[From Fernelius’ Universa Medicina, Geneva, 1679.1

BOOKSHELF BROWSTNG TOBIAS SMOLLETT

CARL BECK, M.D.

BRIDGEPORT, CONN.

T HE sahy flavor of “Perigrine PickIe” ought to be acceptabIe to a generation of triumphant reahsm.

SmoIIett has come to his own. His knowIedge of Life and fierce energy shouId give him a high pIace among the reaIists. His was not the modern scientific method, characteristic of some of the Ieading noveIists of our own day, but he was a great narrator, who toId his story with zest and knew of what he wrote. His experience was extensive and he knew Iife as it was Iived in MarshaIsea and the FIeet, at Wapping and St. GiIes, in the gaming houses of Covent Garden, in the bagnios of Longacre, with a knowIedge that onIy a turnkey, a seaman, or a genius wouId have, but aIso with an understanding of a broad and generous mind. His was a boId and adventurous spirit that took him into the cockpit of a man-of-war, under the waIIs of Carthagena, in many an EngIish wayside inn, in Jamaica, among the bIeak hiIIs of Piedmont, and this boId and adventurous spirit is reflected in his tales, as was a11 he saw and did and suffered.

Iett. Sir James was bred a Iawyer in Edinburgh, represented Dumbarton in the oId Scottish parIiament in 1688, was Knighted by WiIIiam III and was appointed to a judgeship. He was a zeaIous promoter of the union of EngIand and ScotIand and served on the Commission that framed the Articles of Union. Later he served in the British Parliament. The youngest of his chiIdren, ArchibaId, (there were four sons and two daughters) married without his father’s consent, a young girl of no fortune. The oId Knight settIed on them the rent of a IittIe property with an income of 2200 a year. To the pair were born three chiIdren, Jane, James and Tobias.

Tobias SmoIIett was born in Dumbarton- shire in 1721. His famiIy was the most prominent in the district, the head being the novehst’s grandfather, Sir James SmoI-

Tobias attended the grammar schooI at Dumbarton, wrote verses which, Iike those of many another Scot, procIaimed the virtues of his native heath and the gIories of Scotland. The pages of Buchanan’s History gave him the inspiration for his Drama on James I, King of ScotIand. At fifteen, he attended the University of GIasgow and for three years (I 736-1739) fluttered about its cIoisters. He took up his medica studies and was apprenticed to John Gordon, a we11 known surgeon of the city.

GIasgow had its group of inteIIectuaIs, a IittIe knot of coIIege professors, medica

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384 American Journal of Surgery Beck-Tobias SmoIIett MAY, 1936

men and cIergymen. Hutcheson was then Professor of MoraI PhiIosophy, and Robert Simson, the editor of E&id, was Professor

FIG. I. Tobias SmoIIett, M.D.

tion in 1741. He served on one of the biggest ships of the squadron under AdmiraI Sir ChaIoner OgIe joining AdmiraI Vinon’s squadron in the West Indies, and was on his ship during the whoIe of the operations of the combined Aeet and Iand forces against Carthagena. We gather that he cruised in these seas for the greater part of I 741 and resided for a time in Jamaica, where he became acquainted with a Miss LasceIIes, a CreoIe beauty, daughter of an EngIish pIanter. 1.n 1744 he settIed in London at the age of twenty- three, setting up his brass pIate in Downing Street. He was rather more occupied with talking and writing than with attending the injured, the Iame and the haIt. It was when his affairs were at their worst that the CreoIe beauty arrived in London and after a whiIe consented to marry him. In 1747, at the age of twenty-six, he was married and on the strength of his bride’s possession of X3000 he took a new house. UnfortunateIy, the X3000 were not forth- coming, and it took an action at Iaw against certain trustees to recover a portion of it.

of Mathematics. Among the younger men were WiIIiam CuIIen and WiIIiam Hunter, the future chiefs of British medicine. About haIf of the professors were cIergy- men, and if any one had any doubts about CaIvinism he kept them to himseIf.

