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72-646: Frederick North, Lord North was appointed to lead the government of the Kingdom of Great Britain by King George III from 1770 to 1782. His ministry oversaw the Falklands Crisis of 1770 , the 1780 Gordon Riots and the outbreak of the American War of Independence . Frederick North, Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford , (13 April 1732 – 5 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North , which he used from 1752 to 1790,

144-432: A "picturesque place", the travellers also unconsciously degraded Italy as a place of backwardness. This unconscious degradation is best reflected in the famous verses of Lamartine in which Italy is depicted as a "land of the past... where everything sleeps." In Rome, antiquaries like Thomas Jenkins were also dealers and were able to sell and advise on the purchase of marbles ; their price would rise if it were known that

216-779: A Venetian masked ball. Material relating to this can be found in the Brian Sewell Archive held by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art . In 2009, the Grand Tour featured prominently in a BBC/PBS miniseries based on Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens . Set mainly in Venice, it portrayed the Grand Tour as a rite of passage. Kevin McCloud presented Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour on Channel 4 in 2009 with McCloud retracing

288-793: A junior Lord of the Treasury on 2 June 1759 during the Pitt–Newcastle ministry (an alliance between the Duke of Newcastle and William Pitt the Elder ). He soon developed a reputation as a good administrator and parliamentarian and was generally liked by his colleagues. Although he initially considered himself a Whig , he did not closely align with any of the Whig factions in Parliament, and it became obvious to many contemporaries that his sympathies were largely Tory . He

360-550: A period of study at the universities in Ingolstadt or Heidelberg . From there, travellers could visit Holland and Flanders (with more gallery-going and art appreciation) before returning across the Channel to England. Published accounts of the Grand Tour provided illuminating detail and an often polished first-hand perspective of the experience. Examining some accounts offered by authors in their own lifetimes, Jeremy Black detects

432-568: A savage attack on both the Prime Minister and the king in his newspaper The North Briton , which many thought libellous. North's motion that Wilkes be expelled from the House of Commons passed by 273 votes to 111. Wilkes' expulsion took place in his absence, as he had already fled to France following a duel. When a government headed by the Whig magnate Charles Watson-Wentworth, Lord Rockingham came to power in 1765, North left his post and served for

504-549: A time as a backbench MP . He turned down an offer by Rockingham to rejoin the government, not wanting to be associated with the Whig grandees that dominated the Ministry. He returned to office when Pitt returned to head a second government in 1766. North was appointed Joint Paymaster of the Forces in Pitt's ministry and became a Privy Counsellor . As Pitt was constantly ill, the government

576-400: A trip to Italy, with a spinster aunt as chaperone , was part of the upper-class women's education, as in E. M. Forster 's novel A Room with a View . British travellers were far from alone on the roads of Europe. On the contrary, from the mid-16th century, the grand tour was established as an ideal way to finish off the education of young men in countries such as Denmark, France, Germany,

648-633: A very pretty Venetian of two and twenty — with great black eyes — she is married — and so am I — we have found & sworn an eternal attachment ... & I am more in love than ever... and I verily believe we are one of the happiest unlawful couples on this side of the Alps." Many tourists enjoyed sexual relations while abroad but to a great extent were well behaved, such as Thomas Pelham, and scholars, such as Richard Pococke , who wrote lengthy letters of their Grand Tour experiences. Inventor Sir Francis Ronalds ' journals and sketches of his 1818–20 tour to Europe and

720-615: A wedge between France and Spain and demonstrated the power of the Royal Navy , although it was suggested by critics that this gave Lord North a degree of complacency and an incorrect belief that the European powers would not interfere in British colonial affairs. This was contrasted with the previous administration's failure to prevent France from annexing the Republic of Corsica , a British ally, during

