Man-Midwife, Male Feminist: The Life and Times of George Macaulay, M.D., Ph.D. (1716-1766)
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Macaulay and Tobias Smollett: "Connexions with the Needy"
Laird Aulay was not the only kinsman of George Macaulay to benefit from the doctor's largesse and influence. Macaulay's kinship connection with Tobias Smollett has frequently been noted and Smollett's letters to Macaulay published.[5] These letters make clear that Smollett, who was a brother physician as well as a cousin, felt comfortable calling on Macaulay for assistance. Moreover, when he asked for help, he could generally rely on getting it.
In 1753, the same year George Macaulay bought Aulay's Dumbartonshire estates, we find Smollett already in Macaulay's debt and in need of his further support.
Chelsea, May 27, 1753
Dear Sir,
I yesterday met with Provost Drummond [of Edinburgh], and took my leave of him, after we had settled the manner of executing his brother's work. At parting, he told me that he left the whole to my management, and that he would entirely acquiesce in whatever I should claim, by way of acknowledgment for my trouble. About a fortnight ago he gave me leave to draw upon him for fifty guineas, at one month after date, and as I had occasion for the money, I gave a discount for the note, at the rate of 60 per cent. Such an unconscionable premium, you may be assured, I should not have given, unless upon an emergency, which would admit of no delay: the term was begun, and I was obliged to pay the costs and damages of that scoundrel Groom, according to the compromise made in Court. The other fifty guineas, I expect, will be earned in less than a month; and though Mr. Drummond desired Page 185me to write to him from time to time, I would not appear so meanly impatient as to demand this second moiety, until he himself shall think proper to mention it.
Nevertheless, I am so straitened in consequence of that bankruptcy, by which I lost £180, the lawsuit with Gordon and his accomplices, the want of punctuality in our Jamaica agent, and the time I have lost during these six months past, that I must be fain to raise this second payment per advance, if I can find any friend who will do me the favour. To you I should have applied myself, without scruple or remorse, had it not been for that £15 which has lain over so long; though my delay, in that particular, was as much owing to my confidence in your friendship, as to the disappointments I have sustained; and I must still beg your patience, until the arrival of the Kingston ship, which is daily expected, and in which Mr. Bonstein has solemnly promised to remit what is due to us from Jamaica; he is now accountable for above £1000.
With regard to the fifty guineas, which I very much want, I would rather owe the favour to you than to any other person; and I would take it upon that footing, which would in some measure, alleviate the mortification I have in putting you to such trouble; that is, I should be glad, and, indeed, insist upon paying interest for the money, as well as for that which I already owe—yet I am afraid it may not suit your convenience to comply with my request, as I know you have already launched out considerable sums of ready money for the relief of your neighbours in distress.
Dear Doctor, this sort of communication is a troublesome tax, imposed upon those who maintain connexions with the needy; and, by Heaven! I despise myself for being obliged to run such risques of cooling that friendship, which hath already so warmly interested itself in behalf of, dear Sir, your much obliged and affectionate humble servant,
Ts. Smollett.
(Melville 110-112)
Both the affectionate tone of this letter and its utter candor reflect the intimacy of the footing upon which the cousins found themselves. Smollett had been involved in editing the manuscript of Alexander Drummond's Travels through Germany, Italy and Greece. Drummond's brother John Drummond, former Lord Provost of Edinburgh, had contracted to pay Smollett £100 for the task. On receiving the first installment, however, in the form of a note falling due thirty days later, Smollett's straightened circumstances obliged him to sell the obligation at a usurious 60% discount.
Smollett was also expecting money from the sale of black slaves in Jamaica—an investment of which Macaulay, given his political opinions examined below, probably did not approve. Later that same year, we discover that, as an object of charity, Smollett seems to have been something of a familial project for the Macaulays. Writing to George's father, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Archibald Macaulay, from Chelsea on October 14, 1753, Smollett waxes almost fulsomely eloquent in his praise of Archibald's "generous Hospitality and warmth of Friendship," and his assurances that "no Length of Time, no vicissitude of Life, no interruption of Correspondence shall ever be able to erase or even to impair the Impressions which your Kindness hath left upon my Heart, or diminish that perfect Esteem and Regard which I in common with all Mankind, have for your Character and Benevolence."[6] Apparently, George's philanthropy ran in the family.
