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
Manuscript journal, by a woman, of travel with her husband George from Venice to Rome in the autumn and winter of 1828-29. Topics include sightseeing, excursions to Roman ruins and the Borghese Gardens; social events, including meetings with Sir Humphry Davy, Chateaubriand, and the Neapolitan ambassador; and visits to the opera, the theater, and Mrs. Glasgow's "tableaux." and The author is particularly interested in art and describes visits to several studios, including those of Vincenzo Camuccini, Giovanni Battista Cipriani, Bertel Thorwaldsen, John Gibson, and Richard James Wyatt. She offers critiques of the works she was shown, noting that she did not consider Thorwaldsen's statues for the monument of Pius VII "well-executed" and that she disliked Gibson's "method of staining the marble as Canova used to do with iron rust....we thought it no improvement." She mentions purchases of several prints from Cipriani as well as shopping expeditions for marbles and mosaic pieces
Description:
First few pages cut out., Annotation on front pastedown: "Munich. Octr. 15th, 1828.", and Binding: original marbled boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Italy., Italy, and Rome (Italy)
Subject (Name):
Camuccini, Vincenzo, 1771-1844., Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de, 1768-1848., Cipriani, Giovanni Battista, 1766-1839., Davy, Humphry, Sir, 1778-1829., Gibson, John, 1790-1866., Thorvaldsen, Bertel, 1770-1844., and Wyatt, Richard James, 1795-1850.
Subject (Topic):
Tourism, Travelers' writings, English, Women travelers, and Description and travel
