Beckford, Peter
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- Beckford, Peter
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(1739? - 1811) of Steepleton, Dorset; o. s. of Julines Beckford; educ. Westminster and New Coll. Oxf. 1757; MP 1768 - 74; m. 1773 Louisa Pitt (d. 1791) dau. of George Pitt, cr. B. Rivers 1776.
1765 - 6 Turin (by 28 Nov. 1765), Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Florence, Perugia, Parma (spring 1766), Rome, Naples
1783 - 99 Florence ( - Mar. 1799), Palermo
An eminent sportsman who 'would bag a fox in Greek, find a hare in Latin, inspect his kennels in Italian, and direct the economy of his stables in exquisite French' (DNB), Peter Beckford was first abroad on succeeding his father in 1764.1 He was a diligent traveller, who later reflected that on the grand tour 'Agriculture, Natural History, Trade, Commerce, Arts and Sciences, all present themselves to improve and enlarge our understanding'.2
Late in 1765 he reached Turin where he hunted with the King of Sardinia and met Laurence Sterne, passing 'hours with that eccentric genius that might have been more profitably employed, but never more agreeably'. He continued through Milan, Genoa and Bologna to Florence where he bought two racehorses: 'After I had taught my Jockey ... how to make his horse win, he soon found out, without any teaching, how to make him lose whenever it suited his interest'. He proceeeded via Perugia to Rome where he found no English Ambassador; 'but the Cardinal de Bernis, a perfect Frenchman de la vieille Court, does the honours ... to all strangers'. He undertook a six-week antiquarian tour under James Byres, 'and no school-boy toiled harder or at times more unwillingly; hurrying over pleasing objects to visit stones and rubbish of very little importance, for what? - to say I had visited all the antiquities of Rome'. Beckford gave an outdoor concert in the Piazza di Spagna (and he was to bring back to England the young harpsichordist Muzio Clementi, who stayed seven years with Beckford in Dorset). He also sat to Batoni for a portrait dated 1766 (Copenhagen; Clark/Bowron 296). On 17 September 1766 Henry Sherdley was asking for news of Beckford 'who is somewhere in Italy but none of his friends know where';3 he was apparently in Naples, where he heard Caterina Gabrielli sing.
Beckford returned to Italy in 1783 with his wife and their two children, William and Harriet. For sixteen years he lived principally in Florence, although he made some brief visits back to England. His wife's health was a source of constant concern, though at first she appeared to improve. They were seen in Florence in November 1785 by the 10th Earl of Pembroke;4 in Siena in August 1788 they were giving regular concerts every Saturday;5 Arthur Young saw them in Florence on 23 November 1789;6 Elizabeth Gibbes dined with Mrs Beckford in Florence on 29 June 1790;7 on 17 December 1790 James Clitherow visited them and early the following year he saw at Pozzuoli an antique pedestal for which Beckford had unsuccessfully offered £;2000.8 Mrs Beckford's health then rapidly declined and she died in Florence on 30 April 1791 attended by her mother, Lady Rivers (see Penelope Pitt), and was buried in Leghorn. In the same cemetery a daughter, Aloysia aged three, had been buried in 1788,9 and Lady Rivers herself was to be buried there in 1795.
Beckford stayed on in Florence. On 11 November 1793 Lord and Lady Palmerston visited him when he was living in Lord Cowper's 'most magnificent palace' for only £;60 a year; Lady Palmerston found Miss Beckford 'extremely handsome' and William 'a fine youth'; on 19 November Beckford dined with the Palmerstons, Lady Palmerston finding him 'extremely agreeable and gentlemanlike'.(10) On 7 and 28 April 1796 the Beckford children were described in the Wynne Diaries; Harriet was 'charming ... vastly pretty, kind and amiable', but 'severely treated by her father', while William stuttered, was 'rather stupid, ... and occupies himself alone with music'. Beckford stayed in Florence right up to the French invasion; he left first for Palermo, but soon after returned to England.
His Familiar Letters from Italy to a Friend in England [1805] provide a lively account of his Italian experiences; many of the letters were written in 1787 and 'most before the Invasion of Italy by the French'. He has also been credited with Letters and Observations written on a short tour through France and Italy by a Gentleman [1786], although the style is much drier; it contains twenty-six letters dated from January to August 1785 indicating an itinerary through Rome (22 Mar.), Naples (8 Apr.), Rome ( - 11 Jun.), Florence (Jun.) and Venice (7 Jul.).
1. See P. Beckford, Familiar Letters. A.H. Higginson, Peter Beckford, 48 - 94, 215 - 72. 2. Beckford (at n1), 1:9. 3. SP 105/317, f.248. 4. Pembroke Papers, 2:292. 5. Porter MSS. 6. Young, Travels, 279. 7. Gibbes jnl.MSS. 8. Clitherow jnl.MSS. 9. Leghorn Inscr., 22. 10. Connell 1957, 296.