The Oxford Companion to English Literature | Smollett, Tobias George
Smollett, Tobias
George
(
1721
–
71
), the son of a Scots laird, born near Dunbarton. After attendance at Glasgow University he was apprenticed to a surgeon, but did not prosper and lived in some poverty. He wrote a play, The Regicide, which he brought to London in
1739
, but he could not get it accepted, then or at any future time. He joined the navy, became surgeon's mate, and sailed in
1741
for the West Indies on an expedition against the Spaniards. He was present at the abortive attack on Cartagena, when the fleet retired, a fact which greatly disturbed Smollett, who later wrote about the failure in Roderick Random and (probably) in A Compendium of…Voyages. While in Jamaica he met
Anne
Lassells
, a young woman ofé some property and means, whom he married, probably in
1743
. In
1744
he set himself up as a surgeon in Downing Street, and began to entertain generously among a wide circle of friends,...
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