SMOLLETT, TOBIAS GEORGE (1721-1771).—­Novelist, 2nd s. of Archibald S., of Dalquhurn, Dumbartonshire, and ed. at Glasgow, proceeded to London in 1739 with the view of having a tragedy, The Regicide, put on the stage, in which, however, he failed.  In this disappointment he took service as surgeon’s mate on one of the vessels of the Carthagena expedition, 1741, an experience which he turned to account in his novels.  On his return he settled in London, and endeavoured to acquire practice as a physician, but was not very successful, and having discovered where his talent lay, he thenceforth devoted himself to literature. Roderick Random appeared in 1748, The History of an Atom (1749), Peregrine Pickle in 1751, Ferdinand, Count Fathom in 1753, Sir Lancelot Greaves in 1766, and Humphrey Clinker, generally considered his best novel, in 1770.  Besides these works, however, he translated Voltaire, wrote a History of England in continuation of Hume’s, an Ode to Independence, travels and satires, and contributed to various periodicals.  He was repeatedly involved in acrimonious controversy, and on one occasion fined and imprisoned for a libel, which, with various private misfortunes, embittered his life, and he d. disappointed and worn out near Leghorn.  Had he lived four years longer he would have succeeded to his grandfather’s estate of Bonhill.  The novels of S. display great narrative power, and he has a remarkable comic vein of a broad type, which enables him to present ludicrous scenes and circumstances with great effect.  There is, however, a strong infusion of coarseness in his treatment of his subjects.

SOMERVILLE, MRS. MARY (FAIRFAX) (1780-1872).—­Mathematician and writer on science, dau. of Admiral Sir William G. Fairfax, b. at Jedburgh, was twice m., first to Mr. Greig, an officer in the Russian Navy, and second to her cousin Dr. William S. Although she had early manifested a taste for study, and specially for science, she had, until after the death of her first husband, little opportunity of following out her favourite subjects.  With Dr. S., who was in full sympathy with her scientific tastes, she went to reside in London, and there her talents made her known in scientific circles.  In 1823 she was requested by Lord Brougham to popularise the Mechanique Celeste of La Place.  This she did with great success, publishing her work as The Celestial Mechanism of the Heavens (1830).  She also pub. The Connection of the Physical Sciences (1834), and other works.  She received a pension from Government, and d. aged 92 at Naples, where she had resided for the last ten or twelve years of her life.

SOMERVILLE, WILLIAM (1675-1742).—­Poet, a Warwickshire squire of literary tastes, wrote among others a poem, The Chase, in 4 books, which has some passages of considerable descriptive power.