A Scottish writer, lived 1721-1771, best known these days for the novels
Roderick Random,
Humphrey Clinker, and
Peregrine Pickle.
He was born near Dunbarton and was trained as a surgeon, and on joining the navy took part in attacks on the Spanish in the West Indies in 1742. He lived in London (in Downing Street from 1744 and Chelsea from 1750), but toured Europe a number of times, and died in Leghorn in Italy.
Laurence Sterne called him Smelfungus.
His works included
- The Tears of Scotland, a poem, 1746
- Advice, a satirical poem, 1746
- Reproof, a satirical poem, 1747
- Roderick Random, novel, 1748
- Peregrine Pickle, novel, 1751
- Ferdinand Count Fathom, novel, 1753
- Don Quixote, translation, 1755
- Critical Review, editorship, 1756-1763
- Compendium of Authentic and Entertaining Voyages, editorship of a travel anthology, 1756
- Complete History of England, 1757-1758
- The Reprisal, farce staged at Drury Lane, 1758
- Continuation of the Complete History, 1760
One can only presume Johnson's dictionary hadn't yet been published, or Smollett's copy was missing the letter C.
- The British Magazine, editorship, 1760-1767
- Sir Lancelot Andrews, novel in instalments in the magazine, 1760
- The Works of Voltaire, translation, 1761+
- The Briton, editorship of political journal, 1762-1763
- Travels through France and Italy, epistolary, 1766
- The Present State of All Nations, encyclopaedic in eight volumes, 1768-1769
- Humphrey Clinker, epistolary novel, 1771