro by a Polish Dutchess: whose Marriage with her accomplished Moor being foolishly blazon’d by the Father --- a compell’d Separation was the Consequence; & poor Bridgetowers turned out to wander thro’ the World with an Arrow in his heart, & this surprizing Son of theirs in his Hand. The Lady remain’d long at home locked up I trust till her relation thought her Passion past away, but She has escaped like Thisbe,45 & is run after her Husband as far as Ratisbon, whence he will bring her hither as he says, if in England any Establishment for her can be obtained.
f.20v
The Father's Accomplishments are various & amazing – Languages, Address & Elegance of Person he possesses to a Wonder: was he less eager to display his Talents it were better, but he is a fine Fellow with all his Faults; and one is sorry to see that he must sink at last – and extinguish like the Stick of a Sky Rocket, after entertaining us with a charming Blaze, & half alarming our Fears by the loud Noise made at his rising.Bath to London afforded nothing new, so here at Han.r Square 46 27 Dec.r 1789 ends a journey of 1300 Miles made in Great Britain alone since the 3.d of last June 1789.
Marginalia on left-hand margin of f. 10v:
Castle of
Edinburgh
seen coming
home from Queen’s Ferry
[...] Castle.
Holyrood House
Darnley's
Bones.
Chapel.
Hawthorndale
Roslin
Ben Johnson
David Hume
Arthur’s Seat
Volcanic, no;
blown up w.th
Gunpowder
Wood once
a bad Thing
clear the
Country 1:st
Passage [...]
Suite
Stables fine.
Alnwick
[...]
.
Hopeton proudest
Dalkeith happiest
amænity.
Allan Ram-
say his Son.
a Wig makes
a Painter
&cc --