(1754 - 1812), s. of Hon. Wriothesley Digby (4th s. of 5th B. Digby [I]).
1789 - 90 [Sacheron, nr. Geneva, 8 Oct. 1789] Turin, Genoa, Leghorn, Pisa, Florence (c.15 - 30 Nov. 1789), Rome (by 4/9 Jan. 1790 - 27 Feb.), Naples (28 Feb. - 17 Mar.), Rome (Mar. - 15 Apr.), Verona, Vicenza, Venice (by 10 May - 5 Jun.), Vicenza, Verona (9 Jun.) [Munich by 12 Jul.]
Kenelm Digby was thirty-five when he first went to Italy and his tour is described in his letters addressed to his brother (Digby letters MSS). He wrote from Florence on 29 November 1789 saying that Lord Cowper lay at the point of death, the Duchess of Albany [Charlotte] had 'just doubled that point and lies in state at Bologna', and another Mr Digby travelling in southern France was posing as a near relative of Lord Digby. He had dined with the British envoy, John, Lord Hervey, on 22 November.1 He passed the winter in Rome, where Thomas Jenkins was his banker, and in January and February he frequently accompanied Elizabeth Gibbes on sightseeing expeditions.2 He wrote twice to his brother (4 or 9 Jan. and 22 Feb. 1790), his subjects including the new displays of the Vatican, how cold marble floors took away any pleasure of looking at works of art, and the conspicuous masks worn by the English during the Carnival. Digby left Rome for Naples on 27 February 1790 with the Gibbes family, and he also accompanied them on expeditions to Baiae (12 March) and Vesuvius (13 March).2 In a letter home (17 Mar.) he discussed Pliny and the Poets, expressed his hope of an eruption of Vesuvius, and recorded visits to Herculaneum and Pompeii and his plan to be in Rome by the middle of the following week. In Rome Elizabeth Gibbes took 'leave of Mr [Frederick] Parr and Mr Digby' on 15 April.2 Digby had reached Venice by 10 May, remaining there until 5 June,3 having visited Verona and Vicenza and having sent another letter home (dated 28 May) with George, Viscount Montagu. The route to Trent, following the better roads, took Digby back to Verona and Vicenza, both of which he considered merited a second visit. Writing from Verona (9 Jun. 1790) he discussed the works of Palladio and Scamozzi and wrote of Francesco Maffei. He went to the amphitheatre at Verona 'to see the facetious Harlequins & Pantalones usurp the place of the Wrestler & Gladiator', and speculated on the existence in Verona of the type of 'beauteous females' on whom Veronese based his 'Venuses and Madonnas', concluding that Venetian women had 'the finest skins in the world'. From Trent he travelled into Germany and Austria; he eventually crossed from Boulogne to Dover sometime after 25 August 1791, the date of his last letter home.
1. Young, Travels, 279. 2. Gibbes jnl.MSS (13 Jan., 2, 16, 17 Feb. 1790). 3. ASV IS 761.