Joseph Forsyth

Who was Joseph Forsyth?

Joseph Forsyth was a Scottish writer on Italy.

Forsyth was born at Elgin, Scotland, on 18 February 1763, and was the son, by his second marriage, of Alexander Forsyth, merchant in Elgin, a man of intelligence and piety, and a friend of Isaac Watts. His mother, Ann Harrold, was the daughter of a farmer who fought for Prince Charles at Battle of Culloden, was taken prisoner, and died on board ship while being carried for trial to England. From the grammar school of his native town Forsyth passed at the age of twelve to King's College, Aberdeen, where he graduated M.A. in 1779. His parents intended him for the church, but his diffidence induced him to decline.

He went to London and became assistant to the master of an academy at Newington Butts; was soon able to purchase the establishment, and carried it on successfully for thirteen years. Then, his health failing, he gave up the school and returned to Elgin. He had now the leisure and the means to give effect to what had been the great desire of his life, a visit to Italy. The Peace of Amiens was known in Elgin on 7 October 1801. On the 12th Forsyth was already on his way south, and on Christmas Day he arrived at Nice. The next eighteen months he spent in the more famous cities of Italy, where he had access to the literary circles, and saw everything with the eyes of a man well read in the poets and historians of the country, both ancient and modern, a connoisseur in architecture and a keen observer of thought and life.