A Tour Through Sicily and Malta: In a Series of Letters to William Beckford, Esq. of Somerly in Suffolk, Volume 1

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. After attending St. Andrews University, he went abroad as travelling tutor or companion, with William Beckford and some other gentlemen. In 1767 or 1768, soon after his return from Switzerland, he went abroad again with Mr. Beckford of Somerly 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. 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. 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.