792-470: Is all over!" North was the second British Prime Minister to be forced out of office by a motion of no confidence ; the first was Sir Robert Walpole in 1742. Lord North resigned on 20 March 1782 on account of the British defeat at Yorktown the year before. In an attempt to end the war, he proposed the Conciliation Plan, in which he promised that Great Britain would eliminate all disagreeable acts if

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864-696: Is not likely to provide them with a Grand Tour, since they have been expelled from college again. Brent is not concerned, remarking, "What is there to see in Europe? I'll bet those foreigners can't show us a thing we haven't got right here in Georgia". Ashley Wilkes , on the other hand, enjoyed the scenery and music he encountered on his Grand Tour and was always talking about it. In 1998, the BBC produced an art history series Sister Wendy's Grand Tour presented by British Carmelite nun Sister Wendy . Ostensibly an art history series,

936-646: The Alps ), or he could opt to make the trip by riverboat as far as the Alps, either travelling up the Seine to Paris, or up the Rhine to Basel . Upon hiring a French-speaking guide, as French was the dominant language of the elite in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, the tourist and his entourage would travel to Paris . There the traveller might undertake lessons in French, dancing , fencing , and riding . The appeal of Paris lay in

1008-662: The Baltic . With severe manpower shortages, North's government passed an act abandoning previous statutes placing restrictions on Catholics serving in the military. This provoked an upsurge of anti-Catholic feelings and the formation of the Protestant Association that led to the Gordon Riots in London in June 1780. For around a week, the city was in the control of the mob until the military

1080-767: The Boston Tea Party in 1773, Lord North proposed a number of legislative measures that were supposed to punish the Bostonians. These measures were known as the Coercive Acts in Great Britain, while dubbed the Intolerable Acts in the colonies. By shutting down the Boston government and cutting off trade, he hoped they would keep the peace and dispirit the rebellious colonists. Instead, the acts further inflamed Massachusetts and

1152-625: The Corsican Crisis two years earlier. Using his newly found popularity, North took a chance and appointed Lord Sandwich to the cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty . Most of North's government was focused first on the growing problems with the American colonies. Later on, it was preoccupied with conducting the American War of Independence that broke out in 1775 with the Battle of Lexington . Following

1224-639: The Falkland Islands , nearly provoking a war. Both France and Spain had been left unhappy by Great Britain's perceived dominance following the British victory in the Seven Years War . Spanish forces seized the British settlement on the Falklands and expelled the small British garrison. When Britain opposed the seizure, Spain sought backing from her ally France. King Louis XV of France did not believe his country

1296-490: The Holy Land , which he chronicled in his highly popular satire Innocents Abroad in 1867. Not only was it the best-selling of Twain's works during his lifetime, it became one of the best-selling travel books of all time. Margaret Mitchell 's American Civil War -based novel, Gone With The Wind , makes reference to the Grand Tour. Stuart Tartleton, in a conversation with his twin brother, Brent, suspects that their mother

1368-615: The Peace of Münster in 1648. According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the first recorded use of the term (perhaps its introduction to English) was by Richard Lassels ( c. 1603–1668), an expatriate Roman Catholic priest , in his book The Voyage of Italy , which was published posthumously in Paris in 1670 and then in London. Lassels's introduction listed four areas in which travel furnished "an accomplished, consummate Traveller":

1440-562: The Twelve Years' Truce , was an early influence on the Grand Tour but it was the far more extensive tour through Italy as far as Naples undertaken by the 'Collector' Earl of Arundel , with his wife and children in 1613–14 that established the most significant precedent. This is partly because he asked Inigo Jones , not yet established as an architect but already known as a 'great traveller' and masque designer, to act as his cicerone (guide). Larger numbers of tourists began their tours after

1512-443: The intellectual , the social , the ethical (by the opportunity of drawing moral instruction from all the traveller saw), and the political . As a young man at the outset of his account of a repeat Grand Tour, the historian Edward Gibbon remarked that "According to the law of custom, and perhaps of reason, foreign travel completes the education of an English gentleman." Consciously adapted for intellectual self-improvement, Gibbon

