The Tour of Duty

London, England, mid-18th century: during the relative peace and prosperity of Europe's Age of Enlightenment, it has become the norm for aristocratic young Englishmen to fill the months between their classical education and a secured role administering the burgeoning Empire with a cultural whirl of Continental Europe known as the Grand Tour. For a year or two, these privileged noblemen indulge in the opera houses of Paris and Vienna, refining their sensibilities, reveling in the arts. Porters lug them across the snow-dusted Alps to visit Rome's Colosseum, the Renaissance-rich galleries of Florence, the Athenian ruins and other curiosities of the ancient...