he married an amiable woman, Barbara, daughter of Mr Cunningham of Gilbertfield. The disunion betwixt the son and father, to which this act of imprudence gave rise, did not prevent Sir James Smollett from assigning to him, for his support, the house and farm of Dalquhurn, near his own mansion of Bonhill. Archibald Smollett died early, leaving two sons and a daughter wholly dependent on the kindness of his grandfather. The eldest son embraced the military life, and perished by the shipwreck of a transport. The daughter, Jane, married Mr Telfer of Leadhills, and her descendant, Captain John Smollett, R.N., now represents the family, and possesses the estate of Bonhill. The second son of Archibald Smollett is the subject of this Memoir.

TOBIAS SMOLLETT (baptized Tobias George) was born in 1721, in the old house of Dalquhurn, in the valley of Leven, in perhaps the most beautiful district in Britain. Its distinguished native has celebrated the vale of Leven, not only in the beautiful Ode addressed to his parent stream, but in the Expedition of Humphry Clinker, where he mentions the home of his forefathers in the following enthusiastic, yet not exaggerated terms :—

"A very little above the source of the Leven, on the lake, stands the house of Cameron, belonging to Mr Smollett, so embosomed in an oak wood, that we did not see it till we were within fifty yards of the door. The lake approaches on one side to within six or seven yards of the window. It might have been placed in a higher situation, which would have afforded a more extensive prospect, and a drier atmosphere; but this imperfection is not chargeable on the present proprietor, who purchased it ready built, rather than be at the

The late Commissary Smollett.

trouble of repairing his own family-house of Bonhill, which stands two miles from hence on the Leven, so surrounded with plantations, that it used to be known by the name of the Mavis (or thrush) Nest. Above that house is a romantic glen, or cleft of a mountain, covered with hanging woods, having at bottom a stream of fine water that forms a number of cascades in its descent to join the Leven, so that the scene is quite enchanting.

"I have seen the Lago di Gardi, Albano de Vico, Bolsena, and Geneva, and I prefer Loch-Lomond to them all; a preference which is certainly owing to the verdant islands that seem to float upon its surface, affording the most enchanting objects of repose to the excursive view. Nor are the banks destitute of beauties which even partake of the sublime. On this side they display a sweet variety of woodland, corn-fields, and pasture, with several agreeable villas, emerging, as it were, out of the lake; till at some distance, the prospect terminates in huge mountains, covered with heath, which, being in the bloom, affords a very rich covering of purple. Every thing here is romantic beyond imagination. This country is justly styled the Arcadia of Scotland: I do not doubt but it may vie with Arcadia in every thing but climate. I am sure it excels it in verdure, wood, and water."

A poet bred up amongst such scenes, must become doubly attached to his art; and accordingly it appears that Smollett was in the highest degree sensible of the beauties of nature, although his fame has chiefly risen upon his power of delineating human character. He obtained the rudiments of classical knowledge at the Dumbarton grammarschool, then taught by Mr John Love, the scarce less learned antagonist of the learned Ruddiman. From thence he removed to Glasgow, where he pursued his studies with diligence and success, and was finally bound apprentice to Mr John Gordon, an eminent surgeon. This destination was contrary to young Smollett's wishes, which strongly determined him to a military life; and he is supposed

to have avenged himself both of his grandfather, who contradicted his inclinations, and of his master, by describing the former under the unamiable character of the old Judge, and the latter as Mr Potion, the first master of Roderick Random. At a later period he did Mr Gordon justice by mentioning him in the following terms: "I was introduced to Mr Gordon," says Matthew Bramble, a patriot of a truly noble spirit, who is father of the linen manufactory in that place, and was the great promoter of the city work-house, infirmary, and other works of public utility. Had he lived in ancient Rome, he would have been honoured with a statue at the public expense."

