661 



SMITH, WILLIAM, LL.D. 



SMOLLETT, TOBIAS. 



662 



concrrns of a large lauded estate; produciug also a beautiful geo- 

 logical map of the Hackness property, executed in great detail arid 

 with extreme exactitude. 



In 1831 however ho had been drawn from hid retirement by the 

 Geological Society of London, which awarded to him the first medal 

 placed at their disposal by the bequest of Wollaston, "in considera- 

 tion cf his being a great original discoverer in English geology ; and 

 i-spi.riiilly for his being the first in this country to discover and to 

 teach the identification of strata, and to determine their succession by 

 means of their imbedded fossils." In 1835 ho received the degree of 

 LL.D. in Trinity College, Dublin, and during a few years he enjoyed a 

 pension of 1QQI. from the crown. 



In 1838 he was appointed by the government a member of the 

 commission for selecting the stone of which the New Palace of West- 

 minster, or new houses of Parliament, should be constructed. la 

 this he was associated with Mr. (now Sir Charles) Barry, the architect 

 of the intended building, Mr. (afterwards Sir Henry T.) de la Beche, 

 director of the Museum of Economic Geology, and Mr. William 

 Harriott Smith, a sculptor of architectural ornaments, possessing 

 great practical knowledge of building-stones. They examined all the 

 principal quarries of the kingdom, and obtained specimens of the 

 stone worked in them, Dr. Smith's previous knowledge of nearly the 

 whole of them being found highly beneficial to the commission ; the 

 magnesian limestone, or Dolomite, of Anston in Yorkshire, belonging 

 to the Permian system of strata, being finally adopted for the pur- 

 pose in view, for which accordingly it has actually been employed. A 

 re-examination of the Dolomite quarries with Mr. Barry, in 1839, was 

 his last work of a public nature. At his death, a vast mass of 

 unpublished papers, many of which are of uncommon merit and bear 

 on practical applications of geology, constituted his whole property. 



(Fitton, in Edinb. Review for 1817; Sedgwick, Address to Geol. Soc., 

 1831; Magaz. of Nat. Hist., 1839; Memoirs of W. Smith, LL.D., by 

 John Phillips, F.R.S., 8vo, London, 1844. In this very valuable work 

 a catalogue is given of Dr. Smith's publications on the geology of 

 England and Wales, consisting of 23 maps, a table of strata, 6 sections, 

 and the two works on ' Organised Fossils ' alluded to above.) 



* SMITH, WILLIAM, LL.D., was born in the year 1814 in London. 

 He was educated at the University of London, now University College, 

 where he early distinguished himself by his acquirements in classical 

 literature. He was intended for the legal profession, and kept his 

 terms at Gray's Inn ; but preferring the study of languages to that of 

 law, and having added the German language to his previous acquisi- 

 tions, he was appointed Professor of the Greek, Latin, and German 

 languages, in the Independent Colleges of Highbury and Homerton. 

 He wrote for the ' Peony Cyclopaedia' the article 'Language,' which 

 excited much attention, and articles of classical biography. In January 

 1841, he commenced, as editor, the publication, in Parts, of the 'Dic- 

 tionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,' the first of those classical 

 dictionaries with which his name has since been associated. This 

 Dictionary was completed in April 1842, forming an 8vo volume of 

 1121 pages, or 2242 columns, illustrated by numerous wood-engravings 

 in outline. The articles were written by some of the best scholars in 

 this country, including himself. In April 1843, he commenced the 

 publication, also in Parts, of the 'Dictionary of Greek and Roman 

 Biography and Mythology,' which was completed in June 1849, in 

 3 vols. Svo, comprising about 3700 pages. The ' Dictionary of Greek 

 and Roman Geography,' was commenced in January 1852, and com- 

 pleted in May 1857, and forms 2 volumes, similar to the preceding. 

 Thus the entire subject of classical archaeology is included under the 

 three separate divisions of Antiquities, Biography and Mythology, and 

 Geography. Each division having by this means been completed 

 within a comparatively short period, a much larger number of readers 

 have become purchasers of the Dictionaries than there would have 

 been if the whole had been comprised under one alphabet. In all these 

 works the articles are generally well written, terse in style, sufficiently 

 full of accurate information, and the best and latest authorities are 

 constantly cited. They are provided with chronological and genealo- 

 gical tables, and with tables of coins, weights, and measures. They 

 are all illustrated by wood-engravings, and the geography has four 

 maps. To the classical student they are of the highest value, 

 and as books of reference must form a part of the library of every 

 scholar. 



Meantime a new edition of the 'Dictionary of Antiquities' was 

 published in 1851, and Dr. Smith also published an abridgment of it 

 for the use of schools. He also published a ' New Classical Dictionary 

 of Biography, Mythology, and Geography,' 8vo, 1851, which is chiefly 

 an abridgment of the ' Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and 

 Mythology,' together with abridgments of the geographical articles 

 which were afterwards to appear in the 'Dictionary of Greek and 

 Roman Geography.' The Antiquities are thus excluded from the 

 ' New Classical Dictionary," which is probably a convenience to the 

 publishers, but doubtless is a defect in the work. In 1852 Dr. 

 Smith published an abridgment of it, entitled a 'Smaller Classical 

 Dictionary.' 



