Travels Through France And Italy by Tobias Smollett (beautiful books to read .txt) 📖

Part 3 Pg 12

Attendance Bad, Publicans Insolent, And Bills Extortion,

Concluding With The Grand Climax That There Was Not A Drop Of

Tolerable Malt Liquor To Be Had From London To Dover. Smollett

Finds A Good Deal To Be Said For The Designation Of "A Den Of

Thieves" As Applied To That Famous Port (Where, As A German Lady

Of Much Later Date Once Complained, They "Boot Ze Bible In Ze

Bedroom, But Ze Devil In Ze Bill", And He Grizzles Lamentably

Over The Seven Guineas, Apart From Extras, Which He Had To Pay

For Transport In A Folkestone Cutter To Boulogne Mouth.

 

 

 

Having Once Arrived At Boulogne, Smollett Settled Down Regularly

To His Work As Descriptive Reporter, And The Letters That He

Wrote To His Friendly Circle At Home Fall Naturally Into Four

Groups. The First Letters From Ii. To V. Describe With Hogarthian

Point, Prejudice And Pungency, The Town And People Of Boulogne.

The Second Group, Letters Vi.-Xii., Deal With The Journey From

Boulogne To Nice By Way Of Paris, Lyon, Nimes, And Montpellier.

The Third Group, Letters Xiii. -Xxiv., Is Devoted To A More

Detailed And Particular Delineation Of Nice And The Nicois. The

Fourth, Letters Xxv.-Xli., Describes The Italian Expedition And

The Return Journey To Boulogne En Route For England, Where The

Party Arrive Safe Home In July 1765.

 

 

 

Smollett's Account Of Boulogne Is Excellent Reading, It Forms An

Apt Introduction To The Narrative Of His Journey, It Familiarises

Us With The Milieu, And Reveals To Us In Smollett A Man Of

Experience Who Is Both Resolute And Capable Of Getting Below The

Surface Of Things. An English Possession For A Short Period In

The Reign Of The Great Harry, Boulogne Has Rarely Been Less In

Touch With England Than It Was At The Time Of Smollett's Visit.

Even Then, However, There Were Three Small Colonies,

Respectively, Of English Nuns, English Jesuits, And English

Jacobites. Apart From These And The English Girls In French

Seminaries It Was Estimated Ten Years After Smollett's Sojourn

There That There Were Twenty-Four English Families In Residence.

The Locality Has Of Course Always Been A Haunting Place For The

Wandering Tribes Of English. Many Well-Known Men Have Lived Or

Died Here Both Native And English. Adam Smith Must Have Been

There Very Soon After Smollett. So Must Dr. John Moore And

Charles Churchill, One Of The Enemies Provoked By The Briton, Who

Went To Boulogne To Meet His Friend Wilkes And Died There In

1764. Philip Thicknesse The Traveller And Friend Of Gainsborough

Died There In 1770. After Long Search For A Place To End His Days

In Thomas Campbell Bought A House In Boulogne And Died There, A

Few Months Later, In 1844. The House Is Still To Be Seen, Rue St.

Jean, Within The Old Walls; It Has Undergone No Change, And In

1900 A Marble Tablet Was Put Up To Record The Fact That Campbell

Lived And Died There. The Other Founder Of The University Of

London, Brougham, By A Singular Coincidence Was Also Closely

Associated With Boulogne. [Among The Occupants Of The English 

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Cemetery Will Be Found The Names Of Sir Harris Nicolas, Basil

Montagu, Smithson Pennant, Sir William Ouseley, Sir William

Hamilton, And Sir C. M. Carmichael. And Among Other Literary

Celebrities Connected With The Place, Apart From Dickens (Who

Gave His Impressions Of The Place In Household Words, November

1854) We Should Include In A Brief List, Charles Lever, Horace

Smith, Wilkie Collins, Mrs. Henry Wood, Professor York Powell,

The Marquis Of Steyne (Lord Seymour), Mrs. Jordan, Clark Russell,

And Sir Conan Doyle. There Are Also Memorable Associations With

Lola Montes, Heinrich Heine, Becky Sharpe, And Above All Colonel

Newcome. My First Care In The Place Was To Discover The Rampart

Where The Colonel Used To Parade With Little Clive. Among The

Native Luminaries Are Daunou, Duchenne De Boulogne, One Of The

Foremost Physiologists Of The Last Century, An Immediate

Predecessor Of Charcot In Knowledge Of The Nervous System, Aug.