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During his apprenticeship, Smollett's conduct indicated that love of frolic, practical jest, and playful mischief, of which his works show many proofs, and the young novelist gave also several indications of his talents and propensity to satire.1

1 ["Although, at so early a period of life, he was liable to very great mistakes in judging of the characters of mankind, yet he began to direct the edge of his boyish satire against such scanty shoots of affectation and ridicule as were produced in a city enriched by commerce, and enlightened by its university. The shafts of his wit were not even then confined to the coquetry and foppery of the youthful and fashionable only, but were sometimes aimed at the selfishness and hypocrisy of the more formal and serious part of the citizens, among whom the chief means of acquiring importance were the possession of wealth, and the decent observance of the duties of religion. "These early productions of his muse afforded much entertainment to his young companions, but they gave offence to many pious and industrious persons, who were unjustly accused of being hypocrites, and exposed to his satire. Some of them, it is said, possessed a considerable portion of that species of humour for which he was afterwards so much dis

It is said, that his master expressed his conviction of Smollett's future eminence in very homely but expressive terms, when some of his neighbours were boasting the superior decorum and propriety of their young pupils. "It may be all very true," said the keensighted Mr Gordon; "but give me, before them all, my own bubbly-nosed callant, with the stane in his pouch." Without attempting to render this into English, our Southern readers must be informed, that the words contain a faithful sketch of a negligent, unlucky, but spirited urchin, never without some mischievous prank in his head, and a stone in his pocket ready to execute it.1

In the eighteenth year of Smollett's life, his

tinguished. None of them, however, have been thought worthy of preservation."—ANDERSON's Life of Smollett, p. 14.]

1

[“ On a winter evening," says Dr Moore," when the streets were covered with snow, Smollett happened to be engaged in a snow-ball fight with a few boys of his own age. Among his associates was the apprentice of that surgeon who is supposed to have been delineated under the name of Crab in Roderick Random. He entered his shop while his apprentice was in the heat of the engagement. On the return of the latter, the master remonstrated severely with him for his negligence in quitting the shop. The youth excused himself by saying that while he was employed in making up a prescription, a fellow had hit him with a snowball; and he had been in pursuit of the delinquent. A mighty probable story truly,' said the master, in an ironical tone; I wonder how long I should stand here,' added he, before it would enter into any mortal's head to throw a snowball at me.' While he was holding his head erect, with a most scornful air, he received a very severe blow in the face by a snowball. Smollet, who stood concealed behind the pillar at the shop-door, had heard the dialogue; and perceiving that his companion was puzzled for an answer, he extricated him by a repartee equally smart and à propos."-Life of Smollett.]

grandfather, Sir James, died, making no provision by his will for the children of his youngest son, a neglect which, joined to other circumstances already mentioned, procured him from his irritable descendant the painful distinction which the old Judge holds in the narrative of Roderick Random.

Without efficient patronage of any kind, Smollett, in his nineteenth year, went to London to seek his fortune wherever he might find it. He carried with him the Regicide, a tragedy, written during the progress of his studies, but which, though it evinces in particular passages the genius of the author, cannot be termed with justice a performance suited for the stage. Lord Lyttleton, as a patron-Garrick and Lacy, as managers,-gave the youthful author some encouragement, which, perhaps, the sanguine temper of Smollett overrated; for, in the story of Mr Melopoyn, where he gives the history of his attempts to bring the Regicide on the stage, the patron and the manager are not spared; and, in Peregrine Pickle, the personage of Gosling Scrag, which occurs in the first edition only, is meant to represent Lord Lyttleton. The story is more briefly told in the preface to the first edition of the Regicide, where the author informs us that his tragedy

"was taken into the protection of one of those little fellows who are sometimes called great men, and, like other orphans, neglected accordingly. Stung with resentment," he adds, "which I mistook for contempt, I resolved to punish this barbarous indifference, and actually discarded my patron; consoling myself with the barren praises of a few associates, who, in the most indefatigable manner, employed their time and influence in collecting from all quarters observations on