380
discountenanced by his kinsman, who was of the old
agricultural school, and hated or despised all changes.
But in the year we have last mentioned the farm of
Deanston came into his own hands, and he was free
to try upon it what experiments he pleased. There
was full need too for change, as the property consisted
of about 200 acres of very poor, unproductive land,
with a soil not averaging more than four inches in
depth, with a subsoil partly of sandy clay and partly
of a compact soil with stones, and the whole pro-
ducing little but rushes in the watery hollows and
broom on the dryer portions. It was a field of action
well fitted to task the energy and resources of any
agricultural projector. To work, however, he went
with a will, and intersected the whole farm with
drains at distances of twenty-one feet, and at a depth
of thirty inches; and these, with the operation of a
subsoil plough to stir the ground deeply, without
raising the subsoil to the surface, soon changed the
whole character and aspect of the place, so that good
crops succeeded to the rushes, pools of water, and
stone boulders, that had formerly been the chief pro-
duce of the land. Encouraged by his success, and
desirous that others should partake in it, he pub-
lished in 1831 a pamphlet on Thorough Draining
and Deep Ploughing, which secured the attention and
awoke the imitation of his immediate neighbourhood;
and although a considerable time elapsed before his
recommendations were adopted, they at length came
into general practice, and Mr. Smith is now recog-
nized with grateful remembrance as the inventor of
the system of deep draining.
His success having made him be regarded as an
authority upon this and other cognate subjects, he
was in 1846 appointed by government one of a
commission to inquire into the health and sanitary
condition of our manufacturing towns; and one of
his recommendations was the removal of the sewage
for agricultural purposes, with suggestions of plans
to effect the process, which were characterized by
great mechanical simplicity and skill. These pro-
posals at first occasioned great demur, and stirred
up much opposition in parliament; but an act was
finally passed, authorizing large towns to adopt his
scheme wherever it was practicable. He also sug-
gested several valuable improvements to the Agricul-
tural Society of Ireland, of which he was a highly
honoured member; and to the Glasgow Philosophical
Society, in whose Transactions several of his con-
tributions appeared. After a life of remarkable
activity, in which every hour was turned to account,
Mr. Smith's end was sudden and unexpected. On
the evening of the 9th of June, 1850, he retired to
bed in his usual health, but in the morning was found
dead. This occurred at Kingencleugh, Ayrshire, in
the sixty-first year of his age.
SMOLLETT, TOBIAS, or, to give him his full
name, as it appears in the baptismal record, TOBIAS
GEORGE SMOLLETT, 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 negotia-
tion he was chosen a commissioner on the Scottish
side. Archibald, the fourth son of this gentleman,
by Jane, daughter of Sir Aulay M'Aulay of Ardin-
caple, 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 dis-
pleased 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 depend-
ent on the bounty of his father. Tobias very early
gave promising indications of a lively wit and vigor-
ous understanding, which were cultivated, not only
by the fond partiality of his mother, but by a fre-
quent 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 charac-
ters of men, and the science of life. He received
the rudiments of education at the neighbouring school
of Dumbarton, which was then taught by Mr. John
Love, a distinguished grammarian, well known for
his controversies with Ruddiman.
The scene of Smollett's childhood was the most
favourable that could be conceived for nursing an
infant poet; and this circumstance, combined with
his romantic disposition, made him wish to be a sol-
dier. He was thwarted, however, in this predilec-
tion by his grandfather, who, having already per-
mitted the elder brother, James, to engage in a
military career, thought he could better advance the
prospects of the younger in a different course of life.
Tobias was therefore sent to study at Glasgow Col-
lege, with a view to some of the learned professions.
There he was led, by the intimacy he formed with
some of the medical students, to embrace the profes-
sion of physic, which he forthwith studied, along
with anatomy, under the proper professors, at the
same time that he served an apprenticeship in town
to a surgeon named Gordon, whom he is supposed
to have afterwards caricatured in Roderick Random,
under the title of Potion. His talent for satire and
poignant remark was here gradually developed in
favour of such specimens of affectation, hypocrisy,
and meanness as fell under his observation. He
was also given to what are called practical jokes.
One winter evening, when the streets were covered
with snow, he was engaged in a snow-ball fight with
some boys of his own age, among whom was the
apprentice of a surgeon, whom he is supposed to
have delineated under the name of Crab in Roderick
Random. The master of this apprentice having
entered his shop while the youth was in the heat of
the engagement, rebuked him very severely on his
return for having quitted the shop. The boy ex-
cused himself by saying that, while engaged in mak-
ing up a prescription, a fellow had hit him with a
snow-ball, and he had gone in pursuit of the de-
linquent. "A mighty probable story, truly," said
the master in an ironical tone; "I wonder how long
I should stand here before it would enter into any
mortal's head to throw a snow-ball at me." Just as
he pronounced these words, Smollett, who had over-
heard them at the door, gave him a most unexpected
answer by throwing a snow-ball, which hit him a
very severe blow on the face, and extricated his
companion.
But the early years of Smollett were devoted to
better pursuits than these. While still studying
medicine at the college, he composed a tragedy on
the death of James I. of Scotland, entitled the Regi-
cide; and which, though not calculated for the stage,
certainly displayed considerable ability.