SMELLIE, WILLIAM, an
eminent naturalist, and useful miscellaneous writer, was born in Edinburgh,
about the year 1740, being the son of Mr Alexander Smellie, a builder, who
belonged to the stricter order of presbyterians, and was the constructor of
the martyrs’ tomb in the Greyfriars’ church-yard. William Smellie received
the rudiments of his education at the parish school in Duddingston, and,
though destined for a handicraft profession, was afterwards for some time at
the High School of Edinburgh. His father at first wished to apprentice him
to a stay-maker, but the business of a printer was ultimately preferred, and
he was indentured to Messrs Hamilton, Balfour, and Neil, then eminent
professors of that art in the Scottish capital. While yet very young, he had
the misfortune to lose his father; but the exemplary conduct of the young
printer soon placed him above the necessity of depending upon others for his
subsistence. Every leisure moment was devoted to study, or literary
pursuits; and only a few years of his apprenticeship had elapsed, when he
was appointed by his employers to the responsible office of corrector of the
press, with a weekly allowance of ten shillings, instead of his stipulated
wages of three shillings. Instead of wasting his earnings on frivolicy or
dissipation, young Smellie took the opportunity of attending a regular
course of the university classes. The result of this was soon evidenced, by
his producing an edition of Terence, in duodecimo, wholly set up and
corrected by himself; which Harwood, the philologist, declares to be "an
immaculate edition;" and which gained to his masters an honorary
prize, offered by the Edinburgh Philosophical Society, for the best edition
of a Latin classic. Upon the expiry of his indentures, Mr Smellie, then only
nineteen years of age, accepted employment from Messrs Murray and Cochrane,
printers in Edinburgh, as corrector of their press, and conductor of the
Scots Magazine, a work published by them, and which kept a conspicuous
station in the literary world, from 1739, up to a recent period. For these
duties, besides setting types and keeping accounts "in cases of hurry," Mr
Smellie at first received the sum of sixteen shillings per week.
Notwithstanding, however, his severe professional labours, he still
prosecuted his classical studies with great ardour; and nothing, perhaps,
can better illustrate the self-tasking nature of Mr Smellie’s mind, than the
fact, that he instructed himself in the Hebrew language, solely that he
might be thereby fitted for superintending the printing of a grammar of that
tongue, then about to be published by professor Robertson. It appears that
about this time he was strongly disposed to renounce his mechanical
employment, and adopt one of the learned professions, having already almost
fitted himself either for that of medicine or theology. But prudential
motives, induced by the certainty of a fixed source of emolument, determined
him to adhere to the business of a printer, which he did throughout life. It
is here worthy of notice, that, during his engagement with Messrs
Murray and Cochrane, a dispute having arisen between the masters and
journeymen printers of Edinburgh, respecting the proper mode of calculating
the value of manual labour by the latter; Mr Smellie devised a plan for
regulating the prices of setting up types, on fixed principles, being in
proportion to the number of letters, of differently sized types, in a
certain space. This useful plan has since been almost universally adopted
throughout the kingdom.
