A tour of Italy 1759

When he was twenty years old Thomas Robinson (1738 - 1786), later 2nd Baron Grantham, Ambassador to Madrid & Foreign Secretary, was touring Italy. He wrote frequent letters to his friend Dr Beilby Porteous, who was later Chaplain to George III and Bishop of Chester and London.

On 13 January 1759 he was in Turin, and described the society there:

We dance at 7 in the morning, the Dancing Master is now looked upon at the first in Europe. We ride at nine and fence at eleven. Dine at half past 12, an excellent table indeed. The Opera begins at five and lasts til ten at which hour the Court retires & everybody goes to such houses and societies as they choose to frequent. There are three ladies who are always at home, two of them I visit oftener than the other, one of them has always at her house the best company of the male sex, and at the other one sees more of the females. [ref.L30/14/315/22]

By February Thomas had moved on to Rome, where he enthused about the many sights:

'...in the middle of it stands an immense Obelisk of Egypt granite of a single piece, on each side of which are two of ye finest fountains in Rome. This Church is one of very few things in Rome that the Old Romans were they again to rise would not be ashamed to see among their own works....'

Why are these letters at Bedfordshire & Luton Archives?

These letters are just two of hundreds from Thomas Robinson which are part of the Lucas of Wrest Park collection.