gave him a most unexpected answer, by throwing a snow-ball, which hit him a very severe blow on the face, and extricated his companion.
But the early years of Smollett were devoted to better pursuits than these. While still studying medicine at the college, he composed a tragedy on the death of James I. of Scotland, styled the "Regicide;" and which, though not calculated for the stage, certainly displayed considerable ability.
While in his eighteenth year, he had the misfortune to lose his grandfather, who died without making any provision for either him or any of the rest of his father's family. He, therefore, resolved to seek his fortune in London; while his sister, having married Mr Telfer, a respectable and wealthy gentleman of Lanarkshire, was able to afford an asylum to his mother. His elder brother, James, who had before this entered the army, and reached the rank of captain, was lost at sea, off the coast of America.
The stock with which Smollett, at nineteen, entered upon London life, consisted of a small sum of money, a large assortment of letters of introduction, a mind stored with professional knowledge and general literature, a rich vein of humour, and an engaging person and address. He tried, at first, to get his tragedy brought upon the stage; but the attempt only brought him disappointment and chagrin. His friends, however, were able to procure him an appointment as surgeon's mate to a ship of the line ; in which capacity he sailed, in 1741, in the unfortunate expedition to Carthagena, under admiral Vernon and general Wentworth. Of this blundering affair, he published a most faithful and spirited account in his "Compendium of Voyages and Travels," seven volumes, octavo, 1756; as also, what may be styled a personal narrative, in "Roderick Random." He was so much disgusted with his situation, that, though he had the prospect of promotion, he quitted the service at Jamaica, where he resided for some time. On his return to Britain, in 1746, he was met by accounts of the barbarities exercised by the duke of Cumberland's army in the north of Scotland; which, notwithstanding that his political principles were whiggish, drew from him an indignant burst of patriotic eloquence, in the well-known ode, beginning —
Mourn, hapless, Caledonia, mourn;
Thy banished peace, thy laurels tern !
He is said to have originally finished this production in six stanzas ; but some individuals having represented to him, that such an expression of sentiment might give offence, and retard his progress in life, he sat down, in a fit of still more vehement indignation, and, almost instantaneously, produced the seventh stanza, beginning—
While the warm blood bedews my veins, And unimpaired remembrance reigns, Remembrance of my country's fate Within my filial breast shall beat.
An anecdote, which shows that Smollett, like many other men of distinguished genius, was
"Too fond of the right, to pursue the expedient."
The above anecdote is taken from Dr Anderson's accurate life of Smollett; but that the subject of our memoir was in London, between 1741 and 1746, is abundantly clear from the following letter, which is here, for the first time, committed to print:—
