Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour
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Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour SARAH GOLDSMITH Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour New Historical Perspectives is a book series for early career scholars within the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Books in the series are overseen by an expert editorial board to ensure the highest standards of peer-reviewed scholarship. Commissioning and editing is undertaken by the Royal Historical Society, and the series is published under the imprint of the Institute of Historical Research by the University of London Press. The series is supported by the Economic History Society and the Past and Present Society. Series co-editors: Heather Shore (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Jane Winters (School of Advanced Study, University of London) Founding co-editors: Simon Newman (University of Glasgow) and Penny Summerfield (University of Manchester) New Historical Perspectives Editorial Board Charlotte Alston, Northumbria University David Andress, University of Portsmouth Philip Carter, Institute of Historical Research, University of London Ian Forrest, University of Oxford Leigh Gardner, London School of Economics Tim Harper, University of Cambridge Guy Rowlands, University of St Andrews Alec Ryrie, Durham University Richard Toye, University of Exeter Natalie Zacek, University of Manchester Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour Sarah Goldsmith LONDON ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PRESS Published in 2020 by UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PRESS SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU © Sarah Goldsmith 2020 The author has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. More information regarding CC licenses is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/. Copyright and permissions for the reuse of many of the images included in this publication differ from the above. Copyright and permissions information is provided alongside each image. Available to download free or to purchase the hard copy edition at https://www.sas.ac.uk/publications/. ISBNs 978-1-912702-21-3 (hardback edition) 978-1-912702-22-0 (paperback edition) 978-1-912702-25-1 (PDF edition) 978-1-912702-23-7 (ePub edition) 978-1-912702-24-4 (.mobi edition) DOI 10.14296/1120.9781912702251 Cover image: Pierre-Jacque Volaire, ‘An Eruption of Vesuvius by Moonlight’ (CVCSC:0259.S, 1774). By permission of Compton Verney, Warwickshire, UK and Bridgeman Images. Contents List of figures vii List of abbreviations ix Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 1. Hazarding chance: a history of eighteenth-century danger 37 2. Military mad: war and the Grand Tour 75 3. Wholesome dangers and a stock of health: exercise, sport and the hardships of the road 111 4. Fire and ice: mountains, glaciers and volcanoes 141 5. Dogs, servants and masculinities: writing about danger and emotion on the Grand Tour 185 Conclusion 209 Appendix 221 Bibliography 237 Index 263 v List of figures 2.1 Map and key of sites where Grand Tourists engaged with military activity, c.1730–80. 83 2.2 A two-week daily timetable, written by George, Lord Herbert, later 11th earl of Pembroke’s parents in 1776, for his stay in Strasbourg (Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, MS. 2057/F4/278, ‘Instructions’, 1776). 88 2.3 Pompeo Batoni, ‘Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, Thomas Apperley and Captain Edward Hamilton’ (NMW A 78, 1768–72). 106 3.1 Pompeo Batoni, ‘Alexander Gordon, 4th duke of Gordon (1743–1827)’ (NG 2589, 1763–4). 111 3.2 Anon, ‘The leap in height with & without a pole’ from Christian Salzmann, Gymnastics for Youth… (London, 1800), p. 215. 123 3.3 Pietro Fabris, ‘Kenneth Mackenzie, 1st earl of Seaforth 1744–1781 at Home in Naples: Fencing Scene’ (PG 2610, 1771). 125 4.1 Joseph Wright of Derby, ‘Vesuvius from Portici’ (97.29, c.1774–6). 152 4.2 Michael Wutky, ‘Eruption of Vesuvius, seen across the Gulf of Naples’ (GG-742, c.1790/1800). 153 4.3 Pierre-Jacque Volaire, ‘An Eruption of Vesuvius by Moonlight’ (CVCSC:0259.S, 1774). 153 4.4 Pierre-Jacques Volaire, ‘Vesuvius Erupting at Night’ (CVCSC:0343.S, 1771). 154 4.5 Jakob Philipp Hackert, ‘An Eruption of Vesuvius in 1774,’ (Neg. Nr. M10111, c.1774–5). 155 4.6 Detail of Jakob Philipp Hackert, ‘An Eruption of Vesuvius in 1774’ (Neg. Nr. M10111, c.1774–5). 155 4.7 Michael Wutky, ‘The Summit of Vesuvius Erupting’ (GG-390, c.1790/1800). 156 4.8 John ‘Warwick’ Smith, ‘from Album of Views in Italy, [24] Crater [of Vesuvius]’ (T05846, 1778). 156 vii Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour 4.9 Henry Tresham, ‘The Ascent of Vesuvius, 1785–91’ (B1977.14.6296, 1785–91). 157 4.10 Pietro Fabris, ‘Interior view of Crater of Mount Vesuvius … plate IX’, from William Hamilton, Campi Phlegraei (Naples, 1776). 157 4.11 John Shackleton or James Dagnia, ‘William Windham II (1717–61) in the uniform of a Hussar’ (NT 1401251, Felbrigg, Norfolk, 1742–67). 