[Scotland]. Evans, Revd Thomas. Account of a Tour from Dunham [Massey] to Scotland and back Monday 8th August 1763 to Wednesday 28th September 1763. Manuscript, small octavo, bound in reversed calf, spine very worn, inner joints weak, one page loose

Provenance: The late Lord David Douglas-Hamilton. With the book-label of Mrs A Stodart

Note: The author, who was Rector of Severn Stoke and Archdeacon of Worcester (d. 1815) was accompanying the Hon. John Grey (1743-1802), third son of the 4th Earl of Stamford. Evans, either as tutor or companion, undertook similar journeys with John Grey’s elder brother Harry (later the 5th Earl of Stamford). Some fifteen journeys are recorded in a diary, now in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University (RL.00372). This journal is similarly arranged to the Scottish tour, providing a list of destinations, the number of miles between each, the total mileage for excursions, and occasionally the duration of each stage of the trip with extensive description of towns and the county seats of noblemen, with particular details regarding local architecture, furniture, paintings, and gardens. The Scottish tour comprises a brief diary of the journey and the itinerary taken pages 1-33, giving mileage in English miles: the author noting that while measurements in Scotland were more or less the same all over, two Scotch miles were generally the equivalent of three English ones. Folios 34-81 comprise (rectos only for the most part) fuller descriptions of places visited and things done. Country houses, in particular, are described, with historical details of the families who owned them. However, the journal stops with the visit to Dunkeld on 5 September. The rest of the volume is blank. Their itinerary provided them with the opportunity to meet numerous distinguished people including the Dukes of Portland and Athol, the Duchess of Gordon, Lord Kaimes, the Earl Marischal, etc. They stayed at the ‘elegantly furnished ’ Dumfries House, breakfasted with Lord President Dundas at Arniston and were summoned to dinner at Hopetoun house ‘by the sound of a Chinese Gong.’ Both Glasgow and Aberdeen gave them the freedom of their cities. While it has not been possible to find the awards in the Glasgow records, those of Aberdeen record the awards along with those given at the same time to Patrick Heron of Heron and Kirroughtrie and to Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville. Selkirk saw their sleep disturbed by ‘drunken lairds.’ The diary provides interesting information about numerous Scottish houses. Dr Godfrey Evans, the Principal Curator of European Decorative Art, National Museums of Scotland, and whose kind assistance is acknowledged, notes that the author has picked up on the extent of the 6th Duke of Hamilton’s debts, after he died of alcoholism and cold in January 1758, and the need to resolve these problems by selling/buying back works of art. The author’s choice of pictures then hanging in Hamilton Palace is also of interest as many of the Palace’s paintings were later dispersed and are still unlocated. Important too is his account of Inveraray Castle where he states categorically that ‘The large Rooms on the first floor’ were not yet fitted up in 1763. Dr Evans considers the journal to be ‘really interesting and important’ and that ‘There is more detailed, privileged information than in some other well-known accounts of 18th century tours of Scotland.