thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Drawing. Face in three-quarter view facing left, drooping shoulders, powdered wig|Portrait of [[Tobias Smollett.]]
Travels through France and Italy is a travel book by the Scottish author Tobias Smollett, published in two volumes on 8 May 1766.
The work is written in the form of a series of letters originated in a journey that Smollett, accompanied by his wife, undertook from June 1763 to July 1765, primarily in France but also including a two-month excursion into Italy. The principal destination was Nice, chosen for its reputedly beneficial climate for sufferers of pulmonary complaints. During the journey, Smollett corresponded regularly with acquaintances in Britain; on his return, he revised these letters, supplementing them with historical and archaeological information drawn from guidebooks, and published the result as Travels through France and Italy.
The book was an immediate commercial success, aided by Smollett's existing notoriety as a novelist and controversial journalist. Its frequently acerbic tone, which combined sharp observation with outspoken criticism of French and Italian manners, hygiene, cuisine, religion and society, appealed to a British readership still influenced by the patriotic fervour and Francophobia that followed victory in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763).
The success proved short-lived. In 1768 Laurence Sterne published A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, which presented a far more affectionate view of France and explicitly ridiculed Smollett under the name "Smelfungus". Sterne's immense popularity rapidly eclipsed Smollett's work in public favour, and the latter came to be regarded as the archetype of the splenetic, ill-tempered traveller.
Modern scholarship views Travels through France and Italy as a significant example of late 18th-century travel literature. Although its satirical and often prejudiced tone remains conspicuous, critics recognise the acuity of many of Smollett's observations, the vigour of his prose, and the work's importance as a precursor to the epistolary structure he would later perfect in his final novel, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771). The book is also credited with helping to popularise the French Riviera among British travellers; Smollett's extended residence in Nice and his detailed descriptions of the town and its surroundings contributed to its emergence as a fashionable destination, leading later writers to describe him as the "discoverer" or "inventor" of the Côte d’Azur.
Genesis
According to Viviès, who in 1999 questioned the significance of the genre chosen by Smollett,
Biographical experiences
Smollett travelled on the continent six times but, unlike many 18th-century writers such as Addison, Gray, Walpole, Sterne, Gibbon and Hume, all of whom recorded their observations in detail, Smollett left very few traces of his life on those then-distant lands in his private correspondence. Of the 108 letters included in the most recent edition, only seven complete letters and one fragment are devoted to them. By contrast, the journey and stay of 1763–1765 did not suffer the same fate; this is doubtless because the work is intimately linked to its author's personal life. At the age of forty-two, ill, exhausted by his literary and political battles, and having been forced in February 1763 to cease publication of the weekly ' amid agitation and insults, where he had supported the unpopular policy of Lord Bute, Smollett, like his wife, became inconsolable at the loss of Elizabeth, their only child, a fifteen-year-old girl affectionately nicknamed Little Boss.
Leaving seemed necessary to revive their bodies, distance their worries, and soften the grief that overwhelmed them. Asthmatic, tubercular, and hypochondriac, Smollett hoped that the Mediterranean sun and the dryness of the air would restore his difficult breathing and that bathing (despite his earlier attacks on the waters of Bath in ') would restore tone to his weakened organism, two objectives that were successfully achieved, since he returned in much better health. that took young aristocrats fresh from their classical studies through France and Italy, a small town of approximately inhabitants according to the traveller's calculations, came about through the recommendation of a physician he met by chance, who had praised its climatic virtues for having cured his own severe bronchial problems. with little regard for his own accounts. This forced him to borrow repeatedly, as the six or seven hundred pounds sterling his writings brought him annually were not enough to sustain this lavish daily life.
Driven by the need to produce through forced nights, Smollett edited the literary review ', the general-interest magazine ', and the political weekly '. His denunciatory opinions brought him trouble, in particular a three-month imprisonment from November 1760 to February 1761 in King's Bench Prison, together with a fine of , a considerable sum at the time. A subsequent quarrel with his former friend John Wilkes added further charges and vexations that finally undermined both his physical and mental equilibrium. To these were added the illness of the wife he adored and, as the final blow, the death of the couple's beloved child.