In 1850 the Coward College was united with the colleges of High- 

 bury and Homerton, and the whole wer% incorporated under the name 

 of New College, London, of which Dr. Smith was appointed Professor 

 of the Greek and Latin Languages and Literature. In 1853 Dr. Smith 



BIOO. DIV. VOL. v. 



wad appointed Classical Examiner in the University of London. In tho 

 same ytar he published a 'School History of Greece, from the Earliest 

 Times to tho Roman Conquest, with chapters on the History of Lite- 

 rature and Art,' 12 mo. In March 1854 the first volume was published 

 of ' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by 

 Edward Gibbon, Esq., with notes by Dean Milman and M. Guizot; 

 edited with additional note by William Smith, LL.D.,' 8 vola, Svo. In 

 June 1855, was published 'A Latin-English Dictionary, based upon the 

 Works of Forcelliui and Freund, by William Smith, LL.D.,' Svo. An 

 abridgment of this Dictionary, for the use of younger students, and 

 with some additions for their special advantage, was prepared under 

 the immediate superintendence of tho author, and was published 

 under the title of ' A Smaller Latin-English Dictionary, by William 

 Smith, LL.D.' 



*The REV. PHILIP SMITH, B.A., the brother of Dr. William Smith, is 

 head master of the Mill Hill Protestant Dissenters' School, Hendon. 

 He wrote several classical articles for the ' Penny Cyclopaedia,' and has 

 been a large contributor to the Classical Dictionaries edited by his 

 brother. 



SMITH. Several English artists of this name may be briefly 

 mentioned. JOHN SMITH, a contemporary of Kneller, after whom he 

 engraved many portraits, was by far tho best mezzotinto engraver of 

 his time. His works are very numerous, and comprise not only 

 portraits, but historical and miscellaneous subjects also. The ' Biog. 

 Univ.,' without referring to any English authority, gives 1654 as the 

 date of his birth, and 1719 as that of his death; and several other 

 works state that he died in 1720. The writer has however seen a 

 print with his name, bearing the date 1721. From Dallaway's edition 

 of Vertue's ' Catalogue of Engravers,' it would appear that there were 

 two engravers of this name, father and eon ; but this statement 

 rests, as far as we know, on no other authority. A note hi the work 

 referred to mentions a collection of 574 engravings by these artists. 

 Of the more eminent John Smith (if there were really two) there is a 

 portrait by Kneller. Strutt mentions an indifferent portrait engraver 

 named JACOB SMITH, who was living in 1730, and executed portraits 

 of Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Hans Slcane, each of which consisted of 

 a single spiral line; and GABRIEL SMITH, who died in 1783, and 

 excelled in the chalk style of engraving. He lived for some time in 

 Paris, but was a native of London, where, according to the 'Biog. 

 Univ.,' he was born in 1724. SAMUEL SMITH, a landscape engraver, 

 surpassed by few, if by any, lived in the latter half of the 18th 

 century. He engraved a beautiful plate of Wilson's ' Niobe,' which 

 is now in the National Gallery ; the figures were put in by Sharpe. 

 He also did the landscape to Sharpe's ' Holy Family,' after Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds, and some engravings from Loutherbourg. As he worked 

 much for other engravers, his name is comparatively unknown. We 

 have been unable to find the date of his birth or death, and know 

 nothing of his history excepting that he never married. WILLIAM 

 SMITH, born 1707, died 1764; GEORGE SMITH, born 1714, died 1776 ; 

 and JOHN SMITH, born 1717, died 1764, were three brothers, natives, it 

 is commonly stated, of Chichester, although Pilkington mentions 

 Guildford instead of that place. George Smith is always spoken of 

 as Smith of Chichester, and many of his landscapes are views of the 

 scenery around that city. The first painted chiefly portraits, George 

 painted principally landscape, and his works which were at one time 

 in great request display much ability, and a tolerably close observa- 

 tion of nature, but they are deficient in colour and brilliancy. John 

 Smith devoted himself mainly to flower painting. Although apparently 

 self-taught, they attained a respectable standing in their profession. 

 A picture representing the three brothers, by Pether, has been 

 engraved. Several of George Smith's landscapes were engraved by 

 Woollett. 



SMOLLETT, TOBIAS, or, as he was baptised, TOBIAS GEORGE, 

 was born in the old house of Dalquhurn, in the parish of Cardross, in 

 the valley of Leven, in 1721, of good family; his grandfather, Sir 

 James Smollett of Bonhill, upon whom he was left dependent, being a 

 member of the Scottish parliament. The lovely scenes among which 

 he was bred had no doubt considerable influence on his tastes and 

 feelings; and he describes them in ' Humphrey Clinker ' with great 

 relish. He was sent to school at Dumbarton, where, under Mr. Love, 

 he made great proficiency in the classics. His tendency to ridicule 

 was manifested very early, and he wrote abundant satirical verses on 

 his schoolfellows ; and he also, with a boyish patriotism, wrote a poem, 

 on ' Wallace,' which has been lost. He left Dumbarton for Glasgow, 

 where he chose the profession of medicine, and was apprenticed to 

 Mr. Gordon, surgeon, whom Smollett is supposed to have ridiculed as 

 Potion, in ' Roderick Random." 



His medical studies were but indifferently pursued : the more 

 attractive pursuit of literature and history the passion for miscel- 

 laneous reading which so often besets men of genius, unable to confine 

 themselves to any one branch of study and which so materially 

 assisted him in his subsequent literary career diverted his attention. 

 Satirical verses; practical jokes, prompted by a wild reckless spirit of 

 enjoyment; poetical and literary studies; fruitless endeavours to give 

 the proper direction to his energies ; these occupied, not quite unpro- 

 fitably, his early years. Before completing his eighteenth year he 

 finished, a tragedy called ' The, Regicide ; * the preface to which, 

 written ten years after, is perhaps the most amusing portion. It would 



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