There must be thousands of letters extant which record 18th and 19th century Grand Tours of Europe written by wealthy young British men and women. This one starts unpromisingly but becomes more interesting as the 24- year-old writer provides detail and atmosphere. I find notable the description of the Great St Bernard Hospice, later visited in the 1840s by Charles Dickens and providing material for a chapter in Little Dorrit.
I have no details of the writer's later life, rather complicated by the fact that his children appear to have taken their mother (Hannah Hutton’s) surname – that most likely would have been a not-uncommon condition of an inheritance. His own family of Watsons and Farsides had owned Bilton Park since 1741; it passed to the writer’s older brother but after his death in 1831 descended to an infant grand-daughter Georgina on whose behalf the writer of this letter acted as a guardian. The house is now a care home.
Transcription
Addressed
to: Mrs Watson Bilton Park Knaresboro
Yorkshire Ingliterra
Datelined:
Milan, Piemont Italy August 15th 1828
Postmarked
MILANO (no date) London foreign mail receiver mark AU 26 1828, charged 2/8 (2
shillings and 8 pence) on arrival.
Dear
Mary & Mother
As
I think a Letter now & then acceptable from one at a great distance it is
my purpose to give you one from the most remarkable places giving an account of
what seems most worthy of your knowing in doing this I shall merely state things
& places as they appeared to me without reference to any opinions of others. But the statement will be far short of what it ought to be were I in a
state of health to give it The Fatigue & Heat of travelling is altogether
unsupportable so much so that it deadens & stupefies all my faculties &
my most anxious thoughts are directed to the restoration of my health & the
completion of the present Excursion.
If
I recollect rightly I gave an account of myself as far as from Paris to Geneva
I spent my time stupidly enough at the latter place in a Pension (a boarding
House) paying for everything 10 Napoleons pr. Month (Napoleon is 16 shillings
English). It is kept by two old French Ladies there were six English Ladies &
Gentlemen bsides myself old maids & Widows prosing & stupid to a degree
insupportable, decent dinners, plenty of wine, good beds, an immense tall swiss
waiting woman, a few fleas, rather warm, reading French aloud to the old
Ladies by way of Improvement, Tarts & beer, Tea, & Cards for those who
liked. Geneva is an ill & irregular built Town some of the Streets &
Houses are good it is situated above the lake of the same name & is
strongly fortified with dry & wet ditches the Ramparts serve for pleasant
promenades particularly that of St. Antoine which commands a fine viewfront of
the Lake to the left the mountains of the Jura & to the right commencement
of the alps topped by snowy mountains in the distance of which the chief is
Mont Blanc. The water of the Lake is a of a pellucid Blue such as you have no
conception of Its length is 18 Leagues & greatest with 3 ¼ leagues there
are three large Steam Boats constantly plying
on it, there are a good many English Residents on the Banks of the Lake
& all over the Canton Vaud indeed every place is crowded with them. It is
by no means a cheap place & the English are cheated everywhere by authority
of Government a Swiss Tradesman in Geneva demands one third more than he
intends taking Gold is the Swiss Idol all seems swallowed up in the passion for
that Metal but its time to leave Geneva to give an account of how I got to this
place. A Scotsman in the same Pension & myself determined on making an
Excursion into those parts of the Alps & Italy which could not be
conveniently seen in the Journey to Rome & Naples (where I propose spending
the Winter). We determined on being as independent as 20 Napoleons for Knapsack
(containing a change of Linen) could make us. On the 3rd of August
last we accordingly left Geneva at 5 o’clock in the morning in a carriage with
two Horses & arrived at St Martin 12 Leagues ( a league is 3 English miles)
by 6 o clock the same Evening lamenting the slowness of Swiss travelling &
the civility of an English Postillion, we dined there & obtained the first
& nearly the only view of Gigantick Mountain of Mont Blanc its base &
part of the summit was covered with clouds which in a few minutes dispersed
& shewed us the very summit covered with snow (which I may venture to say
must have existed for Ages it being that day very hot. The mountain is of such
gigantick proportions as actual seeing for yourself only can give a just idea picture to yourself snowy Hills
driving gradually from the bottom of the Red Bank to the Hamilton Hills the
