'. . . There are, besides, true Smollett strokes in the scenes in the prison from which Melvil rescues Fathom, and there is a good deal of the satirical Smollett fun in the description of Fathom's ups and downs, first as the petted beau, and then as the fashionable doctor. In chronicling the latter meteoric career, Smollett had already observed the peculiarity of his countrymen which Thackeray was fond of harping on in the next century -- "the maxim which universally prevails among the English people . . . to overlook, . . . on their return to the metropolis, all the connections they may have chanced to acquire during their residence at any of the medical wells.. . . .'

Author Biography

Tobias George Smollett (1721 - 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 such as Charles Dickens. His novels were amended liberally by printers. His 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 modeled on Le Sage's Gil Blas and was published during 1748. After that Smollett finally had his tragedy, The Regicide, published, though it was never performed. During 1750, Smollett was granted his MD degree in Aberdeen and also traveled 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 during 1753. He was now recognized as a major author, whose novels were published by the well-known London bookseller Andrew Millar. During 1755 he published an English translation of Miguel de Cervantes's novel Don Quixote, which he revised during 1761. During 1756, he became editor of the magazine The Critical Review. Smollett then began what he regarded as his major work, A Complete History of England, from 1757 to 1765. During this period he served a brief prison sentence for libel and produced another novel, The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1760). Having suffered the loss of a daughter, he went abroad with his wife 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.