Without any of those common apologies for not writing which are
generally made use of to fill up the first half page of a letter, I
shall tell you at once that I am got here safe and in perfect health,
tho' somewhat later than I intended. We proposed going by sea from
Genoa to Leghorn. We had taken a Felucca, and were to have embarked
the 7th, but a strong south-west wind springing up the day before,
made it impossible for any vessel to stir out of the harbour, and
kept us waiting six days a most disagreable state of anxiety and
attendance. At last, seeing no likelyhood of any alteration in the
wind, we were forced to set out by land, and to come round thro'
Parma, Modena and Bologna. As we stopt to see what was worthy our
notice upon the road, (excepting only Bologna, which will require
a fortnight or three weeks) we got here only last night, and are
settled in an excellent good _hôtel garni_ kept by one Charles, an
Englishman, whom the Duke of Richmond is very well acquainted with as
well as with our footman Valentin (for we only take one between us),
to whom he has given an exceeding good character in writing.
Every step I take in Italy, I am more and more sensible of the
obligation I have to my father in allowing me to undertake the tour.
Indeed, Dear Madam, this tour is one of the very few things that
exceed the most sanguine and flattering hopes. I do not pretend
to say that there are no disagreable things in it: bad roads, and
indifferent inns, taking very often a good deal of trouble to see
things which do not deserve it, and especially the continual converse
one is obliged to have with the vilest part of mankind--innkeepers,
post-masters and custom house officers, who impose upon you without
any possibility of preventing it,--all these are far from being
pleasing. But how amply is a traveller repaid for those little
mortifications by the pleasure and knowledge he finds in almost every
place. The actual beauties are always the very great singularity
of the country, the different pieces of antiquity either dispersed
or collected into cabinets, and the variety of master-pieces of
sculpture and painting have already made me pass some of the most
entertaining days I have yet known, and I have before me the pleasing
reflexion that what I have yet seen is far inferior to what I shall
find in this place as well as Rome and Naples. I flatter myself, that
the works of the greatest artists, which I have continually before
my eyes, have already begun to form my taste for the fine arts. I
shall however endeavour not to become a Coxcomb, nor to take the
knowledge of a few terms for real science. I shall perhaps bring back
to England an unafected taste for those arts, I am afraid without the
judgment of a connoisseur, and I hope without the ridiculous part of
that character.
I have never lost sight of the undertaking I laid the foundations of
at Lausanne, and I do not despair of being able one day to produce
something by way of a Description of ancient Italy, which may be of
some use to the publick, and of some credit to myself. At least I
know that I have already collected a considerable stock of materials
which is daily encreasing, and that from reading and travel I have
made a number of observations which will enter, very properly enter,
into such a work, and which will have at least the merit of novelty.
You will excuse me, Dear Madam, from entering into particulars as to
any part of what I have seen; the task would be endless, and I must
employ in giving you a very imperfect account a time of which I want
almost every instant. But as my memory is pretty good, and as I keep
a very exact journal; the recollection of this part of my life may be
no disagreable employment of some winter evenings at Beriton. I am
going to take an Italian master, and shall endeavour to get as much
out of him as I can during my stay here, which Mr. Guise and I seemed
to have fixed at about two months.
We have several English here. Lord Exeter, whom we shall hardly
see, as he sets out after dinner; Mr. Ponsonby,[77] son to the
Irish speaker, a very agreable young man whom we knew at Turin; Mr.
Littleton, son to Lord Littleton,[78] &c. Some more whom I have
not yet seen. We make our first visit after dinner to Sir Horatio
Mann,[79] who happens to be a distant relation of Mr. Guise. Indeed
without that advantage his general behavior to the English assures
of the politest reception and an introduction into the best company
in town. From the universal character of Florence I expect to
meet with a very agreable society. I hope we shall avoid the fate
of Lord Fordwich[80] (whom I forgot to mention). The charms of a
superannuated beauty have captivated him to such a degree as to make
him totally forget his country, and to fix him at Florence these
five or six years without the least prospect of his ever leaving it.
The Duke of York is expected here to-night from Venice in his way to
Leghorn, from whence he goes by sea to Marseilles and so to Paris.
It is said he will finish his travels by a visit to his sister at
Brunswick.[81] I suppose we must be all presented to him.
I was much disapointed to find no letters from England, and
especially from my father; as I had wrote to the banker at Venice to
send all that might come to Florence. I hope none on either side
have miscarried. I wrote upon leaving Lausanne, as well as from Turin
and Genoa. I shall be obliged to draw immediately for a hundred
pounds; and as far as I can foresee my expences I hope I shall keep
within my bounds. I am very sensible of the times I may have launched
out a little too much, but I can safely say, that were I to perform
the journey I have already I could not do it for a Guinea less. I
have made some progress in the arts of æconomy and exactness, but
those of the Italians are necessarily superior to mine. Will it be
necessary, Dear Madam, to repeat any assurances of those sentimens
which duty and inclination have an equal share in?
I am, Dear Madam,
Most truly yours,
E. GIBBON.
I shall not forget the wax candles. I shall send with them a small
quantity of Florence wine.
[77] William Ponsonby (1744-1806), eldest son of Speaker
Ponsonby, and first Lord Ponsonby.
[78] Thomas Lyttelton (1744-1779), son of the first Lord
Lyttelton, afterwards known as "the wicked Lord Lyttelton,"
had engaged himself, while at Oxford, to a daughter of General
Warburton. He was sent abroad, while the settlements were being
arranged. The engagement was broken off in consequence of his bad
reputation.
[79] Sir Horace Mann (1701-1786) was appointed Assistant Envoy at
the Court of Florence in 1737. Three years later he became Envoy,
and held the post till his death in 1786. From Florence he kept
a close watch on the movements of Charles Stuart, and carried on
his voluminous correspondence with Horace Walpole.
[80] George Nassau, Lord Fordwich (1738-1789), who succeeded his
father in 1764 as third Earl Cowper, married in 1775 Miss Hannah
Gore, and died at Florence in 1789.
[81] The Princess Augusta, eldest child of Frederick, Prince of
Wales, born August 11, 1737, married the Duke of Brunswick.
[Sidenote: ROME.]
38.
_To his Father._
Rome, October the 9th, 1764.