The journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland (1791-1811) Volume 1 (of 2)Holland, Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Lady
History
The journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland (1791-1811) Volume 1 (of 2)
Holland, Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Lady
Holland, Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Lady, 1770-1845 -- Diaries
I was left _alone_[9] at twenty years old in a foreign country
without a relation or any real friend, yet some of the least miserable,
I might add the most happy hours, of my life were passed there. I
lived with great discretion, even to prudery. I never admitted any
male visitors (except to numerous dinners), either in the morning or
evening, with the exception only of two--Dr. Drew, and a grave married
man, a Mr. Cowper. Drew used to spend the whole eve. with me, and give
me lectures on chemistry, natural history, philosophy, etc., etc. I
made frequent excursions about the neighbourhood, to Monaco, Villa
Franca, Monte Cavo, La Grotte de Chateauville, the convent of St. Pons,
old Cemenelium, etc.
In Feb. 1792 the Duncannons,[10] Dowr. Lady Spencer, Dss. of
Devonshire, came to Nice: my friendship begun there. I saw a Maltese
galley with some wretched Turkish slaves at the oar. The English
society was too numerous to be pleasant. I lived with a few only,--Dss.
of Ancaster, Ly. Rivers, Messrs. Ellis, Wallace, Cowper, etc. C.
Ellis[11] was a very old friend of mine; we were brought up for many
years absolutely together. As I had experienced such very cruel usage
from the unequal and ofttimes frantic temper of the man to whom I had
the calamity to be united, it was the wish of my mother, Lady Pelham,
Ly. Shelburne, and those I most respected, that I should never venture
myself in a journey alone with him, therefore as Mr. Ellis was going
part of the journey we meant to make, he joined our party. We also
conveyed an emigrant of the name of Beauval, an excellent, ingenious
young man.
_Sunday, May the 6th, 1792._--Left Nice for Turin. We took the
road across the Col de Tende. Just above the Convent of St. Pons, we
crossed the torrent Paglione, from whence I took a farewell look at the
lovely plain of Nice. We dined at L’Escaleine, a small village prettily
situated in the mts. We wound for many hours the numberless traverses
of a steep and lofty mt., and at night reached Sospello, a tolerable
_gîte_.
_7th._--Still among mts. Dined at Grandolla. Wretched inn at
Tende--no accommodation; only one room for us all.
On ye 8th the carriages were dismounted and carried over the Col de
Tende upon mules: I went over in a _chaise à porteurs_, so did my
child.
[Sidenote: TURIN]
Snow was melting very fast, and made the footing for the mules and
guides very insecure. We stopped at a small house at Borgo Limone as
one of the carriages was broken in getting it off the mule’s back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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