Most certainly, I am a puppy for not having wrote to you sooner: it
is equally certain that you are an ass if you expected it. *Hurry
of running about, time taken up with seeing places, &c. &c., are
excellent excuses; but I fancy you will guess that my laziness and
aversion to writing to my best friend are the real motive, and I am
afraid you will have guessed right.
We are at this minute in a most magnificent palace, in the middle
of a vast lake; Ranging about suites of rooms without a soul to
interrupt us, and secluded from the rest of the universe. We shall
sit down in a moment to supper attended by all the Count's houshold.
This is the fine side of the medal. Turn to the reverse. We are got
here wet to the skin; we have crawled about fine gardens which rain
and fogs prevented our seeing; and if to-morrow does not hold up a
little better, we shall be in some doubt whether we can say we have
seen these famous islands. Guise says yes, and I say no. The Count is
not here; we have our supper from a paultry hedge alehouse, (excuse
the bull,) and the Servants have offered us beds in the palace,
pursuant to their master's directions.
[Sidenote: LIFE AT TURIN.]
I hardly think you will like Turin; the Court is old & dull;[69]
and in that country every one follows the example of the court.
The principal amusement seems to be driving about in Your Coach in
the evening & bowing to the people you meet. If you go when the
royal family is there, you have the additional pleasure of stopping
to salute them every time they pass. I had that advantage fifteen
times one afternoon. We were presented to a Lady who keeps a public
assembly, and a very mournfull one it is. The few women that go to
it are each taken up by their Cicisbeo; and a poor Englishman, who
can neither talk Piedmontese nor play at Faro, stands by himself,
without one of their haughty nobility doing him the honor of speaking
to him. You must not attribute this account to our not having staid
long enough to form connections. It is a general complaint of our
countrymen, except of Lord Berkely, who has been engaged for about
two years in the service of a Lady, whose long nose is her most
distinguishing fine feature.
The most sociable women I have met with are the King's daughters.
I chatted for about a quarter of an hour with them, talked
about Lausanne, and grew so very free and easy, that I drew my
snuf-box,[70] rapped it, took snuff twice (a Crime never known
before in the presence-chamber,) & continued my discourse in my usual
attitude of my body bent forwards, and my fore finger stretched out.
As it might however have been difficult to keep up this acquaintance,
I chiefly employ my time in seeing places, which fully repaid me in
pleasure the trouble of my journey. What entertained me the most,
was the Museum and the Citadel. The first is under the care of a M.
Bartoli, who received us without any introduction, in the politest
manner in the world, and was of the greatest service to us, as I dare
say he will be to you. The Citadel is a stupendous work; & when you
have seen the suterraneous part of it, you will scarcely think it
possible such a place can ever be taken. As it is however a regular
one, it does not pique my curiosity so much as those irregular
fortifications hewn out of the Alps, such as Exiles, Fenestrelles,
& the Brunette[71] would have done, could we have spared the time
necessary.* The last of these places you may see.
I mentioned you to M. Dutems, Chargé des Affaires de sa Majestè
Brittanique, in Pitt's absence. He cannot send you so unlimited a
permission as you wanted, but if you will write to him some days
before you set out, specifying the time you shall pass, & the names
of the peoples to be inserted, he will take care to have one sent to
Suze.
[Sidenote: GENOA.]
*Our next stage from Turin has been Milan, where we were mere
Spectators, as it was not worth while to endeavour at forming
connection for so very few days. I think you will be surprised
at the great Church, but infinitely more so at the regiment of
Baden-Baden, which is in the Citadel. Such steadiness, such alertness
in the men, & such exactness in the officers, as passed all my
expectations. Next Friday I shall see the Regiment reviewed by
General Serbelloni. Perhaps I may write a particular letter about
it. From Milan we proceed to Genoa, & from thence to Florence. You
stare--But really we find it so inconvenient to travel like mutes,
and to lose a number of curious things for want of being able to
assist our eyes with our tongues, that we have resumed our original
plan, and leave Venice for next year. I think I should advise you to
do the same.*
Milan, May 18th, 1764.
