# The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century

THE GRAND TOUR IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
(Page 396)
A MACARONI
THE GRAND TOUR
IN THE
Eighteenth Century
BY
WILLIAM EDWARD MEAD
With illustrations from contemporary prints
BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY< The Riverside Press Cambridge 1914
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY WILLIAM EDWARD MEAD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published November 1914
TO K. C. M. Who makes every journey a joy
PREFACE
The subject presented in the following pages has been strangely neglected; for until recent years there has been little attempt to treat comprehensively and in detail one of the most significant chapters in the social history of England in the eighteenth and earlier centuries—the tour in foreign countries for the sake of education. The materials are abundant,—indeed, embarrassingly so,—but they have never been systematically utilized. As a rule, the whole matter has been disposed of by historians in a paragraph or two. The more detailed studies have mainly dealt with the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. M. Babeau's delightful sketch of Les Voyageurs en France covers about three centuries, but is limited to a discussion of travel in one country. Yet few things had a more far-reaching influence upon the life and thought of Englishmen than the grand tour, which permitted them in the most impressionable period of their lives to survey other lands, other types of society and government, and to carry home something of the best—and too often of the worst—that the Continent had to offer.
In a subject so limitless in its possible range there is obviously much for which we cannot afford the space. The original intention was to trace the growth of English travel on the Continent from the time of the Revival of Learning to the outbreak of the French Revolution. But owing to the appearance of Mr. Bates's Touring in 1600 this extensive programme was modified to deal, in the main, with the grand tour in the latter half of the eighteenth century, with an occasional glance at the travel of an earlier generation. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remark that the present book is in no sense a systematic guide to eighteenth-century Europe, and that it attempts no extended account of any of ​the countries visited on the grand tour. In so far as places are mentioned or described, they are included because they mark important points on the routes commonly followed and illustrate what eighteenth-century tourists saw, but of course not all that they saw.
To write about the grand tour is, indeed, very much like writing about things in general, since there is an endless multitude of possible topics to be included. Practical necessity compels the exclusion of material which is in itself both interesting and suggestive, but which, if presented in detail, would obscure the features essential to a comprehensive survey. For this reason we must limit our view to the regions chiefly visited on the grand tour — France, Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries, with a mere glance at Spain and Switzerland and other parts of Europe. But Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Hungary, Greece, Turkey do not come into our plan, not because they were in themselves unimportant in the eighteenth century, but because they were less commonly visited by English tourists than some other parts of Europe. There is, moreover, in this rapid sketch little attempt to dwell upon places of secondary interest, but emphasis is laid upon the most representative cities on the great routes. For our purpose the towns of the Continent are significant only in proportion as they attracted English tourists.
As for the materials used in the preparation of this book, some of them are enumerated in a bibliographical note. But it may not be improper to remark that in repeated journeys and a residence of several years on the Continent I have become familiar with practically every important place visited on the grand tour and have endeavored by actual observation of old roads and mountain passes to realize the conditions under which one traveled in the generation preceding the French Revolution. Amid the wilderness of error that abounds in the older books of travel, I cannot safely pretend in every case to have hit upon the exact truth, but at all events I have not deliberately aimed to increase the mass of misinformation already in print.
​In conclusion, I offer my sincere thanks to the officials of libraries in this country and abroad for the facilities which they have generously placed at my disposal, and without which this book would be far more imperfect than it now is. To my colleague, Professor George M. Dutcher, I am much indebted for a revision of the second chapter; to Mr. Archibald Cattell, of Chicago, for a careful reading of the proof sheets; and to my wife for proof-reading and aid in preparing the index.
In view of the great war that is now devastating Europe, it is important to note that the corrected page proofs of the present book were returned to the printers a few days before the outbreak of hostilities.
W. E. M.
October 1, 1914.
CONTENTS
| I. | Introductory | Introductory | 1 |
| II. | Europe before the French Revolution | Europe before the French Revolution | 5 |
| III. | Water Travel | Water Travel | |
| | I. | THE ENGLISH CHANNEL | 29 |
| | II. | FRANCE | 32 |
| | III. | ITALY | 33 |
| | IV. | GERMANY | 37 |
| | V. | HOLLAND AND BELGIUM | 39 |
| IV. | Roads | Roads | |
| | I. | Introductory | 43 |
| | II. | FRANCE | 44 |
| | III. | ITALY | 46 |
| | IV. | GERMANY | 49 |
| | V. | THE LOW COUNTRIES | 51 |
| V. | Carriages | Carriages | |
| | I. | FRANCE | 52 |
| | II. | ITALY | 61 |
| | III. | GERMANY | 68 |
| | IV. | THE LOW COUNTRIES | 72 |
| VI. | Inns | Inns | |
| | I. | Introductory | 75 |
| | II. | FRENCH INNS | 78 |
| | III. | ITALIAN INNS | 84 |
| | IV. | INNS IN GERMANY | 95 |
| | V. | THE INNS OF THE LOW COUNTRIES | 100 |
| VII. | The Tourist and the Tutor | The Tourist and the Tutor | 103 ​ |
| VIII. | Some Dangers and Annoyances | Some Dangers and Annoyances | 140 |
| IX. | The Cost of Travel | The Cost of Travel | 170 |
| X. | The Continental Tour: France and Spain | The Continental Tour: France and Spain | 207 |
| XI. | Switzerland and the Mountains | Switzerland and the Mountains | 255 |
| XII. | Italy | Italy | 269 |
| XIII. | Germany | Germany | 335 |
| XIV. | The Low Countries | The Low Countries | 364 |
| XV. | Contemporary Comment on the Grand Tour | Contemporary Comment on the Grand Tour | 375 |
| | Bibliographical Note | Bibliographical Note | 463 |
| | Index | Index | 471 |
ILLUSTRATIONS
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1949, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 74 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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