Mr Smellie continued in the employment of the above
gentlemen for six years; that is to say, until the year 1765, during which
time we find him steadily advancing himself in life, extending his
acquaintance amongst the literati of the day, and improving himself
by every means within his reach. One plan for the latter purpose which he
adopted, was that of entering largely into an epistulary correspondence with
his acquaintances, with the view of giving him freedom and facility in
committing his thoughts to paper. He likewise co-operated with a number of
young men of similar habits and pursuits to his own, in establishing a
weekly club, which they termed the NEWTONIAN SOCIETY, and which included the
names of president Blair, Dr Hunter, Dr Blacklock, Dr Buchan, (author of the
Domestic Medicine,) Dr Adam, and many others who afterwards became
celebrated in their respective walks in life. After the discontinuance of
this society, another was instituted in 1778, called the Newtonian Club, of
which Mr Smellie was unanimously chosen secretary. This latter institution
comprised the names of Dr Duncan, Dr Gregory, Dugald Stewart, professor
Russell, Dr Wardrope,—in short the whole senatus of the university, with
many other illustrious individuals. Mr Smellie had a decided preference to
the study of natural history, especially of botany, and about the year 1760,
collected an extensive Hortus Siccus from the fields around
Edinburgh, which he afterwards presented to Dr Hope, professor of botany in
the university. He likewise in the same year, gained the honorary gold medal
given by the professor for the best botanical dissertation; and soon
afterwards wrote various other discourses on vegetation, generation, &c.,
all of which were subsequently published in a large work solely written by
himself, entitled the "Philosophy of Natural History." He was besides no
mean chemist, at a time when chemistry had scarcely been reduced to a
science, and was generally held as alike visionary and vain. Upon the
publication of the Essays of the celebrated David Hume, printed by Mr
Smellie, an extended correspondence took place between them, in which the
latter contested with great logical force and acumen many of the heterodox
doctrines advanced by the former; particularly that respecting the
credibility of miracles. Mr Smellie afterwards drew up, in a masterly
manner, an abstract of the arguments for and against that principle of our
religious faith, for the Encyc1opaedia Britannica, and which was published
in the first edition of that work.
Mr Smellie lived in terms of
great intimacy with Dr William Buchan, author of the well-known "Domestic
Medicine." That work passed through the press in Messrs Murray and
Cochrane’s printing office, and entirely under Mr Smellie’s superintendence,
Dr Buchan himself then residing in England. It is well ascertained that Mr
Smellie contributed materially, both by his medical and philological
knowledge, to the value and celebrity of the publication; and from the fact,
indeed, of his having re-written the whole of it for the printers, he was
very generally considered at the time, in Edinburgh, to be the sole author
of it. The work has now naturally become almost obsolete from the rapid
progress in the medical and other sciences therewith connected, since its
composition; but the fact of its having passed through between twenty and
thirty editions, ere superseded, fully establishes the claim of the author,
or rather authors, to a reputation of no mean note, it appears, by their
correspondence, that Dr Buchan was particularly anxious that Mr Smellie
should qualify himself as M.D., and share his fortunes in England, in the
capacity of assistant; but, with his constitutional prudence, the latter
declined the invitation. The correspondence, however, induced him to give a
marked attention to the practice and theory of medicine, as well as to
stimulate him in his favourite study of natural history; thus qualifying
himself for the excellent translation of Buffon, which he subsequently
executed.
In 1763, being then only
twenty-three years of age, Mr Smellie married a Miss Robertson, who was very
respectably connected. By this marriage he had thirteen children, many of
whom he lost by death. In 1765, upon the conclusion of his engagement with
Messrs Murray and Cochrane, he commenced business as a master-printer, in
conjunction with a Mr Auld, Mr Smellie’s pecuniary proportion of the
copartnery being advanced for him by Dr Hope and Dr Fergusson, professors in
the university. In 1767, a new copartnery was formed by the introduction of
Mr Balfour, bookseller, who brought along with him the property of a
newspaper called the Weekly Journal, which had for a considerable
time previously been established. The management of the latter was solely
intrusted to Mr Smellie; but as it happened to be a losing concern, he
shortly afterwards insisted on its discontinuance This led to disputes,
which finally terminated in a dissolution of the copartnery in 1771; when a
new contract was entered into between Mr Balfour and Mr Smellie only. About
the same time, he appears to have been on terms with the eminent Mr William
Strahan, to undertake the management of the vast printing concern carried on
by him in London; but from some cause not clearly explained the treaty was
broken off. It is worthy of mention, as showing the respect in which Mr
Smellie was at this time held, that upon his entering on this new copartnery,
lord Kames became security for a bank credit in favour of the younger
printer, to the amount of £300. His lordship appears to have had a
particular regard for Mr Smellie, and at his suggestion the latter commenced
the composition of a series of lectures on the Philosophy of Natural
History. About the same time the professorship of natural history in the
Edinburgh university fell vacant, and great exertions were made to procure
Mr Smellie’s appointment to it; but the political interest of his rival, Dr
Walker, prevailed, and was even strong enough to prevent him from delivering
his lectures publicly, although the Antiquarian Society, of whose Museum he
was keeper, offered him the use of their hall for that purpose.
