(1749 - 1821), o. s. of 5th E. of Stair [S]; educ. Eton and Edinburgh U.; sty. Vct. Dalrymple 1768 - 89 when suc. fa. as 6th E.; army officer, capt. 87 Ft. 1779; min.plen. to Poland 1782 - 4; env.extra. Berlin 1785 - 7; unm.
1776 - 7 Naples (winter 1776 - 7), Rome (by 1 Apr. 1777 - ), Venice [Paris by 9 Jul.]
Described by Voltaire (whom he met in December 1771) as 'un Ecossais modeste, chose assez rare; jeune homme simple et m?me un peu honteux, avec beaucoup d'esprit; philosophe comme Spinoza, doux comme une fille',1 Lord Dalrymple was in Naples during the winter of 1776 - 7. Henry Swinburne recorded a grand dinner he gave in January, followed by a puppet show and conversazione, and in February he saw Dalrymple at a dinner given by Lady Orford, and joined him on a visit to Portici, where an excavation was about to be made.2 Dalrymple was in Rome by 1 April, where Thomas Pelham (later 2nd Earl of Chichester) thought he would probably remain for most of the summer. Later that month they visited Tivoli, Albani and Frascati with Lord John Pelham Clinton, James Byres acting as their antiquarian. Dalrymple and Pelham returned to Tivoli only a few days later. They were so delighted with the environs of Rome that 'had he [Dalrymple] not engaged apartments for the Ascension at Venise; we should (I believe) have spent a fortnight or three weeks together ... at a villa which Card'l. Conti had offered to me ... he [Dalrymple] is much the most agreeable Englishman that I know in Italy, rather reserved, & little known but by those who have the pleasure of his intimate Acquaintance.'3 On 9 July Dalrymple was in Paris on his way home.4
1. Voltaire, no.114. 2. Swinburne, Courts, 1:136, 138. 3. Pelham letters MSS, ff.216, 224, 234 (1, 16 Apr., 3 May 1777). 4. Wal.Corr., 6:456.