Travels through France and Italy — Text and Context

The Voice of the Invalid Traveler

Smollett's physical condition is a constant presence. He refers to "my disorder" and "my infirmities" as reasons for his movements and his moods. In one passage, he notes that the air of Nice "agrees perfectly with my constitution," but this rare praise is quickly undercut by complaints about the noise, the food, and the locals. His body becomes a lens through which he judges every place: a town is good if it eases his symptoms, bad if it exacerbates them.

This personal framing means the reader is never given an objective survey. Instead, we get a running commentary on how each location affects Smollett's health and temper. The result is a vivid, if biased, portrait of eighteenth-century travel as a physically grueling experience, where the traveler's own frailty shapes the narrative as much as the sights themselves.

Satirical Portraits of Local Society

Smollett reserves his sharpest wit for the pretensions of the local gentry. He describes a count whose father "sold macaroni in the streets" and a knight who calls to his son, "Chevalier, as-tu donne a manger aux cochons?" These anecdotes are not mere gossip; they serve a satirical purpose, exposing the gap between title and reality. Smollett delights in puncturing the dignity of the nobility, cataloging their purchased titles and threadbare estates.

His method is cumulative: he lists the professions of the ancestors of local nobles—avocat, apothecary, retailer of wine—to demonstrate that rank is a recent and mercantile acquisition. This obsession with social authenticity reveals Smollett's own anxieties about class and status, and it gives the travelogue a sociological edge that goes beyond simple description.

The Church as a Target

Religious institutions come under sustained attack. Smollett decries the "superstition" that "reigns under the darkest shades of ignorance and prejudice" in Nice, and he is particularly incensed by the right of sanctuary, which he claims shelters murderers and felons. He reports seeing a wife-murderer "taking the air with great composure" on church steps, and he generalizes this into a broader indictment of clerical power.

His critique is not theological but practical: he objects to the church's interference with civil order and its exemption from secular law. The Inquisition office, though dormant, is mentioned as a menacing presence. Smollett's anti-Catholicism is typical of his era, but his specific complaints—about sanctuary, ignorance among the clergy, and the economic drain of convents—are grounded in observed detail rather than abstract prejudice.

Structure and Strategy of the Letters

The work is composed as a series of dated letters, a form that allows Smollett to shift between anecdote, complaint, and observation without the need for a unified argument. Each letter typically begins with a location and date, then moves through a set of topics: the weather, his health, local customs, and notable encounters. This episodic structure means the reader can dip in and out, but it also creates a sense of immediacy and spontaneity.

Smollett often ends a letter with a promise of more to come, or with a pointed remark that lingers. The letters are not revised into a smooth narrative; they retain the roughness of actual correspondence, including digressions and repetitions. For a first-time reader, this means the book rewards browsing as much as sequential reading, and the strongest impressions come from the vivid, opinionated set-pieces rather than any overarching plot.

Approach this travelogue as you would a conversation with a brilliant but cantankerous companion. Smollett's judgments are harsh, his observations sharp, and his prejudices undisguised. The value of the work lies not in its accuracy as a guidebook—by modern standards it is often unfair—but in its unvarnished portrait of an eighteenth-century traveler's mind. Read for the voice, the satire, and the incidental details of daily life that a more polite writer might have omitted.

There’s something oddly comforting about a voice that’s irritable yet honest, like Smollett grumbling through France while nursing his ailments. It stays with you, that raw, unfiltered company. This other traveler, searching for the Nile’s source, carries a similar quiet persistence. Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 1 (of 5) In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773 — Reading Companion feels like that—a slow, human walk through difficulty. No grand answers, just the weight of the journey itself. I thought of you when I finished it.