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1584-561: The 19th century.) From there the traveller would endure a difficult crossing over the Alps (such as at the Great St Bernard Pass ), which required dismantling the carriage and larger luggage. If wealthy enough, he might be carried over the hard terrain by servants. Once in Italy , the tourist would visit Turin (and sometimes Milan ), then might spend a few months in Florence , where there

1656-527: The American colonies. In the early 20th century, a revised view emerged which emphasised his strengths in administering the Treasury, handling the House of Commons , and in defending the Church of England . Historian Herbert Butterfield , however, argued that his indolence was a barrier to efficient crisis management; he neglected his role in supervising the entire war effort. North was born in London on 13 April 1732 at

1728-700: The British tourist usually began in Dover , England , and crossed the English Channel to Ostend in Belgium , or to Calais or Le Havre in France . From there the tourist, usually accompanied by a tutor (known colloquially as a " bear-leader ") and (if wealthy enough) a troop of servants, could rent or acquire a coach (which could be resold in any city – as in Giacomo Casanova 's travels – or disassembled and packed across

1800-595: The Duke of Grafton resigned as Prime Minister, North formed a government on 28 January 1770. His ministers and supporters tended to be known as Tories, though they were not a formal grouping and many had previously been Whigs. He took over with Great Britain in a triumphant state following the Seven Years' War , which had seen the First British Empire expand to a peak by taking in vast new territories on several continents. Circumstances forced him to keep many members of

1872-500: The Earl of Sandwich. The British naval victory at the Battle of the Saintes took place after the government's fall. Despite predictions that Gibraltar 's fall was imminent, that fortress managed to hold out and was relieved . Great Britain was able to make a much more favourable peace in 1783 than had appeared likely at the time when North had been ousted. In spite of this, North was critical of

1944-426: The Grand Tour derided its lack of adventure. "The tour of Europe is a paltry thing", said one 18th century critic, "a tame, uniform, unvaried prospect". The Grand Tour was said to reinforce the old preconceptions and prejudices about national characteristics, as Jean Gailhard 's Compleat Gentleman (1678) observes: "French courteous. Spanish lordly. Italian amorous. German clownish." The deep suspicion with which Tour

2016-624: The Grand Tour, especially portraits of the traveller painted in continental settings, became the obligatory emblems of worldliness, gravitas and influence. Artists who particularly thrived on the Grand Tour market included Carlo Maratti , who was first patronised by John Evelyn as early as 1645, Pompeo Batoni the portraitist , and the vedutisti such as Canaletto , Pannini and Guardi . The less well-off could return with an album of Piranesi etchings. The "perhaps" in Gibbon's opening remark cast an ironic shadow over his resounding statement. Critics of

2088-403: The Grand Tour. From Venice the traveller went to Rome to study the ancient ruins and the masterpieces of painting, sculpture, and architecture of Rome's Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. Some travellers also visited Naples to study music, and (after the mid-18th century) to appreciate the recently discovered archaeological sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii , and perhaps (for

2160-569: The Grand Tour. Boswell notes "Yesterday morning with her. Pulled up petticoat and showed whole knees... Touched with her goodness. All other liberties exquisite." He describes his time with the Italian women he encounters and shares a part of history in his written accounts. Lord Byron 's letters to his mother with the accounts of his travels have also been published from the early 19th century. Byron spoke of his first enduring Venetian love, his landlord's wife, mentioning that he has "fallen in love with

2232-569: The Near East have been published online. The letters written by sisters Mary and Ida Saxton of Canton, Ohio in 1869 while on a six-month tour offer insight into the Grand Tour tradition from an American perspective. Immediately following the American Civil War U.S. author and humorist Mark Twain undertook a decidedly modest yet greatly aspiring "grand tour" of Europe, the Middle East, and

