"A woman of infnite wit, and agreeable conversation, always entertained me : " the Countess of Pomfret and Italian hospitality

Abstract

On 20th December, 1740 Henrietta Louisa Fermor, Countess of Pomfret, marked the anniversary of her arrival in Florence by composing a narrative poem which she sent on Christmas Day to her friend, the minor poet, Frances Seymour, Countess of Hertford. In her poetical review of the previous year she exalts Florence as her "happy safe retreat" after being "forced from friends" and home in England by the need for the family to retrench. Throughout her three years abroad, Lady Pomfret maintained a regular correspondence with Lady Hertford in which she recorded the impact her travels, particularly her residence in Italy, made on her. Like other travellers, in her letters home Lady Pomfret documents the sites visited, the new experiences enjoyed, and the people encountered, including British tourists and other residents abroad. A striking feature of her letters to her friend, however, is her repeated acknowledgements of the warm hospitality she everywhere received in Italy.