Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters During an Excursion in Italy, in the Years 1802 and 1803
London: T. Cadell, 1813. First Printing. Hardcover. Bound in slightly later half burgundy calf and marbled boards, good to very good, light general rubbing and wear to binding, mild strengthening to front inner hinge, bookplate on flyleaf, text very good and bright, free of marks. 387 pp. Son of a Scottish merchant, a schoolmaster in Elgin, and of moderate wealth, Forsyth decided to retire from teaching and travel to Italy, a lifelong dream, in late 1801. The next eighteen months he spent in the more famous cities of Italy, where he had access to the literary circles, and saw everything with the eyes of a man well read in the poets and historians of the country, both ancient and modern, a connoisseur in architecture and a keen observer of thought and life. He was at Turin on his way home when the war was renewed, and on 25 May 1803 he was seized by the police and carried prisoner to Nismes, France. The restraint there was not severe, but Forsyth was caught in an attempt to escape, and was thereupon marched in midwinter to Fort de Bitché, where his confinement was at first intolerably strict. It was, however, gradually relaxed; after two years he was removed to Verdun, where he remained five years. Through the influence of a lady in the suite of the king of Holland he was in 1811 permitted to reside in Paris; but four months after the English in the capital were ordered back to their places of detention, and the utmost relaxation Forsyth's literary friends could obtain for him was the permission to go to Valenciennes instead of to Verdun. Forsyth had solaced his captivity by further study of Italian literature and art. Napoleon at that time affected the part of a patron of both; and Forsyth was induced by the hope of obtaining his release to appear in the character of an author. His ‘Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, during an Excursion in Italy in the years 1802 and 1803,’ were published in London in 1813, and copies were forwarded to Paris with many solicitations in his favour; but the effort failed, and it was not till the allies entered Paris in March 1814 that he regained his liberty. Good. Item #H31296
Price: $150.00