Mariette, The Egyptologist, Aug. Angellier, The Biographer Of

Burns, Sainte-Beuve, Prof. Morel, And "Credibly," Godfrey De

Bouillon, Of Whom Charles Lamb Wrote "Poor Old Godfrey, He Must

Be Getting Very Old Now." The Great Lesage Died Here In 1747.]

The Antiquaries Still Dispute About Gessoriacum, Godfrey De

Bouillon, And Charlemagne's Tour. Smollett Is Only Fair In

Justifying For The Town, The Older Portions Of Which Have A

Strong Medieval Suggestion, A Standard Of Comparison Slightly

More Distinguished Than Wapping. He Never Lets Us Forget That He

Is A Scholar Of Antiquity, A Man Of Education And A Speculative

Philosopher. Hence His References To Celsus And Hippocrates And

His Ingenious Etymologies Of Wheatear And Samphire, More

Ingenious In The Second Case Than Sound. Smollett's Field Of

Observation Had Been Wide And His Fund Of Exact Information Was

Unusually Large. At Edinburgh He Had Studied Medicine Under Monro

And John Gordon, In Company With Such Able And Distinguished Men

As William Hunter, Cullen, Pitcairn, Gregory, And Armstrong--And

The Two Last Mentioned Were Among His Present Correspondents. As

Naval Surgeon At Carthagena He Had Undergone Experience Such As

Few Literary Men Can Claim, And Subsequently As Compiler,

Reviewer, Party Journalist, Historian, Translator, Statistician,

And Lexicographer, He Had Gained An Amount Of Miscellaneous

Information Such As Falls To The Lot Of Very Few Minds Of His

Order Of Intelligence. He Had Recently Directed The Compilation

Of A Large Universal Geography Or Gazetteer, The Carton Or Vivien

De St. Martin If Those Days--Hence His Glib References To The

Manners And Customs Of Laplanders, Caffres, Kamskatchans, And

Other Recondite Types Of Breeding. His Imaginative Faculty Was

Under The Control Of An Exceptionally Strong And Retentive

Memory. One May Venture To Say, Indeed, Without Danger Of

Exaggeration That His Testimonials As Regards Habitual Accuracy

Of Statement Have Seldom Been Exceeded. Despite The Doctor's

Unflattering Portraits Of Frenchmen, M. Babeau Admits That His

Book Is One Written By An Observer Of Facts, And A Man Whose

Statements, Whenever They Can Be Tested, Are For The Most Part

"Singularly Exact." Mr. W. J. Prouse, Whose Knowledge Of The

Riviera District Is Perhaps Almost Unequalled Out Of France,

Makes This Very Remarkable Statement. "After Reading All That

Has Been Written By Very Clever People About Nice In Modern 

Part 3 Pg 14

Times, One Would Probably Find That For Exact Precision Of

Statement, Smollett Was Still The Most Trustworthy Guide," A View

Which Is Strikingly Borne Out By Mr. E. Schuyler, Who Further

Points Out Smollett's Shrewd Foresight In Regard To The

Possibilities Of The Cornice Road, And Of Cannes And San Remo As

Sanatoria." Frankly There Is Nothing To Be Seen Which He Does

Not Recognise." And Even Higher Testimonies Have Been Paid To

Smollett's Topographical Accuracy By Recent Historians Of Nice

And Its Neighbourhood.

