JOHN SWINTON, F.R.S., IDENTIFIED AS THE AUTHOR OF A 1734 TRAVEL JOURNAL

JOHN SWINTON, F.R.S., IDENTIFIED AS THE AUTHOR OF A 1734 TRAVEL JOURNALAuthor(s): Trevor ShawSource: Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 53, No. 3 (September 1999),pp. 295-304Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41236970 .

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Notes Ree. R. Soc. Lond. 53 (3), 295-304 (1999) © 1999 The Royal Society

JOHN SWINTON, F.R.S., IDENTIFIED AS THE AUTHOR OF

A 1734 TRAVEL JOURNAL

by

Trevor Shaw

Karst Research Institute, Titov trg 2, SI 6230 Postojna, Slovenia

Summary

'The Travels of three English Gentlemen, from Venice to Hamburgh ... in 1734' was printed in The Harleian Miscellany from a now lost manuscript. The anonymous author, F.R.S. and an Oxford man, is here identified for the first time as John Swinton (1703-1777), keeper of the University archives from 1767. A portrait and his signature are reproduced. Attention is drawn to his other travels not hitherto recorded, and the significance of this 1734 journal is assessed. Its special value is in the practical aspects of travel - languages used (including Latin), roads, horses, inns, costs and even carriage maintenance.

Introduction

Travellers' reports have always been valued for the facts they contain and the opinions they express. That of Edward Brown, F.R.S. , l to the Austrian Empire in 1669, was so popular at the time that it was translated into French, German and Dutch and thus had great influence on later travellers from all over Europe. It is still important to historians.

In recent years travelling as a subject in itself has been receiving increasing attention - its influence on taste,2 routes chosen and the turnpike system,3 the state of the roads, hire of horses, carriage wear and tear, inns, the sights regarded as interesting, language problems and the travellers' opinions of the local people.4

'The Travels of three English Gentlemen, from Venice to Hamburgh, being the grand tour of Germany, in the year 1734'5 provides information on several of these aspects. The three set out from Venice on 10 March (by the New Style calendar, or 27 February by the Old Style) and travelled through Carniola to Graz, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin and Hanover to Hamburg, where the journey ended. Their objective was primarily to make the journey rather than to stop for long and explore the places they came to. This interest in travelling for its own sake is reflected in the detail provided on their stops, changes of horses, difficulties, etc.

The account of these travels is quite lengthy and detailed, occupying 107 printed pages in the first edition. It has been particularly unfortunate that the identity of the

295



296 Trevor Shaw

author has not, until now, been known, being nowhere stated in the account itself and not given in any library catalogue or reference book.

The published version of 1745-465 is described as being from an 'MS. Never before published', but the manuscript itself seems not to have survived. It might have been expected to be among the Harleian MSS in the British Library, for the subtitle of The Harleian Miscellany, in which it was printed, is: or a collection of scarce, curious, and entertaining pamphlets and tracts, as well in manuscript as in print, found in the late Earl of Oxford's [i.e. Edward Harley] library. There is no trace of it there or in any of the other British Library collections, nor in the Royal Society, the Bodleian Library or any of the Oxford Colleges.

No mention of the journey is made in the Royal Society Journal book in the period mid- 1734- April 1735, immediately after the travellers' return to England. The account itself provides no personal details such as profession or special interests that might help to identity the author. Nor does it show close links with people en route whose papers might refer to the travellers by name.

However, some clues are provided in the editorial notes introducing its publication.

Publication of the manuscript

'The Travels of three English Gentlemen, from Venice to Hamburgh ... in the year 1734' was printed 1 1 and 12 years afterwards in five separately issued parts of The Harleian Miscellany.5

The first part to appear was prefaced by a short editorial paragraph containing this vital information about the writer:

The Gentleman, who drew up the following piece, is a person of curiosity; and, when he first went abroad, as well as during his residence in foreign parts, was a member of the Royal Society, and of the University of Oxford.6

The last section of the account was issued after a considerable delay, which is explained by the still anonymous author in a printed letter dated at Oxford on 5 December 1745:

Being obliged, by necessary business, to reside, a great part of the summer, in a village, above an hundred miles from Oxford, where all my books and papers have for many years been deposited, I found it absolutely impossible to attempt preparing for the press the following sections, before the beginning of September. . . .1 thought it proper to communicate to you and the publick the reasons why the remainder could not sooner see the light. These, it is hoped, will have their due weight, and prove satisfactory to you; and consequently clear Mr. Osborne, as in justice they ought, from the imputation of having, with sinister views, retarded the publication of it.7

Together, these statements do provide sufficient data for identifying the author. The 6Mr. Osborne' referred to is the bookseller and publisher of The Harleian Miscellany, whose letter quoted in the next section clinches the identification.

