20 ALS and 2 autograph manuscripts by Chandos Leigh, first Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh. Almost all of the letters were written during his travels on the Continent. Ten were written to his parents and sister in 1818-19 while he was on the grand tour. Letters from Switzerland and the Alps describe the scenery, particularly near Vevey and Lake Como, and refer to the writings of Rousseau, Byron, and Thomas Moore. Letters from Florence and Rome detail his responses to art and architecture, particularly the Venus de Medici, the sculpture of Canova and Thorvaldsen, and "the pride, pomp and circumstance" of Roman Catholic churches and ceremonies, which "must disgust the severe taste of the English traveller." Leigh also mentions Lord Byron, Lady Drury and Lord Beauchamp, the "set of regular English Dandies" and English ladies in Rome, the unattractiveness of Roman women, and his own purchase of a Salvator Rosa painting and Three letters to Sir Egerton Brydges, written during the Leigh family's stay in Switzerland in 1837, concern Leigh's poetry, his health, and a possible visit. His letters to his nephew Frederick Colvile contain news of his health and family; travel descriptions; and advice on Colvile's education. A March 1836 letter announces that the trustees of Rugby School have "unanimously decided in favour of Dr. Arnold;" a December 1837 letter comments that "Dr. Newman's book" (Lectures on Justification?) "contains much that is...to an ordinary man unintelligible." Other topics include the 1850 death of Sir Robert Peel and Leigh's own Liberal Party politics. The collection also contains autograph manuscripts of two poems by Leigh: "The First Days of Spring" and "Hymn for the Consecration of the Church on Westwood Heath."
Description:
Chandos Leigh (1791-1850) was educated at Harrow School, where he met Lord Byron, and Christ Church, Oxford, following which he made the grand tour with Philip Shuttleworth. A distant cousin of Jane Austen's, and a generous literary patron to Leigh Hunt and others, Leigh privately published over two dozen collections of his own poems and essays. He was created Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh in May, 1839. Leigh traveled several times to the Continent for his heath, but died of apoplexy in Bonn in September of 1850; he was succeeded by his eldest son, William Henry Leigh. and Accompanied by a container list.
Subject (Geographic):
Europe., Alps, Florence (Italy), Italy, Rome (Italy), and Switzerland
Subject (Name):
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824., Brydges, Egerton, Sir, 1762-1837., Canova, Antonio, 1757-1822., Colvile, Frederick Leigh, 1819-1886., Leigh, Chandos, 1791-1850., Leigh, Chandos, 1791-1850, Leigh, James Henry, 1765-1823., Leigh, Julia, d. 1871., Leigh, Julia Twisleton, d. 1843., Newman, John Henry, Saint, 1801-1890., Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778, Thorvaldsen, Bertel, 1770-1844., Catholic Church, and Rugby School.
Subject (Topic):
Books and reading, Death and burial, Influence, Customs and practices, Authors, English, Dandies, English literature, Grand tours (Education), Tourism, Travelers' writings, English, Description and travel, Social life and customs, and Religious life and customs
Holograph diary tracing 6 months of Cornwall's extended foreign tour in the company of Henry Venn Elliott, his tutor at Trinity College, Cambridge. This volume covers his journey from Pisa through various Italian cities and his subsequent travels to Bari, Corfu and Albania. Cornwall's entries for Pisa, Florence, Rome and Naples are largely detailed description of the artworks, buildings, antiquities and museums he visited daily. He devotes over 30 pages to the Pitti Palace, for example, and lists the books and manuscripts he was able to view at the Riccardi Palace. In Rome, Cornwall also toured the Vatican Library, taking particular note of Henry VIII's letters to Anne Boleyn; attended Roman Catholic services, the profession of a nun, and Carnival; and took a series of guided walks through the city. His visit to Naples included extended tours of Pompei and Herculaneum and of the Naples museum of antiquities, where he observed archaeologists' efforts to unroll and preserve scrolls found at Herculaneum and In Corfu, Cornwall and Elliott met with Sir Thomas Maitland, British governor of the Ionian Islands, and obtained letters of introduction to Ali Pasha and advice on travel in Albania. Cornwall describes the great palace of Ali Pasha at Janina; records two lengthy interviews with Ali Pasha and details his dress and manner; comments on introductions to young men "who belonged to Ali's harem of boys;" and notes his disappointment at failing to see the seraglio. The volume ends as Cornwall's party sets out from Arta
Description:
Alphabetical index of placenames at back of volume., Volumes 1 and 3 not present., Inscribed on verso of front flyleaf: "Alan Cornwall. From his aff. friend H. V. Elliott. Pisa, Nov 15th, 1817.", and Binding: contemporary leather.
Ali Pașa, Tepedelenli, 1744?-1822., Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824, Cornwall, Alan Gardner, 1797-1874., Elliott, Henry Venn, 1792-1865., Maitland, Thomas, Sir, 1759?-1824., Biblioteca apostolica vaticana., Catholic Church, Palazzo Medici Riccardi., and Palazzo Pitti.
Subject (Topic):
Influence, Customs and practices, Grand tours (Education), Travelers' writings, English, Description and travel, Social life and customs, Antiquities, and Festivals, etc
Holograph diary, apparently incomplete, of part of a tour through Italy. The diary opens with a description of a tour of Herculaneum and of antiquities and sight-seeing in Naples, followed by a journey to Rome. Tebbs describes a visit to the Vatican Library and the manuscripts and incunabula shown to him by the librarians, including fragments of early Greek Gospel texts and a large "Hebrew Bible presented by the Duke of Urbino." Tebbs and his unnamed companions then journey to Florence, where they see the major sites by engaging a guide to "drive about the whole day," and then proceed to Bologna for two days, visiting the University and its library. The diary ends with their arrival in Piacenza
Description:
Annotation on front pastedown: "H. V. Tebbs. Glebe House, Chelsea. Vol. 2." and Binding: quarter roan with blue boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Italy., Italy, Florence (Italy), Naples (Italy), and Rome (Italy)
Subject (Name):
Tebbs, H. V. (Henry Virtue) and Biblioteca apostolica vaticana.
Subject (Topic):
Tourism, Travelers' writings, English, Description and travel, and Antiquities