 

 

 

The Value Which Smollett Put Upon Accuracy In The Smallest

Matters Of Detail Is Evinced By The Corrections Which He Made In

The Margin Of A Copy Of The 1766 Edition Of The Travels. These

Corrections, Which Are All In Smollett's Own And Unmistakably

Neat Handwriting, May Be Divided Into Four Categories. In The

First Place Come A Number Of Verbal Emendations. Phrases Are

Turned, Inverted And Improved By The Skilful "Twist Of The Pen"

Which Becomes A Second Nature To The Trained Corrector Of Proofs;

There Are Moreover A Few Topographical Corrigenda, Suggested By

An Improved Knowledge Of The Localities, Mostly In The

Neighbourhood Of Pisa And Leghorn, Where There Is No Doubt That

These Corrections Were Made Upon The Occasion Of Smollett's

Second Visit To Italy In 1770. [Some Not Unimportant Errata Were

Overlooked. Thus Smollett's Representation Of The Droit D'aubaine

As A Monstrous And Intolerable Grievance Is Of Course An

Exaggeration. (See Sentimental Journey; J. Hill Burton, The Scot

Abroad, 1881, P. 135; And Luchaire, Instit. De France.) On His

Homeward Journey He Indicates That He Travelled From Beaune To

Chalons And So By Way Of Auxerre To Dijon. The Right Order Is

Chalons, Beaune, Dijon, Auxerre. As Further Examples Of The Zeal

With Which Smollett Regarded Exactitude In The Record Of Facts We

Have His Diurnal Register Of Weather During His Stay At Nice And

The Picture Of Him Scrupulously Measuring The Ruins At Cimiez

With Packthread.] In The Second Place Come A Number Of English

Renderings Of The Citations From Latin, French, And Italian

Authors. Most Of These From The Latin Are Examples Of Smollett's

Own Skill In English Verse Making. Thirdly Come One Or Two

Significant Admissions Of Overboldness In Matters Of Criticism,

As Where He Retracts His Censure Of Raphael's Parnassus In Letter

Xxxiii. Fourthly, And These Are Of The Greatest Importance, Come

Some Very Interesting Additional Notes Upon The Buildings Of

Pisa, Upon Sir John Hawkwood's Tomb At Florence, And Upon The

Congenial Though Recondite Subject Of Antique Roman Hygiene. [Cf.

The Dinner In The Manner Of The Ancients In Peregrine Pickle,

(Xliv.) And Letters Ix. To Xl In Humphry Clinker.]

 

 

 

After Smollett's Death His Books Were For The Most Part Sold For

The Benefit Of His Widow. No Use Was Made Of His Corrigenda. For

Twenty Years Or So The Travels Were Esteemed And Referred To, But

As Time Went On, Owing To The Sneers Of The Fine Gentlemen Of 

Part 3 Pg 15

Letters, Such As Walpole And Sterne, They Were By Degrees

Disparaged And Fell More Or Less Into Neglect. They Were

Reprinted, It Is True, Either In Collective Editions Of Smollett

Or In Various Collections Of Travels; [For Instance In Baldwin's

Edition Of 1778; In The 17th Vol. Of Mayor's Collection Of

Voyages And Travels, Published By Richard Phillips In Twenty-Eight

Vols., 1809; And In An Abbreviated Form In John Hamilton

Moore's New And Complete Collection Of Voyages And Travels

(Folio, Vol. 11. 938-970).] But They Were Not Edited With Any

Care, And As Is Inevitable In Such Cases Errors Crept In,

Blunders Were Repeated, And The Text Slightly But Gradually

Deteriorated. In The Last Century Smollett's Own Copy Of The

Travels Bearing The Manuscript Corrections That He Had Made In

1770, Was Discovered In The Possession Of The Telfer Family And

Eventually Came Into The British Museum. The Second Volume, Which

Affords Admirable Specimens Of Smollett's Neatly Written

Marginalia, Has Been Exhibited In A Show-Ease In The King's

Library.

 

 

 

The Corrections That Smollett Purposed To Make In The Travels Are

Now For The Second Time Embodied In A Printed Edition Of The

Text. At The Same Time The Text Has Been Collated With The

Original