MacKenzie, Hon. James Stuart
- Dictionary and Archive of Travellers
- Title
- MacKenzie, Hon. James Stuart
- Full Text of Entry
-
(1719 - 1800), 2nd s. of 2nd E. of Bute [S]; suc. fa. 1723 to the estate of Rosehaugh, taking the name of Mackenzie; educ. Eton and Leiden U. 1737; MP 1742 - 80; m. 1749 Ldy. Elizabeth Campbell, dau. of 2nd D. of Argyll [S]; env.extra. Turin 1758 - 61.
1739 - 41 Turin, Siena (by 4 Dec. 1739), Florence (by May 1740), Venice (Jun. - Jul.), Florence ( - Oct. 1740), Rome, Siena, Venice, Turin (14 Apr. 1741)
1743 - 4 Venice (Nov. 1743 - early 1744) [Berlin May]
1758 - 61 Turin (14 Nov. 1758 - Jul. 1761)
1777 - 8 Florence (15 - 20 Nov. 1777), Rome (Dec.), Naples (Dec. 1777 - Mar. 1778), Rome (Mar. - May - ) [England by Aug.]
'Mackenzie' was seen in Turin sometime after September 1739.1 He was in Siena by 4 December and in Florence by May 1740.2 By the end of June he was in Venice, where Lady Mary Wortley Montagu found him to be 'a very well behav'd Youth', rather enchanted by Lady Sophia Fermor.3 He returned to Florence and in October left for Rome with Lord Elcho.4 He did not stay, for early in November Lady Pomfret in Siena forwarded a letter from him to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, begging her to return to Venice and offering to meet her at Bologna.5 He eventually left Turin for England on 14 April 1741.6 His portrait by Dupra, presumably painted in Rome during this visit, is at Rosehaugh.7
He returned to Venice two years later in romantic circumstances.8 In London he had become infatuated with Barberina Campanini, a celebrated dancer, and he eloped with her to Venice where they intended to marry. Mackenzie passed through Lyon and arrived in Venice by November 1743, but La Barberina was forced to fulfil a contract to perform in Berlin, where Mackenzie joined her in May 1744. He was then promptly sent back to England by Lord Hyndford, the British minister (see Lord Carmichael).
In 1758, nine years after his marriage to his cousin Lady Betty, daughter of the Duke of Argyll, Mackenzie was appointed envoy extraordinary at Turin.9 He arrived on 14 November 1758 with his wife and his secretary, Louis Dutens.(10) Dutens described Mackenzie as possessing 'the most good qualities with the fewest faults' of all the men he had known; he was 'not fond of the pleasures of high life, but preferred the application of his time to study of the sciences, in which he was well versed, particularly in mathematics, algebra, and astronomy'. He described how Mackenzie lived in Turin 'in a splendid style, and his lady gave most magnificent entertainments'.(11) In November 1760 Mackenzie was made envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary. With the change of administration at home after the death of George II in 1760, Mackenzie was about to be appointed ambassador at Venice, but the sudden death of his uncle, the Duke of Argyll, led to his recall to take over Scottish affairs.(12)
In 1777 Mackenzie went to Naples for the sake of his health, accompanied by Lady Betty and Dutens.(13) They spent a week in Florence, from 15 - 20 November,14 and passed quickly through Rome15 to arrive early in December 1777 in Naples,16 where they stayed until the following March. William Hamilton found Mackenzie 'most sensible & friendly, but entre nous dreadfully minutieux'; one who calculated all the strata of Vesuvius 'to the 100th part of an inch'.17 They went to Rome where Henry Swinburne joined them on a trip to Frascati in May,18 and it may have been on this visit that he assisted the convalescent Abb? Grant, who recalled in 1782 how 'some years ago' Mackenzie 'of his own accord had sent me more than 200 pounds sterling'.19 John Collet, the British consul at Genoa, was hoping to receive the Mackenzies in June,20 and they had returned to England by August.21 On this last tour Mackenzie acquired a number of works of art, including views of Etna and Vesuvius by Pietro Fabris (March 1778), two views of Vesuvius by Pietro Antoniani and a view of Paestum by Joli.22
1. Spence Letters, 419. 2. Pomfret jnl.mss (4 Dec. 1739; 2, 26 May 1740). 3. Montagu Letters, 2:194, 198. 4. Newdigate mss, b 1620 (S. Dashwood, 5 Nov. 1740). 5. Montagu Letters, 2:209. 6. Ibid., 235. 7. B. Skinner, Scottish Art Review, 6[1958]:4. 8. See Montagu Letters, 2:313n, 341 nn1, 2. Wal.Corr., 17:358n; 30:59nn5, 6. 9. Horn, 1:125. 10. Dutens, Memoirs, 1:166ff. 11. Ibid., 165 - 6, 170. 12. Ibid., 234. SP 105/313, f.478 (Murray, 2 May 1761). Wal.Corr., 24:508n10. 13. Dutens, Memoirs, 3:242 - 4. Wal.Corr., 24:337. 14. Wal.Corr., 24:337. Gazz.Tosc. 15. Bell, Banks, 22. 16. SP 93/31 (Hamilton, 9 Dec. 1777). 17. Morrison, 1:52 (no.78). 18. Swinburne, Courts, 1:209. 19. W. Fraser, Chiefs of Grant, 2:554. 20. Genoa cons.corr. mss (20 Jun. 1778). 21. Wal.Corr., 24:401. 22. Bute mss; notes by F. Russell.