Thomas Martyn (1735-1825), who wrote an extremely popular guidebook (The Gentleman's Guide in His Tour through Italy ) in 1787, studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, atonce showing a strong bent for botany. He then moved to Sidney College, again at Cambridge University, and in 1758 was ordained a deacon. He published his first scientific work in 1763, and at the same time made a journey to the Netherlands, Flanders and Paris. In 1773 he was responsible, along with John Lettice, for an accurate publication on the ruins of Herculaneum. In 1778 he set off for Italy, under the pretext of taking his pupil Edward Hartropp on a tour of the continent, recording his experiences in the A Tour through Italy . In 1784 he moved to London for family reasons and translated Rousseau's Letters on the Elements of Botany . In 1791 he was given the post of secretary of the Society for Improvement of Naval Architecture and in 1793 was granted a royal pension in virtue of his long activity as a teacher. The year 1798 brought further changes: he moved, in fact, to Bedfordshire. The account of his Italian tour has a twofold character, scientific and artistic: the traveler's own inclinations were scientific, but his gaze lingered on and was captivated by the richness of the artistic treasures he encountered. The work reflects this, presenting itself as a guide to the artistic beauties of Italy. Divided into two sections, with the first part in a very light tone followed by a second rich in information of use to a would-be traveler, it mixes elements of natural history with lists of artifacts, descriptions of works of painting, sculpture and architecture, always well-grounded facts about the journey, curiosities and anecdotes. The descriptions of Rome, Florence, Naples and Venice are outstanding.