(c.1708 - 36), 2nd s. of 4th B. Lovelace; suc. bro. 1709 as 6th B.; unm.
1727 - 9 Venice, Padua (17 May 1727), Bologna (Jul.), Rome, Leghorn (by 13 Sep. - 30 Oct.), Florence (2 Nov. - Dec. 1727), Rome, Naples (Mar. 1728), Sicily (by 10 Apr.) [Malta] Naples (by Jul.), Rome (Oct. 1728 - Apr. 1729), Leghorn (Apr.)
Lovelace began his grand tour with his tutor Debeyenne. In the summer of 1726 they were at Lun?ville, where Willem Bentinck remarked how Lovelace was kept low in funds by his friends in England.1 Lovelace was in Padua on 17 May 1727 with Lord Cranstoun,2 and was expected in Rome, but Debeyenne had already left him, 'upon acount of my Ld's not having wherewithal to maintain him.'3 But by the beginning of July Cranstoun had left Lovelace lying ill in Bologna and as Bentinck's tutor, Bernege, then wrote: 'Mon'r Debeynne lui auroit ?t? fort n?cessaire et fort utile dans une cunjoncture pareille'.4 Later that month Lovelace was able to write to Bentinck from Bologna to say he had left for 'la r?serve de Monsr.Murray'5 (meaning, presumably, James Murray at Rome).
In September Lovelace was penniless in Leghorn, but on the 13th Bentinck, who thought him 'as worthy a young man as ever I met with', sent him £;50.6 Lovelace stayed in Leghorn for the celebrations of George II's coronation in October7 and Bentinck joined him there that same month. They decided to go to Florence together, after which Lovelace would go on to Rome while Bentinck went to Bologna.8 They left Leghorn on 30 October, and were presented to the Grand Duke in Florence on 9 November.9 Bentinck left Florence in December, and Lovelace is next heard of leaving Naples in March 1728 to visit Sicily and Malta with John King and Hugh Barlow. On 10 April they were in Messina,10 and they had returned by July (see Hugh Barlow). In October Lovelace was one of very few Englishmen in Rome,11 and in April 1729 he was about to leave for Leghorn, intending to travel home by sea via Minorca and Gibraltar.(12)
1. Bernege letters MSS, f.488 (18 Jun. 1727). 2. Brown 1842. 3. Bentinck letters MSS, f.475 (23 May 1727). 4. Bernege letters MSS, f.495 (4 Jul. 1727). 5. Ibid., f.508 (26 Jul. 1727). 6. Bentinck letters MSS, f.531 (13 Sep. 1727). 7. SP 98/26 (Skinner, 18 Oct. 1727). 8. Bentinck letters MSS, f.540 (24 Oct. 1727). 9. Bernege letters MSS, f.542 (6 Nov. 1727). Bentinck letters MSS, f.546 (9 Nov. 1727). 10. SP 85/16 (Walton, 13 Mar., 10 Apr. 1728). 11. Ibid. (28 Oct. 1728). 12. Ibid. (7 Apr. 1729).