From this same letter of Smollett's, we learn that George's mother, Carola, was still living at this date, for Smollett alludes to a book he delivered at her behest. He also mentions a visit he had paid to the elder Macaulay's son and daughter—perhaps Archibald Jr. and his wife, and he sends greetings to "Mr. and Mrs. Frazer," that is to George's sister Anne and her husband. Smollett maintained cordial relations with all the Edinburgh Macaulays, it seems, and enjoyed both the senior Archibald's and George's largesse. Some embarrassment for Smollett soon arose in this quarter. Eighteen months after his May letter to George, Smollett's ship from Jamaica still had not come in. Neither had another that he expected from the East Indies. Macaulay himself apparently was at the moment experiencing cash-flow problems—very likely owing to his propensity for relieving the distress of Page 187his neighbors. (One wonders if they might have been the poor at the St. James Workhouse. If so this suggests he had left Poland Street by 1754.) As a result, Macaulay had either inquired about Smollett's debt to him or, more likely, had felt obliged to refuse a further appeal to his charity. In either case, Smollett felt it necessary to apologize for his continuing inability to pay Macaulay what he owed him:
[Tobias Smollett to Dr. George Macaulay]Chelsea, November 16, 1754
Dear Doctor,
As yet I have not received an answer to my letter from Scotland, as soon as it arrives I shall communicate the purport of it to you. I am extremely chagrined to find you in such an hampered situation, and my mortification is redoubled, when I reflect upon my being in some measure the cause. I hoped that cursed ship from the East Indies would have arrived before this time, and brought some good news, but everything has of late thwarted my schemes and expectations, and therefore I cannot help dreading a repulse from Scotland also. Had I credit enough to borrow the money in London, you should not be without it a day longer, even though I should pay 50 per cent. for the loan; but, believe me, I should find it difficult to raise half the sum in England, even to save me from jail. Never was I so much harassed with duns as now; a persecution which I owe to the detention of that remittance from Jamaica, which I have expected every day since last Christmas, upon the faith of promises sent from time to time. I am, with great sincerity, gratitude, and affection, dear Sir, yours, etc. (Melville 112)
Scarcely a month later, Smollett writes again to update Macaulay on his continued disappointment in his expectations in Scotland and Jamaica. Smollett also reports his troubles with his creditors and complains that, Page 188in addition to all his other troubles, he had been mugged. He desperately solicits Macaulay's advice about ways in which he might improve his lot.
[Tobias Smollett to Dr. George Macaulay] Chelsea, December 11, 1754
Dear Sir,
Upon my honour, I have not the least answer to the letter I wrote to Scotland, nor is one farthing arrived from Jamaica; circumstances which fill me with astonishment and mortification. And what increases my wonder is to hear that Mr. Telfer is, or was lately, at Edinburgh. I would still hope that a favourable answer might be received from that country; otherwise, methinks they would have signified their refusal, as I pressed the thing in such strong terms. For my own part, I never was reduced to such a dilemma as I am now brought into; for I have promised to pay away tradesmen's bills, to a considerable amount, by Christmas; and my credit absolutely depends upon my punctuality: Nay, I am put to very great straits for present subsistence, as I have done nothing all the last summer but worked upon 'Don Quixote,' for which I was paid five years ago. If my joint security could be of any service in raising a sum of money, until matters shall clear up, I would cheerfully pay the premium for insuring my life; and as my friends are good, I think it would not be a bad expedient. In short, I am so distracted with my difficulties, that I cannot form any other feasible scheme for the present emergency and I wish you would consider how it might be altered or improved. I am, with great affection, gratitude, and regard, yours, etc.
[P.S.] I was last night robbed of my watch and money, in the stage coach between this and London, and am just going to town to inquire about the robber. (112-113)
An appeal of this sort, one that sought means for the perennially impoverished but ever hard-working Smollett to mend his fortunes, was not one that Macaulay would have chosen to ignore. A considerable body of evidence suggests that in the next year or so, a plan emerged to help Smollett help himself—one in which Macaulay seems to have played a more pivotal role than has been recognized until now.
