in 1739, to repair to London, carrying with him a tragedy entitled “The Regicide,”—­the subject being the assassination of James the First of Scotland,—­which he had written the year before, and which he in vain sought to get presented at the theatres.  He had letters of introduction to some eminent literary characters, who, however, either could not or would not do anything for him; and he found no better situation than that of surgeon’s mate in an eighty-gun ship.  He continued in the navy for six or seven years, and was present at the disastrous siege of Carthagena, in 1741, which he has described in a Compendium of Voyages he compiled in 1756, and with still more vigour in “Roderick Random.”  His long acquaintance with the sea furnished ample materials for his genius, although it did not improve his opinion of human nature.  Disgusted with the service, he quitted it in the West Indies, and lived for some time in Jamaica.  Here he became acquainted with Miss Lascelles, a beautiful lady whom he afterwards married.  She sat for the portrait of Narcissa, in “Roderick Random.”

In 1746 he returned to England.  He found the country ringing with indignation at the cruelties inflicted by Cumberland on the Highland rebels, and he caught and crystalised the prevalent emotion in his spirited lyric, “The Tears of Scotland.”  He published the same year his “Advice,”—­a satirical poem upon things in general, and the public men of the day in particular.  He wrote also an opera entitled “Alceste” for Covent Garden; but owing to a dispute with the manager, it was neither acted nor printed.  In 1747 he produced “Reproof,” the second part of “Advice,”—­a poem which breathes the same manly indignation at the abuses, evils, and public charlatans of the day.  This year also he married Miss Lascelles, by whom he expected a fortune of three thousand pounds.  This sum, however, was never fully realised; and his generous housekeeping, and the expenses of a litigation to which he was compelled, in connection with Miss Lascelles’ money, embarrassed his circumstances, and, much to the advantage of the world, drove him to literature.  In 1748, he gave to the world his novel of “Roderick Random,”—­counted by many the masterpiece of his genius.  It brought him in both fame and emolument.  In 1749 he published, by subscription, his unfortunate tragedy, “The Regicide.”  In 1750 he went to Paris, and shortly after wrote his “Adventures of Peregrine Pickle,” including the memoirs of the notorious Lady Vane—­the substance of which he got from herself, and which added greatly to the popularity of the work.  Notwithstanding the success he met with as a novelist, he was anxious to prosecute his original profession of medicine; and having procured from a foreign university the degree of M.D., he commenced to practise physic in Chelsea, but without success.  He wrote, however, an essay “On the External Use of Water,” in which he seems to have partly anticipated the method of the cold-water cure.