Volume 3 > Half-Volume 6

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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 pre-
possessing 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 rigor-
ously, and abhorred vice too vehemently, for his own
comfort in a world of inferior morality. An irritable
and impatient temper, and a proud, improvident dis-
position, were his greatest, and almost his only, fail-
ings. Of his genius as a delineator of human char-
acter, his novels form an imperishable monument,
though certainly not undeformed by considerable im-
purity of taste. So long as his Ode to Leven Water
and his Ode to Independence exist, he can never fail
to be admired as a poet.
Three years after Smollett's death a round column,
of the Tuscan order, with an urn on its entablature,
was erected to his memory near the house in which
he was born, by his cousin, Mr. Smollett of Bonhill,
who is said to have never manifested any kindness
towards him while he was alive. For this memorial
an inscription was furnished by the united labours
of Professor George Stuart of Edinburgh, Mr. Ram-
say of Ochtertyre, and Dr. Samuel Johnson. Lord
Kames also wrote an English epitaph, which was
lost to the learned world till it appeared in the work
entitled Traditions of Edinburgh. A plainer monu-
ment was erected over Smollett's grave at Leghorn,
by his friend and countryman, Dr. Armstrong, who
added a very elegant inscription.
The widow of Smollett�the Narcissa of Roder-
ick Random�was left a poor widow in a foreign
land. The small remains of her husband's fortune
had been settled upon her under the trust of Mr.
Graham of Gartmore, and Mr. Bontine, his tried and
faithful friends. The sum, however, was so little,
that this elegant woman was soon involved in great
distress. It must have added not a little to the poig-
nancy of Mrs. Smollett's feelings, that, had her hus-
band lived a few years longer, he would have suc-
ceeded his cousin of Bonhill as heir of entail in the
possession of an estate of a thousand a year, besides
perhaps the private wealth of that individual, worth
as much more; all of which descended to his sister,
Mrs. Telfer. It is alleged by Dr. Anderson that
neither Mr. Smollett nor Mrs. Telfer ever thought
of extending any relief to the widow of their distin-
guished relative, the man whose genius has conse-
crated their family name to all posterity. It is
known, however, that Mr. Smollett, almost imme-
diately after his cousin's death, gave a considerable
sum to the widow, under pretence of purchasing her
husband's books, few of which ever reached the pur-
chaser. We certainly cannot but regret that Mrs.
Telfer afterwards permitted an act of public charity
to be resorted to for the relief of her kinswoman.
On the 3d of March, 1784, probably through the
exertions of Mr. Graham of Gartmore, a benefit was
procured for her in the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh;
on which occasion the play of Venice Preserved was
acted, with a prologue written by Mr. Graham.
The money, amounting, with private donations, to
�366, was remitted to Italy; and this was all that
Scotland ever sacrificed for the sake of one of the
most illustrious of her sons.
SOMERVILLE, DR. THOMAS, an eminent his-
torian, was born at Hawick, in Roxburghshire, in
the spring of 1741.1 By the early death of his father,
1 Memoir in the Annual Obituary for 1831.   As this memoir
is written by a personal friend of Dr. Somerville, and is both
VOL.   UK
who was minister of the parish of Hawick, he was
left an orphan, along with two sisters, his mother
having predeceased her husband. His father left the
care of his early education to the Rev. Mr. Cran-
stoun of Ancrum and another member of the pres-
bytery of Jedburgh, whose kindness and attention
are evidenced by the affection afterwards exhibited
towards them by their pupil. Having obtained the
education derivable from a provincial grammar-
school, he became a student in the university of
Edinburgh. He is said not to have exhibited in his
acquirements the precocity of talent generally re-
corded of men who have become eminent in any
branch of literature; and indeed the branch in which
he distinguished himself, when qualified by the man-
ner in which he treated it, is more dependent on a
general development of sound ordinary abilities, than
on the existence of that genius which shines before
the judgment is matured. Nothing seems to be
known of his early habits, except his having fallen
from a horse and hurt his head; a circumstance which,
not unnaturally, gave him a partiality for pedestrian
exercises during the remainder of his life. The acci-
dent happened in Edinburgh close to the residence
of the Rev. Mr. Bain, an eminent clergyman of the
Relief church. " In his family the patient was at-
tended for several months with a kindness and
humanity which made a lasting impression on his
mind. Often has the present writer," continues the
memoir above referred to, " heard him express the
pleasure and improvement he had reaped from the
enlightened conversation of his worthy host during
a long and tedious convalescence." Somerville was
licensed as a preacher about the year 1762. He
shortly after this event returned to Roxburghshire,
and became tutor to the son of Sir Gilbert Ellio'tt,
afterwards Lord Minto, and governor-general of
India. In 1767 Sir Gilbert presented him with the
living of Minto; and in 1772 the same friend procured
his promotion to the more lucrative living of Jed-
burgh. At that period opposition to the right of
patronage in Scotland was still warm in the feelings
of the people, if it might not be said to have revived.
There is no doubt that the right was well exercised,
and in the midst of so much scrutiny and opposition-
it would have been singular had it not been so; but
the very circumstance which produced the election
of such men as Mr. Somerville was naturally the
cause of objection to the persons chosen: and the
subject of our memoir entered on his charge in direct
opposition to a great majority of his parishioners.
It may be predicated of a man of good feeling and
sense, that he would hesitate to be the teacher of
the conscience of persons who contemned and dis-
liked him; but it was part of Somerville's political
opinion to think otherwise; and biography affords
many instances in which persons so swayed have
been excellent men, and might have despised the
action had it been set before them divested of its
political bearings. The appointment was followed
by repeated protests, but its legality was confirmed.
"Whatever, "says the memoir, "might be the cause
of the reverend presentee's extreme unpopularity�
whatever objections were alleged against the ortho-
doxy of his creed, or his mode of public teaching�
his most strenuous opponents were compelled to
admit the correctness of his moral character; and
several of the most discontented having seceded to
the Relief meeting, tranquillity was gradually re-
stored."
Somerville commenced authorship by a pamphlet
better written and more liberal in its views than such pro-
ductions generally happen to be, we shall take the liberty of
making some quotations from it.
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