Trip abroad
Besides the other circumstances, the doctors’ prescription had been categorical: Smollett had to head south to a dry and sunny climate. However, the novelist also set off with the firm intention of making financial profit from his wanderings, hence the long descriptive letters written at every stage and addressed to his doctor friends or other acquaintances, practically without distance, with scenes and conversations taken live. The planned destination was Montpellier, regarded as the best resort in Southern Europe, a route that the peace of 1763 had just reopened. Smollett had already travelled several times aboard ships of the Royal Navy as a naval surgeon. His experiences, partly reused in The Adventures of Roderick Random, had been harsh: storms, punishments, sights of war, especially the expedition to Cartagena. He was therefore hardly predisposed to view the world with a neutral eye or to describe it in rosy terms; his state of mind was not that of a passing holidaymaker ready to appreciate at once the novelty of sounds, scents and tastes. Cheerful and jovial in his youth, he had gradually changed, to the point that, on his return to Scotland in 1755, his mother had struggled to recognise him. The same fiery temperament remained, but now prone to exasperation, rather grumpy, sardonic and critical. Like Mr Jacob Brattle in Anthony Trollope’s ', Smollett tended to brood over the ills with which fortune had afflicted him, finding himself in a state that medicine described as splenetic.
Itinerary and commentary
Smollett presents himself as the narrator, using the first-person narrative, singular or plural, depending on whether he is referring to himself or also to his entourage. Thus, his dispatches belong to three genres: epistolary, travel narrative and autobiographical, the latter characteristic being relatively emphasised, as the comments reveal his moods and gradually sketch a portrait of the man. On the other hand, he maintains complete anonymity regarding the recipients of his letters, who therefore remain unknown.
Recipients and sequence of letters
The letters are not addressed to named recipients; men or women, they are represented only by their courtesy title, which may be "Doctor", "Sir" or "Madam", followed or not by initials, most often by asterisks. Nothing in the body of each missive can reveal their identity, the text being intended to be entirely and solely descriptive. Generally, the chronological sequence is respected, although some letters are backdated, such as letter XV, which is seventeen days earlier than letter XIV, or letter XXXVIII, written in Turin on 18 March 1765, whereas the previous one comes from Nice on 2 April. Their frequency varies: monthly at the beginning, sometimes daily in Paris, Lyon and Montpellier, then irregular and, in Nice, often spaced out or conversely concentrated, sometimes twice a day. The letters end without any personal touch with "Adieu" or the conventional polite formulas "Your humble servant" or "Yours &c.", occasionally "Yours sincerely", very rarely, as in letter XXIX, "Your servant and friend", or, in the exceptional case of letter XXX, although addressed to a man, "Yours, most affectionately", without it being really possible to establish a hierarchy of closeness between the writer and the various correspondents. Rarely, the first sentence acknowledges a reply (true or not) received after the last dispatch. This is probably a device intended to introduce a new subject, as when in letter XXVIII Smollett writes: "You ask me to be more precise about what I saw in Florence, and I shall shall obey the injunction". for example on 11 July 1763 in his message to William Hunter where he complains about the holding of his trunk of books at customs, whereas the letters recounting the events are dated the 15th following and 15 August of the same year. The wording is practically identical and it is likely that the last two were copied from the first. There may, however, be differences, with certain episodes or details omitted in the passages intended for publication. The traveller Philip Thicknesse, a friend of the painter Gainsborough, and Thomas Campbell, one of the founders (with Henry Brougham) of the University of London, who had bought a house in the rue Saint-Jean, are also known to have resided in the town. Finally, the English cemetery contains many graves of illustrious figures from across the Channel: Sir Basil Montagu, Sir (Nicholas) Harris Nicolas GCMG KH, Smithson Tennant, Sir William Ouseley, Sir William Hamilton, Sir C. M. Carmichael, &c. which enabled Smollett to recover his books, which had been seized by customs on the charge of insulting the country's religion and sent by sea to Bordeaux; secondly, a meeting with General Paterson, an affable Scot in the service of the King of Sardinia, who later confirmed that it was indeed on the recommendation of an English physician that the climate of Nice had been preferred to that of Montpellier, "much better with respect to disorders of the breast Furthermore, coming from a Calvinist country where, writes Seccombe, "a measure of Tartufism was a necessary condition of respectability French food is hardly conducive to the traveller's digestive well-being: garlic poisons him; half-cooked small birds arouse his disgust; the quantity of dishes devoured by the people, even the apparently poorest, shocks him. Burnet, Edward and Arthur Young, and Laurence Sterne. He is unimpressed by Fizes's age, appearance, and fee of six livres (approximately one écu).
Letter XV includes reflections on the duel, a topic addressed by several 18th-century writers, including Boswell, Johnson, and Fielding in Tom Jones. Smollett recounts an anecdote involving General Oglethorpe, who in 1716 avoided a duel with Prince Eugene by responding wittily to wine being splashed in his face, turning the incident into a jest.
