Manchester University Press
7 ‘Enjoying country life to the full – only the English know how to do that!’
Abstract
Britain was the most attractive new travel destination for Hungarian aristocrats towards the end of the eighteenth century and during the first half of the nineteenth. This phenomenon followed continental fashion, as the achievements of the British agricultural and industrial revolutions attracted nobility and professionals from all over the continent, and from Hungary too. Naturally, different levels of Hungarian society had different agenda when travelling. The changing travel destinations of the aristocracy between the end of the eighteenth century and the middle of the nineteenth century were determined only by a change of taste and other external drivers, and by personal circumstances. This chapter shows that personal contacts helped Hungarian aristocrats to gain access to many British country houses and that country house tourism remained a favourite pursuit among them, carried out as a long excursion from London.
Abstract
Britain was the most attractive new travel destination for Hungarian aristocrats towards the end of the eighteenth century and during the first half of the nineteenth. This phenomenon followed continental fashion, as the achievements of the British agricultural and industrial revolutions attracted nobility and professionals from all over the continent, and from Hungary too. Naturally, different levels of Hungarian society had different agenda when travelling. The changing travel destinations of the aristocracy between the end of the eighteenth century and the middle of the nineteenth century were determined only by a change of taste and other external drivers, and by personal circumstances. This chapter shows that personal contacts helped Hungarian aristocrats to gain access to many British country houses and that country house tourism remained a favourite pursuit among them, carried out as a long excursion from London.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- List of charts x
- Notes on contributors xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 ‘Antiquity mad’ 19
- 2 From Rome to Stourhead and thence to Rome again 42
- 3 Virtual travel and virtuous objects 63
- 4 Gentlemen tourists in the early eighteenth century 86
- 5 A foreign appreciation of English country houses and castles 106
- 6 ‘Worth viewing by travellers’ 127
- 7 ‘Enjoying country life to the full – only the English know how to do that!’ 145
- 8 Magnificent and mundane 168
- 9 On the road (and the Thames) with William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, 1597–1623 188
- 10 ‘No Lady could do this’ 206
- Bibliography 225
- Index 242
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- List of charts x
- Notes on contributors xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 ‘Antiquity mad’ 19
- 2 From Rome to Stourhead and thence to Rome again 42
- 3 Virtual travel and virtuous objects 63
- 4 Gentlemen tourists in the early eighteenth century 86
- 5 A foreign appreciation of English country houses and castles 106
- 6 ‘Worth viewing by travellers’ 127
- 7 ‘Enjoying country life to the full – only the English know how to do that!’ 145
- 8 Magnificent and mundane 168
- 9 On the road (and the Thames) with William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, 1597–1623 188
- 10 ‘No Lady could do this’ 206
- Bibliography 225
- Index 242