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2304-463: The Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. In spite of this the bulk of research conducted on the Grand Tour has been on British travellers. Dutch scholar Frank-van Westrienen Anna has made note of this historiographic focus, claiming that the scholarly understanding of the Grand Tour would have been more complex if more comparative studies had been carried out on continental travellers. Recent scholarship on

2376-464: The Swedish aristocracy has demonstrated that Swedish aristocrats, though being relatively poorer than their British peers, from around 1620 and onwards in many ways acted as their British counterparts. After studies at one or two renowned universities, preferably those of Leiden and Heidelberg, the Swedish grand tourists set off to France and Italy, where they spent time in Paris, Rome and Venice and completed

2448-572: The Tourists were interested. Coins and medals , which formed more portable souvenirs and a respected gentleman's guide to ancient history were also popular. Pompeo Batoni made a career of painting the English milordi posed with graceful ease among Roman antiquities. Many continued on to Naples , where they also viewed Herculaneum and Pompeii , but few ventured far into Southern Italy , and fewer still to Greece , then still under Turkish rule . After

2520-475: The advent of accessible rail and steamship travel—an era in which Thomas Cook made the "Cook's Tour" of early mass tourism a byword starting in the 1870s. However, with the rise of industrialization in the United States in the 19th century, American Gilded Age nouveau riche adopted the Grand Tour for both sexes and among those of more advanced years as a means of gaining both exposure and association with

2592-417: The advent of steam-powered transportation around 1825, the Grand Tour custom continued, but it was of a qualitative difference — cheaper to undertake, safer, easier, open to anyone. During much of the 19th century, most educated young men of privilege undertook the Grand Tour. Germany and Switzerland came to be included in a more broadly defined circuit. Later, it became fashionable for young women as well ;

2664-567: The adventurous) an ascent of Mount Vesuvius . Later in the period, the more adventurous, especially if provided with a yacht , might attempt Sicily to see its archeological sites, volcanoes and its baroque architecture, Malta or even Greece itself. But Naples – or later Paestum further south – was the usual terminus. Returning northward, the tourist might recross the Alps to the German-speaking parts of Europe, visiting Innsbruck , Vienna , Dresden , Berlin and Potsdam , with perhaps

2736-705: The artists themselves, the elite considered travel to such centres as necessary rites of passage. For gentlemen, some works of art were essential to demonstrate the breadth and polish they had received from their tour. The Grand Tour offered a liberal education , and the opportunity to acquire things otherwise unavailable, lending an air of accomplishment and prestige to the traveller. Grand Tourists would return with crates full of books, works of art, scientific instruments, and cultural artefacts – from snuff boxes and paperweights to altars, fountains, and statuary – to be displayed in libraries, cabinets , gardens, drawing rooms , and galleries built for that purpose. The trappings of

2808-523: The capture of Charleston, South Carolina and its garrison. During 1780 and 1781, the North government gained strength in the House of Commons. In October 1781, British forces under Lord Cornwallis surrendered at the conclusion of the Siege of Yorktown , dealing a crushing blow to British morale. When the news reached North, he took it "as he would have taken a ball in his breast", and exclaimed repeatedly "Oh God! It

2880-566: The circumstantial evidence. King George IV remarked that "either his royal grandfather or North's mother must have played her husband false", North's father, Francis North, 1st Earl of Guilford , was from 1730 to 1751 Lord of the Bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, who stood as godfather to the infant, christened Frederick, possibly in honour of his real father. North was descended from Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester , paternal uncle of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich and

2952-494: The colonies ended the war. The colonies rejected the plan, as their goal had become full independence. In April 1782, it was suggested in cabinet by Lord Shelburne that North should be brought to public trial for his conduct of the American War, but the prospect was soon abandoned. Ironically, the war began to turn in Great Britain's favour again in 1782 through naval victories, owing largely to policies adopted by Lord North and

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3024-455: The constitutional scholar Johann Jacob Mascov . They continued through Austria and Italy, staying in Rome from December 1752 to Easter 1753, then through Switzerland to Paris , returning to England in early 1754. On 15 April 1754, North, then 22, was elected unopposed as the member of parliament for the constituency of Banbury . He served as an MP from 1754 to 1790 and joined the government as

