Memorandum of a Tour thro' the Pais Bas.

24 pages, comprising a preliminary list of the stages in the tour, with mileage, pages 2-22 of description, Monday 27th August Saturday 16th September 1788. There is a note by a family member on the final page: 'Made by John Richard Baker in company with Thomas Wa[l]ters, Esq., Lord of the Manor of Bath Easton, near Bath', and also a Mr Ross 'who afterwards destroyed himself from having got into difficulties & forged the name of J.R.B. to secure [?] of £1000'. Nineteenth century coarse paper wrappers, with a handwritten note on the upper cover, 'A Tour in France by my Uncle John Richard Baker in the year 1786. Just 54 years after the tour made by his father & my grandfather in 1732'. E.F.D. 1850. The final two leaves have expert marginal repairs. 21 x 16cm. During their three week tour they visit Ostend, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Tournay, Lille, Cassell, St Omer, Calais, then returning to London, a total of 542 miles covered. He leaves London with Ross for Tunbridge Wells, meeting Berkeley at the supper rooms, and the following day, with a large party, dines at Penshurst 'which belonged to Sir P. Sydney & now to Mr Shelly'. Travelling towards the coast, they have to send their bags to be searched, 'they took everything out and on the great trunk to avoid more searches fixed the Emperor's seal in lead & gave us a pass for it to Brussels' In Bruges, after an excellent breakfast of coffee, tea and eggs, they visit the English convents of St Austin & St Frances, and the Bishop's Palace. Next to Ghent, drinking champagne en route, and sending their luggage by barrow to Monsieur Champon's in the Place de Dame. They finish off a bottle of Vin de Bordeaux, a thin wine, which they rectify by drinking liqueurs at 2d a glass. 'The Abbey was sumptuous, but shortly to be pulled down, and another built.' From the Sisters, who are supported by their own fortune, he purchases a shabby purse. On September 6th they arrive in Antwerp, and engage a valet de place at 4 shillings a day, and visit the Cathedral, admiring the Rubens altarpiece, which was presented in return for a piece of garden and ground. He describes the town, noting trade to be very dull at present, the Emperor suppressing 10 male and 10 female convents, and plays and concerts only held in the winter. Next to Malines, and Brussels, again hiring a valet to guide them to the sights; the Duke's Palace and the town squares. On Sunday 10th September 'went to Lord Torrington's who in the course of conversation gave some account of the constitution of this Dutchy'. 'Lord J. called on us at 5 at 6 we visited the playhouse which has 4 rows of boxes - over the 3rd row of the front boxes is one gallery the boxes are subscribed for the season one is a State Box for the Duke & Dutchess.' The following morning they hire an open carriage to Calais, noting 'the country is much more pleasing being no so flat as on the other side of Brussels'. En route they visit Tournay, seeing the Ruben's altarpiece, and noting that the Emperor has destroyed all the convents. 'A drunken Irish Abbaye, recommended by the landlord as a very droll fellow, supped with us but we learnt little from him except that he was a parasite.' Next to Lille, attending the theatre, 'the comedy seemed in general well acted but spoken too fast for one to understand sufficiently'. From there they travel on through Cassell, and St Omer, to Calais, returning to London, where they again dine at Berkeley's and reach 'the Temple at 8 on Monday evening having been absent just three weeks'. This may be the John Richard Baker who is shown as mortgagee with others, members of the family of John Baker of St Kitts, on Baker's estate in St Vincent from 1803 to at least 1809. In 1823 there was a conveyance of Baker's Estate in St Vincent with the slaves and stock, signed by John Richard Baker. The will of John Richard Baker [heretofore of Lincolns Inn Fields Bedford Place but now] of Devonshire Street Portland Place was proved. …