SmoIIett turned to Iiterature without giving up surgery and in 1748 he pubIished “Roderick Random” in two smaI1 voIumes. The story is in the main a burIesque autobiography and its success was greater than he anticipated.

SmoIIett was a rebe1 against the Presby- terianism of the time, a trait he doubtIess inherited from his independent Scottish forbears, and never, to the end of his Iife, did he show any attachment to eccIesiastica1 forms. He began early to direct his shafts of satire against the money-making pride and reIigious fanati- cism of GIasgow. It is significant that a11 Iiterary men of the day were in this position of antagonism to theoIogica1 dogmatism.

As Iate as I 75 I, SmoIIett had not given up hope of reconciIing Iiterature with medicine. His medica degree he secured in 1749 from MarcschaI CoIIege, Aberdeen, and he pubIished about this time, “An Essay on the ExternaI Use of Water with Remarks upon the Method of Using the MineraI Waters of Bath.” His writings show that the therapeutic use of water was a hobby with him, so that he is one of the forerunners of our modern hydrotherapy.

SmoIIett’s friends procured him a position Had SmoIIett been a IittIe active in as surgeon’s mate aboard a man-o’- soliciting a practice he might have suc- war. His biographers report his embarka- ceeded, but he was indifferent, and his tion in 1739 and do not report his return creative instinct was too much aIive, SO to England unti1 1744. We know he partici- that “Dr. SmoIIett ” turned more and pated in the disastrous Carthagena Expedi- more to literature.

NEW SERIES VOL. XXXII, No. z Beck-Tobias SmoIIett American Journal of Surgery 385

The Peace of Aix-Ia-ChapeIIe opened up France to tourists and SmoIIett drifted to Paris and wrote “Peregrine PickIe.” This nove1 was twice as Iong as his “Rode- rick Random ” and had a rapid sale in both EngIand and ScotIand but what pleased its author most, was that it was transIated into French.

By this time he had become a man of metropoIitan note. He took a good house in CheIsea and was visited by many ceIebrities of the day and by a group of young Iiterary aspirants who drew on the generosity of their amiable host.

In 1753 came his “Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom.” The ghast- Iiness of the taIe, which treats of a sort of “Jonathan WiId” of a high social strata had been preceded by FieIding’s tare and resuIted in its having but a short-Iived popuIarity. In 1755 he transIated “Don Quixote,” pubIished by subscription. Wearied by this task, he decided to visit ScotIand and departed for GIasgow. He found his oId master no Ionger a surgeon but a physician of high repute; one or two of his oId professors were stiI1 aIive and at the university; CuIIen, not yet removed to Edinburgh fiIIed one of the chairs in medicine. Hutcheson had been succeeded as Professor of MoraI PhiIosophy by Adam Smith. He was weIcomed by these dis- tinguished men as one of themseIves.

He returned to London and there began a new stage of his career. BaIdwin, the bookseIIer of Paternoster Row, decided to issue a Iiterary journa1 in opposition to the “MonthIy Review.” It was to be caIIed the “CriticaI Review.” The first number was issued in 1756. The same year SmoIIett edited for DodsIey a “Com- pendium of Authentic and Entertain- ing Voyages, digested in ChronoIogicaI Series in seven volumes. In this “Com- pendium ” he inserted severa contributions of his own. In 1757 he wrote “The ReprisaI of the Tars of OId EngIand, A Comedy in Two Acts,” and had the satisfaction of seeing it performed at Drury Lane. The pIay deaIs with the capture of an EngIish

yacht, aboard which was a young Iady and a gentIeman, by a French frigate and their uItimate rescue by a British man 0’ war.

David Hume was at this time IaboriousIy occupied with his “History of Great Britain” and had compIeted two voIumes. The work was proceeding sIowIy for Hume’s efforts were paIpabIy diminishing. The hercuIean task was accordingIy under- taken by SmoIIett and in 1754, after fourteen months of unprecedented appIica- tion, he gave to the worId in four quart0 voIumes his “History of EngIand from the Descent of JuIius Caesar to the Treaty of Aix-Ia-ChapeIIe,” containing the trans- actions of one thousand eight hundred and three years. He made no cIaim to the use of origina documents but onIy as he him- seIf put it to having presented to the pubIic “a succinct, candid and compIete history of EngIand, more easy in the purchase, more agreeabIe in the perusa1 and Iess burdensome to the memory than any work of the same nature produced in these kingdoms.”

