"Henry, Elizabeth and George"
10 September 2023 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeI assumed this book was about Kings and Queens, but in fact it turns out to be a collection of 18th-century family letters found at Wilton House, seat of the Earls of Pembroke, in the 1930s, "Henry" being the 10th Earl, "Elizabeth" his wife, and "George" their son, Lord Herbert. The letters and diaries in this volume mainly cover the years 1775-1780, the period during which young Lord Herbert, then in his teens, made his Grand Tour of Europe, and consist, in addition to assorted other letters, of the lengthy correspondence between the young man and his parents at home, between the latter and his tutors, the Rev. W. Coxe and Captain Floyd, and Lord Herbert's detailed diary for the final part of the trip in 1779-80.
This collection is surprisingly interesting, especially in the second half, where we can see young Lord Herbert growing up in the course of his diary entries. And of course it is fascinating primary source material for anyone wanting to write about this era or the Italian/French settings in the late 18th century, making many of the otherwise mundane lists (the names and prices of each coaching stage on the route from A to B, for instance) an invaluable record. Appendix C consists of the accounts of the Grand Tour, revealing what was actually spent on what and where: the main repeating items are bills "for washing" (with separate for "washing silk stockings") and "for hair powder", along with servants' wages and donations "To Poverty", but there are also intriguing extras like "for 2 Sledges to come down the Mountain" and (in Russia) "for 2 Peasants' Guitars" -- balalaikas?
Many of Lord Herbert's diary entries dutifully list all the various antiquities he is shown, and review them according to how admirable they are perceived to be (occasionally adding his own opinion): "Tomb of Pope Julius II, part of which consists in the famous and celebrated Figure of Moses by Michael Angelo, who though he has flung Drapery about him has left the Arms bare, they are reckoned remarkably fine as well as his left knee. I think, he holds his left hand as if he had a Pain in his Stomach, & his Beard is of an unpardonable length. The other figures are but bad, mostly by M. Angelo's Scholars". But he also writes with rather more vigour on the discomforts of the voyage: "Though Buggs do not like me in general, I suppose an overabundance of Population had created a Famine, for I was Bitt in three different Places, all three on a very tender part which I shall forbear mentioning and which we Britons think the best part of a Bullock to make Steak of"!
Because there are letters from multiple correspondents in different levels of society you can get a glimpse of what is 'period style' and what is the personal idiosyncrasy of a given writer, as well. The correspondents range from Floyd's genial man-to-man gossip ("I am afraid I should be Villain enough to marry the Devil's Grandmother with one quarter of Miss Child's fortune. A propos have you ever seen her? And do you think you could bring yourself to lay your chaste Leg over her for the dirty consideration of two or three hundred thousand pounds?") to Lady Pembroke's distracted motherly rush ("This is but a stupid letter, the next may perhaps be better, you must take your chance for that tho' it depends much on which way the wind is. So good bye, let me hear a little about the Turin people both Ladies and Gentlemen, & what you are about in the studying way now you are to sit still for a little while"), the susceptible Mr Hippesley's heavily underlined and ornate style ("Nothing but a certain reason should have prevented me accompanying them to Turin, where I could have wished to have whiled away some weeks. I shall much wish to hear of your mode of amusing yourself at Turin and how far you assimilate with your new Minister. If by any accident you should derive any intelligence of a certain female part of the family, I confess I have the curiosity to wish to hear... for another week") and the obsequious letter of a tradesman favoured with the custom of a young noble ("My Lord, I was honor'd with your Lordship's most obliging Favour and thank your Lordship most gratefully for the ready attention in my behalf.... I have a fine stone for the occasion and shall set about it imediately[sic] and hope in my endeavour to do credit to your Lordship's kind recommendation. With respect to your Lordship's kindness as to His Grace the Duke of Marlborough I shall take the liberty of mentioning another time").
Note that both the original writers and the Lord Herbert of 1939 (who discovered the cache of letters and edited this book), take it for granted that the reader is fluent in French and at least basic Italian, and drop in multiple foreign phrases unfootnoted. ("We passed by on our way a famous Water Fall called Piss-Vache, a delicate appellation enough for a beautiful cascade" [i.e. 'Cowpiddle'!] "N'en parlons plus... it is too horrible, low, dirty, pityfull, & atrocious" ['Let's not speak of it any further'] "Your ideas of men & measures are those of honesty, & je les respecte" ['and I respect them']). One letter of some length was written in French by a Russian correspondent and is printed in full in that language! I found it interesting to note the 18th-century spellings in the French as well, e.g. "Anglois" for "Anglais", "Nismes" for "Nîmes" etc...
The book comes to an end with the young man's return from his Grand Tour, and I had assumed that this was because with him at home and reunited with his parents there was no longer any reason for copious family correspondence -- but in fact the Preface indicates that a second volume ("which I hope will be published in 1942") was planned, containing Lord Pembroke's 'political letters' and a selection of letters from Queen Charlotte to his wife. I have to say it sounds rather less appealing than all this family chat.