3096-584: The element of literary artifice in these and cautions that they should be approached as travel literature rather than unvarnished accounts. He lists as examples Joseph Addison , John Andrews, William Thomas Beckford (whose Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents was a published account of his letters back home in 1780–1781, embellished with stream-of-consciousness associations), William Coxe , Elizabeth Craven , John Moore , tutor to successive dukes of Hamilton, Samuel Jackson Pratt , Tobias Smollett , Philip Thicknesse , and Arthur Young . Although Italy

3168-476: The family house at Albemarle Street , just off Piccadilly . He spent much of his youth at Wroxton Abbey in Oxfordshire . North's strong resemblance to King George III suggested to contemporaries that George III's father, Frederick, Prince of Wales , might have been North's real father, making North the king's half-brother, a theory compatible with the prince's reputation but supported by little else other than

3240-598: The journey takes her from Madrid to Saint Petersburg with stop-offs to see the great masterpieces. In 2005, British art historian Brian Sewell followed in the footsteps of the Grand Tourists for a 10-part television series Brian Sewell's Grand Tour . Produced by UK's Channel Five, Sewell travelled by car and confined his attention solely to Italy stopping in Rome, Florence, Naples, Pompeii, Turin, Milan, Cremona, Siena, Bologna, Vicenza, Paestum, Urbino, Tivoli and concluding at

3312-673: The lack of it". Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Italian women, with their unfamiliar methods and routines, were opposites to the western dress expected of European women in the eighteenth and nineteenth century; their "foreign" ways led to the documentation of encounters with them, providing published accounts of the Grand Tour. James Boswell in the 18th century courted noble ladies and recorded his progress with his relationships, mentioning that Madame Micheli "Talked of religion, philosophy... Kissed hand often." The promiscuity of Boswell's encounters with Italian elite are shared in his diary and provide further detail on events that occurred during

3384-576: The ministry fell in December 1783. One of the major achievements of the coalition was the signing of the Treaty of Paris , which formally ended the American War of Independence . The new Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger , was not expected to last long, and North, a vocal critic, still entertained hopes of regaining high office. In this, he was to be frustrated, as Pitt dominated the British political scene for

3456-519: The next twenty years, leaving both North and Fox in the political wilderness. North was an active speaker until he began to go blind in 1786. He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Guilford on 4 August 1790 and entered the House of Lords , by which time he had entirely lost his sight. Lord Guilford died in Mayfair , England (now part of London), and was buried at All Saints' Church, Wroxton (Oxfordshire), near his family home of Wroxton Abbey . His memorial

3528-523: The only chance to hear certain music. A Grand Tour could last anywhere from several months to several years. It was commonly undertaken in the company of a cicerone , a knowledgeable guide or tutor. Rome for many centuries had already been the destination of pilgrims, especially during Jubilee when European clergy visited the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome . In Britain, Thomas Coryat 's travel book Coryat's Crudities (1611), published during

3600-419: The original grand tour on the French countryside. King Gustav III of Sweden made his Grand Tour in 1783–84. The itinerary of the Grand Tour was not set in stone, but was subject to innumerable variations, depending on an individual's interests and finances, though Paris and Rome were popular destinations for most English tourists. The most common itinerary of the Grand Tour shifted across generations, but

3672-478: The other colonies, eventually resulting in open war during the Boston campaign of 1775–76. North delegated the overall strategy of the war to his key subordinates Lord George Germain and the Earl of Sandwich. Despite a series of victories and the capture of New York and Philadelphia , the British were unable to secure a decisive victory. In 1778, the French allied themselves with the American rebels, and Spain joined