*The next morning was not fair, but however we were able to take
a view of the islands, which, by the help of some imagination, we
conclude to be a very delightfull though not an enchanted place. I
would certainly advise you to go there from Milan, which you may
very well perform in a day and half. Upon our return, we found Lord
Tilney[72] and some other English in their way to Venice. We heard a
melancholy piece of news from them; Byng[73] died at Bologna a few
days ago of a feaver. I am sure you will all be very sorry to hear it.
We expect a volume of news from you in relation to Lausanne, and
in particular to the alliance of the Dutchess with the frogs. Is
it already concluded? How does the Bride look after her great
revolution? Pray embrace her and the adorable, if you can, in both
our names; and assure them, as well as all the spring,[74] that we
talk of them very often, but particularly of a Sunday; and that we
are so disconsolate, that we have neither of us commenced Cicisbeos
as yet, whatever we may do at Florence. We have drank the Dutchess's
health, not forgetting the little woman[75] on the top of Mont Cenis,
in the middle of the Lago Maggiore, &c. &c. I expect some account
of the said little woman. Whether she talks ---- as much as usual
and who is my successor? I think Montagny had begun to supplant me
before I went.* Salute all our friends in both our names. The Count,
the Queen's own, Buch Tysen, The foot Guards & the Oxford stage (&
Mr. George Hyde Clarke). I am sorry to hear from Grand, that the last
was ill. I heard likewise that your military list was augmented by a
Hanoverian: I dare say the canonading of _Amenebourg_ has often been
fought over. As to people of the town, embrace Grand, Pavillard, and
the Mesery, make some Compliments to a great many more, and don't
forget to kick Constant & Dittermanches before you come away. *I
expect your answer at Florence, and your person at Rome; which the
Lord* of his infinite mercy *grant. Amen.*
[68] At Lausanne, in 1764, Gibbon met Mr. Holroyd (afterwards
Lord Sheffield). In his Journal for April 6, 1764, he says:
"J'ai conçu une véritable amitié pour Holroyd. Il a beaucoup de
raison et des sentimens d'honneur avec un cœur des mieux placé."
The friendship then begun ripened into warm affection. "My
obligations to the long and active friendship of Lord Sheffield,"
Gibbon says in the will by which he appoints his friend one of
his executors, "I could never sufficiently repay." Of the warmth
of his affection, and the nature of some of his obligations, the
letters now published afford continual proof.
[69] Charles Emanuel III., Duke of Savoy and second King of
Sardinia, came to the throne on the abdication of his father in
1730. He died in 1773. "He is the most insignificant looking
fellow I ever saw; but he has so much good-nature, and such
obliging manners, that one is soon reconciled to his appearance"
(Scrope to George Selwyn, January 12, 1752).
[70] This was a characteristic habit of Gibbon's throughout
life. In 1780 some verses were written by Richard Tickell, which
purport to be addressed by Charles James Fox to his friend
the Hon. John Townshend on his election to Parliament by the
University of Cambridge. They contain the following lines:--
"Soon as to Brookes's thence thy footsteps bend,
What gratulations thy approach attend!
See Gibbon rap his box: auspicious sign
That classic compliment and wit combine."
Another description is given of Gibbon in "The Luminous
Historian; or, Learning in Love," written by George Colman the
Younger (_Eccentricities for Edinburgh_, pp. 73, 74).
"His person look'd as funnily obese
As if a Pagod, growing large as Man,
Had, rashly, waddl'd off its chimney-piece,
To visit a Chinese upon a fan.
Such his exterior; curious 'twas to scan!
And, oft, he rapt his snuff-box, cock'd his snout,
And ere his polish'd periods he began,
Bent forwards, stretching his fore-finger out,
And talk'd in phrase as round as he was round about."
[71] Exilles commanding the valley of the Houlx, Fenestrelle
holding the Col de Fenestrelle, and La Brunette guarding the Pas
de Suze, were strongly fortified posts on the Italian side of
the Alps. The two latter forts were destroyed in 1796 and 1798
respectively.
[72] John Child Tylney, second Lord Tylney, F.R.S., M.P. for
Malmesbury.
[73] John Byng, youngest son of the Hon. George Byng, and
grandson of the first Viscount Torrington.
[74] _La Société du Printemps_ was the name of the society of
young ladies at Lausanne, mentioned in the _Memoirs_.
[75] Madame Besson.
36.
_To his Father._
Genoa, June the 4th, 1764.