In an action for IibeI against the printer instituted by AdmiraI KnowIes, SmoIIett took the responsibiIity upon himseIf and in May, I 759, was fined X IOO and sen- tenced to three months imprisonment. To pass the time pIeasantIy he wrote the “Adventures of Sir LaunceIot Greaves,” a travesty on Don Quixote, in which a young EngIish gentreman is the hero, and which gave SmoIIett an opportunity to exhibit his gifts of socia1 satire.

During the Bute ministry, SmoIIett edited the “Briton,” an organ supporting his unpopuIar Scottish Prime Minister and his entire government. It was a trying time and before the ministry was over, SmoIIett broke down in heaIth. He had been working aIso at his “Continuation of the History of EngIand,” a’ transIation of the works of VoItaire in twenty-seven voIumes and a compiIation entitIed, “The Present State of AI1 Nations!” FinaIIy the death of his onIy, beIoved daughter compIeteIy prostrated him.

386 American Journal of Surgery Beck-Tobias SmoIIett MAY, 1936

He crossed the channeI to Boulogne in June, 1763, proceeded to Nice and resided there from November, 1763 to May, 1765. After an absence of two years he returned to EngIand.

In 1766, an account of his wanderings in Europe appeared in his “TraveIs through France and ItaIy.” It is written in the form of letters from Boulogne, Paris, Lyons, Montpelier and Nice to a friend in EngIand. These “Travels” are interesting, make profitabIe reading and give more evidence of his medica knowI- edge than is to be found eIsewhere.

After severa months in London, tuber- cuIar symptoms again evidenced them- seIves and in addition he was troubIed with rheumatism. He decided upon a journey to ScotIand, arriving in Edinburgh in June, 1766. He sojourned here for severa weeks, receiving friendIy attention from Hume, Robertson, Adam Smith, as we11 as from CuIIen and other Iuminaries of the medica world. Then he went to GIasgow, Iiving for a time with his friend and biographer, Dr. Moore; thence he and a party of friends journeyed to the VaIe of Leven, where he beheld for the Iast time the scenes of his boyhood. In August, 1766, he returned to EngIand stiI1 an invaIid and spent the winter at Bath. Here he raIIied beyond the most sanguine hopes of his friends.

In 1769 he wrote his satire on pubIic Iife in EngIand, entitIed “History of an Atom.”

SmoIIett was sIowIy dying and his restIess spirit and search for heaIth took him in 1770 to Monte Nova near Leghorn. He was growing weaker and weaker yet the intervaIs of relief afforded him by the kindly cIimate of ItaIy, were spent in literary composition. This was “The Expe- dition of Humphrey CIinker.” The manu- script was sent to London and there pubIished in three smaI1 vohrmes. Soon afterwards he died in his fifty-first year.

After his death, his metrica satires, a metrica tragedy and other verse, published and unpubIished, were gathered together and issued.

Three years after SmoIIett’s death, a monument in his memory was erected on the banks of Leven near the house where he was born. The Latin inscription was furnished by Johnson. It is not pIeasant to add that his widow seems to have been negIected by her Scotch reIa- tives. She continued to Iive in Leghorn where she erected a monument over her husband’s grave.

This background of biography wiI1, I trust, make cIearer the sources of SmoIIett’s inspiration. FieIding, aIone of his contemporaries, surpassed him in inteI- IectuaI power and artistic skiI1, but SmoI- Iett surpassed them a11 in broad humor and sheer vividness.

II

The first of his noveIs “ Roderick Random.”