Nice has an active harbour that Smollett frequently visits, drawn by his naval background as surgeon's mate aboard . He observes galleys guarded by the naval police of His Sardinian Majesty. The presence of a British subject among the rowers evokes "horror and compassion"; learning that some rowers are volunteers prompts reflections on human hardship.
thumb|upright=0.8|The [[strappado, etching by Jacques Callot (1633).|alt=Black and white: victim suspended very high with arms behind back, about to be brutally dropped]]
He also describes the strappado punishment, comparing it unfavourably to procedures of the Inquisition.
Genoa
thumb|The port of Genoa in the 18th century.|alt=Reproduction of an old map by Francesco Maria Accinelli with sketches of modern extensions to the west
Smollett arrives in Genoa during a period of political sensitivity for the republic. On 5 December 1746, during the War of the Austrian Succession, an uprising led by the young Giovan Battista Perasso (known as Balilla) had expelled the Austro-Sardinian forces. Less than two decades later, in 1768, Genoa would cede its rights over Corsica (which had functioned as the independent Corsican Republic under Pasquale Paoli since 1755) to France under the Treaty of Versailles.
Smollett portrays the Genoese aristocracy as impoverished and reclusive within their marble palaces, noting: "If a Genoese gentleman gives an entertainment once a quarter, he is said to live on the fragments all the rest of the year."
thumb|upright=0.6|Flagellants in the 14th century, [[Pierre Grivolas, Musée Calvet, 1909.|alt=Oil painting. Emerging from a church behind a cross-bearer, half-naked men violently scourge themselves]]
In Florence, Smollett seeks to avoid conventional Grand-Tour enthusiasm. He criticises Catholic devotional practices (monks chanting litanies, paid flagellants, ornate images of the Virgin) while discussing opera, Commedia dell’arte improvisers, architecture, and cicisbei from a historical perspective.
thumb|upright=0.5|left|Venus de’ Medici.|alt=Life-size marble statue, naked woman facing forward, head turned right
The Uffizi is the principal public collection accessible to Grand Tourists, its centrepiece being the Venus de’ Medici. thumb|upright=0.8|[[Venus of Urbino by Titian.|alt=Oil painting. Naked woman reclining on a daybed, blonde hair. In the background, servants busy themselves]]
Smollett nonetheless analyses the statue at length, comparing it to the Aphrodite of Knidos and citing Greek inscriptions and classical authors, before expressing preference for Titian’s Venus of Urbino.
Return to Nice
The return journey to Florence follows the route via Narni, Terni, Spoleto, Foligno, Perugia, and Arezzo. Smollett describes severe discomforts along the way, including poor accommodation, vermin, unpalatable food, a deteriorating carriage, cold, and rats. At Foligno, he shares a room with another traveller initially mistaken for something more alarming. Mrs Smollett endures the conditions in silence, while Smollett attributes an episode of whooping cough to bedbugs.
He also notes the French reliance on bread as a staple food. The party then begins the homeward journey via Toulon (where he repeats the saying that the King of France is greater there than at Versailles), Vienne, Aix-en-Provence, and Avignon (where he encounters their former driver Joseph again). He advises future travellers to carry nails, hammer, crowbar, iron points, a large knife, and grease.
A comparable anecdote is recorded by David Hume, then secretary to the British ambassador in Paris, who reported that when Smollett walked the streets of Nice, crowds gathered and threw stones at him.
Criticism by Laurence Sterne
thumb|upright=0.8|Oasis in the Desert, by Antal Ligeti (1862).|alt=Painting. Figures and animals huddled under two large palm trees. Scattered slender date palms. Red-orange ground, yellow sky
These anecdotes illustrate the intense, though short-lived, notoriety that Travels through France and Italy achieved upon publication in 1766, as well as the lasting negative reputation it gave Smollett acquired as an irritable and critical traveller.
Two years later, Laurence Sterne published A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768), in which he caricatured Smollett as "the learned Smelfungus", a traveller who "can travel from Dan to Beersheba, and cry 'Tis all barren —".
Sterne's work, widely translated and enthusiastically received across Europe, quickly overshadowed Smollett's book. In many circles, A Sentimental Journey became the preferred model of travel writing, and Travels through France and Italy was increasingly dismissed or mocked.
One indication of this shift is the revival of an anecdote originally published by Voltaire in 1750 in Des Mensonges Imprimés. The story concerned an unnamed German traveller in Blois who wrote in his journal that all the women there were red-haired and quarrelsome. Smollett himself had translated part of the piece. In later retellings, the protagonist was changed to Smollett.
