Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/157

Rh his friends, he had no disposition to form those qualified conclusions that we admire in his writings; and he generally contented himself with a bold and masterly sketch of the object from the first point of view in which his temper or his fancy presented it. Something of the same kind might be remarked when he attempted in the flow of his spirits to delineate those characters which from long intimacy he might have been disposed to understand thoroughly. The picture was always lively and expressive, and commonly bore a strong and amusing resemblance to the original, when viewed under one particular aspect; but seldom, perhaps, conveyed a just and complete conception of it in all its dimensions and proportions. In a word, it was the fault of his unpremeditated judgments to be systematical, and too much in extremes.

" But in whatever way these trifling peculiarities in his manners may be explained, there can be no doubt that they were intimately connected with the genuine artlessness of his mind. In this amiable quality he often recalled to his friends the accounts that are given of good La Fontaine; a quality which in him derived a peculiar race from the singularity of its combination with those powers of reason and of eloquence which in his political and moral writings have long engaged the admiration of Europe.

"In his external form and appearance there was nothing uncommon. When perfectly at ease, and when warmed with conversation, his gestures were animated, and not ungraceful; and in the society of those he loved, his features were often brightened with a smile of inexpressible benignity. In the company of strangers his tendency to absence, and perhaps, still more, his consciousness of this tendency, rendered his manner somewhat embarrassed, an effect which was probably not a little heightened by those speculative ideas of propriety, which his recluse habits tended at once to perfect in his conception, and to diminish his power of realizing. He never sat for his picture; but the medallion of Tassie conveys an exact idea of his profile, and of the general expression of his countenance."

SMOLLETT,, or, to give him his full name, as it appears in the baptismal record, , a celebrated novelist, poet, and miscellaneous writer, was born in the old house of Dalquhurn, near the modern village of Renton, in the parish of Cardross, Dumbartonshire, in the year 1721. His family had held considerable local rank for several centuries. His grandfather, Sir James Smollett, of Bonhill, served as commissioner for Dumbarton, in the Scottish parliaments, between the Revolution and the Union; in the latter negotiation, he was chosen a commissioner on the Scottish side. Archibald, the fourth son of this gentleman, by Jane, daughter of Sir Aulay Macaulay, of Ardincaple, received a liberal education, but was bred to no profession. Without previously consulting his father, he married Barbara Cunningham, daughter of Mr Cunningham, of Gilbertfield, near Glasgow; a woman of distinguished understanding, taste, and elegance, but no fortune. Sir James, though displeased with the match, as having been entered into without his knowledge, provided for his son, by giving him a liferent of his farm of Dalquhurn; which, with an annuity, made his income about £300 a-year.

Archibald Smollett had three children. Soon after the birth of the youngest, the subject of this memoir, he died, leaving his family entirely dependent on the bounty of his father. Tobias very early gave promising indications of a lively wit and vigorous understanding, which were cultivated, not only by the fond partiality of his mother, but by a frequent intercourse with his venerable grandfather, whose long experience "in courts and great affairs," conspired with his natural inclination, in directing his attention to the study of the conduct and characters of men, and the science of life. He received the nuii-