Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/358

346 and became caretaker of Shakespeare's house at Stratford-on-Avon. During the last 30 years of his life he pub. several vols. of poetry, including The Collier Lad and Carols from the Coal Fields; and he ed. some vols. for the "Canterbury Poets." Memoir by R.S. Watson (1908).

SMART, CHRISTOPHER (1722-1771). —Poet, s. of the steward to Lord Vane, was b. at Shipbourne, Kent, and by the bounty of the Duchess of Cleveland sent to Camb. Here his ill-balanced mind showed itself in wild folly. Leaving the Univ. he came to London and maintained himself by conducting and writing for periodicals. His Poems on Several Occasions, which contained "The Hop Garden," was issued in 1752, and The Hilliad in 1753 against "Sir" John Hill, a notoriety of the day who had attacked him. His mind ultimately gave way, and it was in confinement that he produced by far his most remarkable work, the Song to David, a most original and powerful poem. Unfortunate to the last, he d. in the King's Bench prison, to which he had been committed for debt. He also translated Horace.

SMEDLEY, FRANK (1818-1864). —Novelist, was the author of several novels which had considerable popularity, including Frank Fairleigh (1850), Lewis Arundel (1852), and Harry Coverdale's Courtship (1855). S. was a life-long cripple.

SMILES, SAMUEL (1812-1904). —Biographer and miscellaneous writer, b. at Haddington, ed. at the Grammar School there, studied medicine at Edin., and settled in practice in his native town. Subsequently he betook himself to journalism, and ed. a paper in Leeds. Afterwards he was sec. to various railways. His leisure was devoted to reading and writing, and his first publication was The Life of George Stephenson(1857). Self-Help, his most popular work, followed in 1859; it had an immense circulation, and was translated into 17 languages. It was followed up by Character (1871), Thrift (1875), and Duty (1880). The Lives of the Engineers and Industrial Biography appeared in 1863, The Huguenots, their Settlements, Churches, and Industries in England and Ireland (1867), and The Huguenots in France a little later. He also wrote biographies of Telford and James Watt, and of the Scottish naturalists, Edwards the shoemaker and Dick the baker. He received the degree of LL.D. from Edin. in 1878.

Smith, Adam (1723-1790). —Philosopher and economist, b. at Kirkcaldy, Fife, the s. of the Controller of Customs there. His f. d. shortly before his birth. The first and only adventure in his tranquil life was his being kidnapped by gipsies. After being at the Grammar School of Kirkcaldy, he went to the Univ. of Glasgow, whence he proceeded to Oxf. On the conclusion of his Univ. course he returned to Kirkcaldy, going subsequently to Edinburgh, where he was soon recognised as a man of unusual intellect. In 1751 he was appointed to the Chair of Logic at Glasgow, which he next year exchanged for that of Moral Philosophy, and in 1759 he pub. his Theory of the Moral Sentiments. He received in 1762 the degree of LL.D. from his Univ., and two years later resigned his chair and