Mr Smellie’s acquaintance
with lord Kames originated in his venturing to send, anonymously however,
some animadversions on his lordship’s "Elements of Criticism," whilst that
work was going through the press of Messrs Murray and Cochrane in 1764. Lord
Kames replied by thanking the young critic, and requesting him to reveal
himself. The result was a strict and intimate friendship during their lives;
lord Kames uniformly submitting all his subsequent works to the critical
judgment of Mr Smellie, who, after the death of lord Kames, wrote the life
of his illustrious friend for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, in the third
edition of which it appeared in 1800.
Amongst Mr Smellie’s many
literary undertakings, one of the earliest was the compilement and entire
conducting of the first edition of the work just named, which began to
appear in numbers at Edinburgh in 1771, and was completed in three volumes
in quarto. The plan, and all the principal articles were devised and written
or compiled by him, and he prepared and superintended the whole of that
work, for which he only received the sum of £200, from its proprietors, Mr
Andrew Bell, engraver, and Mr Colin Macfarquhar, printer. Had Mr Smellie
adhered to this literary project, there is little doubt that he would
thereby ultimately have realized an ample fortune, as both the proprietors
died in great affluence, arising solely from the labours of Mr Smellie in
the original fabrication of the work. Unfortunately, however, when applied
to by the proprietors to undertake the second edition, he fastidiously
refused to meddle with it on account of their desiring to introduce a plan
of biography into it, which Mr Smellie imagined would detract from its
dignity as a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.
It will, we should think, be interesting to our readers
to learn something of the early history of a work which has latterly swelled
out into such bulk and importance. Of the original edition—the entire
work, as we have said, of Mr Smellie—it is not exactly known how many copies
were thrown off. The second edition, which consisted of 1500 copies,
extended to ten volumes quarto. A third edition, in eighteen volumes, was
commenced in 1786, and extended to 10,000 copies. By this edition the
proprietors are said to have netted £42,000 of clear profit, besides being
paid for their respective work as tradesmen—the one as printer, and the
other as engraver. The fourth edition extended to twenty quarto volumes, and
3,500 copies. In the fifth and sixth editions, only part of the work was
printed anew; and to these a supplement in six volumes was added by Mr
Archibald Constable, after the property of the work had fallen into his
hands. An eighth edition, under the editorship of professor Traill, is now
in the course of publication.
In the year 1773, Mr Smellie,
in conjunction with Dr Gilbert Stuart, commenced a new monthly publication,
The Edinburgh Magazine and Review, which was conducted for some years
with great spirit and talent, but was dropped in 1776, after the production
of 47 numbers, forming five octavo volumes. Its downfall was attributed to a
continued series of harsh and wanton attacks from the pen of Dr Stuart, on
the writings of lord Monboddo, which disgusted the public mind. Edinburgh
did not at that time afford such ample scope for literary stricture as at
the present day. Lord Monboddo, nevertheless, continued to be warmly
attached to Mr Smellie, and they lived on terms of the strictest intimacy
till his lordship’s death.
In the year 1780, on the
suggestion of the late earl of Buchan, a society for collecting and
investigating the antiquities of Scotland, was instituted at Edinburgh. Of
this society, Mr Smellie was personally invited by his lordship, to become a
member; which he did, and was appointed printer of their journals and
transactions. Next year, he was elected keeper of their museum of natural
history; and in 1793, he was elected secretary, which office he held till
his death.
It is not, we believe,
generally known, that with Mr Smellie originated that admirable scheme of a
statistical account of all the parishes of Scotland, which was afterwards
brought to maturity by Sir John Sinclair. At the desire of the Antiquarian
Society, Mr Smellie, in 1781, drew up a regular plan of the undertaking,
which was printed and circulated; but the individuals to whom they were
addressed, do not seem to have understood the important nature of the
application, and only a very few complied with the directions given in it.
