Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771) was a Scottish poet and author, best known for his picaresque novels like "The Adventures of Roderick Random" and "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker." His literary career, which followed his qualification as a surgeon, was influenced by his travels and experiences, and his works impacted later novelists such as Charles Dickens.
Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771) was a Scottish poet and author, best known for his picaresque novels like "The Adventures of Roderick Random" and "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker." His literary career, which followed his qualification as a surgeon, was influenced by his travels and experiences, and his works impacted later novelists such as Charles Dickens.
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| Back | Tobias George Smollett (19 March 1721 (baptised) – 17 September 1771) was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for his 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 amended liberally by printers; a definitive edition of each of his works was edited by Dr O. M. Brack Jr to correct such variations. This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2017) Quick facts: Born, Died … Tobias Smollett as depicted on the Scott Monument Life Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, now part of Renton in present-day West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. He was the fourth son of Archibald Smollett of Bonhill, a judge and landowner who died about 1726, and Barbara Cunningham, who died about 1766. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, where he qualified as a surgeon. Some biographers assert that he then proceeded to the University of Edinburgh, but left without earning a degree. His career in medicine came second to his literary ambitions; in 1739 he went to London to seek fortune as a dramatist. Unsuccessful, he obtained a commission as a naval surgeon on HMS Chichester 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. On his return to Britain, Smollett established a practice in Downing Street and married a wealthy Jamaican heiress, Anne "Nancy" Lascelles (1721–1791), in 1747. She was a daughter of William Lascelles. They had one child, a daughter Elizabeth, who died aged 15 years about 1762. 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. Smollett's first published work was a poem about the Battle of Culloden entitled "The Tears of Scotland", but it was The Adventures of Roderick Random 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 published in 1748. After that, Smollett finally had his tragedy The Regicide published, although it was never performed. In 1750, Smollett was granted his MD degree at the University of Aberdeen. He also 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. He was now recognised as a major author. His novels were published by the well-known London bookseller Andrew Millar. Smollett became 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's novel Don Quixote, which he revised in 1761. In 1756, he became editor of The Critical Review. Portrait of Tobias Smollett by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, ca. 1764 Smollett then began what he regarded as his major work, A Complete History of England (1757–1765). During that period he served a brief prison sentence for libel and produced another novel, The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1760). After suffering the loss of their only daughter, he and his wife went abroad, and the result was the publication 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 with selling off the slaves he still owned in Jamaica. A further visit to Scotland helped to inspire his last novel, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), published in the year of his death. He had for some time been suffering from an intestinal disorder. Having sought a cure at Bath, he retired to Italy, where he was buried in the old English cemetery in Livorno, Italy. A plaque at the head of St John Street, off the Royal Mile marks his Edinburgh home. His wife continued to live there until at least 1785. |
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