It is also relevant that among the many names in the list of subscribers to The Harleian Miscellany is 'The Rev. Mr. Swinton'.8



John Swinton, FR.S., author of a 1734 travel journal 297

Identification of the author

Thus the facts known about the author are that he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the University of Oxford in 1734 and at the end of 1745. During the summer of 1745 he had been 'above an hundred miles from Oxford' where all his books and papers were, and had only returned there about the beginning of September. The text shows that he had been in Rome in 1733 and then in February 1734 had arrived in Venice, whence the journey started in March.

So the process of identification started by elimination. Of the 278 British Fellows of the Royal Society in 1734, 153 were still listed in 1746, and of these only 53 were Oxford graduates. Of these 53, more could be eliminated as being otherwise occupied in 1734 or not living at Oxford in 1745.

Eventually only a handful of names were left and positive evidence could be sought from biographies.

The dictionary of national biography showed that John Swinton (1703-1777) was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a graduate of Wadham College Oxford:

Not long after [June 1729] he accepted the position of chaplain to the English factory at Leghorn. Finding the climate did not suit him, he proceeded to Florence in 1733, and returned to England after visiting Venice, Vienna and Pressburg. He then took up his abode in Oxford, where he resided till 1743, when he was appointed a prebendary of St. Asaph on 11 Oct., resigning his fellowship at the same time. In July 1745 he migrated to Christ Church.9

The 'English factory' at Leghorn was the place where the English traders there did their business. Unpublished diaries10 and papers11 at Oxford, to be described later, show that Swinton did not in fact settle at Leghorn before 1732. By 1733 he was already preparing to return to England via Venice and Vienna. Furthermore, he went to St Asaph, well 'above an hundred miles from Oxford', in 1743 but was back at Oxford by the autumn of 1745.

All this fits exceedingly well with what is known of the anonymous author, but that is not positive evidence that Swinton was the writer. He might equally well have been one of the other two 'English Gentlemen'.

As already mentioned, the travel journal contains no facts to confirm the identification, apart from the date and the route. The author evidently spoke Latin as well as German and Italian, but that would be expected of many Oxford travellers. His writing does, however, demonstrate an interest in recording precise practical details of the travelling. Thus 'We paid eight grosse for being drawn up a hill by oxen' between Maribor and Graz,12 and as they approached Prague, 'Our expences at Tabor, though we lived but poorly, and used our own wine, amounted to above twelve florins'.13 In Carniola (Slovenia) 'The wheels of the post-chaises ... [were] greased here'.14

If another travel journal, known to be by Swinton, could be found showing a similar style and interest in such minutiae, it would make Swinton 's identification as the writer even more certain. And it was. A manuscript diary in Wadham College Library,10 mostly describing a sea voyage to Italy in 1730 and 1731, contains many



298 Trevor Shaw

phrases such as: 'The Island Gorgona bore NV2W Dist 2 Miles', between Corsica and Italy. He had no wheels to grease at sea, so his love of detail had to be satisfied with navigational data.

Still this was not positive confirmation that it was Swinton who wrote the 1734 journal. The proof of this lies in a letter in the Bodleian Library,15 written to him on 13 September 1744 by Thomas Osborne, TheHarleian Miscellany s publisher. He asks Swinton for some other manuscript, 'together with the Journey of the three English Gentlemen...'15 (figure 1).

Figure 1. Part of a letter written to John Swinton on 13 September 1744 by Thomas Osborne, publisher of The Harleian Miscellany, referring to the MS of 'The Journey of the three English

Gentlemen'. Reproduced, by permission, from MS Auct. V2 infra. 2.22* fol. 13r of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.



