(1740 - 1818), o. s. of Rev. Philip Francis of Dublin; educ. St Paul's; m. 1 1762 Elizabeth Mackrabie (d. 1806), 2 1814 Emma Watkins; councillor in Bengal 1774 - 81; MP 1784 - 96, 1802 - 7; KB 1806.
1772 [dep. England 7 Jul. 1772] Verona (7 Aug.), Vicenza (8 Aug.), Venice (9 - 19 Aug.), Ravenna, Pesaro, Ancona, Loreto, Terni, Rome (30 Aug.), Naples (2 - 30 Sep.), Rome (5 - 21 Oct.), Leghorn (25 Oct.), Florence (29 Oct. - 2 Nov.), Bologna (5 Nov.), Milan (8 Nov.), Turin (12 Nov.) [Dover, 13 Dec.]
Philip Francis described his rapid tour of Italy, made in 1772 with a Mr Godfrey, in a travel diary (Francis jnl.MSS). They went out overland and began with a two-week stay in Venice in the Regina d'Inghilterra, where the apartments were 'handsome, spacious and convenient'. At Pesaro they discussed the Italian method of reckoning time, 'Italy being the only country in the world where they compute the hours from Sunset'. In Rome, where they first stopped briefly on their way to Naples, 'for the first time in Italy' they enjoyed 'good bread & eatable Butter'. They first stayed at Emanuel's in Naples but after six days were obliged to resign their apartments to the Princess Francavilla (but their neighbour James Hugh Smith Barry, not bound by the same agreement, did not cede his rooms to the Prince). They were presented to the King and Queen by the Rev. William Preston (to whom they had an introduction),2 but there was 'no great ceremony', and they attended a masked ball at Court which they left at midnight, the Queen still dancing. 'When I see their Majesties together', wrote Francis, 'I think of the Rape of Proserpine'. They dined with Charles Townley and the banker George Tierney, and on 30 September Godfrey sat for his picture. Francis warned in his diary of the Aria Cattiva: both he and Godfrey were very ill of it and, said Francis, 'I think it almost a Miracle that we are alive. From 1 July to 1 October, or until the heavy October rains are over, it is absolutely unsafe to cross the country from Rome to Naples'.
Returned to Rome, they stayed at Benedetto's before getting 'an admirable lodging' near the Piazza di Spagna. The Abb? Grant made a fuss of them, introducing them to Clement XIV at Castel Gandolfo on 15 October. This proved a remarkable audience. They were 'most graciously received' and sat down closely by the Pope ('of which it seems there never was an instance'); he 'frequently laid his Arm across my shoulder, & called us cari miei figli', and he assured them that his election as Cardinal and Pope had been 'much against his will'. He sent six bottles of Burgundy to the Convent where Francis and Godfrey were dining that evening, and lent them a coach to return to Town. Francis noticed that 'the worthy Abb? Grant' was careful not to lose by their presence, and 'obliged Mr Godfrey to give him 6 sequins for a fan, not worth one'; he would not take them to see the Young Pretender, yet, commented Francis, 'the time has been when [he] would not have been so scrupulous'. On 16 October Francis sat for a miniature by S.Giorgio. They were back in Dover on 13 December, just five months after their departure.
1. SP 93/27 (Preston, 1 Sep. 1772).