Burges, James Bland
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- Burges, James Bland
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(1752 - 1824), politician and occasional writer, o. s. of George Burges of Berks; educ. Westminster, Edinburgh U. 1765, and Univ.Coll. Oxf. 1770; L.Inn 1769, called 1777; m. 1 1777 Hon. Elizabeth Noel (d. 1779), dau. of 1st Vct. Wentworth, 2 1780 Anne Montolieu (d. 1810), dau. of B. de St Hypolite, 3 1812 Ldy. Margaret Lindsay, dau. of 5th E. of Balcarres [S], wid. of Alexander Fordyce; cr. Bt. 1795; suc. John Lamb and took name of Lamb 1821; MP 1787 - 90.
1773 [dep. England Jun.] Rome (by 4 Oct.), Naples (by 1 Nov.), Rome (by 18 Nov.), Florence (Nov.) [England early 1774]
On leaving Oxford, Burges had travelled in France in the summer of 1771. Two years later he set out for Italy accompanied by his kinsman, the Rev. William Somerville, 'a very worthy man, a good clergyman, and an excellent farmer'.1 By the time they reached Italy their experiences of swindlers and unsavoury travelling companions had led them to carry knives. They reached Rome by 4 October 1773, in time to witness the celebrations in honour of St Francis, and with the help of Thomas Jenkins they procured a place in the Gallery at Castel Gandolfo from which to watch the fireworks. They were invited into the inner apartment by the Pope himself, and while waiting for the fireworks to begin they had seen 'il Pretendente Carolo Stuardo' in a magnificent cavalcade; Burges thought him 'fat and bloated', bearing 'the marks of habitual inebriety'. George Burges, his father, had captured the standard of Prince Charles's bodyguard at Culloden, but young Burges now pulled off his hat and bowed to the Young Pretender, who 'looked thoughtful and melancholy, but when he saw that I was an Englishman his countenance brightened up'.
By 1 November they had reached Naples, where they beheld two 'painful and hideous spectacles'. Burges fainted in the noxious air of the catacombs with the decayed bodies of the 17th-century plague victims, and on the Festa dei Morti (All Souls Day, 1 November), they witnessed the annual display of corpses buried in the past year, while the magnificently dressed relatives of the deceased received their guests. 'It is impossible', wrote Burges, 'to conceive anything more horrid or disgusting in every stage of putrefaction, from the first livid swelling to the absolute skeleton decked out like persons going to a ball'. By 18 November they were back in Rome at the Palace of Monte Cavallo for a private audience with the Pope, contrived by Thomas Jenkins. Burges believed that it was his commendation of the antiquarian Orazio Labruzzi (who had guided him round Rome) that facilitated Labruzzi's later appointment as keeper in the Vatican museums. Burges sat to Pietro Labruzzi in October 1773 (dated Rome 1774; sold Sotheby's 6 Dec. 1972).2 On 22 November Burges and Somerville were on their way back to Florence, and early in 1774 they were back in England.
Burges later reflected that the experience of his grand tour had made him 'extremely acceptable to all my old friends', and, he continued, he resolved to 'place myself on a footing in life which the education my father had given me, and the polish I had just obtained on the Continent, enabled me to support. I had, indeed, considerable advantages; such as being an excellent Latin and Greek scholar; talking French and Italian perfectly; dancing, riding, and fencing well; playing on the harpsicord, guitar and violoncello. These I considered as my fortune, and with these I determined to work my way'. His subsequent political career demonstrated the effectiveness of his determination.
1. See J. Hutton, Selections from the Letters and Corr. Sir James Bland Burges ..., 24 - 43. 2. See Moore 1985, 16.