At the end of last year I wrote about the travel journals of John Byng, 5th Viscount Torrington. His diaries are, unlike most 18thc published writing, quite informal in style , probably because he had no intention of putting his thoughts into print. Whereas most of his contemporaries write of the almost constant wars that form the background to this period or the political situation of the days, Byng virtually ignores such mundane matters.
John Byng by Ozias Humphry, 1796 from The Torrington Diaries
Instead he concentrates on the English countryside and its people, enjoying himself as an interested observer of little details. He describes the buildings, gardens and landscapes he visited, and the people of all kinds he met, and not always in the most flattering way. Take for example his visits on what he called “A Tour in the Midlands” in 1789….
The Garden History Blog 
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