Other criticism
Despite fluctuations in its critical reputation, Travels through France and Italy is regarded by modern scholars as a valuable and engaging work. Frank Felsenstein describes it as highly readable, rich in documented detail and perceptive observation, and marked by the author's distinctive personality.
Medical circumstances
thumb|Three women conversing while bathing in a river, by [[Claude Simpol, 1717.|alt=Drawing. Women in long chemises and lace headdresses (Fontanges)]]
A graduate of the University of Glasgow with the degree of M.D., Smollett was well-informed about medical matters and conscious of his deteriorating condition, which he described as involving an asthmatic cough, spitting, low-grade fever, and restlessness requiring frequent changes of air and space for exercise. Although he strongly criticised the Montpellier physician Dr Fizes as incompetent and avaricious, the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis later proved accurate, and Smollett's proactive approach to managing his illness persisted. He put this into practice immediately upon reaching Boulogne, reporting relief from fever and chest pain despite an initial cold. He repeated the practice at Nice and, while in Rome, discussed ancient Roman bathing customs, expressing regret that they had favoured heated public baths over the Tiber. Sea bathing was not an entirely novel idea; John Locke had recommended cold-water immersion for children in Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693), and it was traditionally practised by mothers in the Scottish Highlands.
Some contemporaries regarded Smollett's preoccupation with his health as excessive. The traveller Philip Thicknesse, for instance, repeatedly ridiculed it, suggesting the book should have been titled Quarrels through France and Italy for the cure of a pulmonic disorder.
Dirt and the representation of the body
A recurring theme in Travels through France and Italy is Smollett's strong aversion to the perceived uncleanliness of accommodations and surroundings in both France and Italy. Literary scholar Aileen Douglas examines this motif in relation to Smollett's engagement with the body, arguing that displacement from familiar British norms disrupted his accustomed perception of hygiene and corporeal boundaries, producing reactions of shock and disgust. She suggests that incidents such as the stained bedding near Arezzo, which forced Smollett to sleep in his travelling cloak, dominate the narrative to such an extent that they overshadow other experiences, eliciting a corresponding revulsion in the reader. and John F. Sena, interpret these passages as the product of a deliberately constructed irritable persona rather than straightforward autobiographical reporting. They note that Smollett presents sensory responses, especially to odours, as universal rather than culturally variable; his condemnation of garlic consumption, for instance, reflects an inability or unwillingness to accommodate Mediterranean culinary norms.
Douglas connects Smollett's stance to broader 18th-century debates on taste and cultural relativism, seeing in his reinforced preference for British standards an implicit endorsement of Jean de La Bruyère's assertion that taste can be objectively correct or defective: "There is in art a point of perfection, as of goodness or maturity in nature. He who feels it and loves it has perfect taste; he who does not feel it and loves below or beyond it has defective taste. There is therefore a good and a bad taste, and one disputes tastes with foundation. Smollett records them candidly, regarding frankness as essential to truthful reporting. Critics such as Frank Felsenstein argue that this outspokenness, though often interpreted as ill-temper, contributes to the vigour and distinctive character of the narrative. As Hippolyte Taine later observed, such portrayals elevated national prejudice to an almost institutional level.
A double-edged raillery
thumb|Marriage A-la-Mode, plate 4, The Toilette, by [[William Hogarth.|alt=Gentlemen making conversation around the bride while she is being coiffed]]
Smollett's criticism extends beyond continental Europeans to include the young, wealthy British travellers on the Grand Tour, whom he portrays as gullible victims of local exploitation: "birds of passage who cheerfully allow themselves to be plucked".
Throughout the book, Smollett repeatedly describes such travellers as naive and profligate, easily deceived by gamblers, courtesans, antiquarians, and art dealers. In letter XXIX he writes: This commitment to unvarnished observation contributed significantly to the book's initial popularity and to the gratitude expressed by readers who valued its candid realism. and reviews of travel books in The Critical Review, had familiarised him with the genre. He incorporated material from these sources, sometimes translating passages so seamlessly that they blend into his own prose.
Linguistic contribution
Travels through France and Italy incorporates numerous French and Italian loanwords and phrases, primarily denoting aspects of daily life, cuisine, transport, naval matters, and social customs. While some had already appeared in earlier British writers including Joseph Addison, John Evelyn, Samuel Johnson, Jonathan Swift, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Thomas Gray, James Boswell, and Lord Chesterfield, many entered general English usage through Smollett's book and remain current, sometimes with modified meanings. This predates Laurence Sterne's satirical portrayal of him in A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768) and Smollett's final relocation to Italy.