View source for Patrick Brydone

{{short description|Scottish traveller and author}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Tour through Sicily and Malta.tif|thumb|Map from ''Tour through Sicily and Malta'', 1806]]

'''Patrick Brydone''', [[Royal Society of Edinburgh|FRSE]], [[Fellow of the Royal Society of London|FRS]], [[Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries|FSAScot]], [[Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London|FSA]] (5 January 1736 – 19 June 1818) was a Scottish traveller and author who served as [[Comptroller of the Stamp Office]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rse.org.uk/fellowship/past-fellows/|title=Past Fellows}}</ref>

==Life==

Brydone was born in [[Coldingham]], [[Berwickshire]], on 5 January 1736, the son of Robert Brydone (1687–1761), the local [[Church of Scotland minister]], and Elizabeth Dysart.{{citation needed|date= September 2023}}

After attending [[University of St Andrews|St. Andrews University]], he went abroad as travelling tutor or companion (colloquially known as a [[Bear-leader (guide)|bearleader]]), with [[William Beckford of Somerley|William Beckford]] and some other gentlemen.  In 1767 or 1768, soon after his return from Switzerland, he went abroad again with Beckford and two others as travelling preceptor. In 1770, he made a tour with these gentlemen through [[Sicily]] and [[Malta]], the former island being but little known to travellers of that time.{{citation needed|date= September 2023}}

This tour forms the subject of his book, ''A Tour through Sicily and Malta, in a Series of Letters to William Beckford, Esq., of Somerly in Suffolk,'' published in 1773. His work became popular for its descriptions of Italy. It was favourably reviewed, and so well received by the reading public, that it went through seven or eight editions in England in his lifetime, and was also translated into French and German. In Italy, nine years after its publication, [[Michael_Johann_von_der_Borch|Count Borch]] published a volume of ''Letters to serve as Supplement to the Voyage in Sicily and Malta of Mr. Brydone.''{{sfn|Benson|1886}}

Brydone was elected [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1773, as 'a Gentleman of good Character, well versed in several Branches of Natural Knowledge, and already known by two Papers of Experiments upon Electricity, published in the Transactions'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalogues.royalsociety.org/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=EC/1773/06|title=Search Results|website=catalogues.royalsociety.org}}</ref> His nominees included [[Sir_John_Pringle,_1st_Baronet|John Pringle]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[John_Hunter_(surgeon)|John Hunter]], [[Thomas_Dundas,_1st_Baron_Dundas|Thomas Dundas]], Rudolph de Valltravers and [[Richard_Huck-Saunders|Richard Huck]].{{citation needed|date= September 2023}}

In 1783 he became a founder member of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]. He held the appointment of Comptroller of the [[Inland_Revenue#The_Board_of_Stamps|Stamp Office]], a fore-runner of the [[Inland Revenue]]. The latter part of his life was spent in retirement and he died on 19 June 1818 at Lennel House in [[Berwickshire]].{{sfn|Benson|1886}}

==Family==

In 1785 he married Mary Robertson, the daughter of [[William Robertson (historian)|Prof William Robertson]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Dr-William-Robertson/6000000005027025912|title = Dr. William Robertson| date=4 December 2014 }}</ref> They had three daughters the eldest of whom, Mary, married Gilbert Elliot who became the [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto|2nd Earl of Minto]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-MOBAAAQBAJ&q=robert+brydone&pg=PT181|title=A Quite Remarkable Man by John P. Evans|isbn=9781445639024|last1=Evans|first1=John P.|date=15 July 2014|publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited }}</ref>

==Major works==

* {{Cite book|publisher=Cadell and Davies|last= Brydone|first=  Patrick|title= A tour through Sicily and Malta in a series of letters to William Beckford |place= London|year= 1806|url= https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=6115471}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{DNB|wstitle=Brydone, Patrick|first=George Vere|last=Benson|volume=7|pages=166-167}}
* {{cite ODNB |url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3812 |first=Katherine |last=Turner|chapter=Brydone, Patrick (1736–1818) |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/3812 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Evolution of the Grand Tour |last=Chaney|first=Edward|year=2000|publisher=Routledge|location=London }}
* {{cite book |title=Literature As a Mode of Travel|last= Fussell |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Fussell |year=1963|publisher= New York Public Library |location= New York |oclc=83683507 |pages=53–67 |chapter=Patrick Brydone: The Eighteenth-Century Traveler As Representative Man }}
{{refend}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brydone, Patrick}}
[[Category:1736 births]]
[[Category:1818 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish writers]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish male writers]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish antiquarians]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews]]
[[Category:Scottish educators]]
[[Category:Scottish travel writers]]
[[Category:Scottish geologists]]
[[Category:Scottish civil servants]]
[[Category:Scottish explorers]]
[[Category:People from Berwickshire]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland]]


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