Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

James Boswell (1740-1795) is best known for his biography of his friend Samuel Johnson with whom he travelled to the western islands of Scotland in 1773. His letters and diaries about his European Grand Tour in 1763-1766 were published only in the XXth century. His descriptions of the monuments and works of art he saw are mainly based on books he had read or on what he was told by local guides, but here and there his letters touch on some unusual subjects.
Excerpts from James Boswell's letters on the Grand Tour related to his visit to Rome in 1765

• Prostitutes
• Course in Antiquities
• Moses at S. Pietro in Vincoli
• Cimitero Acattolico

Prostitutes Letter to Jean-Jacques Rousseau I must admit that in the midst of my Roman studies I indulged in sensual relaxations. I sallied forth of an evening like an imperious lion, and I had a little French painter, a young academician, always vain, always alert, always gay, who served as my jackal. I remembered the rakish deeds of Horace and other amorous Roman poets, and I thought that one might well allow one's self a little indulgence in a city where there are prostitutes licensed by the Cardinal Vicar. Thus does an ill-regulated mind assemble scattered ideas and compose from them a principle for action. I was, however, brought to a halt by an unpleasant occurrence which all libertines have to reckon with. When we walked in your room, disputing about the commerce of the sexes, you said to me with a smile, "Watch out for Italian girls for several reasons." I discovered at Rome that your advice was very sound. Friday 12 April Night, new girl. Swear no women for week. From the Diary Thursday 2 May. Yesterday much better. Discovered beasts. Shaved; ludicrous distress. Sunday 12 May. Yesterday . . . after dinner went to Corso like one enragé and amused for last time. You're never to go back. Now swear no libertinage. Wednesday 22 May. Yesterday morning still baddish.... Went to Casenove's and had third girl. Resolved no more. Swear it.

Course in Antiquities Monday 25 March Mr. (Colin) Morison, a Scottish antiquary, began to show me the most remarkable sights of Rome. We went out in the morning, as we intended to do every day. We saw the Pope go by in procession through one of the principal streets on his way to the Minerva. It was thus I saw for the first time a dignitary who was so important in former times, and who still remains a prince of extraordinary power. We saw the ceremony at the Minerva, where his Holiness was carried on a magnificent chair decorated with a figure of the Holy Ghost. He made the round of the church and gave his blessing to the whole congregation, who knelt before his Holiness. Then he took his place on a sort of throne, where, after he had performed certain sacred rites of which I understood nothing, people kissed his slipper. After this there was a procession of Roman girls who had received dowries from a public foundation, some to be married and others to become nuns. They marched in separate groups, the nuns coming last and wearing crowns. Only a few of them were pretty, and most of the pretty ones were nuns. It was a curious enough function. Then we went to the Capitoline hill. We climbed on the roof of the modern Senate, from which Mr. Morison pointed out ancient Rome on its seven hills. He showed me a little map of it, and read me a clear summary of the growth of this famous city to its present extent. Tuesday 26 March We viewed the celebrated Forum. I experienced sublime and melancholy emotions as I thought of all the great affairs which had taken place there, and saw the place now all in ruins, with the wretched huts of carpenters and other artisans occupying the site of that rostrum from which Cicero had flung forth his stunning eloquence. I saw there the remains of the magnificent portico that once adorned the Forum, whose three remaining columns give us a superb idea of what it was.. . . We entered the famous Colosseum, which certainly presents a vast and sublime idea of the grandeur of the ancient Romans. It is hard to tell whether the astonishing massiveness or the exquisite taste of this superb building should be more admired. A hermit has a little apartment inside. We passed through his hermitage to climb to where the seats and corridors of the theatre once were; Mr. Morison gave me a clear picture of all this. It was shocking to discover several portions of this theatre full of dung. It is rented to people who use it in this fashion. Wednesday 27 March We went out in the afternoon. We climbed the Palatine hill, where the magnificent Palace of the emperors stood. Since it has suffered many changes, we must believe that the ruins we now see date from the time of Domitian. We saw a superb hall from which one can judge the grandeur of this imperial mansion, and we went down to see the baths, where one can yet see on the ceiling fragments of stucco-work painted and gilded in a very elegant manner. We walked to where the house of Cicero had stood. A statue there resembles him a great deal. Struck by these famous places, I was seized with enthusiasm. I began to speak Latin. Mr. Morison replied. He laughed a bit at the beginning. But we made a resolution to speak Latin continually during this course of antiquities. We have persisted, and every day we speak with greater facility, so that we have harangued on Roman antiquities in the language of the Romans themselves. Thursday 28 March We climbed to the Palace again, where the cypresses seem to mourn for the ruin of the grandeur of the Roman emperors. The view from here is magnificent. . . . We went to the Capitoline hill. We saw a fragment of the temple of Jupiter Tonans, which was architecturally very handsome. We saw in a church the famous Tullia prison, of which Sallust gives so hideous a picture and where Paul and Silas were imprisoned. Catholics say Peter and Paul. They show a stone against which the head of the Prince of the Apostles was dashed. The mark remains very distinct. We saw the hole down which criminals were thrown, the stone to which the two apostles were chained, a well which sprang up by miracle to furnish them with water to baptize.