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3744-402: The previous cabinet in their jobs, despite their lack of agreement with him. In contrast to many of his predecessors, North enjoyed a good relationship with George III, partly based on their shared patriotism and desire for decency in their private lives . North's ministry had an early success during the Falklands Crisis in 1770, in which Great Britain faced down a Spanish attempt to seize

3816-528: The prospect of a major Franco-Spanish invasion, but the Armada of 1779 was ultimately a failure. Several peace initiatives fell through, and an attempt by Richard Cumberland to negotiate a separate peace with Spain ended in frustration. The country's problems were augmented by the First League of Armed Neutrality , which was formed to counter the British blockade strategy, and threatened British naval supplies from

3888-429: The sophisticated language and manners of French high society, including courtly behavior and fashion. This served to polish the young man's manners in preparation for a leadership position at home, often in government or diplomacy . From Paris he would typically sojourn in urban Switzerland , often in Geneva (the cradle of the Protestant Reformation ) or Lausanne . ("Alpinism" or mountaineering developed later, in

3960-461: The sophistication of Europe. Even those of lesser means sought to mimic the pilgrimage, as satirized in Mark Twain 's enormously popular Innocents Abroad in 1869. The primary value of the Grand Tour lay in its exposure to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance , and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the European continent. It also provided the only opportunity to view specific works of art, and possibly

4032-495: The terms agreed by the Shelburne government which he felt undervalued the strength of the British negotiating position. In April 1783, North returned to power as Home Secretary in an unlikely coalition with the radical Whig leader Charles James Fox known as the Fox–North Coalition under the nominal leadership of the Duke of Portland . King George III , who detested the radical and republican Fox, never forgave this supposed betrayal, and North never again served in government after

4104-410: The trappings of the Grand Tour—valets and coachmen, perhaps a cook, certainly a " bear-leader " or scholarly guide—were beyond their reach. The advent of popular guides, such as the book An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas-Reliefs, Drawings, and Pictures in Italy published in 1722 by Jonathan Richardson and his son Jonathan Richardson the Younger , did much to popularise such trips, and following

4176-407: The war in 1779 as an ally of France, followed by the Dutch Republic in 1780. The British found themselves fighting a global war on four continents without a single ally. After 1778, the British switched the focus of their efforts to the defence of the West Indies , as their sugar wealth made them much more valuable to Great Britain than the Thirteen Colonies . In 1779, Great Britain was faced with

4248-421: Was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the American Revolutionary War . He also held a number of other cabinet posts, including Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer . North's reputation among historians has varied wildly, reaching its lowest point in the late 19th century, when he was depicted as a creature of the king and an incompetent who lost

4320-602: Was "revisiting the Continent on a larger and more liberal plan"; most Grand Tourists did not pause more than briefly in libraries. On the eve of the Romantic era he played a significant part in introducing, William Beckford wrote a vivid account of his Grand Tour that made Gibbon's unadventurous Italian tour look distinctly conventional. The typical 18th-century stance was that of the studious observer travelling through foreign lands reporting his findings on human nature for those unfortunates who stayed at home. Recounting one's observations to society at large to increase its welfare

4392-450: Was a considerable Anglo-Italian society accessible to travelling Englishmen "of quality" and where the Tribuna of the Uffizi gallery brought together in one space the monuments of High Renaissance paintings and Roman sculpture . After a side trip to Pisa , the tourist would move on to Padua , Bologna , and Venice . The British idea of Venice as the "locus of decadent Italianate allure" made it an epitome and cultural set piece of

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4464-436: Was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st Somerset Militia on 23 June 1759 when it was embodied for fulltime service, and commanded it in the West Country for Earl Poulett , the colonel, who was also Lord Lieutenant of Somerset . However, North resigned in November 1761 and concentrated on his political career. In November 1763, he was chosen to speak for the government concerning radical MP John Wilkes . Wilkes had made

4536-416: Was called out and martial law imposed. Public opinion, especially in middle-class and elite circles, repudiated anti-Catholicism and violence, and rallied behind the North government. Demands were made for a London police force. Britain's fortunes in the war in America had temporarily improved following the failure of a Franco-American attack on Newport and the prosecution of a Southern strategy that saw