Notwithstanding the Iooseness of its construction, it may be considered his best. Fate had it that the taIe, considered by many critics as the greatest in our Iiterature, FieIding’s “Tom Jones” shouId foIIow it. WhiIe “ Roderick Random” suffers in comparison, it wiI1 hold its own with any other nove1 of its kind, contem- porary or otherwise.

It presents the career of a friendIess orphan exposed to the snares and pitfaIIs of a knavish worId. The hero is not a gentleman, possesses no very high prin- cipIes, and there is no pretense that he is one. The taIe is picaresque, crowded with queer folk. The characterizations are con- sistent and the book is pervaded by a broad humor. He drew upon his experience as a surgeon on shipboard and his refer- ences to the Iife of the seaman are authentic and have the minute accuracy of a Dutch painting.

In “ Roderick Random,” SmoIIett ex- hibits in the highest degree a11 the quaIities that made him famous. Here we find them in a11 their fuIIness-uproarious mirth, broad farce and broader humanity, truth- fu1 deIineation and the keen zest for Iife he retained through a11 the years of

NEW SERIES VOL. XXXII. No. z Beck-Tobias SmoIIett American Journal of Surgery 387

invalidism. Smollett created immorta1 Eng- Iish characters that have their counterpart in Iife. In Bowling we have the honest and manly English saiIor, a character un- matched of its kind in a11 fiction; his hero Random is no mere paragon, he is flesh and blood, though a friendIess orphan roaming through a hard worId. SmoIIett would have detested the simpering per- fections of the usua1 hero of fiction, untrue to life as untrue to art.

Perhaps the chief vaIue Iies in his authentic reveIation of haIf-deviIs and haIf-heroes England has produced in such men as Benbow, Rodney and Hawke. Therein did SmoIIett render a great service to EngIand and to EngIish Iiterature.

Smollett reIies on the interest of pure action. His materia1 is so picturesque, so romantic in the sense of being both strange and terribIe that it gains, rather than Ioses, by his matter of fact treatment. There is no varnish of art in the description of Random’s usage at the hands of a IawIess crew and the bruta1 Cramphy on the grim Sussex shore. Here at Ieast, he is supreme; in giving evidence of the truest artistic instinct, teIIing his taIe with the utmost simpIicity, with a precious artressness. Nor is this aI1. There are quiet descriptions of events and things, fuI1 of movement and coIor-the Scotch parish schoo1, the ac- count of the fearfu1 conspiracy of the boys aided and abetted by Lieutenant BowIing and Rory’s coach trip to Bath with the intuition of carrying off an heiress. As in aII, in these roIIicking noveIs his gentIemen are ever ready with their swords and his common foIk with their fists. Dumas himseIf, does not provide us with a greater variety of dueIs.

His humor is broad and infectious, it is that of the sea and the taproom without pretense of refinement and niceness but suited to his taIes of the very human sturdy characters he portrays.

In “Perigrine PickIe” he gives us the story of a headstrong, unbridIed and dissolute youth, who is wiId at schoo1, deveIops into an unprincipIed man and is

tamed onIy in prison. In this character somehow SmoIIett is abIe to suggest a capacity for profound Iove and higher things.

The nove1 is coarse, sometimes gra- tuitiousIy nasty and the author seems to reve1 in obscenity. But there is a fine spirit of farce and burIesque not characteristic of Roderick Random.

GamaIieI PickIe proposes to the Iady of his choice in the terminoIogy of the trades and with commercia1 curtness. “Madam, understanding you have a heart warranted sound, to be disposed, shall be wiIIing to treat for said commodity upon reasonabIe terms.” His descriptions of his characters tend to exaggeration-written in this spirit of farce. A physician spouts, “Greek and Iiberty.” There is an entertainment given to a French Marquis, an ItaIian Count and a German Baron. The dishes served are of a horribIe congIomeration, the guests maintaining a dignified reserve while undergoing the torture of the even- ing. OId PickIe and Commodore Trunnion dominated by their wives are treated in a Iike spirit. SmoIIett yieIds freeIy to his passion for caricature. The bIasphemies are fearfu1, the humor aIways roIIicking and coarse. Nowhere eIse is such a crew of originals brought together and so vigorousIy deIineated.

