Cock of the Wood from A Tour of Scotland

''A Tour in Scotland, 1769'' was published in 1771. It is written, between July and August 1769, by

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (16 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall, near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales. As a naturalist he had ...

and illustrated by Moses Griffiths, who travelled together. Despite the book's title, the tour began and finished in England: in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

and at Downing Hall, respectively. Pennant set a new standard in

travel literature The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. History Early examples of travel literature include the '' Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (generally considered a ...

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

(whose own travelogue was inspired by ''A Tour in Scotland'') said of him: "He's the best traveller I ever read; he observes more things than anyone else does". In May 1773, Pennant said of his work: "I beg to be considered not as a Topographer but as a curious traveller willing to collect all that a traveller may be supposed to do in his voyage; I am the first that attempted travels at home, therefore earnestly wish for accuracy." Pennant was a

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, and many of his observations were of the flora and fauna, but he also wrote about other subjects, including

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and what would now be considered

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

. Besides its effect on travel writing, the work had an effect on the shifting national identities of the time.

References

External sources

A Tour in Scotland, 1769
full text at the Internet Archive (published 1771; the ''tour described'' was in 1769). 1769 in Scotland 1771 non-fiction books British travel books Books about Scotland Hebrides Welsh non-fiction books Illustrated books {{travel-book-stub