In 1780, Mr Smellie commenced
the publication of his "Translation of Buffon’s Natural History;" a work
which has ever stood deservedly high in the opinion of naturalists, being
illustrated with numerous notes and illustrations of the French author,
besides a considerable number of new observations. It is worthy of
notice, that Mr Smellie’s knowledge of the French tongue, which is
acknowledged to have been profound, was entirely acquired by himself,
without the aid of a master; and it is a curious fact, that, of a language
he so thoroughly understood, he could scarcely pronounce one word. This fact
gave unbounded surprise to a friend of Buffon, who came to Edinburgh on a
visit, and waited on Mr Smellie. The stranger noted it down as one of
the greatest wonders of his travels, intending, he said, to astonish the
French naturalist, by relating it to him. It is perhaps the best of all
tests, as regards the merits of Mr Smellie’s translation, that Buffon
himself was highly pleased with it, and even requested him to translate some
of his other works; but this, from prudential motives, Mr Smellie declined.
In the year 1780, the
partnership between Mr Smellie and Mr Balfour was dissolved, when the former
entered into partnership with Mr William Creech, bookseller. This connexion
continued to the end of 1789, when Mr Smellie commenced, and ever afterwards
carried on business, entirely on his own account.
In 1790, Mr Smellie published
the first volume of his "Philosophy of Natural History," the origin of which
has been already noticed. The copyright was at the same time
purchased by Mr Elliot, bookseller, Edinburgh for one thousand guineas. The
second and concluding volume was not published, until four years after
his death. Besides this and the other larger works, which we have
before adverted to, as the production of Mr Smellie, we have seen a
list of upwards of forty miscellaneous essays, upon almost all
subjects--from politics to poetry, from optics to divinity—which he composed
at different times and under various circumstances, and from his
indefatigable industry and wonderful facility of writing, it is supposed
that these are scarcely a moiety of his literary effusions.
Mr Smellie’s acquaintance
with Robert Burns, commenced in the year 1787, upon the occasion of the
poet’s coming to Edinburgh to publish his poems, which were printed by Mr
Smellie. From their similarly social dispositions, and mutual relish of each
other’s wit, an immediate and permanent intimacy took place betwixt them.
After Burns’s departure from Edinburgh, they corresponded frequently; but
the greater part of the communications were afterwards destroyed by Mr
Smellie, equally, perhaps, on the bard’s account and his own. Of the high
opinion which the latter entertained, however, of his friend--and it is well
known how fastidious was his taste on the score of talent, honesty, and real
friendship amongst his fellow creatures—we have sufficient evidence in the
poetical sketch, published in the works of Burns, commencing—
— "To Crochallan came
The old cock’d hat, the brown surtout, the same," &c.
Mr Smellie expired, after a
long illness, on the 24th June, 1795, in his fifty-fifth year; and we regret
to add his name to the long list of men of genius, who have terminated a
career of labour, anxiety, and usefulness, amid the pressure of pecuniary
diffculties. Some years after his death, a small volume was published, under
the care of his son, containing memoirs of three distinguished men, with
whom he had been acquainted; lord Kames, Dr John Gregory, and Mr David Hume:
it formed part of a more extended design, which Mr Smellie had sketched out,
but found not time to execute. A memoir of Mr Smellie himself was published
by Mr Robert Keir, in two volumes octavo; a work, perhaps,
disproportioned to the subject, but containing many curious anecdotes.
A treatise on the theory and practice of midwifery
By William Smellie in 3 volumes
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
Volume 3
William Smellie and the Maternal Mortality
Problem
By Miles Phillips (pdf) Memoirs
of the life, writings, & correspondence of William Smellie
By Robert Kerr in two volumes
Volume 1 |
Volume 2
Dr. William Smellie and
his Contemporaries
A contribution to the History of Midwifery in the eighteenth century by John
Glaister, M.D. (1894) (pdf) |