(1699 - 1758), 2nd s. of Robert Bristow of Micheldever, Hants; commissioner of Revenue in Ireland; Dilettanti 1740; FRS.
1736 - 7 Leghorn, Lucca, Florence (Oct. - 24 Dec. 1736), Siena, Rome (Jan. - Mar. 1737), Naples (Mar., Jun.), Bologna (by 25 Aug.), Loreto, Venice (Sep.) [England Dec.]
Variously described by Horace Walpole as an oaf, a 'great pretender to taste', and 'that silly mock virtuoso Billy Bristow',1 he travelled in Italy with the unidentified 'Pr?sident' and his wife (and father?), and described his journey in a series of letters signed W.B., written in bad French to the Countess of Denbigh.2 He was not a particularly diligent traveller; he failed to learn much Italian and was easily bored, finding Venice, for example, 'charmante pour le coup d'oeil et pour la curiosit?; ? l'?gard du reste je crois qu'on s'ennuyeroit fort'. They arrived at Leghorn and went, via Lucca, in October 1736 to Florence. There he stayed with a Frenchman, 'et d'abord que je sorts, je rencontre l'Angleterre'. They spent nearly three months in Florence, le Pr?sident working 'comme un chien enrag?' in the Grand Duke's library on a collection of 'po?tes proven?aux'. Bristow commented that it was strange how the Florentines were so intolerant of each other, yet so indulgent towards the English. They left late in December and passed through Siena on their way to Rome. Again le Pr?sident worked ceaselessly in the Vatican, while 'sa pauvre femme reste toujours avec son p?re'. Bristow was in Naples for the second time in June; the first time had been to satisfy his curiosity, the second for his health. There he met Allan Ramsay who wrote on 2 August (perhaps retrospectively) that 'Mr Bristow brings along with him his own portrait and two others of my drawing'.3 On 25 August Bristow was in Bologna and in September in Venice, describing the furore caused by the Young Pretender's visit earlier that year (28 May - 10 June). Bristow had been trying to obtain the post of British resident in Venice, vacant since the death of Elizeus Burges in November 1736, but without success. He had intended to spend two months in Venice, but his affairs compelled him to return home before Christmas.
1. Wal.Corr., 9:169 n5; 20:156. 2. HMC 8th Rpt., 570 - 1. HMC Denbigh, 5:206 - 22. 3. Scots Charta Chest, 135.