In  the  year  1753  he  quitted  college,  upon  his
marriage  with  a  Miss  Carnan,  the  step-daughter
of  Mr.  Newbery  the  bookseller.     With  Newbety
he  had  already  been  engaged  in  several  schemes
of  authorship,  having  been  a  frequent  eontri-
butor  to  the  *<  Student,  or  Oxford  and  Cambridge
Miscellany,"  and  having  besides  conducted  the
<*  Midwife,  or  Old  Woman's  Magazine."     He  had
also  published  a  collection  of  his  poems,  and
having  either  detected  or  suspected   that  the
notorious  Sir  John  (formerly  Dr.)   Hill  had  re-
viewed them  unfavourably,  he  proclaimed  war
with  the  paper  knight,  and  wrote  a  satire  on
him,  entitled  the  Hilliad.     One  of  the  bad  effects
of  the  Dunciad  had  been  to  afford  to  indignant
witlings,  an  easily  copied  example  of  allegory  and
vituperation.     Every  versifier,  who  could  echo
Pope's  numbers,  and  add  an  iad  to  the  name  of
the  man  or  thing  that  offended  him,  thought
himself  a  Pope  for  the  time  being,  and  however
dull,  an  hereditary  champion  against  the  powers
of  Dulness.     Sir  John  Hill,  who  wrote  also  a
book  upon  Cookery,  replied  in  a  Smartiad  ;  and
probably  both  of  his  books  were  in  their  different
ways  useful  to  the  pastry-cooks.     If  the  town
was  interested  in  such  a  warfare,  it  was  to  be
pitied  for  the  dearth  of  amusement.     But  though
Smart  was  thus  engaged,  his  manners  were  so
agreeable,  and  his  personal  character  so  inoffen-
sive, as  to  find  friends  among  some  of  the  most
eminent  men  of  his  day,  such  as  Dr.  Johnson,
Garrick,  and  Dr.  Bumey.     Distress,  brought  on
by  imprudence,  and  insanity,  produced  by  dis-
tress, soon  made  him  too  dependent  on  tlie  kind-
ness of  his  friends.     Some  of  them  contributed
money,   Garrick  gave    him  a  free  bi*ncfit   tt
Drury-lane  theatre,  and  Dr.  Johnson  fumis^ied
him  with  several  papers  for  one  of  his  period k
publications.     During  the  confinement  whichi  \»


il


CHRISTOPHER  SMART.