comparison is perhaps too great but giganticks can only be represented by paper
giganticks. The Road from Geneva to St Martin lies thro’ Vallies surrounded by
enormous precipices some covered to the top with dark green pine trees others
naked & rocky some pointed like needles others blunt & in ridges
waterfalls of 800 feet High, the road quite level generally winds by the side
of some furious river whose source is the Snow & ice from the Lofty
Mountains of the Alps, I cannot picture the verdure of the Valleys Studley Park
may give you some idea were it interspersed with a few vineyards & yellow
corn fields. To go on with our journey
From
St. Martin we took a guide across the Mountains to Chamouny [Chamonix]
we started on foot by 3 o’clock in the morning & got there by 10 – 6
Leagues I was dreadfully tired, spirit alone carried me thro’ Chamouny is a
most extraordinary long narrow Valley lying at the very bottom of Mont Blanc
& surrounded by pine clad Hills of prodigious Height fancy 30 of the
precipices at fort Montagu placed one on another The weather was wet & so
dismally cold & damp that I went to bed till dinner when we had a large
fire of wood (no Kippar coal).The next day we ascended an enormous mountain on
Mules whose slightest false step would have sent me to rest not with my
ancestors but broken rocks, Pine Trees goats & wild strawberries The Mules
I cannot too much praise for their sagacity & caution, picking their way
over narrow & shelving & rocky paths it is at first enough to make the
strongest nerves qualmish my nerves however kept steady & putting my bridle
on the Mules neck I ascended & descended not caring one way or the other. I
felt very unwell from the former days fatigue. The Mer de Glace is to all
appearance a Sea of 18 …[letter torn; see Wikipedia for the dimensions] long & 2 …. in a Storm [?] it
was bitter cold & damp, Brandy… gave Life 6th Aug left Chamouny
for Martigny 9 Leagues this days Journey I performed on a Mule my companion the
Scotchman walked. This Road was if anything more terrific than that of
yesterday but I should lie if I attempt to describe the Scenery which was hid
by clouds & Rain the latter of which we have had plenty I saw the Tops of
Hills far above the Clouds, Forests Enormous Masses of Stone & Wild Rasps [Raspberries]
& Strawberries innumerable. 7th from Martigny to the Mountain
& Hospice of the Grand St Bernard on a Mule, 9 Leagues a most fatiguing
Journey. The Hospital or Convent of the Grand St Bernard is a most laudable
& excellent institution it is the highest known habitation in Europe
situated amidst snows & Glaciers & on the Road to Italy. It has been
instituted 800 years & is for the purpose of giving assistance to
travellers who may go by this Pass into
Italy many are the unfortunate
Travellers whom its kind Fathers have rescued from miserable deaths. The
Convent is obliged to entertain all who pass that Road without remuneration of
any kind.
Napoleon
passed by the Pass of the Grand St Bernard before he surprized the world with
his Military genius. We had excellent fair Chamois Pastys Wines &c heard
Mass & for four of us gave two Napoleons. We saw the Dogs which accompany
the Fathers in their search after benighted & snow buried travellers. Those
who are found dead in the mountains are put into a Charnel house & by
reason of the extreme rigour of the climate their bodies are preserved for a
hundred years or more they present most ghastly & terrific appearances.
Mothers & children then in the Agonies of death with Teeth as white as
snow & long hair & beards
clothed in rags of moth eaten clothes (they are put in as found) there was one
immense Tall woman who grinned a ghastly smile. I shall not get to Milan at this rate [he has filled three sides and is now writing on the letter flaps] 8th [August]
from St Bernard to Martigny 9th Martigny to Tortoigne [? cannot identify this place] enormous
mountains long walk & benighted I can no more you shall have another from
Geneva please God I get there in safety. [This letter is posted from Milan; presumably he doubles back to Geneva and then goes southwards again] I have walked a great part of this
Journey. I propose staying a month at Geneva & studying French & leave
for Rome 1st October. I stay there until Easter 1829 & then off
for Vienna, Russia, & if things are quiet as far as I can get. In the mean
time Regards to all Friends particularly Sr J[ohn] & Mrs Slingsby [of Knareborough] & believe
me my Dr. Mor & Sister yr. ever affecte. Son & Brother Let me hear the
news particularly any politics George James Farside
References
Wikipedia:
Great St Bernard Hospice
Wikipedia: Mer de Glace
No comments:
Post a Comment