(On checking in Wikipedia I found myself oddly affected by the discovery that George's little sister Charlotte, who appears periodically in the background of the letters, was to die a few years later while still a child; of course none of the participants here had the slightest suspicion of this...)
This collection is surprisingly interesting, especially in the second half, where we can see young Lord Herbert growing up in the course of his diary entries. And of course it is fascinating primary source material for anyone wanting to write about this era or the Italian/French settings in the late 18th century, making many of the otherwise mundane lists (the names and prices of each coaching stage on the route from A to B, for instance) an invaluable record. Appendix C consists of the accounts of the Grand Tour, revealing what was actually spent on what and where: the main repeating items are bills "for washing" (with separate for "washing silk stockings") and "for hair powder", along with servants' wages and donations "To Poverty", but there are also intriguing extras like "for 2 Sledges to come down the Mountain" and (in Russia) "for 2 Peasants' Guitars" -- balalaikas?
Many of Lord Herbert's diary entries dutifully list all the various antiquities he is shown, and review them according to how admirable they are perceived to be (occasionally adding his own opinion): "Tomb of Pope Julius II, part of which consists in the famous and celebrated Figure of Moses by Michael Angelo, who though he has flung Drapery about him has left the Arms bare, they are reckoned remarkably fine as well as his left knee. I think, he holds his left hand as if he had a Pain in his Stomach, & his Beard is of an unpardonable length. The other figures are but bad, mostly by M. Angelo's Scholars". But he also writes with rather more vigour on the discomforts of the voyage: "Though Buggs do not like me in general, I suppose an overabundance of Population had created a Famine, for I was Bitt in three different Places, all three on a very tender part which I shall forbear mentioning and which we Britons think the best part of a Bullock to make Steak of"!
Because there are letters from multiple correspondents in different levels of society you can get a glimpse of what is 'period style' and what is the personal idiosyncrasy of a given writer, as well. The correspondents range from Floyd's genial man-to-man gossip ("I am afraid I should be Villain enough to marry the Devil's Grandmother with one quarter of Miss Child's fortune. A propos have you ever seen her? And do you think you could bring yourself to lay your chaste Leg over her for the dirty consideration of two or three hundred thousand pounds?") to Lady Pembroke's distracted motherly rush ("This is but a stupid letter, the next may perhaps be better, you must take your chance for that tho' it depends much on which way the wind is. So good bye, let me hear a little about the Turin people both Ladies and Gentlemen, & what you are about in the studying way now you are to sit still for a little while"), the susceptible Mr Hippesley's heavily underlined and ornate style ("Nothing but a certain reason should have prevented me accompanying them to Turin, where I could have wished to have whiled away some weeks. I shall much wish to hear of your mode of amusing yourself at Turin and how far you assimilate with your new Minister. If by any accident you should derive any intelligence of a certain female part of the family, I confess I have the curiosity to wish to hear... for another week") and the obsequious letter of a tradesman favoured with the custom of a young noble ("My Lord, I was honor'd with your Lordship's most obliging Favour and thank your Lordship most gratefully for the ready attention in my behalf.... I have a fine stone for the occasion and shall set about it imediately[sic] and hope in my endeavour to do credit to your Lordship's kind recommendation. With respect to your Lordship's kindness as to His Grace the Duke of Marlborough I shall take the liberty of mentioning another time").
Note that both the original writers and the Lord Herbert of 1939 (who discovered the cache of letters and edited this book), take it for granted that the reader is fluent in French and at least basic Italian, and drop in multiple foreign phrases unfootnoted. ("We passed by on our way a famous Water Fall called Piss-Vache, a delicate appellation enough for a beautiful cascade" [i.e. 'Cowpiddle'!] "N'en parlons plus... it is too horrible, low, dirty, pityfull, & atrocious" ['Let's not speak of it any further'] "Your ideas of men & measures are those of honesty, & je les respecte" ['and I respect them']). One letter of some length was written in French by a Russian correspondent and is printed in full in that language! I found it interesting to note the 18th-century spellings in the French as well, e.g. "Anglois" for "Anglais", "Nismes" for "Nîmes" etc...
The book comes to an end with the young man's return from his Grand Tour, and I had assumed that this was because with him at home and reunited with his parents there was no longer any reason for copious family correspondence -- but in fact the Preface indicates that a second volume ("which I hope will be published in 1942") was planned, containing Lord Pembroke's 'political letters' and a selection of letters from Queen Charlotte to his wife. I have to say it sounds rather less appealing than all this family chat.
(On checking in Wikipedia I found myself oddly affected by the discovery that George's little sister Charlotte, who appears periodically in the background of the letters, was to die a few years later while still a child; of course none of the participants here had the slightest suspicion of this...)