In “The Adventures of Count Fathom” we have the career of a hideous and extraordinary scoundre1. Here is the same tendency toward exaggeration of incident and character.

His “Adventures of An Atom” has caIIed forth the admiration of many readers, because of the remarkabIe gift for satire and aIIegory here shown. ReckIess admirers have even compared him to RabeIais and Swift, but SmoIIett does not seem to be of the towering genius of these mighty giants of Iiterature. The “Ad- ventures of An Atom” is a poIitica1 satire. SmoIIett is said to have been at first a Whig and turned Tory or vice versa and feIt himserf unduIy negIected. The story is an incursion into mock history, extrava-

388 American Journal of Surgery ‘Beck-Tobias SmoIIett MAY, 1936

gant, fuII of wit and Iearning. An atom, wandering from Japan, becomes endowed with reason and speech, finds a Iodgement in the brain of a one Nathaniel Peacock and causes him to write exactly what it dictates of past history. There are satirica comments on prominent Whig poIiticians and strange digressions touching upon a11 manner of things, giving evidence of the author’s erudition.

“The Adventures of Humphrey CIinker ” has throughout the air of a rea1 diary. The acid, crabbed spinster Tabitha, Humphrey himself and his sweetheart are perfect of their kind and Lismahago, a sort of Scotch Don Quixote, is the gIory of the whoIe company-a source of broad humor and farcica1 caricature. Some of the scenes are not surpassed for abandon and for the spirit of contempt for propriety and convention. The book is a miracIe of roIIick- ing filth.

SmoIIett made some attempts at the drama, but not very successfu1. But his “Regicide, A Tragedy” written at the age of nineteen, contains some good materia1. “The ReprisaI” written at a Iater date is marked by his characteristic humor, in the burIesque presentation of the character of an Irishman, a Scotchman, a Frenchman and an EngIish saiIor.

The first biography of Tobias SmoIIett came from the pen of his friend, Dr. John Moore, which was foIIowed by the Ander- son biography and Iater one from the pen of Sir Waiter Scott.

Scott gave his estimate of SmoIIett in the foIlowing words : “We readiIy grant to SmoIIett equa1 rank with his great rival FieIding, whiIe we pIace both far above any of their successors in the same Iine of fictitious composition.”

SmoIIett’s Ietters are reveaIing. Those from abroad exhibit gIimpses of the man at his best and they light up phases and objects with many vivid touches. A private Ietter written under date, London, May 8th, 1763, to one Richard Smith, an Ameri- can coIonia1 living at Burlington, New Jersey, is worth quoting as it heIps con-

siderabIy in understanding the personaIity of the writer.

“Sir: I am favored with yrs. of the 26th of February, and cannot but be pIeased to find myself as a writer, so high in your esteem. The curiosity you express, with regard to the par- ticulars of my Iife and the variety of situations in which I may have been, cannot be gratified within the compass of a letter. Besides there are some particuIars of my life which it wouId iII become me to reIate. The onIy simiIitude between the circumstances of my own fortune and those I have attributed to Roderick Ran- dom consists of my being born of a reputable famiIy in ScotIand, and my being bred a sur- geon, and having served as a surgeon’s mate on board a man-of-war, during the expedition to Carthagena. The low situations in which I have exhibited Roderick, I never experienced in my own person. I married very young, a native of Jamaica, a young Iady we11 known and universaIIy respected under the name of Miss Nancy LasceIIes, and by her I enjoy a comfortable though moderate estate in that island. I practised surgery in London, after having improved myself by traveIIing in France and other foreign countries, till the year 1749, when I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine, and have lived ever since in CheIsea, (I hope) with credit and reputation.

