Smollett in Nice

The Scottish author dispensed praise and criticism in equal measure

It did not even feature in the “Grand Tour”, that 18th century aristocratic “gap year”, by which sons of noble British families rounded off their studies by exposure to the cultural treasures of medieval and Renaissance Europe.  

The Grand Tour took in the ancient Italian cities, the preferred routes to which were over the Alps or by sea. A detour to the little Italian port of Nizza would have been considered an eccentric side trip.

Today, the city of Nice welcomes around four million visitors a year, and the many attractions of the Riviera are enjoyed by more than ten million people. Among the first of these was a 42-year-old Scottish surgeon, Tobias George Smollett. Smollett was also a pioneering author, much admired by Charles Dickens, who had discovered his novels as a child.

Asthmatic and consumptive, Smollett hoped the Mediterranean climate would ease his respiratory problems. He also had a handicap that was incompatible with 18th  century travel: he suffered from chronic seasickness. He chose the land route, and after an arduous five-month journey, settled in Nice.

He stayed from 1763 to 1765, and his account of his stay, Travels through France and Italy, when published in 1766, became an international best-seller and marked the Riviera’s metamorphosis from diversion to destination.
Although Smollett was a self-confessed malcontent, with, to use his own words, “a meagre wrinkled countenance”, his book dispenses criticism and praise with equal good humour. When not railing against the greed of the city’s traders, he is lavishing praise on its climate: “There is less rain and wind at Nice than in any other part of the world I know; and such is the serenity of the air that you will see nothing above your head for several months together, but a charming blue expanse.”

At the time, the town of Nice was the warren of winding streets that we know today as the Vieille Ville. Smollett lodged in the Palais Corvésy, in what is now rue Raoul Bosio. It is evidence of his book’s impact that within two years of its publication, the building became Hôtel des Etrangers. It is now an annexe to the Nice town hall. In its appreciation for his having put Nice on the tourist map, the city put Smollett on theirs - naming one of its streets Rue Smollett.

After leaving Nice, Smollett retired to Tuscany, living on the coastal hillside near Leghorn, where three years later his succession of illnesses finally took its toll and he died aged 50. Seventy-four years later, Charles Dickens made a diversion from his own Grand Tour to visit Smollett’s grave and pay  tribute to his mentor. This month, a new edition of Smollett’s book will be published by Tauris Parke.

Ted Jones is the author of The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers, (Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2007)