After a very tedious journey of nine days from Lausanne, I got safe
to Turin the night before last. The roads thro' Savoy are very bad,
but nothing could surpass the pleasantness of our passage over Mont
Cenis. A very fine day, a most romantick variety of prospects, and a
perfect consciousness that there could not be the smallest danger.
I was carried over the mountain in a small chair by four men, who
relieved each other during about five leagues. The uphill work was
very hard, but upon the plain, &c., downhill, they went a kind of a
trot which I can only compare to our double time. I am sure you will
not blame me for having added a Guinea to the half crown at which the
King has taxed this hard day's work.
Upon my arrival at Turin, I was much disapointed to find Mr. Pitt was
to set out for England as to-day. I saw him however yesterday, and
nothing could be civiler than he was. He talked very much of you and
of Winchester Camp, and has recommended me to his Chargé d'Affaires
a Mr. Dutems,[66] as well as to the Count de Virry, a Minister of
State, for whom likewise Lord Mountstuart had given me a letter. We
are (I believe) to be presented at Court to-morrow. We shall see
some company and visit the King's palaces and manufactures, but I
hardly think we shall extend our stay here beyond the fortnight we
talked of at first. Every thing follows the example of the Court,
which from one of the most polite in Europe is become bigotted,
gloomy and covetous. Guise and I seem as yet very well satisfied with
each other. Such a society is desirable both as to entertainment
and lessening the expence. As I mentioned in my last letter that my
draught at Lausanne would little more than send me out of the town,
you will not be surprised, Dear Sir, at my having drawn for £100
here. As near as I can calculate at a distance, I shall be obliged to
take another Hundred at Venice, two in Tuscany, and three at Rome and
Naples as well as to get out of Italy, which will make up all the 700
which you have been so good as to mention, & which I am determined if
possible not to exceed, but to watch with as scrupulous an attention
over every expences as your goodness requires of me. Thus, Dear Sir,
you will in the two years and half I may be abroad, have sacrificed
about a thousand pounds extraordinary to the most agreable part of my
life; a sacrifice I shall endeavour to repay by the behavior of my
whole future life.
I propose writing next post to Sir Matthew Fetherston.[67] Could not
I make my peace for my Paris neglect, which is however excusable by
my care and attention to his commands in Italy?
My love and duty attend Mrs. Gibbon and my best compliments the
brothers. I shall not forget the Wax Candles. Shall I send you any
Florence Wine? I fancy we shall move towards the 10th to be at Venice
some time before the 31st, and in Tuscany towards the end of the
month. Our direction will be, _recommended to Mr. Schalkhauser and
Hughell at Venice, and to Mr. Joseph Frescobaldi et fils Bankers at
Florence_.
I am, Dear Sir,
Most truly yours,
E. GIBBON.
I was forced to draw at fifteen days sight; the Banker did not chuse
to give me more and wanted to have had only eight.
[66] Louis Dutens (1730-1812), chaplain to the Embassy at Turin
in 1758, had, in the absence of the Envoy (the Hon. Stuart
Mackenzie), acted as _chargé d'affaires_. He retained the post
till the appointment of George Pitt in 1762. In 1764 he was once
more acting as _chargé_. The Count de Viry had been Sardinian
Minister in London, where his services to Lord Bute gained him
from George III. a pension of £1000 a year, and a promise of
the post of minister for his son. Viry was at this time Foreign
Secretary to Charles Emanuel III.
[67] Sir M. Featherstonhaugh, Bart., F.R.S., M.P. for Portsmouth,
died March, 1774.
[Sidenote: THE BORROMEAN ISLANDS.]
35.
_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq.,[68] at Lausanne._
Borromean Islands, May 16th, 1764.