No one knows better than Mr. Rivington (a friend of Richard Smith) what time I em- pIoyed in writing the four first voIumes of the “History of EngIand”; and indeed the short period in which that work was finished appears aImost incredibIe to myserf, when I recollect that I turned over and consuIted over 300 voI- umes in the course of my Iabour. Mr. Riving- ton Iikewise knows that I spent the best part of a year in revising, correcting and improving the quart0 edition, which is now going to press, and wiI1 be continued in the same size to the Iate Peace. Whatever reputation I may have got by this work has been dearIy purchased by the Ioss of heaIth which I am of the opinion I wiII never retrieve. I am now going to the South of France, in order to try the efiects of that cIimate; and very probabIy I shaI1 never return. I am much obIiged to you for the hope you express that I have obtained some provi- sion from His Majesty; but the truth is I have neither pension nor pIace nor am I of that disposition which can stoop to soIicit either. I

have aIways piqued myself upon my inde- Isaac DisraeIi in his “Calamities of pendency and I trust in God I shaI1 preserve it to my dying day.

Authors ” says, “Of most authors by

ExcIusive of some small detached perform- profession, who has dispIayed a more

ances I have published occasionaIIy in papers fruitfu1 genius and exercised a more

and magazines, the foIlowing is a genera1 Iist intense industry than SmoIIett? But Iook

of my productions: into his Iife and enter into his feeIings

“ Roderick Random,” “The Regicide, a and we shaI1 be shocked at the disparity

Tragedy,” “A TransIation of GiI Bias,” “A of his situation and the genius of the man.

TransIation of Don Quixote,” “An Essay His life was a succession of struggles,

Upon the ExternaI Use of Water,” “Perigrine vexations, and disappointments-yet of PickIe,” “Ferdinand, Count Fathom,” A great part of the “CriticaI Review,” A very

success in his writinp”!.”

smaI1 part of the “Compendium of Voyages,” It is not surprIsmg that under the

The compIete “History of EngIand and Con- circumstances SmoIIett was 0ccasionalIy

tinuation,” A smaI1 part of the “Modern swayed by vioIent prejudices and permitted

Universal History,” Some pieces in the British himseIf to give vent to injured pride.

Magazine, comprehending the whoIe of Sir But “the battIe over” says Thackeray,

LaunceIot Greaves, A smaI1 part of the “Trans- “he couId do justice to the enemy with

lation of VoItaire’s Works,” incIuding a11 the whom he had been so fierceIy engaged and

notes, historica and critica1, to be found in give a not-unfriendly grasp to the hand

that transIation. that had mauled him.”

I am very much mortified to find it is be- His best biographer and friend, Dr.

Iieved in America that I have Ient my name to Moore, pictures him from intimate knowl- BookseIIers; that is a species of prostitution edge of which I am aItogether incapabIe. I had

“of a disposition so humane and

engaged with Mr. Rivington, and made some generous that he was ever ready to serve

progress in a work exhibiting the present the unfortunate. His passions were easil)

state of the worId; which work I shaI1 finish moved; he couId not conceaI his contempt

if I recover my heaIth. If you shouId see Mr. and detestation of fraud, nor refrain from

Rivington, pIease give my kindest compli- procIaiming his indignation against every

ments to him. Tell him I wish him a11 manner instance of oppression.”

of happiness, tho’ I have IittIe to expect for His reward did not come in his own day.

my own share, having Iost my onIy child, a Such things are reserved for the warrior.

fine gir1 of fifteen, whose death has over- That is the way of the mob. But the better wheImed myseIf and my wife with unutterabIe minds of his own time and Iater generations sorrow. have crowned him.

I have now compIied with your request and We know that SmoIIett shares with beg, in my turn, you wiI1 recommend me to al1 my friends in America. I have endeavoured more

FieIding the honor of inspiring modern

than once to do the colonies some service; and realism. Dickens in his earIy days sat at

am, Sir, your very humble servant,” SmoIIett’s feet. “Roderick Random” be-

Ts. SmoIIett came the influence of David CopperfieId. Our modern Iiterature shows his influence.

This seems to me to be a manIy fore- thought letter of a man of energy, essentia1

Smollett’s fame is secure and posterity

dignity and character, which _teIIs an pays tribute to his genius, his Iove of truth,

interesting tale in itseIf. - his breadth of humanity, and his generous

and independent spirit.

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