Moses at S. Pietro in Vincoli Yesterday saw ... "Moses" by Michelangelo. Beard too long; horns, though sacred, yet ludicrous as like satyr; rest of the figure superb.

Cimitero Acattolico We attended the burial of an acquaintance of Mountstuart, George Anthony Werpup, a Hanoverian baron who had been killed when his carriage overturned. He was buried in the Protestant cemetery at night, because the prejudice against Protestants was so strong that the authorities refused to allow daytime interments there. Mountstuart erected a monument (the first in the cemetery) to him, with a long Latin inscription.

Travellers covered in this section

• Introductory page
• Gregory Martin's "Roma Sancta", a description of Christian Rome in 1581
• Fynes Moryson's An Itinerary: Containing His Ten Years Travel .. in Italy .. in 1594
• John Evelyn's Diary and Correspondence related to his stay in Rome in 1644
• Francis Mortoft's Journal of his travels in France and Italy in 1659
• John Ray's Observations (..) made in a journey through part of (..) Italy in 1663
• Richard Lassels' The Voyage of Italy, or a Compleat Journey through Italy in ca 1668
• Joseph Addison's Remarks on several parts of Italy, in the years 1701, 1702, 1703
• Jonathan and Jonathan Richardson's Account of Some of the Statues, etc. in Italy - 1722
• Edward Wright's Observations made in France, Italy &c. in the years 1720, 1721 and 1722.
• Excerpts from John Dyer's The Ruins of Rome written in 1740
• Thomas Gray's Letters from France and Italy in 1739-1741
• James Boswell's Letters on the Grand Tour in 1765
• Tobias Smollett's Travels through France and Italy in 1765
• John Moore's View of Society and Manners in Italy (in 1775) - publ. 1781
• John Chetwode Eustace's Classical Tour of Italy (in 1802) - publ. 1813
• Joseph Forsyth's Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters in Italy in 1802-1803
• John Cam Hobhouse's Dissertations on the Ruins of Rome in 1818
• Henry Matthews' Diary of an Invalid (in 1817-1818)
• Anna Jameson's Diary of an Ennuyée (in 1821-1822) - publ. 1826
• Sir Charles Fergusson's Travel Notes a Journey Through Italy in 1824-1825
• William Hazlitt's Notes of a Journey Through France and Italy in 1824-1825
• Samuel Rogers' Italy - publ. in 1830 with illustrations by J.M. William Turner
• Hans Christian Andersen's The Improvisatore - 1834 (Engl. translation 1845)
• George Stillman Hillard's Six Months in Italy in ca 1847-1848

Read What Dante Saw.
Read What Goethe Saw.
Read What Lord Byron Saw.
Read What Charles Dickens Saw.
Read What Henry James Saw.
Read What Mark Twain Saw.
Read What William Dean Howells Saw.
Read Dan Brown's Spaghetti Bolognaise (excerpts from Angels and Demons)