THE TOURIST AND THE TUTOR
as a model for scores of little German and Italian courts. To a crowded French salon he could find entrance, along with everybody else of unquestioned social standing, and also to a Roman conversazione.[1] But at a time when rank counted for much in Europe, letters of introduction were almost a necessity for the traveler. Without such help he might see the main sights, and by the richness of his dress and his equipage he could be sure of deference in many quarters, but for admission to society he must have credentials. Then all was easy. "A single letter of introduction," says Nugent, "is sufficient to procure a person an agreeable reception among the Germans, which can hardly be said of the inhabitants of any other country. Their civility goes so far as to introduce a stranger directly into their societies or assemblies."[2] And as for Italy, Baretti advises the tourist: "On your reaching the first town in Italy, whether it be Turin, Genoa, or any other, endeavor to obtain as many letters of recommendation from the natives as you can, to take along with you as you advance further into the cotmtry. The nobility of every place, and, above all, the learned, will be pleased to give you such letters; and the people to whom you will be thus recommended, will still direct you to others. … [They may perhaps] procure you a good lodging where the inn is not to your liking, … tell you the true price of things that you may not be cheated," etc.[3]
Walpole repeatedly sends to Horace Mann the names of English tourists who expect to visit Florence, recommending now "Mr. Hobart," who "proposes passing a little time at Florence, which I am sure you will endeavour to make as agreeable to him as possible";[4] now "Mr. Stanley, one of the Lords of the Admiralty";[5] now "the Duke of Newcastle's eldest son. Lord Lincoln," who "is going to Rome";[6] now "a young painter who is going to study at Rome."[7] To these might be added numerous others.[8] Much of the time of an ambassador during the tourist season must have been consumed in attending to the interests of young men of rank who were traveling
129
- ↑ "The memoirs of last century swarm with proofs that young Englishmen of family were only too well received in Continental, and most of all in Italian, drawing-rooms." Trevelyan, Early Life of Charles James Fox, p. 55.
- ↑ Grand Tour, ii, 45.
- ↑ Baretti, Manners and Customs of Italy, ii, 317, 318.
- ↑ Letters, i, 365.
- ↑ Ibid., iv, 352.
- ↑ Ibid., v, 252.
- ↑ Ibid., vi, 281.
- ↑ Cf. ibid., ii, 261; v, 135; vi, 269, 359; vii, 259, 267; v, 414.