John Swinton, F.R.S., author of a 1734 travel journal 299

His life

Most of Swinton 's life is of no concern here, and in any case it is mainly well documented.9 Born in 1703, he entered Wadham College in 1719, graduated in 1723 and became MA in 1726. Almost his entire life was spent at Oxford, at Wadham College until 1743 and then at Christ Church from 1745 until his death in 1777. His election as a Fellow of the Royal Society took place on 16 October 1729. 16 In 1767, he was made keeper of the University archives and he wrote much on history and antiquities, especially coins. Several of his papers appeared in the Philosophical Transactions between 1756 and 1772. The only known portrait (figure 2) is in Oxford and his signature is reproduced as figure 3.

Figure 2. John Swinton (1703-1777). Reproduced, with permission, from MS Top. Oxon. с 19. fol. 70 of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

Figure 3. John Swinton 's signature from a letter dated 30 June 1766 (Royal Society. L & P. IV 354).



300 Trevor Shaw

He was sometimes confused by biographers with another John Swinton, a few years older, who was also at Wadham where he became MA in 1720.17

What have not been recorded before are his travels, of which three are known:

Sept. 1 730-Aug. 1 73 1 London, Gibraltar, Corsica, Leghorn, Florence, Pisa and along the coast near Monaco, Nice and Lisbon. His two-volume manuscript diary of this journey is in the library of Wadham College Oxford.10

1732 France or Italy. Only his notes of expenses for this journey survive, in the Bodleian.11

1734 Venice to Hamburg, as recorded here.

Neither the date nor any details of the journey to take up his Leghorn post are known, unless indeed that was the one of 1732 above.

The 1734 journey

The principal towns visited by Swinton and his companions between Venice and Hamburg have been named already. Some of the routes between these major cities are not those that would be taken nowadays, so enough relatively minor towns are listed here also, using their modern names, to indicate the way the travellers went. The main cities where they paused are printed in upper case letters:

VENICE, Treviso, Palmanova, Gorizia, Vipava, Razdrto, Planina, LJUBLJANA, Celje, Maribor, GRAZ, Brück, Wiener Neustadt, VIENNA, Hollabrunn, Slavonice, Tábor, PRAGUE, Ústi, DRESDEN, Meissen, Leipzig, Wittenberg, Potsdam, BERLIN, Gardelegen, Brunswick, HANOVER, Celle, Harburg, HAMBURG.

At Hanover, George II, the King of Great Britain, often resided, being Elector of Hanover, but he was not there when the three travellers passed through.18

Although the journey started on 10 March and they reached Ljubljana three days later, no other dates are given and there is no indication when it was completed. The only statement that bears at all on this subject is:

The weather was excessively cold whilst we were at Prague; though milder in this climate might have been expected, the spring being pretty far advanced.19

Mid- April perhaps? In which case they would have reached Hamburg some time in May. What does need to be addressed here is the 1 8 1 6 biographer's statement that when

returning to England through Venice and Vienna, Swinton also 'visited Presburg in Hungary, and was present at one of their assemblies'.20 The printed version of Swinton's account makes no mention at all of Pressburg [Bratislava], nor of places on the way there. It is unlikely that the name is an error for one of the towns they did visit, for it is specifically stated to be 'in Hungary', Bratislava in Slovakia being then part of Hungary, while Prague in Bohemia was part of Austria. One explanation could be that a journey to Bratislava was indeed made, known to the biographer from a then surviving copy of Swinton's manuscript, but omitted from the printed version by the editor to meet space limitations.

The same reason may explain the final sentence of the published journal: 'Though



John Swinton, F.R.S., author of a 1 734 travel journal 301

we at present conclude our travels at Hamburg, we have an intention to visit Holland and Flanders, and that by the way of Bremen'.21 The travellers could of course have returned to England direct from Hamburg, and the Dutch visit might have been intended for another occasion; but the phrase 'by the way of Bremen', when they were already at Hamburg only 90 km away, suggests otherwise. If the manuscript of the 1734 journey is ever found, it may well include not only a visit to Bratislava but also an extension through Bremen to Holland and Flanders.

The significance of the 1734 account

It has to be said that some parts of Swinton 's journal are of little or no importance now. The information in the historical or descriptive passages could today be better supplied from reference books, but at that time there were few historical studies and the Baedeker guides were not to appear until a century later. So descriptions of 3 1 churches and 16 palaces in Prague, for which 'many of the particulars . . . were related to us by our guide',22 did have some value at the time. More colourful is an account of the personalities of members of the Prussian royal family, including some probably slanderous hearsay.23

Far more interesting are facts based on the writer's own experiences, often not available from other sources.

