What a doctor! What a famous author! Tobias Smollett.

Years ago I was surprised to meet three Melbourne doctors (my husband's colleagues) who wanted to work, at least part time, in the arts eg theatre, pain­t­­ing or no­v­els. Each of these arts-focused doctors used Smollett as a role mod­el, a man who loved medicine but also wanted a creative career

Portrait of Tobias Smollet, c1770

by whom?

National Portrait Gallery

Tobias Smollett (1721-71) was born in Renton Scot­land, and educated at Glasgow Uni as a surgeon. He obtained a commis­s­ion as a naval sur­­g­eon on the HMS Chichester and travelled to Jam­aica for some years. Then in 1742 Tobias served as a surgeon during a dis­as­trous campaign in Columbia. On his return home, Tobias set up med­ic­al practice in Downing St and married Anne Lascelles (1721-91).

After the 1745 Battle of Culloden, Smollett’s first work was pub­lish­ed the very next year, a poem The Tears of Scotland. Then fame arrived with Adventures of Roderick Random 1748. Based on Smol­l­ett's experience as a British naval-surgeon’s mate, it told the life story of Rod­erick Random who was born to a nobleman and a lower-class wo­m­an. Shunned by his father's fam­ily, Rod­erick ended up finding his maternal uncle, a sailor who tried to support Roderick between voy­ages. This novel was full of adventure action, displaying farce rat­her than comedy. Through much of the novel Roderick posed as a nob­leman, alongside his close mate, a barber's apprentice Hugh Strap.

In 1750 Smollett got his final med­ic­al degree from Aber­deen Uni. His last­ing impact on medicine was improv­ing the delivery of midwif­ery.

Now examine Smollett’s friend, Irishman Oliver Golds­m­ith (1728-74), who studied medic­ine at Edinburgh Uni in 1750s. After further med­ic­al training at Leiden Uni, Goldsmith worked as a doctor, and only ret­urn­ed to Britain in 1756 to establish himself as a drama­tist. So Goldsm­ith and Smollett, friends and fellow physic­ians, both ear­n­ed their livings prim­arily from writ­ing.

Even at his young age, Dr Smollett must have planned to combine med­icine with writing. He travelled to France, where he found mat­er­ial for his se­cond, successful novel, The Adven­t­ures of Peregrine Pickle 1751. Peregrine was a young country lad, rejected by his dis­in­t­er­ested family, and raised by a loving Commodore. Pereg­r­ine's upbring­ing, Oxford educat­ion, French travel, debauchery, bank­ruptcy, gaol, inherit­ance of dad’s fortune and marriage all provided scope for Smoll­ett's satire on human cruelty and greed.

Adven­t­ures of Peregrine Pickle 1751

 
The doctor was now recognised as a leading literary figure and as­s­oc­iat­e of Samuel John­son. Smollett also caric­atured many of his riv­als in his novels eg Henry Fielding and actor David Garrick.

Smollett's 3rd novel, Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom 1753 was less popular than his first novels. The cent­ral charact­er was a villain who swindled and philandered his way across Europe with lit­tle con­cern for the law or for others’ welfare; human depravity.

In 1755 Tobias published a translation of Miguel de Cerv­ant­es' Don Quixote, complete with beautiful engravings. Smoll­ett's translation of Don Quixote captured the spirit of the Spanish original for English readers. But where did Smollett learn classical Spanish?

In 1756, he became editor of The Critical Review.

In the late 1750s-1760s, Smollett took up residence in Bath which was already a fashionable city. Profess­ion­al dandy Beau Nash had long been Bath’s Master of Ceremonies i.e he created a set of rules governing social activities, and enforced them. Bath people met in the Pump Room each day to hear music, drink and soc­ialise. It was a world obsessed with social class, money and gainful marriage, all providing grist for Smollett’s literary mill.

Smollett apparently libelled Admiral Charles Knowles in The Critical Review, May 1758. So Knowles sued both Smollett & Archibald Hamil­ton of the Critical Review. This prolonged tr­ial resulted in heavy fines and short sentences. Smollett’s hor­r­id experiences damaged his attitude towards the law and courts. Af­ter the Bath final trial, Smollett definitively left med­ic­ine for literature and settled down at Monmouth House Chel­sea.

With a co-author he finished his major work, Complete His­tory of Eng­land, which he began in 1755-8. Then Smollett brought out the first number of a new 6d publication, The British Magazine. His major contribution was a serial work of fiction, Mediocre Adven­tures of Sir Launcelot Greaves.

After suffering the loss of their only child in 1763, Smollett and Anne left England. They sailed across to Nice, Genoa, Rome and Flor­ence, and returned to London by June 1765. Travels through France and Italy 1766 was his account of this jour­n­ey. Smollett detailed the natural phenomena, history, social life, economics, diet and morals of the places he visited. But he was ir­ritated. Smollett quarrelled with innkeepers and fellow travel­lers; he scorned Cathol­icism, duelling and petty nobility. Worse still, he had rheumatism and suffered pain arising from a neglected ulcer.

Once Travels were pub­lished, Smol­l­ett planned a sum­mer journey to Scotland. Edinburgh society, then at its brilliant best, saluted the famous Dr Smollett; he was visited by Hume, Adam Smith, Carlyle etc. But he was still in a precar­ious state of health when he moved back to Bath. Smollett also wrote History and Advent­ur­es of an Atom 1769, a clever and rugged satire of English politics during the horrid 7 Years' War 1756-63. This book examined public aff­airs, Pitt the Younger, politicians, monarchs and the American colonies, lightly disguised.

Smollett's last book, 

Expedition of Humphry Clinker 1771

Bath inspired his last and best no­v­el, Expedition of Humphry Cl­inker 1771. Much of the comedy arose from diff­erences in the des­crip­­­­t­ions of the same ev­ents by the 6 different par­ticip­ants. The setting, amid high-society C18th spa towns and re­s­orts, provided his char­act­ers with satir­ic­al observ­at­ions on Eng­lish life and luxury. It was a feast of late C18th coffeehouse cul­t­ure, art, fashion and morals. But Dr Smollett found Bath pretentious, rarely went back to Scotland or London. In his last years, Smollett per­manently left for Italy, dying in Livorno at 50.