tion of the Hall beyond absolute necessity, and
the simplest preparation was therefore made.
The Fair opened on Monday evening, the
14th of December, 18(13, with a promenade
concert in connection witli the organ and an
exhibition of the articles on sale. It continu
ed open until Monday of the following week,
with this result :
Admission fees §25,777 40
Sales, Private Theatricals, Curi
osity lloom, &c 127,881 57
Total Receipts 153,058 97
Expenses 4,771 92
Cash paid Music Ha11...2,930 20
Net Receipts
It will be seen that the Boston Fair differed
from all others, in being almost exclusively a
Ladies’ Fair. A few large articles were vol
untarily contributed by manufacturers, but no
such donations were solicited. Had any ef
fort been made to obtain such articles, the re
ceipts of the Fair would have been largely in
creased. The expenses will be seen to have
been very small.
My time is so fully occupied that this is ne
cessarily a very hasty sketch, and I regret its
delay. Very truly yours,
Annie L. Exdicott.
A LETTER FROM TOBIAS SMOLLETT.
[NEVER DEFORE rniILISIIEI).]
About a century ago, Mr. Richard Smith,
a Recorder of the city of Burlington, New
Jersey, addressed to Tomas Smollett, the
novelist, a letter, putting divers rather close
and personal questions, which were most cour
teously answered. We now print for the first
time this correspondence ; for a copy of which
we arc indebted to our fellow-townsman, Fer
dinand J. Dkker, Esq., whose private collec
tion of autographs has, through his liberality,
contributed so largely to the Great Central
Fair. A few defects in the original MS. have
been observed in the printed copy.
RICHARD SMITH TO TOMAS SMOLLETT.
Sir: —You will pardon the Curiosity of a
Man distant from you many Thousand Milos—
who will however take it as a very particular
Favor to have that Curiosity satisfied by a note
from you sent by the first Opporty either via
Philada or New York.—The Writer of this
Letter as well as many of his Acquaintances
has been often delighted with, not to say in
structed, by your works, and out of mere grati
tude he cannot refrain from returning you his
hearty Thanks. It is from Truth indeed and
not from Adul —That I must say I look
upon you as the First Genius in Britann and
the fin —d ter—and I should be glad
to hear his Majesty has has honored you with
Oub DaiLY ABE.
ion at, least equal to Johnsons—Of
the circumstances of yo r Life we are at this
Distance ttle—but I slio s be glad to be in
formed whether Roderick Random or kle
contain any Traces of your real Adventures —
and at what age or under what circum
stances they were written. Count Fathom
shows a Smollett in every page but it has
not all the Graces of my Favorite Pickle—
as to Lancelot Greaves many here are pleased
to say that you Lent yor Name upon that Oc
casion to a Mercenary Bookseller. The Voy
ages which go under yor Name (Mr. lliving
ton (whom 1 consulted on the Matter) tells me
are only nominally Yours or at least were
collected by (!/our, erased) understrappers. Mr.
Rivington also gives me such an acco’t of the
Shortness of Time in which you wrote the
History of England—as is hardly credible. 1
should be glad to be truly instructed in that
particular and I was Desired by Several to
ask you whether the 4th Vol. of the Con
tinuation is to be the last, or whether You
will not chuse to continue it to the End of
the War —which I hope will be the Case—To
this string of Quest’s give me to add the Re
quest of a List of y’r Genuine Works and
whether you are like soon to publish any
Thing, that I may have the Satisfaction of
Purchasing among the First.
If I ask any Thing impertinent you will
punish (me, erased) eglect —but you can
hardly conceive the pleasure I should take
municating yo’r answer to my Friends—
and in hav’g —in Pos a Letter from the
Author of the Complete Hist, of Engld and
Continuation.
I am You most Obdt
& very humble servt,
Richard Smith,
Atty at Law, Recorder
of the City of Burlington.
Burlington in New Jersey
2G Feb. 1703.
7,708 12
145,950 85
TOIIIAS SMOLLETT TO RICHARD SMITH.
Sir: —l am favoured with yours of the 20th
of February, and cannot but be pleased to find
myself as writer, so high in your Esteem.
The Curiosity you express with regard to the
particulars of my Life and the variety of situ
ations in which I may have been, cannot be
gratified within the Compass of a Letter. Be
sides, there are some Particulars of my Life
which it would ill become me to relate. The
only Similitude between the Circumstances of
my own Fortune and those I have attributed
to Roderick Random, consists in only being
born of a respectable family Family in Scot
land, in my being bred a Surgeon and having
served as a Surgeons mate on board a man-of
war during the Expedition to Carthagena.
The low Situations in which I have exhibited
Roderick, I never experienced in my own Per-
I married very young, a native of Jamaca,
a young Lady well known aful universally res
pected, under the name of Miss. Nancy Las
sells, and by her I enjoy a comfortable,
though modest estate, in that Island. I prac
tised Surgery in London after having impro
ved myself by travelling in France and other
forreign Countries till the year 1749 when I
took my Degree of Doctor in medicine and
have lived ever since in Chelsea (I hope) with
credit and Reputation. No man knows better
than Mr. Rivinqton what Time I employed in
reading the four first Volumes of the History
of England ; and indeed the short Feriod in
which that work was finished, appears almost
incredible to myself, when I recollect that I
turned over and consulted above three hun
dred volumes in the course of my labor.
Mr. Rivington likewise knows that I spent
the best part of a year in revising, correcting
and improving the Quarto Edition which is
now going to Press, and will be continued in
the same size to the late Peace, Whatever
Reputation I may have got by this Work has
been dearly bought by the Loss of Health
which I am of opinion I shall never retrieve.
I am now going to the South of France in
order to try the effects of that climate, and
very probably I shall never return. 1 am
much obliged to you for the Hope you express
that I have Claimed Some Pension from his
Majesty; but the truth is I have neither Pen
sion nor Place, nor am 1 of that Disposition
which can stoop to solicit either. I have al
ways piqued myself upon my independency &
I trust in God 1 shall preserve it to my dying
day.
Exclusive of some small detached Perform
ances that have been published occasionally in
Papers and magazines the following is a genu
ine List of my productions: Roderick Ran
dom, The Regicide, a Tragedy, a Translation
of Gil Bias, a Translation of Don Quixote, an
Essay upon the external use of water, Pere
grine Pickle, Ferdinand Count Fathom, great
Part of the Critical Review, A very small part
of a Compendium of Voyages, The complete
History of England and Continuation, a Small
Part of the modern Universal History, some
Pieces in the British Magazine, comprehending
the whole of Sir Launcelot Greaves, a small
part of the Translation of Voltaire’s works,
including all the notes historical and critical
to be found in that Translation. I am much
mortified to find it is believed in America that
I have lent my name to Booksellers: that is a
species of Prostitution of which I am alto
gether incapable. I had engaged with Mr.
Rivington and made some Progress in a work
exhibiting the present state of the world;
which work I shall finish if I recover my
Health. If you should see Mr. Rivington
please give my kindest Comp’ts to him, tell
him I wish him all manner of Happiness
though I have little to expect for my own share