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SMOLLETT, TOBIAS. 



SMOLLETT, TOBIAS. 



564 



be unjust to require in such a production any of the requisites of 

 tragedy; it would be unjust to object to so prosaic a man as Smollett, 

 that it is only stilted prose ; and it would be still more unj ust to 

 criticise it otherwise than as the production of a boy ; but when we 

 find him in his preface railing at the managers, and looking on himself 

 as a very ill-used man because it was not produced ; and when we 

 look at this tragedy, which he brought with him to London in the 

 hopes of making his fortune, we cannot wonder at the tricks of 

 managers, nor at his being reduced to "print it, and shame the 

 rogues." 



In 1741 Smollett was appointed surgeon's mate on board a ship of 

 the line, and he sailed on the expedition to Carthagena. He describes 

 this expedition in ' Roderick Random,' aud also with historical accuracy 

 in the ' Compendium of Voyages and Travels ' which he published in 

 1756. He quitted the service in disgust whilst in the West Indies, 

 and resided for some time in Jamaica, in what capacity is not known. 

 It was here that he met and fell in love with Anne Lascelles, whom he 

 subsequently married. On his return to London, 1746, his imagina- 

 tion was inflamed at the exaggerated descriptions of the severities 

 practised in the suppression of the Scottish rebellion, and accordingly 

 vented itself in some stanzas of prosaic fustian, entitled the ' Tears of 

 Scotland.' " His friends wished him to suppress this piece, as having 

 a tendency to offend the Whigs, on whoso patronage he had some 

 reliance ; and although his enthusiasm was at present too warm for 

 advice, and he had from this time declared war against the Whig 

 ministers under George II., yet it does not appear that it was published 

 with his name for many years after." 



' Advice,' a satire, was his first appearance in public, in 1746. It 

 has all the dirt and vehemence of Juvenal, with none of the power ; it 

 alarmed and disgusted his friends, increased his enemies, and enraged 

 the persons attacked. He wrote also an opera for Covent-garden, 

 called ' Alceste.' But his ungovernable temper was perpetually pro- 

 voked at the delays and hindrances of a theatre, and a quarrel with 

 the manager prevented its being acted. The next year he again dis- 

 graced himself by a satire, the ' Reproof,' a sequel to the ' Advice," 

 and of the same stamp, with some bitter lines on Rich, the manager of 

 Co vent-garden. It is curious to see how he quarrelled with all the 

 managers, and thus for ever shut the theatres against him ; aud not 

 content with quarrelling, he abused and ridiculed all who did not 

 agree with him on the merit of his pieces. Garrick, Lacy, Rich, Quin, 

 Akenside, Lord Lyttleton, were all introduced by him into his novels 

 aud satires, and made to pay the penalty of having offended an author's 

 vanity. In this year, 1747, he married Miss Lascelles, who was to 

 . have had three thousand pounds, but owing to a suit he obtained only 

 a small portion of this dowry. This disappointment, together with 

 sundry extravagancies he had been led into, placed him in a very 

 unpleasant pecuniary position, to relieve which he published, 1748, 

 ' Roderick Random," the first and beat of his novels. It is an ad- 

 mirable novel, and one which must ever be a favourite. The style is 

 easy and unaffected : the incidents rapid, varied, but loosely con- 

 nected, and often purposeless. The humour is broad, palpable, and 

 coarse mostly of a physical nature, and deriving its force from 

 external circumstances ; for instance, Roderick's " carrotty locks, which 

 hung down over his shoulders like a pound of candles " the adven- 

 ture of Strap and Mrs. Weazle (which bears some resemblance to 

 Chaucer's ' Reve's Tale ') Strap's ignorance of London, and the adven- 

 tures and blunders which arise therefrom. Smollett's humour is 

 essentially vulgar, but hearty. He exhibit?, as Hazlitt said, the 

 ridiculous accidents and reverses to which human life is liable, not the 

 'stuff' of which it is composed. Smollett does not probe to the 

 quick, as Fielding does, nor penetrate beyond the surface. He has 

 great knowledge of ' life,' especially in its worst shades, but little of 

 character. He knows the peculiarities of men better than their 

 motives ; their eccentricities better than their natures. In a word he 

 has a ready eye to seize the superficial distinctions of manner and 

 appearance, but little insight into the passions and character. Here 

 lies Fielding's superiority. On the other band he has a "rude con- 

 ception of generosity in some of his characters, of which Fielding 

 seems incapable, his amiable persons being merely good-natured. 

 It is owing to this that Strap is superior to Partridge ; as there is a 

 heartiness and warmth of feeling hi some of the scenes between Lieu- 

 tenant Bowling and his nephew, which is beyond Fielding's power of 

 impassioned writing." (Hazlitt's ' Comic Writers,' p. 238.) 



In 1750 Smollett went to Paris, but his prejudices against the 

 French and his ignorance of then: language rendered his stay there a 

 short one. The year after he published ' Peregrine Pickle,' which was 

 greatly read and applauded. He received " a handsome reward " for 

 inserting the prurient and profligate memoirs of Lady Vane, and they 

 form such a mere episode, we wonder they have not been expunged. 

 It might suit the morbid vanity of the ' lady ' to pay a large sum for 

 the insertion of her memoirs in a popular novel ; but what are we to 

 Bay to the author who received the money for such a purpose 1 one 

 too who described himself as 



" Too coy to flatter and too proud to serve, 

 Thine be the joyless dignity to starve." 



