Walter Scott’s diary, 1832

Went by invitation to wait upon a priest, who almost rivals my fighting bishop of Malta. He is the old Bishop of Tarentum, and, notwithstanding his age, eighty and…

We reach the 12th January, amusing ourselves as we can, generally seeing company and taking airings in the forenoon in this fine country. Sir William Gell, a very…

I think £200 a month, or thereby, will do very well, and it is no great advance. Another piece of intelligence was certainly to be expected, but now it has come…

The King grants the favour asked. To be perfect I should have the books [out] of the room, but this seems to [hurt?] Monsieur Delicteriis as he, kind and civil as…

This day arrived (for the first time indeed) answer to last post end of December, an epistle from Cadell full of good tidings. Castle Dangerous and Sir Robert of…

We went to Pompeii to-day: a large party, all disposed to enjoy the sight in this fine weather. We had Sir Frederick and Lady Adam, Sir William Gell, the coryphæus…

Sir William Gell called and took me out to-night to a bookseller whose stock was worth looking over. We saw, among the old buildings of the city, an ancient palace…

Embarked on an excursion to Paestum, with Sir William Gell and Mr. Laing-Meason, in order to see the fine ruins. We went out by Pompeii, which we had visited…

This morning we set off at seven for Naples; we observed remains of an aqueduct in a narrow, apparently designed for the purpose of leading water to La Cava, but…

I went with Miss Talbot and Mr. Lushington and his sister to the great and celebrated church of San Domenico Maggiore, which is the most august of the Dominican…

I am on the eve of leaving Naples after a residence of three or four months, my strength strongly returning, though the weather has been very uncertain. What with…

Having remained several months at Naples, we resolved to take a tour to Rome during the Holy Week and view the ecclesiastical shows which take place, although…