Tobias Smollett

Tobias George Smollett (baptised 19 March 1721 – 17 September 1771) was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for picaresque novels such as '' The Adventures of Roderick Random'' (1748), '' The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle'' (1751) and '' The Expedition of Humphry Clinker'' (1771), which influenced later novelists, including Charles Dickens. His novels were liberally altered by contemporary printers; an authoritative edition of each was edited by Dr O. M. Brack Jr and others.

Early life and family

Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, now part of Renton in present-day West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, and baptised on 19 March 1721 (his birth date is estimated as 3 days previously). He was the fourth son of Archibald Smollett of Bonhill, a judge and landowner, laird of Bonhill, living at Dalquhurn on the River Leven, who died about 1726, when Smollett was just five years old. His mother Barbara Smollett née Cunningham brought the family up there, until she died about 1766. He had a brother, Captain James Smollett, and a sister, Jean Smollett, who married Alexander Telfair of Symington, Ayrshire. Jean succeeded to Bonhill after the death of her cousin-german, Mr Commissary Smollett, and resumed her maiden name of Smollett in 1780. They lived in St John Street off Canongate, Edinburgh, and had a son who was in the military.

Education and career

Smollett attended Dumbarton Grammar School and then was educated at the University of Glasgow, where he studied medicine and eventually qualified as a surgeon. Some biographers assert that he then proceeded to the University of Edinburgh, but left without earning a degree. Others state that his career in medicine came second to his literary ambitions at the age of 18, and it was not until 1750, that Smollett was granted his MD degree at the University of Aberdeen.

In 1739 he went to London having written a play ''The Regicide'', about the murder of King James I of Scotland. Unsuccessful at getting this on stage, he obtained a commission as a naval surgeon on and travelled to Jamaica, where he settled down for several years. In 1742 he served as a surgeon during the disastrous campaign to capture Cartagena. These experiences were later included in the narrative of his novels.

He married a wealthy Jamaican heiress, Anne "Nancy" Lascelles (1721–1791). She was a daughter of William Lascelles, but was unable to access her inheritance as it was invested in land and slaves. On their return to Britain, at the end of his Navy commission, Smollett established a practice in Downing Street but his wife did not join him until 1747; they had a daughter Elizabeth, who died aged 15 years about 1762. His two native languages were English and Scots. He translated famous works of the Enlightenment from other European languages.

Written works

Smollett's first published work in 1746, was a poem about the Battle of Culloden entitled "''The Tears of Scotland''", but it was '' The Adventures of Roderick Random'', a semi-autobiogaphical story of a 'north Britain on the make' which made his name. His poetry was described as "delicate, sweet and murmurs as a stream". ''The Adventures of Roderick Random'' was modelled on Le Sage's '' Gil Blas'' and despite its scandalous content covering 'snobbery, prostitution, debt and hinting at homosexuality', it was published in 1748. After that, Smollett finally had his tragedy ''The Regicide'' published, although it was never performed.

In 1750, he travelled to France, where he obtained material for his second novel, '' The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle'', another success. Having lived for a brief time in Bath, he returned to London and published '' The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom'' in 1753, but this did not sell well and he went into debt. His novels were published by the well-known London bookseller Andrew Millar. Smollett became considered as a 'man of letters' and associated with such figures as David Garrick, Laurence Sterne, Oliver Goldsmith, and Samuel Johnson, whom he famously nicknamed "that Great Cham of literature".

In 1755 he published an English translation of Miguel de Cervantes' novel '' Don Quixote'', which he revised in 1761. In 1756, he became briefly editor of the 58-volume '' Universal History,'' and editor of ''The Critical Review,'' from which later he had a successful libel case brought against him by Admiral Sir Charles Knowles, and a three-month prison sentence, and fine of £100.

Smollett then began what he regarded as his major work, ''A Complete History of England'' (1757–1765) which helped recoup his finances, along with profits from his only performed play, a farce, ''The Reprisal of the Tars of Old England.'' After his imprisonment, he used the experience in producing another novel, '' The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves'' (1760).

In 1763, Smollett was ill, perhaps with tuberculosis, and suffered the loss of his only child at the age of 15. He gave up his editorships and, with his wife Nancy, went to Europe, which led to the publication of ''Travels Through France and Italy'' (1766). He also published '' The History and Adventures of an Atom'' (1769), which gave his opinion of British politics during the Seven Years' War in the guise of a tale from ancient Japan. In 1768, the year he moved to Italy, Smollett entrusted Robert Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore

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