Having done it, we are not to be surprised at his " flattering himself 

 that he had expunged every adventure, phrase, and insinuation that 



could be construed by the most delicate readers into a trespass upon 

 the rules of decorum :" the one was a consequence of the other. 

 After ' Peregrine Pickle ' was published, he resumed his medical pro- 

 fession, and announced himself as Dr. Smollett; but from what 

 university he obtained his degree was a secret, and remains one. 

 With this character, however, he endeavoured to set up in Bath, and 

 published a pamphlet on the ' External Use of Water.' Nobody how- 

 ever seemed inclined to trust their healths with the "popular author," 

 reputation, unless exclusively professional, being often a greater 

 drawback to success than the most profound stupidity. Disappointed 

 therefore in this design, he again took up the pen as a profession, and 

 fixed himself in Chelsea, where he wrote the ' Adventures of Ferdinand 

 Count Fathom.' This novel has not been relished so much as the 

 others, and with reason ; the subject and characters are disgusting, 

 and the story is tedious and spun out. There is however some 

 biting satire on the follies and vices of the world, and some 

 powerful writing in it. The robber-scene in the forest is a master- 

 piece of effect. 



In 1755 he published by subscription his translation of ' Don 

 Quixote;' this translation, which has been so often praised, is 

 worthless. Let any one compare it with the original, and he will be 

 struck with its inefficiency. All the difficult passages are slurred 

 over; Sancho's dry proverbial humour is lost, by having a sort of 

 conscious slang mixed with it ; the exquisite gravity of the Don is 

 lost his use of antique heroic words, such as ' insula ' for ' isla,' ' las 

 fazanas quo ban fecho' for 'lashazanas que han hecbo,' &c., is not 

 represented ; the melancholy and poetical shades of his character are 

 not seized, and the whole becomes vulgarised. Lord Woodhouslee 

 was the first to detect, in his ' Essay on Translation,' that Smollett 

 had founded his translation on the forgotten one of Jarvis. He has 

 been said to have excelled Jarvis, but without justice. Jarvis had a 

 greater knowledge of Spanish ; and if his translation be dull, it is at 

 least free from the vulgarity and Smollettism (so to speak) of 

 Smollett, which the latter has contrived to infuse into his 

 translation. 



Smollett then visited his relations in Scotland, and on his return 

 to London undertook the management of the ' Critical Rsview,' which 

 was to oppose the ' Monthly Review." His taste was vitiated aud 

 capricious, and his temper irritable : his jealousy bitter and watchful, 

 aud his vanity enormous. These were not the qualities desirable in an 

 editor, and in consequence his power to offend, coupled with hi.s 

 delight in offending, disgraced the ' Review ' with unseemly person- 

 alities. Among the many he attacked was Admiral Knowles, who 

 brought an action against the printer of the ' Review ' for a libel. 

 Smollett, by applying to persons acquainted with Knowles, 

 endeavoured to stop the action, but without avail, and when judg- 

 ment was about to be pronounced on the printer, he stepped for- 

 ward and declared himself the author, and was sentenced to pay 100. 

 and be imprisoned for three months. In 1757 he wrote the 

 ' Reprisals, or the Tars of Old England,' a comedy which Garrick, in 

 spite of their old quarrel, produced on the stage, where however it 

 had only small success. In 1758 he brought out his ' Complete 

 History of England from the earliest times to the treaty of Aix-la- 

 Chapelle in 1748.' This was written in the space of fourteen months 

 a specimen, as it has been observed, of ' literary industry," a 

 specimen also of literary presumption. Neither his temper of mind 

 nor his pursuits had qualified him to be an historical writer. But the 

 work was written in a clear and easy style; it became very popular, 

 and was immediately reprinted in 8vo weekly numbers, of which an 

 edition of ten thousand was rapidly sold. 



During his imprisonment he wrote the 'Adventures of SirLauucelot 

 Greaves,' a stupid and tedious imitation of ' Don Quixote." But the 

 characters of Crowe, Ferret, and Clarke are amusing. This novel was 

 printed in detached parts in the ' British Magazine.' The success of 

 his 'Complete History" induced him to continue it from 1748 to 

 1764. The volume for 1765 was written by Guthrie during Smollett's 

 absence on the Continent. Smollett is also supposed to have written 

 the accounts of France, Italy, and Germany for the ' Universal History." 



On Lord Bute's promotion to the administration, Smollett defended 

 him against Wilkes in a paper called the 'Briton,' which Wilkes 

 answered by his celebrated ' North Briton.' Smollett's paper was 

 however soon discontinued, and his services were unpaid. Aboul 17Ci 

 also, having mastered the French language, he was engaged in a trans- 

 lation of the works of Voltaire and a compilation entitled ' The Present 

 State of all Nations.' In June 1763 " traduced," as he sentimentally 

 informs us, " by malice, persecuted by faction, and overwhelmed by 

 the sense of domestic calamity," he went to Franco and Italy, and on 

 his return published the result of his observations, ' Travels through 

 France and Italy." Splenetic and prejudiced, this work has long been 

 forgotten. His increasing ill-health made travelling necessary, and 

 accordingly he went to Scotland, and from Scotland to B.ith, and in 

 1767 found himself considerably restored. His renewed vigour was 

 shown in the 'Adventures of an Atom," a violent political satire, 

 wherein, under fictitious names, he abused ministers. But his health 

 again requiring a milder climfte, this "independent writer," this man 

 too " coy to flatter," got his friends to solicit the very ministers whom 

 he had satirised, for a consulship. It can occasion no surprise that 

 this application did not succeed. 



