A manuscript journal recording John Henry Barrow’s nine-month Continental journey through France, Switzerland, and Italy in the immediate post-Waterloo period.
LWL Mss Vol. 279
Acquired March 2022
Eight manuscript volumes: Essays on various subjects written at Univesity while at Glasgow, 1805-1806; copies of letters from Portugal 1812; Journal in Spain 1813; Journal in Lombardy, Austria, Prussia 1815; Sketchbook 1815; Journal in the north of Italy and France 1816; Journal to Spain1818; Diary 1830-1843. Also with two copies of Holland’s publication, General view of the agriculture of Cheshire (1808) and two issues of his Recollections of past life (1868).
LWL MSS 41
Acquired September 2021
A journal that details John Thornton’s Grand Tour, which began in Riga and took him through Prussia, Italy, and back to England through France, Flanders, and the Netherlands.
LWL Mss Vol. 258
Acquired November 2020
An anonymous journal of a tour that begins on May 14th in Warrington, Lancashire and passes through Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincoln, Leicester, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Northampton, Buckingham, Oxon, Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Gloucester, Worcester, Staffs, Salop and Cheshire, finishing on July 5th in Chester — a total of 703 miles.
LWL Mss Vol. 257
Acquired February 2020
Holograph diary of the author’s trip to France and Italy in a single hand describing the author’s Grand Tour two years after the end of the Napoleonic Wars : The hallmarks of a half pay British officer in the midst of a rather hopeless feeling peace. Clearly an admirer of classical architecture, he makes careful note of remaining classical elements in towns like Avignon and Lyon (“The town of Lyon is by no means handsome. The houses are much crowded and the streets narrow, and dirtier if possible than those of Paris”), and appears very much more affectionate towards what was there, rather than what is. He is nevertheless much struck by the wonders of Florence as he travels towards what his conspicuous classical education clearly regards as the ultimate destination: the city of Rome. In a rather pleasing exhibition of mingled scholarship and military professionalism, he spends a lot of time discussing the historical strategic qualities and shortfalls of many of his stopping points. The journal is erudite, vigorous and detailed.
LWL Mss Vol. 251
Acquired October 2019
Holograph diary transcribed by Charles Lucas from memorandum written by his cousin James Lucas during a tour to France in 1816.
LWL Mss Vol. 249
Acquired October 2019
An account detailing posts and times for each section of the journey, with notes on inns, conditions of roads, places of note and numerous personal observations; quality of gardens, vegetations and art, the prevalence of goitres in one particular area, the need to obtain the correct paperwork to avoid one’s baggage being rummaged through, and the need to have luggage “plumbed” upon departure from Florence. Clearly written in the hand of Thomas Martyn, this particular tour can be found mentioned in Martyn’s entry in DNB: starting in 1778 he was accompanying his young charge, Edward Hartopp, on his two year continental tour, part of which was later published and made it into his “Gentleman’s Guide in his Tour Through Italy” in 1787 and “Sketch of a Tour Through Switzerland” of the same year.
LWL Mss File 149
Acquired April 2019
Firsthand account of the journey of Frances, the Parkers, and “Emily” (possibly a sister) as they set out from somewhere in Derbyshire (their post halts are Hilton, Buxton and Bakewell on the early part of the journey) on their way to Paris, via Dieppe and Rouen. Frances is clearly a wealthy and educated young woman, and the account is lively and observant, taking place as it does in a France that only a few years before was a land of war, enemies and an occupying army under Wellington: “The Bois [du Boulogne] consists now of low shrubs, as the Allies cut down all the trees, when they were in Paris, for fire wood … Dined at Very’s and went to the Tivoli – A fete. A man ascended in a Balloon, and tho’ he seemed to engage every one’s attention and interest, he was not thought of, two minutes after he was out of sight. – The Gardens were beautifully illuminated with colossal lamps. Walked home through some streets we had not been in before and were much stared at … I believe it was Harriet’s pretty figure & our Silk Gowns that attracted attention…” The valiant though ignored aeronaut in question, a quick glance at Galignani’s Messenger will show, was none other than M. Margat (who seems to have stepped into the gap caused by the death of Madame Blanchard a year earlier … and who bears the distinction of being one of the few aeronaut’s of the period who was expressly requested to take part in a war as a balloonist, ending up in Algiers in 1830 having nearly set a French navy ship on fire, and earning a medal for making a balloon ascent under heavy fire). Paris seems to have been replete with aeronauts at the time, there is another balloon ascent a day or so later in the Tuilleries. There are encounters with Royalty, visits to the Louvre and Notre Dame, numerous observations on the general superiority of England in all things (“All the prettiest women were English”), a keen eye is leveled at the dress, behaviour and conduct of the ladies of Paris, both for good and ill, plays, tableaux vivant and sundry entertainments are sampled and all is chronicled with agility and attention to detail. A two month excursion into a Georgette Heyer novel.
LWL Mss Vol. 246
Acquired April 2019
63 827 L47
Acquired November 2017
Acquired March, 2011 by the Lewis Walpole Library.