Here he saw enough of
the horrors of naval life, enough of misery, brutality, and
mismanagement, at Carthagena (1741), to supply materials for the salutary
and sickening pages on that theme in "Roderick Random." He also saw and
appreciated the sterling qualities of courage, simplicity, and
generosity, which he has made immortal in his Bowlings and Trunnions.
It is part of a novelist's business to make one half of the world know
how the other half lives; and in this province Smollett anticipated
Dickens. He left the service as soon as he could, when the beaten fleet
was refitting at Jamaica. In that isle he seems to have practised as a
doctor; and he married, or was betrothed to, a Miss Lascelles, who had a
small and far from valuable property. The real date of his marriage is
obscure: more obscure are Smollett's resources on his return to London,
in 1744. Houses in Downing Street can never have been cheap, but we find
"Mr. Smollett, surgeon in Downing Street, Westminster," and, in 1746, he
was living in May Fair, not a region for slender purses. His tragedy was
now bringing in nothing but trouble, to himself and others. His satires
cannot have been lucrative. As a dweller in May Fair he could not
support himself, like his Mr. Melopoyn, by writing ballads for street
singers. Probably he practised in his profession. In "Count Fathom" he
makes his adventurer "purchase an old chariot, which was new painted for
the occasion, and likewise hire a footman .
Pages:
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185