French Travellers to Scotland, 1780-1830

French Travellers to Scotland, 1780-1830: An Analysis of Some Travel Journals. Elizabeth Anne McFarlane Submitted according to regulations of University of Stirling January 2015 Abstract. This study examines the value of travellers’ written records of their trips with specific reference to the journals of five French travellers who visited Scotland between 1780 and 1830. The thesis argues that they contain material which demonstrates the merit of journals as historical documents. The themes chosen for scrutiny, life in the rural areas, agriculture, industry, transport and towns, are examined and assessed across the journals and against the social, economic and literary scene in France and Scotland. Through the evidence presented in the journals, the thesis explores aspects of the tourist experience of the Enlightenment and post - Enlightenment periods. The viewpoint of knowledgeable French Anglophiles and their receptiveness to Scottish influences, grants a perspective of the position of France in the economic, social and power structure of Europe and the New World vis-à-vis Scotland. The thesis adopts a narrow, focussed analysis of the journals which is compared and contrasted to a broad brush approach adopted in other studies. ii Dedication. For Angus, Mhairi and Brent, who are all scientists. iii Acknowledgements. I would like to thank my husband, Angus, and my daughter, Mhairi, for all the support over the many years it has taken to complete this thesis. I would like to mention in particular the help Angus gave me in the layout of the maps and the table. I would like to express my appreciation for the patience and perseverance of my supervisors and second supervisors over the years. There are numerous ways in which many other members of the History Department (as was) have contributed to my work. The pleasant atmosphere in the department and the many small kindnesses I have received have given me the confidence to continue even when I have struggled. The work would not have been possible without continued help from Stirling University library, including the IT section and my appreciation for their input is boundless. iv Author’s Declaration. The work contained in this thesis is entirely my own work. The views expressed in the dissertation are entirely my own, and not those of the University of Stirling. v Table of Contents. Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………… ii Dedication ……………………………………………………………………………... iii Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………… iv Author’s Declaration …………………………………………………………………... v Introduction ……………………………………….………….…………………….…… 1 Chapter One The Literature of Travel ……………………………………... 45 Chapter Two Life in the Rural Areas ………………………………………. 84 Chapter Three Agriculture …………………………………………………… 127 Chapter Four Industry ……………………………….……………………... 171 Chapter Five The Urban Areas …………………………………………… 213 Chapter Six Travelling through Scotland: The Transport System ..….. 250 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………….......... 285 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………….……… 294 vi Introduction This study examines the value of travellers’ written records of their trips as historical documents with specific reference to the journals of five French travellers who visited Scotland between 1780 and 1830. The thesis argues that they contain material which demonstrates the value of the journals as witnesses to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century life in France and Scotland. The travellers are Barthélemy Faujas de St Fond (Faujas]); Alexandre de la Rochefoucauld (la Rochefoucauld); Louis Simond (Simond); Charles Nodier (Nodier); and Alexandre MacDonald (the French MacDonald). Around twenty years ago, there was a dearth of research into the history of tourism between France and Britain but a decade later academic interest in travel literature spread in a number of fields, including anthropology, colonial and post- colonial discourse theory, literary theory, history, geography and women’s studies.1 The next chapter in this study surveys and evaluates relevant secondary sources on travel literature. Despite this, travel journals themselves are underused by historians in Britain.2 As historical documents, they are primary sources of undeniable value, as journals pinpoint events and sites to a particular place and to an exact time, since the writer records what he sees in the moment of the experience; a fact which often allows verification of the text. The nearer a person is to the event the more authority he has as a witness, but the less authority as a judge. In other words, the writer allows direct access to the moment, leaving others to assess the implications.3 Visitors’ recollections are vital in the study of tourism by revealing details of the 1 François Crouzet, Britain Ascendant: Comparative Studies in Franco-British Economic History (Cambridge: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge,1990), p.466. 2 Studies on American journals include Joseph Eaton, The Anglo-American Paper War; Debates about the New Republic, 1800-1825 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), pp.8-51. Kathleen Burk, Old World, New World,Great Britain and America from the Beginning (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press,2008). For British travel narratives, Jane Louise Mesick, The English Traveller in America, 1785-1835 (New York: Colombia University Press, 1922). 3 R.M. Johnston, The French Revolution: A Short history (New York: Henry Holt & Company,1910), p.1. 1 travelling and the accommodation they used and how far Scotland was geared up to cater for tourists.4 The texts also analyzed what the travellers recorded of the advancement of industry, the economy and agriculture of Scotland, compared to France. The overt purpose of a travel journal is to record, usually daily, the experiences of the trip. However, there may be an underlying purpose, such as to report for others or to inform future travellers.5 Such a purpose may affect the style and content but also how much the journal is altered for publication. Little would be known about tourism in pre-modern Scotland if it were not for the diaries kept on holiday and letters home, as few official tourist records or statistics were kept.6 Some accounts are extant from 1295 but these represent a small proportion of those which may have existed.7 Many travellers in that era were unable to write, while records from other sources, such as itinerant merchants may have been lost. Over the centuries, changing patterns of travel emerge which give varied pictures of their experiences; accounts from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries show only two independent travellers, the rest were soldiers, Church emissaries or ambassadors.8 Despite trade interaction, Scotland was seldom visited, by British people or foreigners, before mid-eighteenth century; one French visitor in the late 14th century called the country ‘le bout du monde' (the end of the world).9 However, just before the seventeenth century, the number of independent travellers rose in a gradual movement towards special interest travellers as the 4 Alastair Durie, Travels in Scotland, 1788-1881: A Selection from Contemporary Tourist Journals (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012), pp.12-13. 5 For example, Mrs Sarah Murray, A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland, to the Lakes of Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire, and to the Curiosities in the District of Craven, in the West Riding of Yorkshire; to which is added a more particular Description of Scotland, especially that part of it called the Highlands (London:1799). 6 Durie, Travels in Scotland, p.11. 7 See P. Hume Brown, Early Travellers to Scotland, 1891 (published by David Douglas, facsimile version, James Thin: Edinburgh, 1978). 8 See Maurice Lindsay, The Discovery of Scotland, (London: Robert Hale Ltd.,1964). 9 Françoise Autrand, Aux origines de l'Europe moderne: l'alliance France-Ecosse au XIVe siècle, in James Laidlaw (ed.), The Auld Alliance France and Scotland over 700 Years (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University, 1999), p.34. Autrand is quoting Jean Froissart (c.1337 – c.1405). 2 Enlightenment interest in science developed.10 An increased proportion of lower ranking travellers reflected growing literacy among the less well-off but there were few records of foreign visitors to Scotland after Jorevin de Rocheford’s trip, circa 1691, up to the late eighteenth century.11 The journals of French travellers are part of the much smaller selection of tourists who made the journey from Europe to Britain and the minority of travellers who reached Scotland.12 Official chroniclers and historians wrote to satisfy the demands of their employers and as a result, the accounts were usually biased and often written without direct knowledge of Scotland or indeed long after the events they describe. However, the texts were promoted through their sponsors and thus given a status and recognition which journals did not have. Despite creating crafted pieces of propaganda, the chroniclers have become known as ‘enthusiastic plagiarists’, whereas authentic journals have languished in obscurity.13 This implies an interaction between writer and the intended or expected reader. The ability to relate to the writer of the journal, therefore, is important to be able to understand what the author intended, since it is pertinent to ask who was the writer, for whom was the account written and how and when was it written.14 From the eighteenth century, the biographical details of the diarist were often known and this background adds weight and historical validity to the use of a text.15 10 Fynes Moryson

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