Thus the extent to which Latin was still used as a lingua franca in 1734, despite the spread of the French language, was revealed. At a town a little south of Prague:

When our High Dutch failed us, the author of this narrative made use of his Latin, which was of signal service to us, almost all of the people here, both high and low, having more than a smattering in that language, and many of them speaking it with great elegance and propriety.24

In Prague itself Swinton 'conversed with our guide altogether in Latin'25 and at a village between Prague and Dresden some of the people 'talked Latin, though they appeared extremely poor'.26 At Ljubljana the landlord of their inn spoke 'Latin tolerably well' as well as 'Italian with great fluency'.27 Latin was still at that time the international language of many scholars, some learned journals still publishing in Latin, and the number of scholars such as Swinton travelling in Europe must have encouraged its continued use.

Swinton's concern with the practical details of their journey, already mentioned, also resulted in some fascinating insights into their travelling. He supplies more information in the early stages of the journey,28 perhaps because the Slav lands of Slovenia were less familiar, or just because the diary writing was fresher at that stage.

The three set off from Venice, with three servants. They themselves had either two or three post-chaises of their own and they hired another for the servants. Successive posts from Gorizia (figure 4) were at Czerniza [Crniče]; Wipach [Vipava]; Resderda [Razdrto]; Planina (where they stopped to eat and had 'a glass of very good wine', and the post-chaise wheels were greased for half a florin); Vernich [Vrhnika] (a half hour stop and wheels greased); and on to Laubach [Ljubljana], arriving about one hour



302 Trevor Shaw

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Figure 4. Swinton's route through Carniola and southern Styria in what is now Slovenia. His exact route between Razdrto and Planina is not known.

before sunset. The road from Vrhnika to Ljubljana was 'excessively bad' and 'some passengers chuse to go by water' on the river. The first post after Ljubljana was at Podbetsch [a little to the east of Lukovica] (where fresh horses were provided and the wheels greased during a one hour stop); San Osgualdo [Šentožbolt] (being drawn up the steep hill to it by oxen at a cost of 1 5 grosse, and stopping there for one hour while fresh horses were provided); Franz [Vransko] (where 'there is a sort of turnpike, for passing through which, with our three post chaises, and two single horses, we paid three grosse'); Cilley [Celje]; Gonavitz [Slovenské Konjice] (where they spent the night); Windisch Feistricz [Slovenska Bistrica]; and Marburgh [Maribor].28

Thus from Razdrto their route along the post road towards Vienna was almost the same as that of the present main road, much of it lying close to the line of the subsequent Sudbahn railway from Trieste.

Swinton mentioned above that the Vrhnika/Ljubljana road was so bad that 'some passengers chuse to go by water'. Indeed, only three years later, Richard Pococke, F.R.S., and his cousin Jeremiah Milles, F.R.S., travelling together, did just that.29

Other roads, however, had recently been improved: . . .in the year 1728, when the Emperor Charles VI visited Gratz, Laubach, Goritia, Fiume [= Rijeka] and Trieste ... the roads of Stiria, Carniola, &c. were rendered more commodious than ever they had been before.30

It was in that year that the road over the Carniola/Styria border at Trojane had been rebuilt,31 probably explaining the 'sort of turnpike' at Vransko. The road south from



John Swinton, F.R.S., author of a 1734 travel journal 303

Vipava to Razdrto that Swinton used without comment was described as 'the new road' by Richard Pococke,32 F.R.S., three years later.

In short, Swinton 's own interest, and hence the importance of his report today, was not in political events or personalities but in the travelling itself.

Acknowledgements

I am particularly grateful to Mr Clifford Davies, the Archivist of Wadham College Oxford, for allowing me to see notes he had made on the miscellaneous Swinton papers in the Bodleian Library. These led me to the crucial letter confirming Swinton as the writer of the 1734 journal and also to his portrait. Mr Davies also arranged with the Wadham College Library staff for me to see the journal of Swinton's 1730-31 travels. The Bodleian Library provided the photographs from which figures 1 and 2 have been prepared. The Royal Society Archivist and librarians gave encouragement as well as providing essential documents; and the British Library resources were always there to resolve problems.