161 viii List of abbreviations BRO Berkshire Record Office BL British Library Add. MSS Additional Manuscripts CBS Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies LMA London Metropolitan Archives NAM National Army Museum NRO Norfolk Record Office ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography OED Oxford English Dictionary ROLLR Record Office of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland SRO Staffordshire Record Office TNA The National Archives WSHC Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre ix Acknowledgements An enormous amount of often hidden help and unacknowledged effort went into a successful Grand Tour. Tutors, servants, doctors, guides, coachmen, postillions, sailors, porters, custom officials, washerwomen, cooks and countless others – no Grand Tour was possible without them, and yet they so rarely feature in the Tour’s surviving records. A book is not unlike a Grand Tour. It is carried and made possible by numerous individuals who do not often feature in the body of the text. This book is no exception, and I have many, many people to thank. First and foremost, thanks must go to my three truly excellent ‘tutors’ who have bear-led me with such wisdom from the earliest stages of my academic career to the present. Ross Balzaretti introduced me to the delights of travel history during his third year special subject at the University of Nottingham, encouraged me in my early thoughts on danger and travel, and quite correctly told me that my initial ideas for my undergraduate and MA dissertations were more suited to a book-length study. I have been endlessly fortunate to have Catriona Kennedy as my PhD supervisor at the University of York. Between pulling me back from archival rabbit holes and opening my eyes to new approaches via the history of masculinity, her expertise and critical thinking has been a deeply formative, enduring influence on my academic development. Last but not least, Roey Sweet has been a nonpareil of mentors during my time at the University of Leicester, guiding me through the process of turning a thesis into a monograph and cheering me over the finishing line. Thank you each for your outstanding support, patient guidance and for encouraging me to work to the best of my capacity. I am extremely grateful to the many other academics who have so generously offered their time, expertise, advice and support. Your thoughtful questions and astute observations have shaped my thinking and writing on multiple occasions, and I am privileged to be part of so many supportive academic communities. Before I started my PhD, I was warned that they would be very lonely years. To my great delight, I found the precise opposite and a community of colleagues, friends and fellow thinkers at the University of York’s history department and Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies. My particular thanks to Amy Milka, Claire Canavan, Emilie Murphy, Frankie Maguire, Harriet Guest, Kristin Bourassa, Mark Jenner, Natasha Glaisyer and Robin Macdonald. I have continued to benefit from the joys of academic fellowship after my PhD, and so say a heartfelt thank you to my colleagues at the University of Leicester’s history department and Centre for Urban History for their xi Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour fellowship, encouragement and perspective during the last four years. With special thanks to Andy Hopper, Angela Muir, Alistair Kefford, George Lewis, Jamie Johnson, Jan Vandeburie, Prashant Kidambi, Roey Sweet, Richard Ansell, Richard Butler, Sally Horrucks, Simon Gunn, Sophie Cooper, Svenja Bethke, Toby Lincoln and Zoe Groves. Academia is fortunate in that our communities go beyond institutions and beyond borders. The book has benefited so much from discussions with, and insights from, a disparate, transnational set of scholars working on early modern and eighteenth-century travel and masculinity. I am particularly grateful to Gabor Gelleri, Gerrit Verhoeven, Elodie Duchè, Eva Johanna Holmberg, Karen Harvey, John Brewer, John Gallagher, Maria Dolores Sánchez-Jáuregui, Mark Williams, Marianna D’Ezio, Matthew McCormack, Michèle Cohen, Simon Bainbridge and Valèrie Capdeville. This book has been completed with the help and support of many institutions. I would like to thank the archives and libraries that allowed me to consult their manuscripts, and to acknowledge the very generous assistance and expertise provided by their staff. Material pertaining to the Dartmouth family is used by permission of The Dartmouth Heirloom Trust and Staffordshire Record Office. At the various stages of researching, writing and finalizing this book, I have been fortunate enough to receive financial support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Doctoral Scholarship and the Leverhulme Trust’s Early Career Research Fellowship. The rights to the wonderful images that enhance my arguments have been purchased with the help of publication grants from the Institute of Historical Research’s Scouloudi Historical Award and the Marc Fitch Fund.