R—— ,"whom Jerry Melford signalizes at a ball, was Miss Elconora Renton,
daughter of John Renton, Esq. of Lamerton, by lady Susan, daughter of Alexander, ninth earl of Eglintoun. Her eldest sister became the wife of Mr Telfcr, nephew of Smollett, and communicated the name of Renton to a large manufacturing village, now situated at Dalquhurn, the birth-place of the novelist. The young lady whose elegant person attracted the notice of Smollett in 1766, was the late dowager Mrs Sharpe of Hoddam, and mother of the ingenious historical antiquary, the late Mr Charles Kilpatrick Sharpe.[1]
It may, perhaps, surprise those who hare enjoyed the exquisite humour of the Scottish scenes in Humphrey Clinker, that, during the whole tour which he has commemorated under that fictitious shape, he suffered so much pain from his arm, as to be, in some measure, mentally affected: he acknowledges himself, that, from April till November, 1766, he had a kind of coma vigil; and that his Scottish journey, therefore, which ended in August, "produced only misery and disgust"[2]
He spent the winter of 1766-7 in Bath, where he was so fortunate as to get quit of his ulcer, and recover a considerable portion of his original health. In 1760, he published his "Adventures of an Atom," two vols. 12mo; a political romance, or jeu d'esprit, exhibiting, under Japanese names, the characters and conduct of the leaders of party, from the commencement of the French war, in 1756, in the dissolution of lord Chatham's administration, in 1767-8. Soon afterwards, his ailments having recurred with violence, he was recommended to try once more the genial climate of Italy; but, his circumstances being inade- quate to the expense of the journey, and of his remaining free from all care, but what concerned his health, application was made to obtain for him the office of consul at Nice, Naples, or Leghorn. This application was unsuccessful; because the government, as usual, could not spare any patronage, except for its friends. Smollett had, therefore, to set out for Italy, in 1770, under circumstances far from easy, and which must have, no doubt, materially increased his personal distress. He chose for his residence a cottage near Leghorn, situated on a mountain side, overlooking the sea, and surrounded by some of the fairest scenery in Tuscany. While residing here, he published, in 1771, "The Adventures of Humphrey Clinker," in which his own character, as it ap- peared in later life, under the pressure of bodily disease, is delineated in the person of Matthew Bramble. During the summer of 1774, he declined very rapidly; and at length, on the 21st of October, death put a period to his sufferings.
Smollett, who thus died prematurely in the fifty-first year of his age, and the bloom of his mental faculties, was tall and handsome, with a most prepossessing carriage and address, and all the marks and manners of a gentleman. His character, laying aside the unhappy propensity to sarcasm and epigram, was of an elevated and generous cast, humane and benevolent; and he only practised virtue too rigorously, and abhorred vice too vehemently, for his own comfort, in a world of inferior morality. An irritable and impatient temper, and a proud, improvident disposition, were his greatest, and almost his only failings.
- ↑ The adventures of Lesmahgo among the Indians, were perhaps suggested by the real story of a lieutenant Kennedy, who, in the seven years' war, married an Indian squaw, and was made a king by her tribe. "General Abercromby gave him a party of Highlanders," says a newspaper of the day, "joined with a party of Undians, to go a-scalping, in which he had some success. He had learned the language; paints, and dresses like an Indian and it is thought will be of service by his new alliance. His wife gois with him, and carries his provisions on her back. "Such was the enlightened warfare carried on in those times, notwithstanding the eloquent denunciations of a Chatham!
- ↑ Letter to Dr Moore.