Notes

1 E. Brown, A brief account of some Travels in Hungaria, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly, Austria, Styria, Carinthia, andFriuli... (Tooke, London, 1673). The second English edition was in 1685, with a re-issue in 1687, and there were three 18th-century editions; French edition 1674; German edition 1686; Dutch edition 1696.

2 J.W. Stoye, English travellers abroad 1604-1667. Their influence in English society and politics (Cape, London, 1952).

3 E. Holz, Razvoj cestnega omrežja na Slovenskem ob konců 18. in v 19. stoleltju (Znanstvenoraziskovalni Center SAZU, Ljubljana, 1994).

4 T.R. Shaw, '"Many languages are understood here . . ." - foreign travellers in Slovene lands', in M. John & O. Luthar (eds) Un-Verständnis der Kulturen, Multikulturalismus in Mitteleuropa in historischer Perspektive, pp. 31-51 (Hermagoras, Mohorjeva, Klangenfurt, Ljubljana, Wien, 1997).

5 [J. Swinton], 'The travels of three English gentlemen, from Venice to Hamburgh, being the grand tour of Germany, in the year 1734', The Harleian Miscellany 4, 348-359, 385-394, 422^53 (1745); 5, 321-345 (1745); 8, 212-239 (1746) (Osborne, London). There were at least three later editions. Most of the page references cited here are from vol. 11 (1810), pp. 218-355, of the 12 volume edition of 1808-1 1 (Dutton, London).

6 The Harleian Miscellany 4, 348 (1745) (and 11,218 (1810)). 7 The Harleian Miscellany 8,212-213(1 746) (and 11,318(1810)). 8 The Harleian Miscellany 1 , viii ( 1 744) . 9 The dictionary of national biography, drawing its information about Swinton's return from Italy

from A. Chalmers, The general biographical dictionary, vol. 29, pp. 70-74 (Nichols, etc., London, 1816).

10 J. Swinton, MS. Diary mostly concerning a voyage to the Mediterranean 1730-31, Wadham College Library MSS. Al 1.5 and Al 1.6 (Oxford).

11 J. Swinton, MS. Notes of expences incurred on a 1732 tour to France or Italy, Bodleian Library MS. Eng. misc. b.4, fols. 14-15.



304 Trevor Shaw

12 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 237 П810). 13 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 293 (1810). 14 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 225 (1810). 1 5 Bodleian Library MS Auct. V2 infra. 2.22* fol. 1 3r. 1 6 Royal Society Journal Book Copy, vol. 1 3 for 1 726-3 1 , p. 358. It was not on 1 6 October 1 728,

as stated in The dictionary of national biography, or in June 1730 as given by A. Chalmers, The general biographical dictionary..., vol. 29. p. 71 (Nichols, etc., London, 1816).

17 The two men are confused in both series of J. Foster's Alumni Oxonienses. In Alumni Oxonienses... 1500-17 14, early series vol. 4, p. 1448 (1891) much of the career of the 1703-1777 John Swinton is attributed to the other man; while in Alumni Oxonienses... 1715-1886, later series vol. 4, p. 1378 (1891) the facts given are correct but the 1703-1777 Swinton is listed without those career details already wrongly attributed to the older Swinton.

18 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 344-345 (1810). 19 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 315 (1810). 20 A. Chalmers, The general biographical dictionary..., vol. 29, p. 71 (Nichols, etc., London,

1816). 21 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 355 (1810). 22 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 301-307, 317 (1810). 23 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 331-333 (1810). 24 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 294-295 (1810). 25 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 317 (1810). 26 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 320 (1810). 27 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 228-229 (1810). 28 The Harleian Miscellany 11, 224-226, 234-237 (1810). 29 J. Milles, Letters to the Bishop of Waterford 1 736-37, while on a tour of Europe with Richard

Pococke, vol. 2. British Library Add. MS 15774, f.92r. 3U The Harleian Miscellany 11, 235 (1810). 31 M. Natek, Vransko , pp. 534-536 in R. Savnik (ed.) Krajevni Leksikon Slovenije, vol. 3

(Državna Založba Slovenije, Ljubljana, 1976). 32 R. Pococke, A description of the East, and some other countries, vol. 2, part 2, p. 258 (R.

Pococke, London, 1745).



Documents

JOHN SWINTON, F.R.S., IDENTIFIED AS THE AUTHOR OF A 1734 TRAVEL JOURNAL