(1730 - 1807), agronomist, miscellaneous writer, s. of Rev. John Symonds; St John's Camb. 1747; M.Temple 1747; barrister 1756; fell. Peterhouse Camb.1753; reg. prof. modern hist. Camb. 1771 - 1807; Dilettanti 1787; unm.
1765 - 71 Genoa (Dec. 1765), Naples, Rome (Mar. 1766) [Paris, London] Bologna, Florence (May - Jun. 1767 - ), Rome (Feb. 1769), Naples (by 14 Feb.), Siena, Leghorn, Siena, Genoa (by 1 Apr.), Milan, Parma, Mantua, Venice (Apr. 1769 - ), Parma, Venice (by Apr. 1770) northern Italy (1771) [England by Jul. 1771]
Symonds was in Italy between 1765 and 1771, probably continuously, though there are gaps in his itinerary in 1768, 1769 and 1770. He was in Genoa early in December 1765,1 and went on to Naples, where Laurence Sterne called him 'a person of learning & Character'. In March 1766 he was in Rome about to return through Paris to London.2 At the end of May 1767 'Gio: Simons' came to Florence from Bologna and had an audience with the Grand Duke;3 'Symonds di Nazione Inglese' was elected to the Accademia del Disegno in Florence on 6 June 1767.4 Early in 1769 Mr Symonds was in Rome, having made, said William Drake, 'the tour of Italy on horseback, & it is generally thought knows more of this Country than any other Englishman who has gone before him'; the 3rd Earl of Bute had engaged him 'for a companion & run away with him to Naples'.5 The Abb? Grant said that Symonds was of the 'greatest service imaginable' to Lord Bute; 'tis he hitherto who shows [Bute] all the curiositys altho he intends to take a second view of the chief things along with Byres'.6
John Symonds wrote three letters to William Hamilton between March and April 17697 in which period he was still with Lord Bute. He had composed an epitaph for James Macdonald of Sleat (Rome, 7 Mar.); he advised on the best paper for printing, showing he knew James Byres and Robert Strange (n.d., Rome, [Mar.]), and on 1 April he wrote from Genoa, where he had been speaking with Madame Balbi concerning Viscount Fortrose; he had come through Leghorn and Siena, and was to set off next day for Milan, '& after seeing Parma, Mantoua propose to be at Venice about the 24th of this month'. A year later, on 5 April 1770, he wrote from Venice to Paciaudi, the librarian at Parma, where he had evidently just been received by the prime minister du Tillot and had presented some books; a second letter to Paciaudi is dated London, 8 July 1771.8 His close friend Arthur Young said that Dr Symonds (who had given him an introduction to Filippo Neri in Florence) had once travelled with the Bishop of Derry and the Abb? Fortis, implying he was still in northern Italy in May 1771,9 and it appears Symonds had also been in Corsica.(10)
In 1784, when he was living in Bury St Edmunds, Symonds repeatedly described to the young La Rochefoucauld his long journey to Italy in 1765 made to study agriculture.(11)
1. Boswell, Italy, 237. 2. Sterne Letters, 275 (30 Mar. 1766). 3. Gazz.Tosc. (30 May 1767). 4. Wynne 1990, 538. 5. Drake letters MSS (19 Feb. 1769). 6. NLS, acc.4560 (to Wm. Hamilton, 13 Jan. 1769). 7. Add.41197, ff.81, 83, 89. 8. Paciaudi cart. quoted by F. Razzetti, Gazz.di Parma, 1 Sep. 1986. 9. Young, Travels, 251. 10. Cf. M. Ambrosoli, John Symonds, Agricoltura e politica in Corsica e in Italia 1765 - 70, [1974]. 11. Cf. N. Scarfe, Georgian Grp.Rpt., [1984], 31, 34.