4608-479: Was considered an obligation; the Grand Tour flourished in this mindset. In essence, the Grand Tour was neither a scholarly pilgrimage nor a religious one, though a pleasurable stay in Venice and a cautious residence in Rome were essential. Catholic Grand Tourists followed the same routes as Protestant Whigs. Since the 17th century, a tour to such places was also considered essential for budding artists to understand proper painting and sculpture techniques, though

4680-405: Was effectively run by Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton , with North as one of its most senior members. In December 1767, he succeeded Charles Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer . With the resignation of the secretary of state Henry Seymour Conway in early 1768, North became Leader of the Commons as well. He continued to serve when Pitt was succeeded by Grafton in October. When

4752-423: Was ready for war, however, and in the face of a strong mobilisation of the British fleet, the French compelled the Spanish to back down. Louis also dismissed the Duc de Choiseul , the hawkish Chief Minister of France, who had advocated war and a large invasion of Great Britain by the French. The British government's prestige and popularity were enormously boosted by the incident. It had successfully managed to drive

4824-734: Was related to Samuel Pepys and the 3rd Earl of Bute . He at times had a slightly turbulent relationship with his father Francis North, yet they were very close. In his early years, the family was not wealthy, though their situation improved in 1735 when his father inherited property from his cousin. Frederick's mother, Lady Lucy Montagu, a daughter of George Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax and his first wife, Ricarda Posthuma Staltonstall, died in 1734. His father remarried, but his stepmother, Elizabeth Kaye, widow of George Legge, Viscount Lewisham, eldest son of William Legge, 1st Earl of Dartmouth and his wife, Lady Anne Finch, third daughter of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Aylesford , died in 1745, when Frederick

4896-672: Was sculpted by John Flaxman RA. His son George North, Lord North , took over the constituency of Banbury, and in 1792 acceded to his father's title. Wroxton Abbey is now owned by Fairleigh Dickinson University , ironically an American college, and the modernised abbey serves as a location for American students to study abroad in England. Lord North is today predominantly remembered as the Prime Minister "who lost America". Both Lord North Street and Guilford Street in London are named after him. On 20 May 1756 Lord North married Anne Speke (before 1741 – 1797), daughter of George Speke MP, of Whitelackington in Somerset. She

4968-446: Was the sole heiress of the Devonshire estates of the Drake family of Ash , which subsequently were sold piecemeal by Lord North. By Anne he had seven children: Grand Tour By the mid-18th century, the Grand Tour had become a regular feature of aristocratic education in Central Europe as well, although it was restricted to the higher nobility. The tradition declined in Europe as enthusiasm for classical culture waned, and with

5040-400: Was thirteen. One of his stepbrothers was William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth , who remained a close friend for life. He was educated at Eton College between 1742 and 1748 and at Trinity College, Oxford , where in 1750 he was awarded an MA . After leaving Oxford , he travelled in Europe on a Grand Tour with Lord Dartmouth. They stayed in Leipzig for nearly nine months, studying under

5112-465: Was viewed at home in England, where it was feared that the very experiences that completed the British gentleman might well undo him, were epitomised in the sarcastic nativist view of the ostentatiously "well-travelled" maccaroni of the 1760s and 1770s. Also worth noticing is that the Grand Tour not only fostered stereotypes of the countries visited but also led to a dynamic of contrast between northern and southern Europe. By constantly depicting Italy as

5184-498: Was written as the "sink of iniquity", many travelers were not kept from recording the activities they participated in or the people they met, especially the women they encountered. To the Grand Tourists, Italy was an unconventional country, for "The shameless women of Venice made it unusual, in its own way." Sir James Hall confided in his written diary to comment on seeing "more handsome women this day than I ever saw in my life", also noting "how flattering Venetian dress [was] — or perhaps

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